Illustrative photo (Photo: VNA)Bangkok (VNA) – Thailand welcomed nearly sixmillion foreign visitors between January 1 and February 25, Minister of Tourism andSports Sudawan Wangsuphakijkosol has said.
She added that those visitors have generated revenue ofaround 290.92 billion THB (8.07 billion USD) for the Southeast Asiancountries.
In the first eight weeks of this year, China was the top sourcemarket for foreign tourists to Thailand with 1,114,316 arrivals, followed byMalaysia (759,828), Russia (397,006), the Republic of Korea (387,475), and India(293,129).
From February 19-25, foreign arrivals totalled 763,855, down8.19% from the previous week or by 68,134 people, bringing the average number of foreignarrivals per day to 109,123.
The Ministry of Tourism and Sports expects foreign arrivals torise again this week from February 26 to March 3, thanks to the permanent visawaiver deal for Thai and Chinese citizens, and the increasing number of flightsto Thailand to be offered by several airlines.
Thailand and China have agreed to waive visa requirements fortheir citizens permanently from March 1, which comes just after the earliervisa-free policy expires.
The Thai government’s visa-free policy has been implemented since last September beginning with a 5-month visa exemption for visitors fromChina and Kazakhstan, followed by India and Taiwan (China) in November.
The ministry has set a revenue target for 2024 of 3.5trillion THB, including 2.3 trillion THB from 40 million foreign arrivals.Domestic tourists will contribute 1.2 trillion THB from around 200-220 millionperson-trips./.
