Thailand and China are accelerating a new round of tourism cooperation, even though the number of Chinese visitors to Thailand still trails well behind its pre-pandemic peak. According to the latest figures from Thailand's Ministry of Tourism and Sports, Chinese mainland visitors totaled 3,543,272 between January 1 and August 31, 2026, up 16.05% year-on-year, keeping China firmly in place as Thailand's single largest source market. Over the same period, total foreign arrivals to Thailand fell 3.08% year-on-year to 20,935,135, with major markets such as South Korea and Malaysia posting sharp declines — Malaysian arrivals alone dropped 11.87%. Against this backdrop of an overall softening in inbound numbers, China's counter-trend growth has emerged as one of the few bright spots for Thailand's tourism sector this year. In fact, Chinese visitors already showed strong momentum early in the year: Ministry of Tourism and Sports figures show that between January 1 and February 15, 2026 alone, Thailand received 5.067 million foreign visitors in total, generating roughly 250.6 billion baht in revenue, with Chinese travelers accounting for more than 770,000 of them — the largest single source market in that period — setting a relatively upbeat tone for the year ahead.

This growth comes as Thailand and China upgrade their tourism cooperation. In late April, during a visit to Thailand by China's State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) put forward a "Thailand-China Tourism Partnership (2026-2030)" agenda, aimed at linking national and local agencies to support subnational exchange and government-industry engagement, and promoting more balanced visitor flows between major and emerging destinations in both countries. Its core elements include jointly developing high-value, thematic tourism products — spanning health and wellness travel under the "Healing is the New Luxury" concept, as well as sports, gastronomy and pop-culture tourism — establishing a joint promotion mechanism and a shared calendar of activities, and strengthening cooperation on tourist safety and crisis communication.

On safety and rebuilding trust, TAT has already taken concrete action. On April 21, TAT signed a letter of intent in Bangkok with Dida Holdings, a Shenzhen-based, AI-first travel technology group, with TAT Governor Thapanee Kiatphaibool and Dida Group CEO Daryl Lee signing on behalf of their respective organizations, to advance the "Trusted Thailand" initiative. Under the agreement, the two sides will use leading Chinese social platforms — Xiaohongshu, WeChat and Douyin — for data-led, targeted communication and demand generation, backed by a dedicated "China Acceleration Programme." The initiative aims to inform Chinese travelers of Thailand's safety infrastructure, including its tourist police system and a 24-hour multilingual hotline, before they even book a trip, in an effort to rebuild Chinese travelers' confidence. Dida's CEO said the partnership sets no rigid target for visitor volume, describing it instead as a deliberate pivot toward attracting higher-spending, higher-quality travelers rather than simply chasing arrival numbers.

Tied to this agenda, Thailand set a 2026 target of attracting 4.72 million Chinese visitors and generating no less than 26 billion baht in tourism revenue. That figure represents a downward revision from TAT's earlier target, set in December 2025, of 6.7 million visitors — at the time, a goal of growing at least 40% from an estimated 4.5-4.6 million arrivals in 2025. By mid-2026, as market conditions shifted, TAT and other bodies further adjusted full-year expectations to roughly 5 million to 5.13 million visitors, with projected revenue of about 288.385 billion baht. The repeated recalibrations underscore continuing uncertainty over the pace of the Chinese market's recovery.

At the implementation level, the two countries have already advanced concrete steps. In July, during a visit to China by Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, TAT signed letters of intent with five Chinese companies — China Tourism Group, Utour Group, China Comfort Travel Group, Amap (Alibaba's mapping and travel platform) and TCP Group — covering areas including group tour operations, smart tourism, digital services, brand marketing and the development of in-destination experience products, providing a more concrete path for deepening Thailand-China tourism cooperation.

On air connectivity, TAT held parallel talks with Sichuan Airlines on restoring direct service between Chengdu and Chiang Mai and opening new routes to Hua Hin and U-Tapao, aiming to draw higher-spending travelers from western China. So far, however, these routes remain at the discussion stage, with no airline having formally announced a resumption or launch schedule. TAT has separately built partnerships with Sichuan Airlines and Meituan to jointly develop the western Chinese source market.

Over the course of the year, Chinese visitor numbers have climbed steadily: about 2.54 million by June 20, rising to roughly 2.8 million by July 18, and reaching 3.543 million by the end of August. Yet even under relatively optimistic full-year projections, 2026 Chinese arrivals will remain far below pre-pandemic levels — Bank of Thailand and industry data put 2019 Chinese arrivals at roughly 10.9 to 11 million, then Thailand's largest foreign source market. In 2025, that figure collapsed to around 4.5-4.6 million, a drop of more than 30%, with public concern over telecom-scam compounds and kidnapping incidents in areas along the Thailand-Myanmar border widely cited as a major factor, prompting many Chinese travelers to choose alternative destinations such as Japan and Malaysia. This is the direct backdrop against which the new Thailand-China Tourism Partnership singles out "tourist safety protection and crisis-communication cooperation" as a priority area.

Analysts say China's importance to Thailand's tourism industry remains difficult to replace. With major source markets such as South Korea and Malaysia broadly weakening this year, double-digit growth in Chinese arrivals has become a key variable propping up Thailand's tourism figures. But to truly close the gap with pre-pandemic highs and meet the long-term goals set out in the Thailand-China Tourism Partnership (2026-2030), Thailand will still need to keep strengthening safety assurances, streamline visa and border procedures, and bring more direct flight routes online if this recovery is to prove durable.