Thailand welcomed 18,510,243 international visitors between 1 January and 1 August 2026, with tourism generating 896.2 billion baht in revenue, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.

The total was down 3.19% on the same period last year, Tourism and Sports Minister Surasak Phancharoenworakul said. Even so, the figures underline the continuing scale of overseas travel to Thailand for tourists, long-stay visitors and people travelling to see family or conduct business.

China remained the largest overseas market, providing 3,078,486 visitors during the period. Malaysia was second with 2,373,537 arrivals, followed by India with 1,376,433, Russia with 1,100,847 and South Korea with 679,064.

Weekly arrivals also slip

Between 26 July and 1 August, Thailand received 567,312 foreign visitors, an average of 81,045 people a day. That weekly total was 2.92% lower than in the preceding week.

The ministry linked the decline primarily to softer arrivals from short-haul markets after reports of unrest in Thailand's southern border provinces. It also cited reduced airline capacity on India-Thailand routes, where available seats fell 28.6% year-on-year.

European markets continue to grow

Long-haul arrivals, especially from Europe, continued to rise, supported by new air links. The ministry highlighted services between Dubai and Bangkok's Don Mueang airport, and between Amsterdam and Suvarnabhumi airport.

South Korean arrivals rose 19.85% from the previous week, driven by family travel during South Korea's summer school holidays. This made South Korea Thailand's fourth-largest source market for that particular week, despite ranking fifth over the full January-to-August period.

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5 August 2026

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All quality tourists , I'm sure.

How do they know it generated exactly 896.2 billion THB ?

More random figures as usual 🙄

Not a positive development. More is rarely better. It diminishes the experience for everyone, makes the airports a hassle, creates all kinds of problems and causes countless issues.

Unfortunately, Thailand cannot attract many wealthy tourists any longer, for a dozen valid reasons. They have far too many other options, that offer a better experience.

1 hour ago, ronster said:

More random figures as usual 🙄

No.

1 hour ago, FlorC said:

All quality tourists , I'm sure.

How do they know it generated exactly 896.2 billion THB ?

They don't, but then they didn't specify that it was an exact figure, it could well have been a higher figure. They calculate those figures using statistical averages taken from ongoing tourist expenditure surveys just as the tourism authorities in many other countries, including your own, do.

1 minute ago, Liverpool Lou said:

No

If you say so 🙄🙈

6 minutes ago, ronster said:

7 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

No

If you say so

I did, but only because it's factual, unlike your lame Thai-bashing comment.

Edited August 5Aug 5 by Liverpool Lou

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

Unfortunately, Thailand cannot attract many wealthy tourists any longer

Do you have anything to back up that assertion that "Thailand can no longer attract many wealthy tourists"?

23 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Do you have anything to back up that assertion that "Thailand can no longer attract many wealthy tourists"?

No point in even trying because it's all first hand anecdotal information which you always discount, so what's the point?

Not good that the tourist numbers are down from last year. And, last year's numbers were down from the year before.

The company nominee crackdown I think will soon result in a downturn for the housing and construction industry, and all the many related industries tied to housing in general and housing construction. I know one Pattaya builder who mostly sold the homes she built to foreign buyers. With foreign buying drying up, she is pulling back. And, I'm sure she is not the only one.

That means workers laid off, construction materials not purchased, along with everything else needed when a house is constructed. Having just built a new house, I know there is a lot involved--both with a lot of different workers and all the different materials and items bought and used.

So, with both tourism and housing--both big for the economy--not doing well it's not looking very good for the overall Thai economy, either. Meanwhile, nothing in the way of bold, innovative thinking coming from the government, just some short-sighted, detrimental actions.

The sky is falling but not the Thai Bhat

The Russians will not travel much anymore; they have run out of diesel and gasoline, and aviation kerosene is also limited.

Check the queues in the photo. You're welcome!

Edited August 5Aug 5 by bdenner

What has changed to make 2026 Thailand more popular in 2026? Must be more Asian, Australian and North American visitors as they are not impacted as much by the war in the Middle East.

6 hours ago, newnative said:

Not good that the tourist numbers are down from last year. And, last year's numbers were down from the year before.

I thought 2025 was 32 million. Based on these figures 2026 will be 37 million. Unless the second half of the year is a complete disaster

7 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Do you have anything to back up that assertion that "Thailand can no longer attract many wealthy tourists"?

Isn't that a bit like Blackpool or Southend having a campaign to attract wealthy tourists?

31 minutes ago, Geoff914 said:

I thought 2025 was 32 million. Based on these figures 2026 will be 37 million. Unless the second half of the year is a complete disaster

The article stated that the numbers were down from last year at this same point. They may end up being better than 2025, which would be good.

14 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

Thailand welcomed 18,510,243 international visitors between 1 January and 1 August 2026

How many arrived with a TDAC already done ?

16 minutes ago, newnative said:

The article stated that the numbers were down from last year at this same point. They may end up being better than 2025, which would be good.

I missed that. What on Earth happened last year that the second half was so bad? I suppose it doesn't pick up until December.

7 hours ago, newnative said:

Not good that the tourist numbers are down from last year. And, last year's numbers were down from the year before.

The company nominee crackdown I think will soon result in a downturn for the housing and construction industry, and all the many related industries tied to housing in general and housing construction. I know one Pattaya builder who mostly sold the homes she built to foreign buyers. With foreign buying drying up, she is pulling back. And, I'm sure she is not the only one.

That means workers laid off, construction materials not purchased, along with everything else needed when a house is constructed. Having just built a new house, I know there is a lot involved--both with a lot of different workers and all the different materials and items bought and used.

So, with both tourism and housing--both big for the economy--not doing well it's not looking very good for the overall Thai economy, either. Meanwhile, nothing in the way of bold, innovative thinking coming from the government, just some short-sighted, detrimental actions.

Thailand has been bogged down with regressive, Jurassic style leadership for the last two decades. A man like Pita could have made some amazing changes here, but it's quite obvious those are changes that they either don't want, or they are not capable of realizing the absolutely necessary to move the country forward, rather than let it slip backwards toward oblivion and irrelevancy.

The once tiger of Southeast Asia is becoming a very sickly, whiny, alley cat.

On 8/5/2026 at 6:21 PM, Geoff914 said:

Isn't that a bit like Blackpool or Southend having a campaign to attract wealthy tourists?

You need to do some research on the high-end properties that are available for affluent visitors to Thailand and Blackpool.

4 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

You need to do some research on the high-end properties that are available for affluent visitors to Thailand and Blackpool.

Affluent visitors to Blackpool, I did have the misfortune to go there once.

6 hours ago, Geoff914 said:

Affluent visitors to Blackpool, I did have the misfortune to go there once.

St Annes maybe, although these days maybe even there is on the slide!