
The South Korean market might knock the Chinese off the top spot for arrivals in Chiang Mai this year, thanks to an uptick in direct flights and cool winter weather, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).
Patsalin Swetarat, director of TAT's Chiang Mai office, said declining safety confidence among Chinese travellers created an impact on tourism in the province to some extent, especially among independent travellers who typically enter via direct flights.
She said the arrival numbers via Chiang Mai International Airport in January 2025 had seen South Korean tourists edging above the Chinese market so far with 34,954 and 34,894 arrivals, respectively.
Even though the Chinese market might not drop sharply this year, the trend for these visitors has been sluggish post-pandemic, with a recovery rate of 30% compared to 2019, and Chiang Mai tourism has already pivoted to other markets offering strong potential, such as South Korea, to diversify risk over the past few years.
For the Chinese New Year celebrations this week, Mrs Patsalin said Chiang Mai is expected to record an 82% occupancy rate, while overall revenue should reach 686 million baht, of which 463 million baht would be derived from foreign visitors.
In 2024, the Chinese were the top market for Chiang Mai with 326,651 arrivals, followed by South Korea (283,681), Taiwan (158,552), Hong Kong (58,237) and Malaysia (55,067).
"The key driver for tourism growth in Chiang Mai is direct flights. All markets in the top five were countries with direct services to our province. This year we hope to attract more direct flights from India," said Mrs Patsalin.
International visitors to Chiang Mai still account for 30% of the market, while the majority (70%) continues to be local travellers.
Mrs Patsalin said the winter season helped drive the local market from the final month of 2024 until now, particularly the extended period of cool weather in the North and less severe PM2.5 levels recorded in January.
During this high season, the province's tourism had only been disrupted for a few weeks during the floods that hit during October 2024.
Meanwhile, Airbnb also reported that South Korea was the top inbound market for Chiang Mai during the first and third quarters of 2024, based on bookings through its platform. This market recorded 50% growth compared to the corresponding period in 2023.
Other top international markets included China, the US, the UK, Germany, Australia, Canada and France.
According to Airbnb, Chiang Mai also attracted greater interest from Asia-Pacific travellers as searches from Japanese and Indian guests increased by around 90% and Australian guests by over 80% for their future trips in 2025.