All over the world, Thailand is considered one of the topmost holiday destinations. Therefore, it is not surprising that it is usually one of the most visited countries around the globe. Given this, lots of individuals usually inquire about the number of international visitors that travel to Thailand every year.
According to statistics from different sources, more than 35 million people visited Thailand annually in 2017, 2018, and 2019. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the number fell drastically in 2020 and 2021. On average over the last 10 years, it can be estimated that more than 20 million tourists visit the country each year.
It is noteworthy that the coronavirus pandemic disrupted tourism in Thailand significantly. However, this happens to many other countries around the globe as well. Nevertheless, this article will do justice by shedding more light on the statistics of yearly visitors in Thailand before and now.
Number of tourists in Thailand each year
According to Statista.com, 39.8 million individuals visited Thailand in 2019. This was a slight increase from 38.18 million tourists in the previous year. As noted by Worldpopulationreview.com, Thailand was the 8th country with the highest number of tourists around the globe. However, the coronavirus pandemic brought everything to a standstill in 2020 when tourism was halted in the country as the virus was spreading quickly. Notably, this was not only for Thailand as traveling was banned in numerous countries with social distancing and other restrictions implemented.
As stated by Thaiwebsites.com, about 6.7 million tourists visited Thailand throughout 2020. It should be noted that more than 99% of these international tourists came to the country in the first quarter of the year before the pandemic.
According to the same source, for the majority of 2021, tourism was heavily restricted in most destinations in Thailand. By the end of the year, only over 400,000 tourists visited this Southeast Asian country in 2021. It should be understood that most tourists only visit certain parts of the countries such as Phuket. For about two decades, 2021 was the year with the least international tourists in Thailand.
Factually, Thailand fell in the pecking order of the most visited countries in the world in 2020 and 2021. According to Worlddata.info, Thailand was not one of the top 20 most visited countries in 2021.
Where did the majority of Thailand visitors come from?
Using the data available before the pandemic, we can also shed more light on where most international visitors are coming from. According to Thaiwebsites.com, more than 16.6 million visitors in Thailand (2019) came from East Asia.
To be specific, around 11 million Chinese visited Thailand in 2019. This means that 27.6% of the total international visitors were from different parts of China. Notably, China has accounted for the majority of the tourists in Thailand every year since 2012. Almost 2 million people came from each of the following three countries: Japan, South Korea, and India.
The next region on the list is the Southeast Asian region, where Thailand itself belongs. In 2019, more than 10.6 million individuals visited Thailand from this region. It is noteworthy that the likes of Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines accounted for the majority of the visitors from the region.
From Europe, more than 6.7 million tourists came to Thailand in 2019. It is noteworthy that almost 1.5 million of the Europeans that visited the Southeast Asian nation were Russians. According to the statistics, more than 2.3 million people were from different countries in South Asia during the same period. In addition, Americans were 1.6 million of the total visitors to Thailand in the said year. Oceania and the Middle East had 886,183 and 702,559 international tourists in Thailand respectively in 2019. Africa had the least visitors in this Southeast Asian country, with only 198,317 people.
You can read more about the statistics on Thaiwebsites.com.
The most visited places in Thailand
Although numerous places in Thailand are tourist destinations, they don’t receive the same number of international visitors. In other words, some people receive more visitors than others. Without mincing words, Bangkok is the most visited city in Thailand for several years.
According to the data of Euromonitor reported by Worlddata.info, Bangkok received more than 25 million tourists in 2019. However, the Global Destinations Cities Index provided by a survey by MasterCard puts the figure at only about 22 million tourists in the same year. Despite the difference in number, the index still considered Bangkok as the most visited city in the whole world. The capital city got the massive recognition ahead of other well-known tourist destinations such as Paris (France), London (England), Dubai (The United Arabic Emirates), Singapore, Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Istanbul (Turkey), New York (The United States of America), and Tokyo (Japan).
Apart from Bangkok, Phuket is the second most visited location in Thailand. As mentioned by Worldidata.info, the city had almost 11 million visitors in 2019. Considering the fact that Phuket has amazing islands, it is not strange that it got so many visitors in a single year. Pattaya and Chiang Mai ranked 3rd (9.9 million) and 4th (3.2 million) respectively in the same year. The fifth-ranked city was Krabi with 2.3 million international tourists. All these cities were ranked in the top 100 tourist cities of Euromonitor for 2019.
Economic effects of tourism on Thailand
Without mincing words, tourism has a significant effect on the economy of Thailand. In 2019, the country gained about 15.36 billion USD from tourism. This represents more than 3% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country. Also, the figure is about 52% of what Southeast Asia gained during the period.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, Thailand used to receive more than 30 million international tourists every year. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the number of tourists that visited the country in 2020 and 2021 fell drastically. But as countries are gaining more control over the pandemic, the number of tourists visiting this Southeast Asian country is bound to increase.s
