PHUKET: The Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Yuthasak Supasorn has admitted that the number of tourist bookings to Thailand has slowed down with the latest COVID-19 strain of Omicron believed to be the chief factor.
Yuthasak said that there were on avergae 5 to 6,000 international tourists arriving in the Kingdom per day prior to the Omicron outbreak but that figure has fallen to less than 3,000 per day since Dec 8.
He added that on Dec 15 it was reported a total of 2,584 tourists entered the country and that many were now postponing their booking to the New Year in the hope the Omicron strain can be better understood and contained.
The majority of anticipated tourists were due to arrive from Europe, especially the UK, Germany and France, all countries that have been hit hard by the Omicron outbreak.
Yuthasak confirmed that since the country officially opened its borders to tourists from 'low risk countries' on Nov 1, a total of 160,079 tourists have arrived up until Dec 15. The top five countries are Germany, the UK, the US, Russia and France.
He added that a total of 544,566 have registered for the Thailand Pass and 436,008 have so far been approved and that, despite declining numbers, the per capita spend per tourist has risen from approximately B7,000 per person to approximately B8,000 per person.