Bangkok, Thailand – Source: Kate Webster

Despite flooding throughout the country last year, Thailand’s tourism sector has shown resilience by ending 2011 with over 19 million international visitors, representing an annual growth of 20 per cent compared to 2010.

Rapid growth in the number of tourist arrivals are the result of the co-operation between public and private sectors and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) launch of the “Beautiful Thailand” campaign.

“The Thai tourism sector has proven its ability to bounce back when faced with similar situations in the past. This is due to the uniqueness and quality of our tourism products and the strength of the Thailand brand, which has strong affinity with travellers all over the world,” Deputy Governor for International Marketing (Asia and the South Pacific) Mr Sansern Ngaorungsi said.

The first week of January 2012 started strong for Thailand with over 300,000 international visitors, nearly on par with figures for the same period last year, and proving that Thailand’s tourism sector has rebounded.