Thailand Believes to be the Top Muslim Tourist Destination Within the Next 5 Years

(CTN News) –  Thailand is expected to become a major destination for foreign Muslim tourists over the next half-decade. Rachada Dhnadirek, Deputy Government Spokesperson, stated the intention to attract more Muslim holidaymakers, citing their growing numbers and improved spending ability.

During her Friday announcement, she stated that Muslim travelers constituted a significant portion of Thailand’s tourism business. Last year, there was a significant increase in the number of Muslim tourists to the country, accounting for almost three million, a significant increase from the 875,043 reported in 2017.

She noted that these estimates were based on the Department of Tourism (DoT) data. The average Muslim traveler stays for about 13 days, and each guest spends about 6,000 baht daily. The DoT has proposed a five-year strategy from 2023 to 2027 to increase the kingdom’s attraction among Muslim tourists.

This technique strives to improve tourism operators’ service quality to meet international standards. It entails the introduction of halal goods, services, and activities that cater to the needs of Muslim tourists while utilizing technology to make their trips easier.

The Department of Tourism is actively working with other sectors to develop strategies for portraying Thailand as a welcome tourism destination that respects Muslim norms. According to the deputy spokesman, the strategy plan predicts driving the country onto the shortlist of top choices for Muslim travelers within the next five years.

“The government understands the importance of catering to the Muslim tourism market.” We are hopeful that the next government will maintain this approach.”

The Global Muslim Travel Index 2023, released by Mastercard-Cresentrating, currently ranks Indonesia and Malaysia equally first, followed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Turkey. (It should be noted that the top five tourism countries are all Muslim countries.)

Thailand has attracted approximately 16.472 million international tourists since the beginning of this year, according to a concurrent report from the Tourism and Sports Ministry’s Economics Tourism and Sports Division. The surge has increased tourism revenue to around 689 billion baht.

The main tourism groups responsible for this influx arrived first from Malaysia (2,581,251), then from China (2,027,823), South Korea (982,328), India (947,431), and Russia (884,839).

From August 7 to 13, Thailand had 577,136 foreign tourist arrivals, with visitors from Japan and India increasing by 84.36% and 22.54%, respectively, from the previous week.

According to the ministry, approximately 570,000 more international tourists will visit the country this week, most coming from East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.

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