Malaysia now No.1 source of tourists

First half saw country leapfrog the Chinese

- NARUMON KASEMSUK

Malaysia has surpassed China as the largest inbound tourism market for Thailand in the first half of this year, as the latter plunged by 34.1%, while tourism operators say they have little hope that Asian markets will rise in the low season.

In the first six months, Thailand welcomed 16.6 million foreign arrivals, dipping 4.6% year-on-year, according to the Tourism and Sports Ministry.

Only four source markets tallied more than 1 million tourists for the period: Malaysia, China, India and Russia.

Malaysia posted 2.29 million arrivals and China 2.26 million, registering declines of 5.59% and 34.1% respectively, followed by the Indian market at 1.18 million arrivals, up 13.8%, and Russia at 1.03 million, a gain of 12.3%.