For 2025, the agency targets 7.5% revenue growth, with 39 million foreign tourists and 205 million domestic trips, reports the Bangkok Post.
Siripakorn Cheawsamoot, TAT deputy governor for Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas, said the target of 2.2mn Russian tourists next year is based on the same growth rate recorded in 2024, which should increase the market to 1.9mn to 2mn.
The achievement this year would also exceed the levels recorded in 2019 and 2023, which both registered 1.48mn tourists.
During the first half, 920,989 Russian tourists arrived in Thailand, becoming the fifth largest group of foreign arrivals.
Mr Siripakorn said based on the first quarter report, their expenditure per trip tallied around B62,000.
In 2024, the market should generate revenue of B124 billion for Thailand’s tourism industry.
He said two major Russian flag carriers ‒ Aeroflot and S7 ‒ operate regular flights to Bangkok and Phuket, tallying over 40 flights per week.
The agency is still holding discussions with airlines and tourism operators to increase both scheduled and chartered flights in the final quarter to capture soaring demand during high season for Russian tourists.
Even though Thai Airways has shown interest in resuming flights to Russia, at the moment there is no concrete plan to do so, said Mr Siripakorn.
Khanittha Phanworawat, director of TAT’s Moscow office, said the aircraft shortage among commercial airlines and chartered operators remains a critical challenge for the market, as they’re unable to lease new aircraft amid the Russia-Ukraine war.
Ms Khanittha said the majority of 61 long-range aircraft among all operators in Russia have been allocated to domestic routes and other rising destinations such as China, Vietnam and India.
The agency will focus on offering extended-stay travel packages to Russian tourists to increase their length of stay such as cultural and historical tours combined with wellness activities and beach destinations.
Other challenges include the ban on accepting Russian credit cards in Thailand, which discourages Russian tourists from spending at their destinations.
Therefore, most Russian tourists tend to prefer inclusive tour packages that cover all expenses including transport, accommodation and food.
However, there are now more operators offering currency exchange from rubles in major Thai cities, while some Russian visitors may opt to register new debit cards in other countries which can be used in Thailand.