The number of foreign visitors to Thailand this year may drop by 15-20 percent as the martial law still remains in effect which could cause the tourism revenue falling by 20-30 percent from last year.

Visitors to the Royal Palace in Bangkok (Photo: Zuma Press)

Tourists in more than 40 countries might be still worried about security and safety under martial law. The problem was showed in the hotel advance booking list not increasing as expected for the coming high season in Thailand, vice president for marketing at Thai Hotels Association Supawan Tanomkieatipume said.

The Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA) has reported that arrivals from the top 40 tourist sources had dropped by between 10 and 60 percent during the first eight months, and the major reason was political uncertainty under a military regime.

Thai tourism authorities had forecast total arrivals of 28 million this year, however, the figure was lowered to 25.5 million while revenue now is expected to be 1.2 trillion THB. The 2015 forecast for domestic travel is 135 million trips.

The tourism sector accounts for 10 percent of the country's gross domestic product. It is hoped that tourism will generate total revenue of 2.2 trillion THB next year with 1.4 trillion THB from international market and 800 billion THB from domestic market.

(Source: VNA)