Tourism arrivals from Europe are down due to competing destinations and a stronger currency in Thailand.

Thailand‘s tourism is expecting the number of visitor arrivals from Europe to decline to about 6.66 million in 2019. That would constitute a 1.5% year on year decrease.

Projected European tourist spending in Thailand is Bt468 billion (15.36 billion US-Dollar). Spending is down 1 percent  per year. Visitors spend slightly less due to the stronger Thai Baht Exchange rate.

For the last four months of this year, the number of European tourist arrivals is expected to be about the same as the same period in 2018.

According to Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports, some 4.44 million European tourists visited in the first eight months of this year, a 1.9-percent drop. The decline was seen for visitors arrivals from Russia, Germany, Sweden, and France.

This year’s high season was challenging for the Thai travel and tourism sector, as the country faced both a stronger Thai Baht Currency and tougher competition from other destinations that stepped up their tourism marketing campaigns.
Times changed from 2013 when Thailand recorded record growth in tourism.