Although the past year in Thailand has been quite testing in the tourism sector, due to the political turmoil in Bangkok, there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel. Over the first quarter of 2015, international passenger traffic figures are slightly higher than this time last year, which really is impressive considering the recent problems.
Anyone involved in the tourism industry will tell you that Russian arrivals have almost come to a complete halt over the past year, due to the economic and currency problems the country is currently experiencing.
The big points to consider in the stats, is that Chinese tourists visiting Thailand have almost doubled from 1.037 to 2.033 million, which has cushioned the blow of the 376,000 Russian shortfall.
The first-quarter figures also show a dramatic rise in arrivals from Malaysia, going from 521,000 to 890,000 in contrast to the same period from 12 months ago.
Although we still have a long way to go, these positive arrival figures have proved there is some light at the end of the tunnel.
