Tourism Council of Thailand downgrades tourist arrival and revenue forecasts for 2011

Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT) has reduced its growth target for tourist arrivals to Thailand in 2011 to 4-8% from an earlier 8-10% due to the Japanese earthquake and tsunami and lingering economic concerns in Europe and the US (Bangkok Post, 20-Apr-2011). Its new projection for 2011 is 16.76 million to 17.21 million visitors, up from 15.5 million in 2010, while tourism revenue is forecast at between THB622 billion (USD20.7 billion) and THB640 billion (USD21.3 billion).