Thailand tourism to be boosted by "repeat travellers'" - Visa study

The top motivators for future travel in the next year are relaxation, shopping, exploring, going on an adventure, and meeting family and friends. Tourists are most likely to visit Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya, the three most popular destinations among regional travellers, while Hua Hin, Chiang Mai, and Krabi are also other popular with Chinese, Malaysian and Singaporean tourists, respectively.

Punnamas Vichitkulwongsa, Visa Country Manager for Thailand said, "Thailand's tourism industry plays a crucial role in propelling the nation's economy and we hope these insights help all of our partners to enhance travel experiences while efficiently boosting business growth. Our collective efforts aim to elevate the travel industry and also drive a positive impact for the overall payments ecosystem."

Based on the findings, recent travellers to Thailand comprised mostly Millennials (51%), followed by affluent travellers (27%), families travelling with young kids (18%), young singles (16%), Gen Z (15%), families travelling with older kids (14%), and silver travellers (11%).

When it comes to the typical length of leisure trips, silver travellers stayed the longest in Thailand with an average of 12 nights, while the average visitor stayed for eight nights. When broken down by nationalities, Singaporeans stayed the longest, spending seven nights in the country, followed by Chinese and Vietnamese tourists who spent five nights, and Malaysians and Filipinos who averaged four-night stays.

While visiting Thailand, almost half of all travellers use payment cards (48%) as their payment method for all activities, with affluent travellers and families with kids being the biggest card users on items such as shopping (39%), dining (33%) and holiday activities (33%). Travellers use cards extensively for their pre-trip related spending on big-ticket items like accommodation (81%) and transport (69%).

When it comes to preferred accommodation, more than eight in ten (83%) opted to stay in a hotel. The top five drivers of accommodation choice are safety (76%), cleanliness (63%), location (54%), value for money (52%), and in-room amenities (41%).

Among the different nationalities, visitors from Mainland China are the highest spenders (THB 95,000), followed by Singapore (THB 58,000), the Philippines (THB 48,000), Vietnam (THB 38,000), and Malaysia (THB 34,000). However, the total spend varies based on the duration of the trip. Those spending eight days or more in Thailand tend to spend over THB 135,000, while weeklong visitors (4-7 days) spend around THB 65,000, and short-stay visitors (up to three nights) spend around THB 40,000 during their trip.

"For more than a decade, the study has equipped Visa and our partners with an unparalleled breadth and depth of insights into the travel and payment landscape to make sure that consumers and businesses can pay and be paid seamlessly and efficiently. As an important member of the tourism industry community, Visa is pleased to share these insights to help support the industry and help create memorable experiences when consumers travel and pay with Visa." Punnamas added.

[1] Visa conducted the Global Travel Intentions Study in 2023 to learn about the dynamics and preferences of inbound travellers from April to June 2023. The study examined the travel trends and payment behaviour of 1,049 travellers who have travelled overseas for leisure in the past year and intend to travel for leisure in the next year.

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