Thailand struggles to revive Chinese tourism as arrivals drop 34%

 

Tourism bodies aim for 5 million Chinese visitors in 2025 despite slow recovery, shrinking market

: Monday, July 7, 2025

In the first half of 2025, Chinese tourist numbers fell by 34% compared to last year, with only 2,265,556 arrivals recorded.

This downturn has pushed China into second place behind Malaysia, which saw 2,299,897 visitors during the same period despite a smaller decline of 5.58%.

Overall, Thailand welcomed 16,685,466 international tourists in the first six months of 2025, marking a 4.66% year-on-year drop.

 estimated that Chinese arrivals for the full year could reach around 5 million, well below the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s (TAT) earlier target of 6.9 million.

“If we market effectively and stimulate demand, we might see up to 6 million visitors… But that’s still less than the 6.7 million we had in 2024.”