Thailand welcomes 32.9m foreign tourists in 2025

Thailand welcomed 32,974,321 foreign tourists in 2025, generating 1.53 trillion baht in revenue from overseas visitor spending, the Tourism and Sports Ministry said.

The five largest source markets over the year were Malaysia (4,520,856), China (4,473,992), India (2,487,319), Russia (1,898,837) and South Korea (1,555,227).

In the past week, foreign arrivals slowed across all market groups — a normal trend after the New Year holiday period. Weekly arrivals fell 16.55% from the previous week to 724,971, down 143,823. That equates to an average of 103,567 foreign arrivals per day.

The top five source markets for the week were Malaysia (90,463), Russia (70,587), China (65,982), India (48,584) and the United Kingdom (30,601). Arrivals from India, China, the UK, Malaysia and Russia fell 22.92%, 18.17%, 14.58%, 11.67% and 0.39% respectively from the previous week.

For next week, the ministry expects foreign arrivals to ease further, while noting supporting factors including the European and US high season and efforts to encourage airlines to add more flights.

As of Monday, January 5, 2026, Thailand recorded 376,391 foreign arrivals between January 1–4, 2026, generating about 18,158 million baht in revenue. The top five markets in that period were Malaysia (50,544), Russia (41,761), China (30,341), India (24,885) and South Korea (15,935).

TAT Governor Thapanee Kiatphaibool said the Tourism Authority of Thailand is targeting 36.7 million foreign arrivals in 2026. More than 70% are expected to be short-haul visitors from Asia and the South Pacific, totalling 25.7 million, while the remaining 30% — around 11 million — are expected from long-haul markets including Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and South Africa.

TAT is also targeting more than 205 million domestic trips by Thai travellers, focusing on increasing travel frequency. The overall goal is to generate about 2.78 trillion baht in total tourism revenue from both domestic and foreign markets, up 7% from an estimated 2.6 trillion baht in 2025.

Thapanee said 2025 foreign arrival figures were “not bad” given the challenges during the year. She added that Bangkok remained the world’s most-visited city, drawing more than 30.3 million foreign visitors, ahead of Hong Kong, London and Paris, and said the capital continues to perform strongly as a destination that attracts a wide range of “quality tourists”.