Thailand says 1 million Chinese tourists visited from January to mid-May

The government expects the number of Chinese visitors to meet its target of 5 million this year

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand received one million Chinese tourists between January and May 18, a government official said on Sunday (May 28), after China's border reopening.

The government expects the number of Chinese visitors to meet its target of 5 million this year, with spending of 446 billion baht (US$13.18 billion), government spokesperson Anucha Burapachaisri said in a statement. 

Last year, about 274,000 Chinese tourists visited the Southeast Asian country, compared with 11 million in pre-pandemic 2019, or about 28 per cent of the total.

Overall foreign tourist arrivals were 9.47 million from January to mid-May, the government earlier said, compared with the 11.15 million visitors in the whole of 2022.

Southeast Asia's second-largest economy grew faster than expected in the first quarter, driven by the continued pickup in the crucial tourism sector, a key source of jobs that was decimated by the Covid-19 pandemic.