Middle East tourists in Phuket: arrivals by year and month

Middle East is a regional aggregate in the MOTS table and accounted for 343,957 guest arrivals at Phuket accommodation establishments in 2025 — 3.4% of all foreign check-ins (10,085,407) and rank #9 among the 38 foreign rows (including the residual “Others”) the Ministry of Tourism and Sports publishes for the province. Against 2024 (320,846) that is +7.2%; against 2019, the last pre-pandemic year (117,800), it is +192.0%.

Over the whole series the market went from 148,953 in 2013 to 343,957 in 2025 (+130.9%). The best year on record is 2025 with 343,957 check-ins — the current year. The pandemic low was 2021 at 9,193. Middle East’s share of foreign arrivals moved from 1.2% in 2019 to 3.4% in 2025, so the market grew faster than Phuket as a whole.

Seasonality: in 2025 the peak month was January (41,022) and the quietest October (23,755). Averaged over 2023–2025, arrivals are moderately seasonal (2.4× between January and May): November–March carries 58.5% of the year and June–August 17.1%, which makes Middle East a winter market for Phuket. Before the pandemic (2013–2019) the strongest month averaged 11.7% of the year, in June.

Definitions: a guest arrival is a check-in at a registered hotel, resort, guesthouse or serviced apartment in Phuket province, counted by the nationality given at check-in. It is not an airport arrival and not a count of people: someone who stays in two hotels is counted twice, someone in a private villa is not counted. “Middle East” is a group of countries in the ministry’s file, not a single country. The nationality series runs 2013–2025; the 2026 split will appear with the ministry’s 2026 annual file, expected mid-2027. Source: Thailand Ministry of Tourism and Sports, provincial statistics, retrieved September 2026; files refreshed 2026-09-05.