The Thai tourism industry recorded total international arrivals of 31.25 million in January-October 2018, up 7.84%, generating an estimated 1.63 trillion Baht in tourism revenue, up by 9.98% over the same period of 2017.

China headed the list with more than nine million arrivals followed by Malaysia (3.18m) and South Korea (1.46m)

Top 10 markets for Thailand in January – October 2018

Remark: Preliminary figures
Source: Ministry of Tourism and Sports and TAT

Summary of the key results in Jan-Oct 2018:

Overview: All regions grew well except the Middle East and Oceania. Visitors from East Asia totalled 21.58 million (+9.71%), Europe 5.24 million (+4.24%), the Americas 1.25 million (+3.01%), South Asia 1.60 million (+10.75%), Oceania 766,119 (-1.74%), Middle East 635,311 (-6.29%), and Africa 158,630 (+8.41%).

East Asia: East Asian visitor arrivals comprised the biggest market share of all visitors. A total of 21.58 million or 69% were from East Asian countries. Apart from China, the other top sources of arrivals were Malaysia (3.17 million), South Korea (1.46 million) and Lao PDR. (1.44 million).

The ASEAN countries in total are generating over 8.24 million arrivals, with the growth by Malaysia (+12.73%), Philippines (+12.33%), Indonesia (+10.94%), Vietnam (+9.46%), Lao PDR. (+4.92%), Cambodia (+4.36%), Singapore (+2.99%), Myanmar (+0.56%), but Brunei (- 4.95%).

Europe: European visitors were up 4.24% to 5.24 million. Russia retained its status as the largest source market from Europe with arrivals of 1.1 million, up 11.75%. The United Kingdom is the second highest source market with a total of 788,333, followed by Germany 695,077, up 3.96%.

Visitors also grew from East Europe (+9.34%), Austria (+12.22%), Netherlands (+6.65%), Finland (+5.99%), Italy (+5.85%), and Denmark (+4.27%).

The Americas: Arrivals from the Americas grew 3.01% to 1.25 million. The main market, USA, increased by 5.61% to 875,485. Arrivals from Canada were up 7.52%. 

South Asia: Arrivals from South Asia grew by a strong 10.75% to 1.60 million. India topped the list with arrivals up by 11.23% to 1.28 million. Other countries also showed good growth; such as, Nepal (+25%), Bangladesh (+8.70%), Pakistan (+3.64%), Sri Lanka (+3.39%).

Oceania: Arrivals from Oceania declined by 1.74% to 766,119 visitors. Australian visitors declined by 1.96% to 665,308. Arrivals from New Zealand declined by 0.47% to 97,631. 

Middle East: Arrivals from the UAE declined by 7.99% to 109,705. Arrivals from Saudi Arabia declined by 19.64% to 24,695. However, some markets like Kuwait (+2.73%) reported good results.

Africa: Arrivals from Africa grew by 8.41% to 158,630, mainly due to arrivals from South Africa (80,109).

In 2018, TAT has set a target of 36 million arrivals and 1.97 trillion Baht in expenditure, up 3.85% and 8%, respectively over 2017.