Pacific Money | Economy | Southeast Asia

How Southeast Asia’s Tourism Sector Changed in 2025

Thailand remains the biggest regional draw for foreign tourists, but the sector is undergoing some interesting and potentially significant shifts.

A view of the old town of Hoi An, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Vietnam.

In 2025, just under 119 million foreign visitors arrived in the countries of Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines. Inbound travel to the region has now reached about the same level as in 2018, but remains below the high-water mark of 2019, when visitors to these six countries hit approximately 127 million. But beneath the headline numbers, some interesting and potentially very important shifts are underway.

Whenever you talk about tourism in Southeast Asia, Thailand usually leads the conversation. For many years, Thailand was unquestionably the largest draw for foreigners visiting the region. While that remains true, it is starting to change. In 2025, Thailand recorded almost 33 million inbound arrivals, still the largest by a considerable margin. But arrivals actually fell 7 percent compared to 2024 and remain well below the 2019 peak of almost 40 million.

Not only are less tourists visiting Thailand, but competitors are quickly rising. The main one is Vietnam, which recorded 21 million arrivals in 2025, 45 percent of which came from just two countries: South Korea and China. Vietnam’s growth as a popular tourist destination in Southeast Asia has been remarkable. In 2016, when Thailand saw 32 million inbound visitors, Vietnam had only 10 million. In the decade since, Vietnam has more than doubled these numbers while Thailand remains at around the same level.

This mirrors Vietnam’s overall rise as an export powerhouse in Southeast Asia. Vietnam recently overtook Thailand in exports of goods, and it is now quickly catching up in service exports like tourism. Given how dependent Thailand’s economy is on exports, of both goods and services, and the low growth equilibrium the economy has been trapped in since the pandemic, the lackluster performance in its tourism sector and the sharp rise of Vietnam’s could pose a tricky long-term problem.

Elsewhere in the region, inbound tourism to Singapore and Malaysia has steadily recovered. Tourism, and the foreign exchange it generates, is not so central to the economies of Singapore and Malaysia as it is in other parts of Southeast Asia. But it’s safe to say Malaysia (with 26.6 million inbound arrivals in 2025) and Singapore (almost 17 million) have resumed their positions as popular regional destinations for a variety of tourists and visitors.

The Philippines remains the smallest of the major tourism markets in........

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