Tourism Tourism rebound to help Thai economy to grow 3-3.5% this year By Reuters August 22, 2022 Creative Commons With pandemic curbs lifted, the tourism sector is expected to see 8 to 10 million foreign tourist arrivals this year Thailand’s economy is expected to grow by three to 3.5 percent this year, helped by public investments and a pick-up in the vital tourism sector, the finance minister said on Monday. Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy will continue its post-pandemic recovery as state investment projects are accelerated, Arkhom Termpittayapaisith told a state agency forum. “The economy will remain in a steady, albeit slow, recovery, and we have to ensure the recovery remains intact,” he said. Public investments are currently worth about 1 trillion baht ($27.87 billion) a year, he added. “I believe this year we will grow three percent to 3.5 percent, a satisfactory trend,” Arkhom said. With pandemic curbs lifted, the tourism sector, a key driver of Thai growth, is expected to see eight million to 10 million foreign tourist arrivals this year, he said. The figures are a surge from about 428,000 foreign tourists in 2021, when the economy expanded 1.5 percent, among the slowest in the region. There were nearly 40 million foreign visitors in 2019, before the pandemic.
