These visitors have generated tourism income of around 454.65 billion baht for Thai entrepreneurs, it added.
China was the top source market for foreign tourists to Thailand, with 1,756,337 arrivals, followed by Malaysia (1,168,574), Russia (622,813), South Korea (558,873), India (472,952), Germany (315,033), Laos (308,097), the UK (290,486), the US (280,248) and Japan (271,427).
The ministry added that these statistics only include arrivals processed by the Immigration Office, and do not include those who entered Thailand by land through border passes.
The ministry said that the main factors contributing to this trend is the permanent visa waiver deal for Thai and Chinese citizens, and increasing flights to Thailand offered by several airlines.
Thailand and China have agreed to waive visa requirements for their citizens permanently from March 1, a policy that came into effect almost immediately after the earlier visa-free process expired.
The government’s visa-free policy was introduced in September last year, beginning with a 5-month visa exemption for visitors from China and Kazakhstan, followed by India and Taiwan in November.
The ministry has set a revenue target for 2024 of 3.5 trillion baht, 2.3 trillion baht of which would come from foreign arrivals of about 40 million people. Domestic tourists, meanwhile, will contribute 1.2 trillion baht from around 200-220 million person-trips.
