Foreign Tourist Arrivals Drop 3% to 18.5 Million
Thailand's foreign tourist arrivals dropped 3% to 18.51 million through early August 2025, with southern unrest and reduced India flights weighing on growth despite strong long-haul markets.
Tourism and Sports Minister Suraskul Pantjaerngvalkul announced that Thailand received 18.51 million foreign tourists between January 1 and August 1, 2025, down 3.19% year-on-year, generating 896.2 billion baht in spending. The top five source markets are China (3.08 million), Malaysia (2.37 million), India (1.38 million), Russia (1.1 million), and South Korea (679,000).
In the latest week of July 26–August 1, near-market tourism slowed due to unrest reports in southern border provinces and reduced airline capacity on India routes, with India–Thailand flights down 28.6% and India–Malaysia flights down 20.7% year-on-year. Long-haul markets, particularly Europe, continued growing, buoyed by new routes to Dubai and Amsterdam and South Korean summer school holidays bringing families. South Korean arrivals surged 19.85% week-on-week to rank fourth overall, up from fifth the previous week.
Thailand recorded 567,312 foreign tourists this week, down 2.92% from the previous week (averaging 81,045 per day). Short-haul markets brought 362,773 visitors, down 4.34%, while long-haul markets attracted 204,539, down 0.31%.
