Arrivals from the UK to Thailand reached a notable 745,525, a 9.48 per cent increase on the previous year’s statistics according to figures releases by the Tourism Auhtority of Thailand. Arrivals from Ireland increased by 13.97 per cent over last year’s statistic to 56,994, giving a combined total of 802,519 visitors from the UK and Ireland.

December was the busiest month of the year by far with 86,210 UK visitors, an increase of 9.8% per cent on last year’s statistic. The second busiest month for UK visitors was November with 69,065 arrivals.

Commenting on Thailand’s growth, Mr Tanes Petsuwan - Director TAT London remarked, We are delighted with Thailand’s progress, TAT far exceeded its target of 700,000 UK visitors with a large influx towards the end of the year. With rising numbers, we have set a target of 882,514 visitors from UK and Ireland for 2007. Full credit must be given to our partners for their continued support.

A spokesperson from Thai Airways London office says the upturn in TAT’s figures for that time was reflected in their own passenger figures. ‘Lie-flat’ beds together with VOD in-flight entertainment encouraged the leisure passenger to experience the additional comfort of Royal Silk Class service. Thai operate twice daily non-stop to Bangkok and have an extensive flights within Thailand.

The UK and Ireland have the sixth largest amount of visitors to Thailand only after Malaysia, Japan, Korea, China, and Singapore. The UK and Ireland hold the largest European market of visitors to Thailand. Arrivals from the UK alone accounted for 22.4 per cent of the total arrivals from the European market.

TAT has set a target of 14.8 million international visitor arrivals for 2007 with hopes of generating estimated revenues of 547.5 billion baht (approximately