Return of tourists helps Thailand keep economic growth target

Pedestrians on Khaosan Road in Bangkok, Thailand, on July 2, 2022. Foreign tourist arrivals into Thailand are set to beat official forecasts with the lifting of pandemic-era restrictions, a rare positive for the nation’s Covid-battered economy and currency. - Bloomberg

BANGKOK, July 26 (Bloomberg): Thailand’s Finance Ministry maintained its forecast for the economy to expand at 3.5% this year, with the scrapping of travel curbs and a weaker baht creating bargains to win tourists back.

The Southeast Asian nation expects to host 8 million foreign tourists this year, Pornchai Thiraveja, director general of the ministry’s fiscal policy office, said in Bangkok on Tuesday. That compares with 6.1 million forecast in April and 40 million who visited the country in the year before the pandemic.