Tourists visiting Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, one of the tourist destinations in Chiang Mai province, northern Thailand. - Reuters
BANGKOK: Thailand's Ministry of Tourism and Sports has reported that while the country accumulated just over 29.6 million foreign tourists in the first 11 months of 2025, the sector has been heavily impacted by recent events, most notably the severe flooding in the South.
The Permanent Secretary for the Ministry, Natthriya Thaweevong, confirmed on Tuesday (Dec 2) that the accumulated figure for foreign tourist arrivals between Jan 1 January and Nov 30, 2025 reached precisely 29,603,881 people.
This total, however, represents a 7.25% decrease compared to the same period in the previous year. Revenue generated from foreign tourist spending stood at approximately 1.3727 billion baht, a drop of 4.72% year-on-year.
The recent floods, which affected 10 Southern provinces and caused total inundation in key business hub Hat Yai, led to a sharp weekly slowdown across all tourist groups.
During the most recent reporting week, the total number of foreign tourists was 635,217, an 8.12% drop compared to the prior week, equating to an average of 90,745 arrivals per day.
The short-haul market, comprising neighbouring nations, saw arrivals fall by over 11%, led predominantly by the Malaysian market's precipitous 42.36% decline to 44,067 visitors.
While the weekly figures showed overall weakness, with South Korea and Russia also contracting by 3.85% and 1.64% respectively, the Chinese and Indian markets showed resilience.
China led the weekly figures with 79,751 visitors (a 5.26% increase), followed by India with 56,038 visitors (up 2.66%).
Despite the weekly disruption, Malaysia remains the leading source nation for Thailand in the 11-month accumulated total, narrowly ahead of China.
The top 10 list reveals the massive volume of tourists entering the country this year.
In the first 11 months of 2025, Malaysia recorded the highest number of visitors with 4,178,685, closely followed by China at 4,101,745. Rounding out the top five were India (2,221,091), Russia (1,632,624), and South Korea (1,404,666).
The next five largest source nations were Japan (985,612), the United States (953,001), the United Kingdom (944,883), Taiwan (901,374), and finally, Singapore (852,646). - The Nation/ANN
