Russian tourists top Phuket's 6 million visitor list

Tourists in March crowd old town Phuket, a favourite with international arrivals from Europe and Russia who travel to the resort island for the warm weather. (Photo: Achadtaya Chuenniran)

Phuket welcomed more than 6 million international tourists during the first five months of the year, with Russians the biggest group among them.

According to Lertchai Wangtrakuldee, director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT)'s Phuket Office, the largest groups of international arrivals to the resort island from January to last month were Russians followed by Chinese, Indians, Australians and Kazakhs. During the first five months of the year, the 6 million tourists injected at least 196 billion baht in circulated income.