Thailand hits 21 million arrivals in 2024, earning 1 trillion baht
Tourist numbers have risen over the past week due to public holidays in several countries and summer break in Europe
Thailand has welcomed more than 21 million foreign tourists, so far, this year and has generated some 1 trillion baht in revenue, the tourism minister said on Wednesday.
Tourism and Sports Minister Sermsak Pongpanich said 21,796,763 foreign tourists had landed on Thai soil between January 1 and August 11 and together they spent some 1.03 trillion baht.
The top five nationalities to visit the country during this period are:
- Chinese: 4,398,623
- Malaysian: 3,021,624
- Indian: 1,255,358 Indians
- South Korean: 1,154,990
- Russian: 1,035,192
Sermsak said there were far more arrivals over the past week because there are holidays in many countries.
For instance, Japan was celebrating the four-day Obon Festival last week, and the arrival of Japanese tourists rose by 79.39% compared to the previous week.
Sermsak added that there were also public holidays in India and Malaysia, prompting more arrivals from these countries.
The number of tourists from countries further away had also risen by 1.52% over the past week compared to the week before mainly because schools in Europe had broken up for summer, he added.
The past week saw 751,419 foreign arrivals, up by 41,182 or 5.8% compared to the week before.
The top five nationalities to arrive on Thai soil over the past week were:
- Chinese: 169,355
- Malaysian: 95,869
- South Korean: 37,414
- Japanese: 37,017
- Indian: 36,905.
