Thai tourism plunges 22%
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The Thai tourism industry has suffered its deepest slump in many decades with the number of visitors expected to be down 22% on last year, the Bangkok Post reported the Tourism Council of Thailand’s Chairman, Kongkit Hiranyakij, as saying. The drop marks the biggest plunge in tourism growth in 49 years, he said. Besides the global economic crisis, the country’s political turmoil had contributed to the sharp decline in tourism, Hiranyakij said on Thursday. The expected number of tourist arrivals had been reduced from the expected 14.1 million to 11 million, he said.The A(H1N1) scare could make tourism contract by 3-4%, causing the country to lose up to THB200 billion (US$5.8 billion) of tourism revenue this year, he said. Last year, Thailand gained THB540 billion in tourism revenue.”If the government can solve its political problems and is able to host the ASEAN meetings successfully, tourism should be revived by the end of this year or the beginning of 2010,” Hiranyakji was quoted saying.
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