Thailand’s tourism sector continues to face headwinds, with foreign visitor arrivals from January 1 to August 17 dropping 7.04% year-on-year, according to data released by the Tourism Ministry on Tuesday.
The nation welcomed approximately 20.81 million foreign tourists during the period, with China remaining the top source market, contributing 2.93 million arrivals.
The decline in arrivals has prompted the state planning agency to revise its expectation, lowering the forecast for international arrivals in 2025 to 33 million, down from an earlier projection of 37 million.
This revised outlook underscores the challenges facing Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy as it looks to recover from the pandemic-induced slump. Before COVID-19 struck, Thailand set a record with nearly 40 million foreign visitors in 2019.
