BANGKOK, April 17 (UPI) -- International tourism is reported to have increased in Bangkok during the first three months of the year.
After a 1.3 percent drop in international tourist arrivals at the Bangkok airport during the first quarter of 2004, growth rebounded with a 94 percent year-on-year rise to 147,608 during the first week of April.
However, Sonthaya Khunpluem, the city's tourism and sports minister, noted the 94 percent figure was from a low base as the country was dealing with the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome during the same week last year.
Compared with the first week of April 2002, the growth rate was 9.4 percent.
''Tourist arrivals in April this year are still higher than in April 2002 when there was no SARS crisis, which indicates that the industry is still stable despite various crises,'' he said, referring to the aftermath of a bird flu outbreak and current unrest in the Southern part of Tailand.
