THAILAND WELCOMES 25 MILLION FOREIGN TOURISTS IN FIRST 10 MONTHS

Buddha statue and Wat Mahathat Temple in the precinct of Sukhothai Historical Park, Wat Mahathat Temple is UNESCO World Heritage Site, Thailand.

BANGKOK – Thailand welcomed nearly 25 million foreign tourists from 1 January to 24 October, generating more than 1.21 trillion baht in spending, although arrivals remained 4.43% lower than the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.

The country received 501,965 international visitors during the week of 18-24 October, up 2.99% from the previous week, or an average of 71,709 arrivals per day, Tourism and Sports Minister Surasak Phancharoenworakul said.

Long-haul markets led the weekly increase, with 199,954 visitors, up 12.03% week on week, as European and American travellers entered a short school holiday period and Thailand approached its winter tourism season.

Russian arrivals rose 25.45% from the previous week, while visitors from the United States increased 11.52%. India also recorded strong growth, with arrivals climbing 18.09%, supported by travel demand around the Hindu festival of Navaratri.

Short-haul markets recorded 302,011 visitors, down 2.24% week on week. Arrivals from China fell 24.17%, despite increases from other major markets.

The five largest source markets during the week were Malaysia, with 62,724 visitors, followed by China with 49,494, India with 48,089, Russia with 34,986 and the United States with 20,167.

The ministry expects arrivals to increase in the following week, supported by the winter tourism season and additional flights from India. New or increased services include routes from Gaya and Guwahati to Don Mueang airport, and from Kochi and Visakhapatnam to Suvarnabhumi airport.

From 1 January to 24 October, Thailand recorded a total of 24,925,645 foreign visitors, generating 1.21 trillion baht in tourism spending. China remained the largest source market year to date, with 4.19 million visitors, followed by Malaysia with 3.16 million, India with 1.88 million, Russia with 1.37 million and South Korea with 912,597.

Source: KhaoSodEnglish

Yogyakarta welcomes 1.7 million tourists in five months amid pandemic

Amid the still alarming pandemic, Yogyakarta reportedly welcomed 1.67 million tourists between July and November, according to data from two mobile apps published by the local administration: Visiting Jogja and Jogja Pass.

Based on the data, Yogyakarta Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, who is also Yogyakarta’s governor, was certain that the province’s tourist industry would recover quickly.

Hamengkubuwono said during a virtual meeting with the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry on Thursday that the pandemic had impacted tourism and education in Yogyakarta, causing enormous economic losses.

He said the province’s economy was experiencing a contraction, dropping 0.16 percent year-on-year (yoy) in the first quarter of 2020 and 6.7 percent in the second quarter.

Meanwhile, in the third quarter, the contraction was 2.84 percent yoy.

“We hope Yogyakarta’s economy will not be negative at the end of this year,” said Hamengkubuwono, as quoted by tempo.co.

However, Hamengkubuwono admitted that it was not easy to restore tourism and economic activity in general during the pandemic, saying the local administration and community’s commitment to behavioral changes during the so-called new normal period was key to containing the spread of the coronavirus.

Hamengkubuwono said the local administration had urged Yogyakarta’s tourist stakeholders to issue their own protocols related to health and safety.

“The Yogyakarta administration has never issued a regulation to close tourist attractions, hotels or restaurants,” he said, adding that, as the governor, he only made one regulation about health and safety protocols. 

Yogyakarta is among numerous provinces that reopened tourism in mid-2020.

In July, the governor decided to partially reopen the province’s tourist sector and let tourist destinations operate with a limited number of visitors, as he feared a full reopening would be too risky for Yogyakarta.

With regard to a recovery in tourism, Hamengkubuwono said he did not want the community to suffer under local administration regulations.

“We encourage the associations to become the subject and regulate technical matters,” he said.

Tourism in Yogyakarta is going through a challenging time. In addition to the COVID-19 outbreak, Mount Merapi in Magelang, Central Java, has spewed lava in a sign of increased volcanic activity over the past week, according to the Geological Disaster Technology Research and Development Center (BPPTKG).

Western Region Mt. Merapi Tourism Jeep Association head Dardiri said Mt. Merapi’s alert status left tourism stakeholders with few options and tourist attractions in Sleman regency had experienced a decrease in visitors.

He went on to say that many jeep drivers had begun farming or breeding to make ends meet.

Moreover, the association’s members had also agreed to become disaster mitigation volunteers.

In September, tourism businesspeople in Yogyakarta had demanded that the government establish clear and consistent regulations regarding tourist visits to the area, as the pandemic had pushed down the number of visitors.

Sugihartono, who manages the province’s popular ecotourism destination Dolandeso Boro, told The Jakarta Post that working capital loans alone would not help his business survive if visitor turnout remained low.

Source - TheJakartaPost

Cambodia - Hun Sen welcomes stranded cruise ship passengers

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 Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen this Friday (February 14) travelled to Preah Sihanouk Port to welcome MS Westerdam cruise ship’s passengers who disembarked.

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 The cheerful atmosphere was broadcast via BTV Cambodia television station and the official Facebook page of the Cambodian leader.

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The 1,455 passengers include tourists from 41 countries, including 651 Americans, 271 Canadians, 127 English and 91 Dutch.

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A spokesman for the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation of Cambodia said that charter flights were ready to take passengers from Sihanouk International Airport to Phnom Penh International Airport. Five to six flights were expected since each flight would be able to pick up around 180 passengers.
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The decision allowing Westerdam with more than 2,000 passengers and crew to dock at Sihanoukville, after being rejected by five countries, earned Cambodia appreciation from the World Health Organisation, the ambassador of the United States to Thailand and the European Union.

Source - TheNation