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Thailand Sees Decline in Foreign Arrivals, Revises Forecasts

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Photo courtesy of MGR Online

 

Thailand experienced a 7.25% drop in foreign arrivals from January 1 to October 26 this year, welcoming 26.25 million visitors compared to 2024. This decline, reported by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, indicates persistent challenges in Thailand's crucial tourism sector despite ongoing recovery efforts. Malaysia was the largest source of visitors, with 3.8 million, followed by China at 3.72 million.

 

In light of the decline, the Bank of Thailand (BoT) has revised its foreign arrival forecast for 2025 to 33 million, a reduction from the 35 million initially expected, and far below the pre-pandemic peak of nearly 40 million in 2019. Vitai Ratanakorn, BoT Governor, addressed economic concerns at a business seminar, projecting economic improvement by the first quarter of 2026, amid a slowdown in the latter half of this year.

 

Ratanakorn identified bad debt as an urgent issue, with escalation in support measures expected within weeks. The Thai government plans to invest 10 billion baht (US$305.34 million) this month in purchasing bad debts, aiming to relieve around 2 million people affected. With household debt at 86.8% of GDP, among the highest in Asia, this remains a significant economic hurdle.

 

Despite tourism being essential to Thailand's economic recovery, the economy is expected to grow by only 2.2% in 2025 and 1.6% in 2026, following a 2.5% growth in 2024. While aiming to boost international tourism, Thailand grapples with these financial challenges, seeking a balance in its economic strategy.

 

The government is hopeful that renewed economic measures, along with a rebound in tourism, will steer Thailand toward recovery and sustainable growth. These initiatives are seen as critical to addressing both the drop in foreign arrivals and the broader economic issues the country faces.

 

Key Takeaways

  • Thailand saw a 7.25% decrease in foreign arrivals over 10 months.
  • The BoT cut arrival forecasts for 2025, setting a new target of 33 million.
  • Bad debt and household debt remain pressing economic challenges.

 

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Thailand’s tourism slips amid mounting debt and weak growth

Thailand Aims for Tourism Recovery with New Safety Initiatives

 

image.png  Adapted by ASEAN Now from The Thaiger 2025-10-29

 

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  • Thailand has no clue what a tourist want and think. The declining tourists are the Government to blame. Too conservative and nothing special to offer.

  • The BoT doing arrival forecasts..., don't they believe the TAT anymore? 

  • Strong Baht, silly alcohol regulations, vaping ban etc.   Hardly the cheap, fun, laid back paradise that attracted people to Thailand in the first place.

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Thailand has no clue what a tourist want and think. The declining tourists are the Government to blame. Too conservative and nothing special to offer.

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15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

the Bank of Thailand (BoT) has revised its foreign arrival forecast for 2025 to 33 million

The BoT doing arrival forecasts..., don't they believe the TAT anymore? 

  • Popular Post

Strong Baht, silly alcohol regulations, vaping ban etc.

 

Hardly the cheap, fun, laid back paradise that attracted people to Thailand in the first place.

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Revises forecasts !!

Yeah for about two days , then it will announce 6 billion people are coming to Thailand 🙄🤯

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The government is purchasing bad debts .... must let all my loser ex's know, then they might lose my tel number...

16 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

This decline, reported by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, indicates persistent challenges in Thailand's crucial tourism sector despite ongoing recovery efforts

Change what's on offer and people might come.

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33 minutes ago, klauskunkel said:

The BoT doing arrival forecasts..., don't they believe the TAT anymore? 

Does anyone ?

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    What is striking to me is not the international tourist numbers, which really aren't that bad, but the forecast of just 1.6% economic growth for next year.  That is bad.  Thailand can't expect tourism to carry all the load.  It needs to look at everything else that is contributing to that anemic 1.6% number.  All segments need improvement with a number that low.   Just as a comparison, next door Vietnam has around 6% as its forecasted growth rate for 2026, according to Google.  

     Thailand's economic growth rate in 2010, when I arrived, was 7.8%.  The international tourist visitor number for 2010 was 15.8 million.  It's easy to see that, with 33 million international visitors projected for 2025, tourism is actually doing its share for the economy.  It's lots of other segments that are not.  

28 minutes ago, ronster said:

Revises forecasts !!

Yeah for about two days , then it will announce 6 billion people are coming to Thailand 🙄🤯

Never fear the swarm will return.

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The Land of the Flip Flop forecasts.

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46 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

Strong Baht, silly alcohol regulations, vaping ban etc.

 

Hardly the cheap, fun, laid back paradise that attracted people to Thailand in the first place.

The vape ban was a good idea. Tools trying to look cool sending clouds of awful smelling smoke annoying folk was a pain......🤢

13 minutes ago, Vlada Floric said:

Never fear the swarm will return.

Yeah the pad Thai will always make them return 😄

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Well just had one week in Danang, two connecting rooms four star hotel 4300 a night (for both), going rate in Thailand is 7K +. Food is about 20% cheaper, wine same same, taxi/Grabs are cheaper. Entry/Exit formalities take one minute, with a smile. The country is huge and has plenty to offer. My Khe is spotlessly clean and rightfully considered on of the greatest beaches in the world.

