National —
On October 1st, 2024, Mr. Sorawong Thienthong, the Minister of Tourism and Sports, announced that from January 1st to September 29th, 2024, Thailand welcomed over 26 million international tourists, generating approximately 1.214 trillion baht.
The top five countries contributing the most tourists were China (5,227,573), Malaysia (3,734,847), India (1,530,712), South Korea (1,378,474), and Russia (1,156,753). These numbers highlight Thailand’s ongoing recovery and strength as a top global travel destination, remarked Sorawong.
Sorawong also noted that in the week from September 23rd to 29th, 2024, long-haul markets saw a significant recovery, with 142,604 tourists arriving, marking a 6.85% increase from the previous week. Particularly strong growth was seen from Germany and the United Kingdom.
However, short-haul arrivals dipped slightly, especially from Malaysia, following the end of school holidays, resulting in a total of 592,069 international arrivals for the week, down by 1.69%.
Looking ahead, Sorawong expected further growth in tourist numbers driven by the Chinese National Day holidays, the government’s “Ease of Traveling” measures, and efforts to stimulate airline capacity by increasing the number of flights into Thailand. These factors are set to bolster Thailand’s tourism economy heading into the final quarter of 2024.
TPN media notes, however, that not everyone in Thailand is optimistic about the Chinese tourism market as we reported here.
This article originally appeared on our sister website The Pattaya News.
