“Although the airport has already resumed operations, there is still instability for unexpected situations that can happen anytime. The airport closure does not only affect Hong Kong’s economy, but also be a big obstacle for tourism, especially for Hong Kong citizens who want to travel to foreign countries and Thailand,” the center explained in a release posted on Tuesday.
August is the high season when Hong Kong tourists come to Thailand because it is the university and school holidays. Approximately 4,200 to 5,000 of Hong Kong nationals come to Thailand per day during these holidays, the center noted in its release. (See here.)
“Because of the airport closure, the Kasikorn Research Center initially assesses that this may affect around 30,000 tourists from Hong Kong, or around B1.4 billion that Thailand may lose from this group of tourists,” the report said.
“This assessment is only the minimum, and excludes the tourists who would use Hong Kong International Airport as their transit point because they were able to change their plan by avoiding the airport or even postponing their trip,” it added.
In 2018, there were around 1,015,000 tourists from Hong Kong coming to Thailand, generating around B40bn for the country, reported state news agency NNT. (See story here.)
In 2017, there were 800,000 tourists from Hong Kong, the report noted
“Though the numbers of tourists from Hong Kong are not big; nevertheless, during the first half of 2019, there is a positive expansion of 5.8%, compared to the same period last year; therefore, it could be considered as a boost to the tourism industry in Thailand which is currently facing many negative factors,” the NNT report admitted.