 

Only idiots would keep coming to Thailand.

 

Forgot to say that the money spent in Nam isn't subject to IT.

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3 minutes ago, Peter Crow said:

Well just had one week in Danang, two connecting rooms four star hotel 4300 a night (for both), going rate in Thailand is 7K +. Food is about 20% cheaper, wine same same, taxi/Grabs are cheaper. Entry/Exit formalities take one minute, with a smile. The country is huge and has plenty to offer. My Khe is spotlessly clean and rightfully considered on of the greatest beaches in the world.

 

Only idiots would keep coming to Thailand.

 

Forgot to say that the money spent in Nam isn't subject to IT.

 

 

I had a deluxe room with sea view in a 3 star boutique hotel for 1,100  Baht a night.

 

Just imagine if Pattaya had the foresight to put in a similar infrastructure to Da Nang's Beach Road area.

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7 minutes ago, hotandsticky said:

Just imagine if Pattaya had the foresight to put in a similar infrastructure to Da Nang's Beach Road area.

There is one thing they could improve: bridges to cross Beach road. And slow down traffic. But yes many areas in Da Nang look more like Singapore than Pattaya, most utilities are underground and I couldn't find transformers to block the footpath.

46 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Does anyone ?

 

Not any normal pepole.

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tourists are going to more welcoming countries where the exchange rate is not manipulated , and they are treated  better  !!!!

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Handing out 10,000b fines at a restaurant at 2.01pm cause the tourist is finishing his/her alcoholic beverage is a great way to boost tourism !

I'd like them to supply more than just numbers of visitors (Malaysia leads current report). Seems length of stay might be correlated to how much is spent... give us the mean/mode/median numbers.

Some Malaysian guys crossing into S Thailand for some female companionship have different spending levels and areas than a family of Chinese....

I myself will be responsible for three of the total number of foreigner entries for this year.

 

It helps the official numbers to look better but what it actually means is that I have been leaving Thailand for months at a time and I’m spending less time and money in Thailand.

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, transam said:

The vape ban was a good idea. Tools trying to look cool sending clouds of awful smelling smoke annoying folk was a pain......🤢

 

Certainly not a good idea for tourism considering how many people vape these days and the highly publicized incidents of tourists getting arrested/extorted for having them.

 

Plus second hand vapour is harmless and virtually odorless, unlike second hand smoke from cigarettes.

 

Drunks, diesel spewing trucks and bars full of cigarette smoke are far more offensive IMO. 

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1 hour ago, Peter Crow said:

There is one thing they could improve: bridges to cross Beach road. And slow down traffic. But yes many areas in Da Nang look more like Singapore than Pattaya, most utilities are underground and I couldn't find transformers to block the footpath.

Moreover Danang beach provide amenities for beach goers such as taps by the beach to clean up the sands before leaving beach and clean beach toilets all free of charge. A shame for pattaya beach facilities. 

19 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

 

Certainly not a good idea for tourism considering how many people vape these days and the highly publicized incidents of tourists getting arrested/extorted for having them.

 

Plus second hand vapour is harmless and virtually odorless, unlike second hand smoke from cigarettes.

 

Drunks, diesel spewing trucks and bars full of cigarette smoke are far more offensive IMO. 

Then we have a different opinion on Vapes.....🤗

Oh, vapes are not odourless, and the smoke flavours drifting around are 'orrible....🤢

 

I wonder if vapers know, that if caught smoking a fag in or near a venue is 2000bht fine, if a vape, 5000bht, so even the powers that be, think the same as me........🤭

1 hour ago, Ralf001 said:

Handing out 10,000b fines at a restaurant at 2.01pm cause the tourist is finishing his/her alcoholic beverage is a great way to boost tourism !

So it wasn't an after hours top-up then..............:whistling:

7 minutes ago, transam said:

So it wasn't an after hours top-up then..............:whistling:

 

What are you dribbling about ?

1 hour ago, Emdog said:

I'd like them to supply more than just numbers of visitors (Malaysia leads current report). Seems length of stay might be correlated to how much is spent... give us the mean/mode/median numbers.

Some Malaysian guys crossing into S Thailand for some female companionship have different spending levels and areas than a family of Chinese....

The Bangkok Post in August this year stated that "According to TAT, Malaysian tourists' average spending is roughly 5,500 baht per day, or over 28,700 baht per trip, staying 4.96 days."

 

https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/tourism/thailand-eyes-5-million-malaysian-tourists-amid-china-competition

 

Which is about the average according to RoadGenius who say "In 2024, international tourists spent an average of 5,690 baht per day, approximately $160 USD while visiting Thailand."

 

https://roadgenius.com/statistics/tourism/thailand/

 

Just now, Ralf001 said:

 

What are you dribbling about ?

Well I did make it short so you may understand.......😬

2 minutes ago, transam said:

Well I did make it short so you may understand.......😬

 

<deleted> off and annoy someone else with your crap.

Flip flops not only on the feet - many are being used as brain covers!

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