India has two major gateways in Delhi and Mumbai among its 36 international airports, but only attracts around 9 million foreign tourist arrivals each year. Meanwhile, Thailand attracts over 20 million foreign tourists annually.
This information has been collected from India’s Ministry of Tourism website and Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism & Sports website as of 25 September 2026.
That means Thailand draws twice as many tourists as India, even though India’s population is 1.4 billion and Thailand is sitting at around 71 million. Tourism numbers in Thailand are pretty unbelievable when you look at it that way.
How does this affect real estate in the inner cities? The effect is a conversion of homes to hotels. In a country like Thailand where city planning remains relatively fragmented, you can easily have an eight-storey hotel in the plot near your house.
Economic and urban studies on Bangkok have shown a direct correlation between high Short-Term Rental (STR) density and skyrocketing housing costs. In heavily impacted neighbourhoods (the top decile of STR activity), studies done at Shinawatra University estimated that STRs pushed long-term rents up by roughly eight per cent and transaction purchase prices up by 15 to 18 per cent.
Properties were frequently pulled out of the traditional residential pool and reallocated to the much more lucrative tourist market. This created severe inventory shortages, forcing local residents, young professionals, and families out of older communities in lower Sukhumvit and upper Sukhumvit into Bang Na-Trat Road with newer communities in Punnawithi and On Nut.
Permanent neighbours were replaced by a transient population of tourists. Residents frequently complained about noise pollution from construction, disruptive behaviour, and a shift in neighbourhood commerce—where everyday stores (like daily needs and hardware shops) were displaced by coffee shops, tailors, and businesses catering exclusively to visitors.
Once we accept that our nation yields tourists by the millions per year with numbers only expected to grow, land in the Central Business District (CBD) will keep rising and 90 per cent of long-term residents will move out of locations like:
Sukhumvit Soi 1 to 16
Sathorn Soi 1 to 16
Silom Soi 1 to 16
These sois could become a benchmark for understanding how tourism will shape Bangkok in the years ahead, with 50 per cent or more of tourists potentially passing through them. Without careful planning, they could become more difficult to live in.
When considering your own soi, it is worth looking beyond the present and thinking about what it could look like in 2040 or even 2060. Housing decisions should take into account not only what works today, but also the long-term trajectory of the neighbourhood.
I hope these insights can help inform your home-buying decisions over the next few years. Ultimately, I believe we each need to consider our individual needs and priorities carefully before deciding where to move.
Meanwhile, I will leave you with some interesting figures.
Suvarnabhumi Airport welcomes approximately 70,000 international arriving passengers each day, compared with an estimated 8,700 foreign tourist arrivals at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport.
Vimol Kogar
If you need my assistance,
I am available at +66 (0) 81-616-5987