THETOURISM Authority of Thailand claims good publicity over favourable exchange rates led to a 37% rise in UK visitors in the first 10 months of 1998.
Visitor volumes totalled more than 398,000 between January and October 1998, compared with nearly 290,000 in the same period the previous year.
UK and Ireland marketing manager Chris Lee said: “Thailand is a good value destination. The figures up to last October reflect the bookings made earlier in the year, when it was getting lots of publicity about that. Also, operators pulled out all the stops for us.”
Lee claims recent feedback from operators suggests early bookings for 1999 are strong. Nevertheless, he is expecting only a modest increase in visitors of 10% this year.
“It’s down to what the UKeconomy does and the relationship between sterling and the euro,” he said.