Tourism draw: Places like this ice-cream cafe and theme park in Pattaya are set to see more visitors with the April 12 holiday. — AFP
THE Cabinet has approved an additional holiday for civil servants during the traditional new year festival in April as the South-East Asian nation seeks to sustain a recovery in its tourism industry.
The special holiday on April 12 will apply to government offices and other state agencies and extend the so-called Songkran festival period to five days until April 16.
The move will boost local tourism and spending, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said after a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
Since taking office six months ago, Srettha’s government has rolled out several measures to boost tourism – what he calls a “quick win” – to shore up growth that’s averaged less than 2% in the past decade. The sector accounts for about 12% of gross domestic product and nearly a fifth of jobs.
Thailand has seen a 48% surge in foreign tourist arrivals to 4.4 million since the start of the year from a year ago with more Chinese travellers visiting the country under a visa-waiver programme.
Almost 200,000 travellers from mainland China flocked to Thailand last week during the Chinese New Year holidays, up 68% from a week earlier, official data showed.
The Thai government targets 35 million foreign arrivals this year, with 8 million expected from China. Travellers from the mainland accounted for more than 25% of the 40 million foreign visitors in 2019 but made up only about 3.5 million out of the 28 million tourists last year.
Tourism revenue from foreign visitors totalled US$6bil (RM28.5bil) as of Feb 11, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports. — Bloomberg
