Meanwhile, TAT believes that the overall number this year might drop by 9.8% year-on-year to 3.2 million, reports the Bangkok Post.
IndiGo has cancelled thousands of flights since last week after it failed to plan for new pilot rest rules, creating chaos for air travel in India over the past several days.
According to IndiGo, the airline’s network was fully restored as of Dec 8, as it operated over 1,800 flights, up from 1,650 flights the day before.
About 90% on-time performance was restored across its network, according to the carrier. The airline is also processing outstanding refunds for passengers for flight cancellations up to Dec 15.
Vathanachai Chatrirath, vice-president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents, said that due to the IndiGo flight disruption, around 20% of tour groups from India due to travel to Thailand had been cancelled since last week.
He said many travellers are unable to travel to Thailand as domestic flights from their second-tier cities had been cancelled, although international flights to Thailand from major Indian cities were still operating as normal.
Mr Vathanachai added that December is another popular month for Indian group travel. Incentive and leisure family groups tend to visit major cities such as Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket, as well as Krabi, while wedding groups are opting for beach destinations such as Phuket and Hua Hin.
He said the first half of this month was often overwhelmed with bookings from Indian tourists compared to the latter half, which typically had more expensive room and travel prices due to the peak year-end holiday, as the country typically welcomed a large number of long-haul tourists.
Patsee Permvongsenee, executive director of the Asean, South Asia and South Pacific region at TAT, said mainly domestic flights were impacted, as between Dec 3-7 over 3,800 IndiGo flights were cancelled, causing flight delays.
This incident disrupted Indians, particularly groups of tourists, who were travelling domestically in order to catch international flights to Thailand.
Mrs Patsee said they chose to postpone their trips or even purchase flights with other airlines.
The number of Indian arrivals likely decreased as they were discouraged from travelling due to flight disruption and rising airfares offered by other airlines.
According to TAT, as of September, IndiGo had the largest market share for India-Thailand flights with 107 flights a week out of a total of 374 weekly flights.
Thai carriers like Thai Airways and Thai AirAsia operated 71 and 64 weekly flights, respectively, taking the second- and third-largest market shares.
Mrs Patsee said a representative of IndiGo told the agency that the airline’s operations will resume as normal from today.
Despite there being less than a month left of the current high season, TAT is still confident that Indian arrivals will reach 2.4-2.5 million, a new high for the year.
Meanwhile, TAT governor Thapanee Kiatphaibool said the overall international market this year might only reach 32mn, dropping 9.8% from 35.5 million recorded in 2024.
She said several setbacks, including the recent floods in the South and the border conflict with Cambodia, contributed to the full-year contraction.