Bangkok, July 2 -- The Thai Ministry of Tourism and Sports has reported that the country welcomed approximately 16.61 million international tourist arrivals from January 1 to June 29, 2025, marking a 4.56% decrease compared to the same period last year.

Malaysia was the largest source country with 2.29 million visitors, followed by China with 2.25 million.

Last week, the Bank of Thailand (BoT) cut its forecast for foreign tourist arrivals this year to 35 million from 37.5 million. Thailand welcomed a record of nearly 40 million visitors in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thailand's economy in May softened from the previous month following a slowdown in the tourism sector and a decline in manufacturing production, which offset the s...