Thai visits to China rise 1,220% after visa exemption
Kasikorn Research Centre forecasts 13.45 million overseas trips by Thais in 2026, with growth slowing as travel becomes more expensive.
Thai visits to China reached 3.06 million in 2025, compared with 232,000 in 2023, according to Kasikorn Research Centre. The 1,220% increase followed China's introduction of visa-free entry for Thai nationals on 1 March 2024.
The centre said China had become Thai travellers' leading short-haul foreign destination when neighbouring Malaysia and Laos were excluded. It expects visits to China to keep increasing in 2026.
For outbound travel overall, the centre projects approximately 13.45 million trips by Thais in 2026, up 3% from the previous year. That would mark slower growth than the 12% recorded in 2025. The figures count trips, not distinct travellers, since people can travel repeatedly or visit multiple countries.
Kasikorn attributed the expected slowdown to weaker economic conditions, higher airfares, travel taxes and fees, and greater expenses abroad. It said middle-income travellers and those taking part in corporate incentive travel programmes were particularly sensitive to those pressures and could travel less frequently.
The centre estimates that tourism taxes and fees add 3.5% to 9.5% to travellers' spending per trip, beyond transport, lodging, meals and shopping. Such charges include levies bundled into air tickets, payments required before departure and accommodation or city taxes collected at destinations. Thailand has postponed its proposed ฿1,000 international departure tax.
