Thailand has welcomed around 10.7 million international tourists so far this year, with a surge of more than 666,000 people visiting during the Songkran festival alone, the government said on Tuesday.
Tourism-related income linked to these visitors is now estimated to have surpassed 510 billion baht, it added.
The figures were proof the government’s Maha Songkran World Water Festival 2025 was a resounding success, Tourism and Sports Minister Sorawong Thienthong said on Tuesday, a day after official water festival celebrations wrapped up on Monday.
Thai New Year festivities were staged nationwide on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, with a number of major water play sites organised in Bangkok and other large cities popular among international tourists.
They included Chiang Mai in the North, Khon Kaen in the Northeast and Hat Yai in the South, said the minister.
The leap in the number of short-haul group visitors during the festival accounted for a 17.61% rise from the previous week, which was largely a result of a massive increase in the number of Chinese and Indian tourists in particular, he said.
A big rise in the number of long-haul tourists from countries such as Germany and France has also been observed during the spring school holidays in Europe, he added.
"All in all, during this week alone, a total of 666,180 international visitors arrived in Thailand, a 10.73% increase from last week and about 95,169 arrivals per day on average," he said.
In the top five were 102,106 Malaysian nationals, 82,274 Chinese nationals, 55,158 Indian nationals, 40,283 Russian nationals and 32,199 British nationals.
These figures showed a big increase in the number of tourists from China, India, Malaysia and Russia, which were 28.20, 23.56, 10.67 and 8.40% higher respectively.
The number of British visitors, however, fell by 8.49% compared to the previous week.
And as the overall number of international visitors was expected to drop after Songkran as usual, the government would continue focusing on attracting more visitors from Europe to come and spend their spring school holidays in Thailand to keep the momentum going, said Mr Sorawong.
Under the flagship Amazing Thailand Grand Tourism and Sport Year 2025 tourism promotion campaign, various measures have been implemented to ensure ease of travelling for visitors.
These steps include not requiring them to fill in the Tor Mor 6 immigration clearance form and supporting and encouraging airlines to increase flights to and from Thailand, he said.
"Some 10.73 million visitors were recorded from Jan 1 until April 13, during which tourism-related income linked to the presence of these tourists was estimated to be 516.58 billion baht," he said.
In the top five were 1.47 million tourists from China, 1.33 million from Malaysia, 801,532 from Russia, 631,820 from India and 533,752 from South Korea, he said.
During the three-day Songkran festival, Bangkok clearly remained the top choice for celebrating and having fun with water splashing, with Silom Road and Khao San Road receiving a total of 651,295 revellers.
A total of 256,667 people joined water festival celebrations in Silom and the other 394,628 were in Khao San, Bangkok’s two best known Songkran water play sites.
Large crowds also flocked to Sanam Luang, the other important Songkran site in Bangkok.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) estimated that the first three days of Songkran celebrations, “the Maha Songkran World Water Festival 2025,” at Sanam Luang alone, generated about 1.7 billion baht in tourism-related income.
TAT governor Thapanee Kiatphaibool said on Tuesday festivities held along Ratchadamnoen Avenue and at Sanam Luang in Phra Nakhon district received overwhelming interest from both Thai and international tourists.
Total attendance during the first three days saw 523,456 Thais and 34,559 foreigners partaking. The festival was held from April 11 to Tuesday.
Prior to this year’s Songkran, the festival was estimated to have helped generate around 26.5 billion baht in tourism-related income, 8% up from last year, while the number of foreign visitors during the festival period was expected to be around 470,000, a 6.5% rise from last year.
