Earlier this week, Thailand’s Cupboard authorised two extra holidays for 2025, in a bid to stimulate home tourism and pull the nation’s economic system out of its post-pandemic funk.
Particular holidays have been added on June 2 and August 11 of subsequent yr, each of them Mondays, to be able to create four-day weekends together with the Queen’s Birthday vacation, which falls on June 3 and Mom’s Day on August 12. The federal government has declared a further vacation for January 2, 2026, which can stretch the New 12 months break to 5 days (December 31-January 4).
Following a Cupboard assembly on Tuesday, Deputy Minister Phumtham Wechayachai instructed the press that the brand new holidays had been supposed to encourage individuals to take longer journeys on the weekends.
The choice, whereas seemingly trivial, displays the federal government’s pressing want to stimulate development in Thailand’s economically pivotal tourism sector, which by one estimate counts for round 12 p.c of the nation’s gross home product and practically a fifth of its jobs.
Thailand’s tourism business imploded throughout COVID-19, which noticed worldwide vacationer numbers fall from greater than 40 million in 2019, the final full yr earlier than the pandemic, to six.7 million in 2020 after which to a paltry 428,000 in 2021.
Given the significance of tourism to Thailand’s economic system, which continues to develop at slower-than-expected charges, the Pheu Thai authorities has prioritized its restoration since taking workplace in September 2023. The federal government has briefly waived visas for vacationers from quite a lot of nations, a coverage that was made everlasting for Chinese language nationals in March. In July, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) introduced quite a lot of modifications to its visa regime, growing the variety of nations whose nationals are eligible for visa exemptions from 57 to 93, who at the moment are eligible to remain in Thailand for 60 days, up from 30 days beforehand.
It additionally launched the Vacation spot Thailand Visa, which permits international digital nomads, freelancers, and distant staff to remain in Thailand for as much as 180 days per go to, on a multiple-entry foundation, for a interval of 5 years. On prime of this, the TAT has taken steps to cut back bottlenecks on the nation’s airports, significantly at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, the place it has put in an automated passport management system.
The measures seem to have had some impact in dragging up tourism numbers. In line with Thai authorities figures, 28.15 million worldwide guests got here to Thailand in 2023, up from 11.15 million in 2022. The expansion has continued in 2024, with the variety of international arrivals exceeding 29 million to date this yr. The Thai authorities is assured that the nation is on the right track to exceed its yearly goal of 36.7 million, and can attain virtually 38 million by the top of 2024.
Given this trajectory, some within the business count on that 2025 could possibly be the yr that Thailand lastly exceeds the document 40 million threshold set in 2019.
“Until there’s an exterior occasion that we are able to’t foresee and except we do one thing improper, I feel there’s an opportunity we’ll cross the 2019 variety of vacationer arrivals into Thailand,” Omri Morgenshtern, the chief executor of the net journey platform Agoda Holdings, instructed reporters in Bangkok final week. “Our information means that Thailand could be very addictive. About 46 p.c of vacationers are coming for a second or third or fourth time.”
Breaking by way of the 40 million barrier would signify a psychological victory for the nation, if not a full answer to its financial issues.