With increasing visitor arrivals year on year and a marketing strategy to achieve 28 million or more tourists in 2015, Thailand’s tourism infrastructure needs to expand to cope with demand. More than 63,000 Irish visitors went to Thailand last year.
- Suvarnabhumi, Bangkok’s international airport (BKK), has a new capacity of 80 million passengers per year
- Don Muang, Bangkok’s domestic airport (DMK) will grow to a capacity of 30 million passengers per year
- Phuket International Airport (HKT) is doubling its capacity to 12.5 million passengers by 2016 with the construction of a new terminal due to open Q1 of 2016
- U-Tapao airport (UTP), close to the seaside resort of Pattaya, is expected to open its runway to regional charter flights from China and Malaysia, while there are plans to expand Chiang Mai airport (CNX) to cope with growing demand for travel to northern Thailand.
High-speed rail links are under development, with support from China and Japan, to drastically improve the quality of rail travel across Thailand. Within the next two to three years the Bangkok – Chiang Mai route will be the first to be developed, followed by three further routes better connecting the north east, east coast and south of Thailand with the capital city of Bangkok. Four routes in all will be upgraded.
