Tourism News

Thailand tourism news, travel updates, visa policies, and destination highlights—stay informed on hospitality trends, cultural experiences, and major infrastructure projects. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted source for Thailand travel news.

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    Planning to extend your Thai visa? Why health insurance is more important than ever

    If you plan to stay longer in Thailand, having health insurance is now more important than ever. Thai immigration often asks for proof of medical coverage when you apply to extend your visa. This applies to many types of visas,...

  • Lush lotus flowers in Northern Thai province draw tourists | Thaiger

    Lush lotus flowers in Northern Thai province draw tourists

    Lush pink lotus flowers in one northern Thai province are drawing tourists to the area. Bueng Boraphet, a lake and swamp in Nakhon Sawan province, currently has lotuses covering an area of over 100 rai. A staffer at the Bueng Boraphet Wildlife Sanctuary Office said the lotuses have been blooming since early this month. The staffer said the lotuses are…

  • Free concert with renowned Russian Jazz artist coming to Phuket | Thaiger

    Free concert with renowned Russian Jazz artist coming to Phuket

    Jazz lovers in Phuket will soon have an opportunity to attend a free concert with a renowned Russian jazz artist, Igor Butman. Butman is known as a virtuoso saxophonist. The concert, titled “Igor Butman and Friends,” will be held at Karon Beach on Friday, December 13, at 6.45pm. The concert is being held as part of the 125th anniversary of…

  • PHUKET TASTIVAL festival coming up | Thaiger

    PHUKET TASTIVAL festival coming up

    Another one of Phuket’s food festivals is coming up this week. The festival, titled PHUKET TASTIVAL Seafood & Gastronomy: Dive Thru Seafood, will be held from November 17-21. The festival will be held at Patong Beach at the Dolphin Public Park (Loma Park) from 11am to 8pm each day. Locals and tourists alike can taste fresh seafood, and there will…

  • Island off Pattaya sees 20,000 tourists over weekend | Thaiger

    Island off Pattaya sees 20,000 tourists over weekend

    An island off Pattaya well known as a vacation hotspot saw at least 20,000 tourists over the past weekend. The cluster of young and old tourists swarmed to the island of Koh Larn, flocking to its Ta Waen Beach. The tourists enjoyed traditional Thai massage, as well as food, umbrellas, and other services offered at the beach. Pattaya City has…

  • SpiceJet launches new direct flight between Thailand and India | Thaiger

    SpiceJet launches new direct flight between Thailand and India

    Budget Indian airline SpiceJet launched direct flights between Pune in India and Bangkok in Thailand operating four days per week. SpiceJet also flies directly from Bangkok to Delhi and Kolkata. A Boeing 737 will operate the Pune – Bangkok service on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Flight SG 82 will depart from the sprawling Indian city of Pune, just south of…

  • TAT promotes Thailand on London bus | Thaiger

    TAT promotes Thailand on London bus

    Tourism officials launched a new campaign promoting sunny Thailand in cloudy London as winter approaches. A London double-decker bus now has the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT)’s “amazing THAILAND” logo written across it in pink. Beneath the logo are images of boats in the sea, with the hashtags #AmazingThailand and #AlwaysWarm, as seen in photos by Pattaya Mail. TAT’s new…

  • Young travellers spend locally, raise tourism awareness | Thaiger

    Young travellers spend locally, raise tourism awareness

    While Thailand has based their tourism strategy solely on attracting wealthy, mostly older tourists, an official with Tourism Australia has cautioned the world not to underestimate the value of young travellers. At the 2022 World Travel Market in London, the regional general manager for the UK and Northern Europe of Tourism Australia spoke about the importance of young backpackers. She…

  • Aeroflot adds 14 more weekly Russian flights to Phuket | Thaiger

    Aeroflot adds 14 more weekly Russian flights to Phuket

    Less than two weeks after Russian airlines made their triumphant return to Phuket, Aeroflot has announced an increase in direct flights to the island. The flagship airline of Russia announced yesterday that it would be adding 14 new flights a week from Russia to Phuket. The exact start date of these new flights has not yet been confirmed, but the…

  • Russians the biggest tourist group in Phuket in November so far | Thaiger

    Russians the biggest tourist group in Phuket in November so far

    Russians have made up Phuket’s biggest group of tourists so far in November. From November 1-10, Phuket saw 18,370 Russian tourists. The total number of foreign tourists was 75,247, The Phuket Express reported. The next top four countries for tourism in Phuket were: India with 8,939 tourists, Australia with 5,275 tourists, the UK with 4,511 tourists, and Germany with 4,152…

