BANGKOK, February 4. /TASS/. Tourist flow from Russia to Thailand in January 2025 increased by 35% year-on-year, according to the data released by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Thailand.

In January, more than 270,000 Russians visited Thailand, while in January 2024 their number was about 200,000.

Among all national groups of tourists, Russians now rank third, while China comes first with 710,000 tourists, Malaysia ranks second with 483,000 tourists. South Korea (222,000) and India (195,000) rank fourth and fifth respectively.

In total, almost 4 million foreign tourists visited the kingdom in January, which is 21% more than in January 2024.

According to the ministry, in 2024, tourist flow from Russia to Thailand grew by 18% in comparison with 2023, when 1.48 million Russians visited the kingdom. Last year, 1.745 million tourists from Russia visited the South Asian country repeating the 2013 visitor record and ranked fifth among all national groups of tourists.

Thailand expects to receive about 1.9 million tourists from Russia by the end of this year, which is the kingdom's largest European tourist market. Earlier in an interview with TASS, head of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Thapanee Kiatphaibool, noted that the steady growth in the number of Russians arriving in Thailand over the past three years is not a big surprise, since "due to the closure of many European destinations for Russian tourists, the overall flow of Russians traveling abroad has shifted in favor of Asian and Middle Eastern countries.".