“There’s still a silver lining despite the sluggish period, as the tourism sector in key southern provinces grew by 25.7% during the first five months of this year,” she said.
In Phuket, Songkhla and Surat Thani, the tourism industry rose 7.2%, 61.5% and 24.7%, respectively. Chinese were the major tourist arrivals in Phuket, replacing the Russians and Malaysians that drove Songkhla’s economy.