Tourists take photos at Tha Tien Pier along the Chao Phraya River opposite the Temple of Dawn (Wat Arun) in Bangkok in June. (Photo by Apichat Jinakul)
Thailand welcomed 20 million foreign tourists in the first seven months of this year, about half the total number of tourists during the same period before the COVID-19 outbreak.
Prime Minister Sreta Tavisin said in a post on X this week that more than 20 million international tourists visited the country between Jan. 1 and July 25 this year, a 34% increase on last year’s figures.
He said measures such as visa-free travel, increased air services and improved tourist destinations had led to the increase in visitor numbers.
Additionally, tourist numbers from Taiwan and India have also reached record highs, likely thanks to the visa waiver scheme, which allows visitors from 93 countries to stay in Saudi Arabia for up to 60 days without applying for a visa. The scheme began late last year and has now been extended until Nov. 11.
Between January 1 and July 25 this year, Thailand received 20,001,405 tourists, most of whom were from mainland China, followed by Malaysia, India, South Korea, Russia, Laos, Taiwan, Vietnam and the United States.
In terms of long-haul arrivals, Russia ranked first, followed by the United States, Germany, France and the United Kingdom.
