Bangkok, May 28 (BNA): Thailand welcomed one million Chinese tourists between January and May 18, a government official said Sunday, after China’s borders reopened.
Government spokeswoman Anucha Purapachisri said in a statement that the government expects the number of Chinese visitors to meet its target of 5 million this year by spending 446 billion baht ($13.18 billion).
Last year, some 274,000 Chinese tourists visited the Southeast Asian country, compared to 11 million in pre-pandemic 2019, or about 28% of the total.
The government said earlier that the total number of tourist arrivals reached 9.47 million in the period from January to mid-May, compared to 11.15 million in the whole of 2022.
Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy grew faster than expected in the first quarter, spurred by a continued recovery in the vital tourism sector, a major source of jobs devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
MI