BANGKOK - Thailand recorded more than 32 million foreign visitors in 2025, with Malaysians topping the list of arrivals at over 4.5 million visitors.
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, Natthriya Taweewong, said the total number of foreign tourists travelling to Thailand between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2025, stood at 32,974,321, generating 1.53 trillion Baht in revenue from foreign tourist spending.
She said the top five source markets were Malaysia with 4.52 million visitors, followed by China (4.47 million), India (2.49 million), Russia (1.9 million) and South Korea (1.55 million).
"Overall, foreign tourist arrivals last year generated approximately 1.53 trillion Baht in tourism revenue,” she said in a statement recently. (100 baht = RM12.99)
However, Natthriya noted that foreign tourist arrivals slowed across all market segments during the first week of 2026, a trend she described as normal following the end of the New Year holidays.
She said arrivals declined by 16.55 per cent week on week, totalling 724,971 foreign tourists, a decrease of 143,823 visitors compared with the previous week.
"As of Jan 5, 2026, Thailand recorded a cumulative total of 376,391 foreign tourists from Jan 1 to Jan 4, 2026, generating approximately 18.16 billion Baht in revenue from foreign tourist expenditure,” she added.
Looking ahead, Natthriya said foreign tourist arrivals are expected to ease further in the coming week.
However, she noted that supporting factors remain, including the high tourism season in Europe and the Americas, as well as measures to encourage airlines to increase flight frequencies.
Thailand had aimed to attract at least 38 million international tourists in 2025, but severe flooding that swept across the northern, northeastern and southern regions in November last year affected the tourism sector and reduced tourist arrivals. - BERNAMA