India's School Break and Middle East Flight Resumption Boost Tourist Arrivals
India's school holiday break and resumed Middle East flights are driving tourist recovery this week, with Indian arrivals exceeding 50,000 and overall weekly arrivals reaching 469,173 visitors to Thailand.
The Tourism and Sports Minister highlights positive factors this week as nearby market tourists recover their travel momentum through family-oriented trips during India's school holiday break. Indian tourists are reaching over 50,000 arrivals this week, while Middle Eastern tourists are also increasing thanks to airlines resuming normal service routes.
This week's overall foreign tourist arrivals totaled 469,173 people, a slight decrease of 3,584 people (0.76 percent) from the previous week, averaging 67,025 daily arrivals. The top five source countries are China (86,394 people), Malaysia (69,445 people), India (49,999 people), Russia (16,528 people), and Taiwan (16,024 people).
Taiwanese and Indian tourists showed increases of 14.50 percent and 8.06 percent respectively compared to the previous week, while Russian, Chinese, and Malaysian tourists declined by 19.68 percent, 7.93 percent, and 0.24 percent respectively.
For the coming week, foreign tourist arrivals are expected to increase further, driven by continuous holidays in countries including South Korea, Hong Kong, and Israel, normalized energy conditions in Thailand with competitively adjusted pricing, and the Trusted Thailand safety image initiative.
As of May 18, 2026, Thailand has received a cumulative 12,908,321 foreign tourists from January 1 to May 17, generating approximately 629,569 million baht in tourism revenue. The top five source countries overall are China (2,151,898 people), Malaysia (1,459,942 people), India (948,960 people), Russia (912,085 people), and South Korea (509,762 people).
