Thailand targets 1 million Japanese visitors in 2024

Polphum Wipatphumiprathet, a close aide to Tourism and Sports Minister Sermsak Pongpanich, said on Aug. 4 that the ministry is exploring ways to attract more Japanese tourists, and plans to discuss how to bolster tourism cooperation with relevant Japanese authorities.

Polphum said that Japan has a population of 124 million and is the world's fourth-largest economy, adding that Japanese visitors are also widely considered high-quality tourists.

The number of Japanese visitors to Thailand reached about 800,000 last year, he said, adding in the first half of this year, out of 17.5 million foreign arrivals, 470,789 were Japanese tourists.

The top five sources of foreign tourists during the period were China (3.43 million), Malaysia (2.43 million), India (1 million), South Korea (934,983) and Russia (920,989).

The ministry aims to earn 3.5 trillion baht (US$38.4 million) in tourism revenue, said Polphum.