Chinese tourists top foreign arrivals in 1st week of 2024

Tourism and Sports Minister Sudawan Wangsuphakijkosol said on Tuesday that Thailand welcomed a total of 605,537 foreign tourists from January 1 to 7.

However, this number was 23.32% or 184,106 lower than the last week of December, she added.

Sudawan attributed this drop to the end of the New Year holidays, during which the number of arrivals from all major tourism markets of Thailand dropped.

The top five arrivals in Thailand in the first week of January and the comparison to the last week of December is as follows:

• 81,854 from China (down by 18.96%)

• 64,053 from Malaysia (down by 48.15%)

• 51,467 from Russia (down by 2.7%)

• 43,894 from South Korea (down by 4.93%)

• 30,203 from India (down by 23.79%)

The minister, however, expects foreign arrivals to pick up in the second week of January thanks mainly to the exemption of visas for tourists from China and Kazakhstan.

She said the extension of stay for Russian tourists and more arrivals from long-haul markets would also contribute to the surge in foreign tourists.