Thailand’s long-haul tourism market is entering a new period of robust growth, with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) forecasting another record high in 2026, driven by stronger airline capacity, rising demand from Europe and the United States, and new traveller motivations shaped by the global “WhyCation” trend.
According to Chiravadee Khunsub, TAT Deputy Governor for International Marketing – Europe, America, Middle East, and Africa, the long-haul segment has been one of the brightest engines of Thai tourism throughout 2025, helping offset sluggish recovery in short-haul Asian markets, particularly China and South Korea.
Long-haul arrivals hit new highs in 2025—and rise again in 2026
TAT estimates that by the end of 2025, Thailand will have welcomed 11,096,052 long-haul tourists—up 13% from 2024—generating an estimated 668.885 billion baht, a 14% increase year-on-year.
This follows the segment’s earlier milestone in 2024, when long-haul arrivals reached 9,790,056, up 8.6% from pre-pandemic levels in 2019. Revenue for that year reached 588.632 billion baht.
For 2026, TAT expects long-haul arrivals to rise further to 11,666,600, an increase of 5%, contributing more than 700 billion baht in revenue—a 10% jump from 2025—assuming no major geopolitical disruptions like the brief Middle East conflict earlier this year.
Chiravadee said large-scale international events, such as the FIFA World Cup 2026 hosted across the United States, Canada and Mexico, are not expected to dampen Thailand’s leisure travel demand.
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