BANGKOK, Dec 9 (TNA) – Two million Lao tourists have visited Thailand this year, ranked third after China and Malaysia respectively.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) hosted a thank you party in Vientiane last Friday for its Thai and Lao allies to celebrate the success in a record high of Lao visitor arrivals in the first 11 months of this year.
The number of Lao tourists did not even make the top five in the annual ranking in the past few years.
Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya, TAT Deputy Governor for International Marketing -Asia and the South Pacific, said that the neighbouring country was the rising star this year when the number of Lao tourists reached 2 million before the year end, generating tourism income of more than 50 billion baht.
Lao PDR is the lucrative tourism market with growing economy and people’s demand for travelling.
The TAT deputy governor thanked allies including airlines and tourism associations which offer more flights to Thai destinations and promotional campaigns to attract potential tourists to Thailand.
Currently, high- spending Laotians did not only visit Thai border provinces in the Northeast but they travel to other regions in Thailand, Chattan said. (TNA)
