"For Thailand, it would be a psychological milestone to surpass 40 million visitors as it would almost certainly have done so in 2020, if not for COVID," he told DW. "Had arrivals continued to grow in 2020 and onwards, it is likely Thailand would have reached or be close to its actual ceilings for arrivals now."
"Growing annual arrivals matters to governments, but the economy needs higher per-visitor spending and an increase in the average length of stay," he said. "Thailand will want to focus on better economic yield from its visitor economy rather than relying on one-dimension metrics like annual arrivals, which takes no account of average stay, spending or travel dispersal around the country."
The kingdom has already welcomed 26 million visitors in 2024 and forecasts 36 million arrivals by the end of the year. Destinations like Maya Bay struggle to balance preservation with over 4,000 tourists visiting every day.
Thailand is already one of the world's most popular tourist destinations, and nearly 20% of the Thai workforce is in the tourism industry.
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