China and Malaysia lead as Thailand welcomes 5.9 million visitors in early 2026
The Ministry of Tourism and Sports reports 293 billion baht in revenue from foreign spending during the first eight weeks of 2026, despite a slight overall decrease in arrivals compared to the previous week.
- From January 1 to February 22, 2026, Thailand received a total of 5,947,434 foreign visitors.
- China was the leading source of tourists with 969,505 arrivals, followed by Malaysia with 573,323.
- The top five visiting nationalities were rounded out by Russia (457,
Ministry of Tourism Updates Latest Tourism Situation: From January 1 - February 22, Thailand Sees Nearly 6 Million Foreign Tourists.
Updated on Tuesday (February 24) about the latest tourism situation.
From January 1 to February 22, Thailand welcomed a total of 5,947,434 foreign tourists, a decrease of 4.91%, generating approximately THB293,119 million in revenue from foreign tourist spending.
Top 5 Foreign Tourist Arrivals in Thailand
- China 969,505 tourists
- Malaysia 573,323 tourists
- Russia 457,250 tourists
- India 376,738 tourists
- South Korea 283,623 tourists
Natthriya Thaweevong, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, stated that based on the assessment, nearly 6 million foreign tourists have cumulatively travelled to Thailand from January 1 to February 22.
Over the past week, there has been an increase in tourists from Malaysia and Russia travelling during the school holiday period.
Specifically, Malaysian tourist arrivals reached 110,000 within the past 8 weeks, or an increase of 33.02% from the previous week.
Meanwhile, Chinese tourist arrivals have slowed down as the long domestic holiday period comes to an end, yet they continued to travel, reaching over 200,000 tourists.
Consequently, the overall picture for this week (between February 16 - 22, 2026) showed a total of 879,587 foreign tourists.
This is a decrease of 2,969 tourists, or 0.34%, from the previous week, averaging 125,655 foreign tourist arrivals to Thailand per day.
The top 5 foreign tourist arrivals
- Chinese tourists (199,078, a 0.68% decrease from the previous week)
- Malaysian tourists (111,581, a 33.02% increase from the previous week)
- Russian tourists (60,442, a 7.57% increase from the previous week)
- Indian tourists (42,893, a 10.78% decrease from the previous week)
- South Korean tourists (34,318, an 18.19% decrease from the previous week).
For the following week, foreign tourist arrivals are expected to remain stable.
This is supported by travel-promoting factors, including stimulus measures for the Chinese tourist market and a shift in travel behaviour among Chinese tourists, who are increasingly changing their destinations from Japan to South Korea and ASEAN.
Additionally, there are measures promoting a safety image via "Trusted Thailand", the government's "Ease of Travelling" measures that facilitate travel to Thailand, the exemption of the TM.6 form, and the encouragement of airlines to increase the number of flights.
