Russian tourists are 'taking over' Thailand.

After the resumption of direct flights to Thailand in October, Russian tourists flooded into the Kingdom of Southeast Asia. If in September, the number of tourists set post-COVID records at 15,900 people per month, by October it had more than doubled to over 44,000.

The number of Russian tourists exceeded countries such as Japan and Australia, which had always been the leaders.

This situation is causing certain unease in EU countries that are trying to influence the Kingdom of Thailand with possible sanctions, but it is important to understand here – tourism is a key industry for Thailand, and China's strict anti-covid restrictions already deprived the country of both a large number of tourists from the mainland and expected revenues.