Thailand sees slump in tourism despite ‘The White Lotus effect’

Thailand had set high expectations for how many tourists would flock to the country following the success of The White Lotus, yet government data shows the number of visitors is actually dropping.

The Thai government said that its aim in 2025 was to return to pre-pandemic numbers with 39-40 million foreign tourists, following the 35 million the country welcomed in 2024.

However, it turns out that even with ‘The White Lotus effect’ in play, which boosted Western visitors to the country off the back of the HBO dark comedy set in a luxury hotel, there has been a slump in visitor numbers so far this year.

Foreign visitors to Thailand dropped for the fourth month in a row in May, declining 14 per cent to 2.6 million, government data seen by Bloomberg shows.

May has experienced the greatest decline since 2021, when the Covid pandemic closed international borders, the media company said.

The biggest slump came from travellers from other Asian countries, who make up the majority of Thailand’s tourists. Regional arrivals from Asia fell nearly 11 per cent in May this year compared to 2024.

Tourists from China make up the largest proportion of visitors to Thailand, but numbers have fallen by nearly one million so far this year versus 2024, Bloomberg found.

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The drop can be attributed to fears over scam centres on the Myanmar border. Arrivals fell 33 per cent after Chinese actor Wang Xing went missing in the Thai border city of Mae Sot, which has become a hub for trafficking people into Myanmar.

Crime syndicates lure people under false pretences to work in scam centres in Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, where they are forced to financially exploit people around the world.

Other factors include a recent earthquake that reached Bangkok, which saw dozens die as a construction site collapsed.

Flights booked between June and August show a 15 per cent decline from China compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, hotel occupancy is forecast to fall to 52 per cent, largely steered by the Chinese visitor decline, according to a survey of 140 hotel operators within the Thai Hotel Association.

Malaysia, Thailand’s second biggest target market, has also dropped by 17 per cent so far this year.

“We have lost a lot tourists to other competing countries in Asia because we didn’t tackle the negative images seriously,” Ratchaporn Poolsawadee, vice president of the Tourism Council of Thailand, told the company.

“Thailand’s tourism is resilient, but this may take months to rebound.”

Despite the slump in Asian tourists booking trips to Thailand, its tourist industry has found a silver lining in the peaked interest of Western visitors.

Following the first few episodes of season three of The White Lotus, deputy government spokesperson Sasikarn Watthanachan said that Koh Samui had seen an overall 65 per cent increase in interest among US tourists compared to searches the previous year

She added that online travel agency Agoda saw a 12 per cent surge in searches for accommodations on Koh Samui, and Koh Samui had also experienced a 40 per cent rise in luxury hotel bookings.

The searches appear to have materialised into visits. Bloomberg said that government data shows US tourists in Thailand have risen by 12 per cent this year through May to more than 625,000, while European visitors have increased by nearly 18 per cent to 3 million in the same period compared to last year.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) told The Independent that there has been a 20 per cent increase in tourists from the UK between January and May compared to 2024, totalling up to over 512,000. It hopes to reach one million UK visitors by the end of 2025.

“With the decline in Chinese tourists, the sentiment from TAT is that European travellers are thriving and there are emerging markets too, which are exciting,” a TAT spokesperson said.

“It is also an opportunity for TAT to focus on attracting quality travellers over quantity - those who stay longer, spend more and delve deeper into Thailand and all it offers. The 60-day visa exemption is a draw to stay longer in Thailand, for example.”

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