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Southeast Asia’s second most visited country earns $29.8B tourism revenue in 8 months

Sandy Verma | September 1, 2026 11:24 AM CST

Thailand, Southeast Asia’s second-most visited country after Malaysia, recorded tourism revenue of 984.32 billion baht (US$29.8 billion) between Jan. 1 and Aug. 22, down 2.9% year-on-year, amid a slowdown in tourist arrivals.

The top five sources of tourists contributing to this revenue were China, Malaysia, India, Russia, and South Korea, Nation Thailand reported.

The tourism-dependent country welcomed 20.32 million international visitors during the period, down 2.96% from the same period last year.

Once a tourism powerhouse in Southeast Asia, Thailand has faced a slowdown in foreign arrivals since last year amid growing concerns over kidnapping and visitor safety.

Tourists walk at Bangkok’s Chinatown in May, 2026. Photo by Reuters

Safety concerns have intensified following the deaths of two Russian tourists and three members of a Thai family in Chon Buri Province earlier this month, Bangkok Post reported.

The recent kidnapping of a Chinese tourist, who managed to escape before being taken across the border into Myanmar, has renewed concerns over the safety of foreign visitors.

The Thai government has cut its forecast for Chinese arrivals in 2026 from 9 million to 7 million.

It had earlier targeted six million Chinese visitors for the year before revising the figure to 5.1 million in August. While that would represent a 14% increase from 2025, it would still be less than half the nearly 11 million Chinese visitors Thailand received in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Thailand targets 33 million international tourist arrivals and 1.55 trillion baht in foreign tourism revenue for 2026.