Thailand’s economy shrank in the third quarter, official data yesterday showed, but hopes for a gradual recovery are picking up after the kingdom’s reopening to foreign tourists this month.
The country last year experienced its worst performance since the Asian financial crisis of 1997, with a 6.1 percent economic contraction.
GDP shrank 0.3 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) said, blaming the showing on COVID-19 restrictions.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“The measures to control the outbreak affected the economic activities,” NESCD secretary-general Danucha Pichayanan said yesterday during a news conference.
A COVID-19 outbreak in April this year saw the emergence of the highly contagious Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, which led to reimposing tough restrictions on services and restaurants.
NESDC data showed that the food service and accommodation sector shrank 18.6 percent from July to September because of “a decrease in domestic tourism and household spending.”
In Bangkok — a hotspot during the Delta wave — restrictions only began to ease in the past few weeks, with the government allowing certain restaurants to reopen and serve alcohol.
The relaxation of restrictions and a gradual return of vaccinated foreign tourists since Nov. 1 are giving officials hope for growth of 1.2 percent this year.
The country also expects 5 million tourists to return next year, bringing revenues of up to US$13.44 billion, NESDC said.
Pandemic travel restrictions sent Thailand’s visitor numbers plummeting from 40 million in 2019 to just 73,000 in the first eight months of this year.
Danucha said that the growth forecast for next year is between 3.5 and 4.5 percent as Thailand slowly recovers from the pandemic.
China was the source of most of Thailand’s foreign travelers before the pandemic, but with the country continuing to restrict outbound travel, Thailand’s cash-cow industry is unlikely to fully recover before 2024, experts have said.
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