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Return of Tourists Helps Thailand Keep Economic Growth Target

  • Finance ministry keeps GDP growth target at 3.5% this year
  • Weaker baht making it cheaper for tourists to visit Thailand
Tourists stand next to a fruit vendor on Khaosan Road in Bangkok, Thailand.

Tourists stand next to a fruit vendor on Khaosan Road in Bangkok, Thailand.

Photographer: Andre Malerba/Bloomberg

Thailand’s Finance Ministry maintained its forecast for the economy to expand at 3.5% this year, with the scrapping of travel curbs and a weaker baht creating bargains to win tourists back.

The Southeast Asian nation expects to host 8 million foreign tourists this year, Pornchai Thiraveja, director general of the ministry’s fiscal policy office, said in Bangkok on Tuesday. That compares with 6.1 million forecast in April and 40 million who visited the country in the year before the pandemic.