Thailand welcomes more UK visitors in '06

Thailand enjoyed continued popularity with UK tourists last year, with new figures revealing that 9.5 per cent more people visited the country in 2006 than the previous year.

Over 745,000 travellers headed from the UK to the south-east Asian country, while nearly 57,000 departed Ireland for Thailand, which represents a 14 per cent rise.

With a combined total of over 802,000 visitors throughout 2006, the UK and Ireland has more travellers departing its shores on the way to Thailand than any other non-Asian country.

The most popular month for travel to the country last year was December, when over 86,000 people left the UK for Thailand, nearly ten per cent more than in 2005.

Tanes Petsuwan, director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), which released the figures, said: "We are delighted with Thailand's progress and TAT far exceeded its target of 700,000 UK visitors thanks to a large influx towards the end of the year."

Thai Airways concurred with the TAT research, saying that the growth in travel between the UK and Thailand was reflected in its passenger numbers last year.

Flights to Thailand are available from a number of UK hubs, including Heathrow Airport and Birmingham Airport.