Foreign tourist arrivals Thailand 2015-2020
Fluctuations of international visitors
Thailand is one of the most visited countries in Southeast Asia. However, the country had since put restrictions on international arrivals due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the first half of 2020. Chinese visitors were the major contributor to the Thai tourism industry, and the number of Chinese visitors were forecasted to reach about 12 million in 2019. Although, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, this number significantly decreased in March 2020, when compared to the same month in the previous year.
The future of Thai tourism industry
With the globally wide-spread Covid-19 outbreak, the Thai tourism industry was heavily affected. Inbound international visitors are currently prohibited from entering the country due to the country’s imposed restrictions as of the second quarter of 2020. However, the number of international tourists was forecasted to pick up in the fourth quarter of the same year. In terms of local businesses in the tourism industry, most of the hotel businesses kept their employees amidst the pandemic, with only three percent of employees being downsizing among the surveyed hotel operators in Thailand in the second quarter of 2020.