  • Thailand welcomes 50,000 foreign tourists in one day | Thaiger

    Thailand welcomes 50,000 foreign tourists in one day

    Nearly 50,000 foreign tourists arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Thailand yesterday. Reassuring statistics reported by immigration indicate a revival of Thailand’s tourism industry, although arrivals are still nowhere near close to hitting pre-pandemic levels. Today, Commander of the Immigration Bureau Pol. Maj. Gen. Choengron Rimphadee confirmed that the picture of a giant queue at immigration posted on social media is…

  • Why Thailand is Considered a Luxury Tourist Destination | Thaiger

    Why Thailand is Considered a Luxury Tourist Destination

    Thailand, a diverse country known internationally for its spicy food and beautiful beaches, has been attracting travellers for decades. Recent figures show that nearly 40 million tourists visit the country every year. Visitors flock from: China Japan South Korea Russia Australia New Zealand United Kingdom As well as around a million from the United States annually. Thailand was never colonised…

  • Tourists complain about pricey beach chairs at Hua Hin | Thaiger

    Tourists complain about pricey beach chairs at Hua Hin

    Local authorities tightened rules against local businesses yesterday after tourists complained about beach chairs being too expensive on Hua Hin Beach. The Deputy Mayor of the Hua Hin Municipality, Butsaba Choksuchart, brought the issue to light after tourists made known that beach chairs they rented near Centara Grand Beach Resort & Villas Hua Hin were more expensive for them than…

  • Bill Heinecke suggests Thailand charge foreign tourists extra 300 baht per night | Thaiger

    Bill Heinecke suggests Thailand charge foreign tourists extra 300 baht per night

    Hotels in Thailand should charge foreign tourists an extra 300 baht (US$8) per room per night to aid the economy’s post-pandemic recovery, suggests outspoken American-Thai hotel tycoon and billionaire Bill Heinecke. Heinecke is the founder of the Minor Group, which runs more than 500 hotels worldwide. In an open letter addressed to Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, Heinecke said the…

  • First LOT Polish Airlines flight arrives in Phuket | Thaiger

    First LOT Polish Airlines flight arrives in Phuket

    Phuket International airport welcomed its first LOT Polish Airlines flight yesterday. The flight carried 252 passengers from Warsaw to Phuket. Officials and staff greeted the passengers and handed them HKT We Care souvenirs upon arrival, The Phuket Express reported. This news comes after an inaugural flight from Uzbekistan arrived in Phuket on Sharq Airlines just last week. The flight carried…

  • Thai National Parks’ revenue rises 324 million baht from last year | Thaiger

    Thai National Parks’ revenue rises 324 million baht from last year

    The Ministry of Natural Resources, and Environment of Thailand revealed that the revenue of 133 Thai national parks increased by 324 million baht this year. The Director-General of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Ratchada Na Ayutthaya, revealed that the revenue increased because of the border reopening on July 1 and the relaxation of travel restrictions after the…

  • Tourists flood to Chiang Mai for Yi Peng and Loy Krathong festivities | Thaiger

    Tourists flood to Chiang Mai for Yi Peng and Loy Krathong festivities

    Chiang Mai in northern Thailand is teeming with foreign and domestic tourists looking to experience the magical Loy Krathong and Yi Peng festivities from November 7-9. The fusion of Loy Krathong traditions with a night sky glittering with Yi Peng lanterns creates an unmissable atmosphere that draws people to the city year in and year out. During October, Chiang Mai…

  • Thailand to surpass tourism target thanks to Malaysians and Indians | Thaiger

    Thailand to surpass tourism target thanks to Malaysians and Indians

    Thailand is set to surpass its target of 10 million tourists by the end of the year thanks to an influx of Malaysian and Indian visitors. Thailand has welcomed over 1 million tourists from Malaysia and almost 600,000 tourists from India so far in 2022. Before the pandemic, Chinese tourists topped the list of Thailand’s foreign arrivals year in and…

  • Explore Thailand through augmented reality | Thaiger

    Explore Thailand through augmented reality

    “Rediscover Thailand” is a brand new augmented reality (AR) experience launched jointly by Meta and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). The TAT believes the innovative technology will inspire tourists to pursue meaningful and sustainable travel in the future. The AR experience highlights some of Thailand’s key tourist attractions and natural wonders as well as unique cultural experiences such as…

  • TAT wants US tourists to ‘Feel Thailand’ | Thaiger

    TAT wants US tourists to ‘Feel Thailand’

    The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) yesterday revealed a deal to bring more tourists to the kingdom from the United States and boost the nation’s ailing economy. TAT Governor Yuthasak Supasorn announced the state-sponsored industry organized an event this week, Feel Thailand with Delta Air Lines and Korean Air, to take 50 US tour operators to popular tourist destinations in…

