Thailand's tourist arrivals rise 21 per cent

Jan 16, 2012, 6:11 GMT

Bangkok - Thailand's tourist arrivals in the first 11 months of 2011 rose 21.2 per cent year-on-year despite the negative impact of widespread flooding in October and November, government sources said Monday.

Some 17.1 million foreign tourists visited the country between January and November 2011, according to data gathered by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, compared with 14.1 million during the same period in 2010.

'Although the recent floods in Thailand did impact on arrivals during the October and November, 2011, the growth in the January-September 2011 period as well as the post-flood bounce back was high enough to keep arrivals on a positive trend for the entire year,' the Tourism Authority of Thailand said in a statement.

Thailand's central plains and parts of Bangkok were hit by devastating floods from October to mid-November, caused by months of heavy rains that forced authorities to release water from the country's main dams in the north, triggering massive floods in the Chao Phraya River basin.

In the January-November period, East Asian tourists accounted for 9.3 million tourists, up 27.7 per cent, while South Asians accounted for 1.1 million, up 19.8 per cent.

During the same period some 4.4 million European tourists visited Thailand, up 13.6 per cent, making Europe the second-largest market for the kingdom.