Thailand targets 1.5 million US visitors as TAT aligns its New York, Chicago and Los Angeles offices

Thailand has put a number on its ambitions for the American market. On 21 September 2026 the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) announced a target of 1.5 million visitors from the United States and said its three North American offices, in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, will now work to a single "Value over Volume" plan. The plan centres on higher-spending travellers, a defined set of priority segments and closer partnerships with airlines and the travel trade.

The direction was set at a strategic meeting held at the TAT New York Office on 17 September. Surasak Phancharoenworakul, Minister of Tourism and Sports, chaired the session, joined by Natthriya Thaweevong, Chairperson of the TAT Board of Directors, TAT Governor Thapanee Kiatphaibool and TAT executives. Afterwards TAT held a Buddhist blessing ceremony for the office's new premises, attended by Somjai Taphaopong, Consul-General of Thailand in New York. The occasion also marked 61 years of TAT's presence in the city: the office opened on 15 May 1965 as the Tourist Organization Thailand New York Office.

The figures explain the attention. In 2025 Thailand welcomed 1,081,929 visitors from the United States, the second year in a row that arrivals passed one million. They stayed an average of 14.59 nights and spent more than 69,415 baht per person per trip. Between 1 January and 15 September 2026 the country recorded 716,983 US arrivals.

Thapanee said the minister's presence showed the weight Thailand gives the Americas as a long-haul market. TAT, she added, is concentrating on travellers who stay longer, spend more and look for experiences with greater depth, supported by partnerships that can turn interest into actual trips.

To reach the target, TAT will coordinate the New York, Chicago and Los Angeles offices with Team Thailand, airlines, tour operators and tourism partners. The stated aims are to develop relevant products, respond to changing traveller behaviour and keep demand steady throughout the year. Priority segments are luxury, wellness, gastronomy and sports tourism, along with Millennials and Gen Z, multigenerational families and LGBTQ+ travellers.

Film tourism and set-jetting will run alongside this work. Thailand has appeared in a string of international productions, among them The White Lotus Season 3, Jurassic World: Rebirth, Alien: Earth and The Challenge Season 42. TAT intends to turn that visibility into interest in specific destinations, cuisine, wellness, culture, nature and local ways of life.

For a visitor, the profile behind these numbers is the useful part. A stay of two weeks is long enough to move between regions: a few days in Bangkok, then Chiang Mai, or Phuket and the islands. Itineraries like that often include a rental car or a scooter for at least part of the trip. And after a long-haul flight across the Pacific, few people have patience left for unclear pricing or a deposit that only appears at the counter.

Balm Rentals is built with that traveller in mind. The marketplace gathers verified rental providers that operate legally and shows the price, the deposit and the rental conditions in the traveller's own language before any payment is made, on iOS, Android and the web. For a first-time visitor from Los Angeles or Chicago who has never rented a scooter in Asia, that removes most of the guesswork. For local rental businesses it is an additional channel to a market TAT has now singled out for growth, a complement to the industry's own efforts rather than a rival to them.

Sixty-one years after opening a single office in New York, TAT is treating the United States as a market to be worked deliberately. If the 1.5 million target is met, the travellers who arrive will be the kind who stay long, move around and expect services that match the effort of the journey.