  • Inaugural flight from Uzbekistan arrives in Phuket | Thaiger

    Inaugural flight from Uzbekistan arrives in Phuket

    An inaugural flight from Uzbekistan arrived in Phuket this morning. Sharq Airlines flight HH2203 arrived at Phuket International Airport from Uzbekistan’s capital city of Tashkent. The flight carried 238 passengers, who received HKT We Care waterproof bags from the airport, The Phuket Express reported. This news comes after Thai tourism officials announced last month that they were seeking more tourists…

  • Tourism Authority of Thailand: 18 million tourists in 2023 | Thaiger

    Tourism Authority of Thailand: 18 million tourists in 2023

    After arriving tourist numbers crossed seven million last month, inching toward the goal of 10 million for the year, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is making middle-of-the-road projections for 2023. While they don’t believe that Thailand will see anything like the 40 million tourists per year they saw before Covid, the TAT is estimating 18 million international arrivals next…

  • Tourism officials plan big campaigns for Chiang Mai | Thaiger

    Tourism officials plan big campaigns for Chiang Mai

    The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has several big campaigns planned to draw visitors to the world-renowned province of Chiang Mai during the High Season from November to March. One campaign is titled, “Northern Charm of the Past.” This campaign is centred around the culture of the historic Lanna Kingdom, which Chiang Mai used to be part of. The campaign…

  • Too big to fail: Full Moon Party revives Koh Pha Ngan | Thaiger

    Too big to fail: Full Moon Party revives Koh Pha Ngan

    In the US, the phrase “too big to fail” is applied to financial institutions whose defaulting would cause the national or even global economy to collapse. So these institutions receive bailouts to keep them afloat in times of economic crisis. In Thailand, our too-big-to-fail institution might be the Full Moon Party. The legendary party, running for nearly 40 years on…

  • Stunning natural scenery on newly reopened Krabi islands | Thaiger

    Stunning natural scenery on newly reopened Krabi islands

    Nature looks stunning on several islands in Krabi that reopened on October 15 after being closed for restoration for several months. The Mu Ko Lanta National Park is made up of several islands, which boast breathtaking beaches, waterfalls, and other natural wonders. Since the park reopened, staff have continued conservation efforts. A few days after the reopening, park officials held…

  • Thai province to welcome scenic golden flowers | Thaiger

    Thai province to welcome scenic golden flowers

    Thailand officially entered its winter season on Saturday, and one northern province expects to be covered in scenic golden flowers soon. The “Mexican sunflowers” in Mae Hong Son province’s Khun Yuam district have been known to create stunning scenic views. The golden flowers, known in Thai as Dok Bua Tong, are believed to have been brought to Thailand by Christian…

  • Russian airlines resume direct flights to Phuket | Thaiger

    Russian airlines resume direct flights to Phuket

    Tourism in Phuket got another boost from Russian tourists as the first direct flights from Moscow to Phuket International Airport resumed. The airport expects to see an average of 30,000 arrivals per day in November. Ikar Airlines was the first to arrive from Moscow yesterday afternoon, with a flight from Russian national airline Aeroflot landing later at 9.10pm. Ikar is a…

  • Make special memories with your children at Four Points by Sheraton Phuket Patong Beach Resort | Thaiger

    Make special memories with your children at Four Points by Sheraton Phuket Patong Beach Resort

    Press Release Four Points by Sheraton Phuket Patong Beach Resort welcomes the school holiday season with “Taste of Phuket” room promotion. Starting from THB 3,650+++, the package includes comfortable accommodation with breakfast for two and a daily two-course dinner at Sears & Co Bar and Grill. Available for booking and stays by March 31, 2023. Perfectly located in North Patong,…

  • Largest Indian restaurant in Southeast Asia opens in Pattaya | Thaiger

    Largest Indian restaurant in Southeast Asia opens in Pattaya

    The largest Indian restaurant in Southeast Asia has opened in Pattaya. The restaurant, named “MumbaiSe,” is located at the Stardice Pub on the Pattaya-Naklua road. The restaurant held its opening ceremony on Saturday night, with many Pattaya officials attending, including Mayor Poramese Ngampiches. The founders are two Indian businessmen who have invested 25 million baht in the restaurant. The restaurant will…

  • Koh Samui sees influx of Russian tourism | Thaiger

    Koh Samui sees influx of Russian tourism

    With flights increasing from Russia to Thailand, Koh Samui is seeing an increase in European travellers. The holiday island expects to see a surge in Russian tourism in particular, especially in December to close out the year. Russian tourism has been a big revenue-producing staple of Koh Samui but was stymied by the Covid-19 pandemic and then the Russian invasion…

  • Thailand hits 7 million international tourists | Thaiger

    Thailand hits 7 million international tourists

    Thailand’s tourism has hit another milestone. As of October 26, the kingdom witnessed 7,349,843 international tourists arriving, surpassing the 7 million mark. It’s put the country within its goal range set by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) of 7 to 10 million visitors for 2022. The TAT announced that over 7 million tourists have arrived since January 1 in…