Summary of the year 2024, foreign tourists traveling to Thailand exceeded 35 million people.

January 16, 2025

Assistant Professor Dr. Anupong Awiruttha

👨‍💼 Summary of the overall picture in 2024, foreign tourists traveling to Thailand exceeded 35 million people.

👨‍💻 The Ministry of Tourism and Sports has revealed data on the number of foreign tourists traveling to Thailand in 2024, totaling 35,545,714 people, generating income from spending by foreign tourists of approximately 1.6 trillion baht. Foreign tourists traveling to Thailand are likely to exceed 35 million people, which is considered the best case from the target set by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) that in 2024 Thailand will have between 28-35 million foreign tourists.

🥇 The number 1 spot is still Chinese tourists, numbering 6.7 million, although they have not yet returned to the number of the year before COVID (2019) when there were 11 million. This is a result of the slowdown in the Chinese economy. Most Chinese people who travel to Thailand are young Chinese and those who travel on their own due to the visa-free factor, unlike in the past when most were tour groups. This is followed by Malaysia, India, and South Korea.

🕌 In 2024, the tourist market with the highest growth is Indian tourists, which has exceeded 2 million, the highest in history. The important factor is the measure to exempt visas for ordinary Indian passport holders traveling to Thailand for tourism and short-term business, with a stay not exceeding 60 days.

✈️ In addition to the agreement on the allocation of flight rights between Thailand and India, there will be an additional 7,000 seats per week on the aircraft to 6 major cities in India, namely Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, starting flights in November 2024.

Assistant Professor Dr. Anupong Awiruttha
Dean of the College of Tourism and Hospitality