Thailand has welcomed more than 11 million tourists so far this year, government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri said on Saturday.
According to data from the Immigration Bureau, Mr Anucha said the cumulative number of arriving visitors from January to Dec 22 reached 11.04 million.
Most tourists were from Malaysia, logging in at 1.81 million people, followed by 923,768 tourists from India, 796,220 from Laos, 563,594 from Singapore and 562,060 from Cambodia.
A total of 5.72 million visitors were logged at Suvarnabhumi Airport, 1.45 million visitors in Phuket International Airport and 904,717 in Don Mueang International Airport.
Some 670,400 visitors were registered at a checkpoint in Sadao district of Songkhla province and 328,957 in Nong Khai.
Citing Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) data, about 70,000 visitors a day on average have entered the kingdom since the reopening of the country.
In addition, 5,000 tourists from Russia have been arriving on average in recent months thanks to an increase in direct flights to Bangkok and Phuket and charter flights to U-Tapao Airport.
Mr Anucha said Thailand has earned 1.5 trillion baht in revenue from tourist spending this year, reaching half the total value generated in 2019.
By next year, TAT expects the tourism industry will rebound to 80% of the total value of 2019, at 2.8 trillion baht. As tourist visits return slowly to pre-Covid levels, it has set a target to attract 50% of the number of international tourists in 2019, or about 20 million people.
"The premier has stressed the importance of restoring both international and domestic tourism in Thailand, together with spreading revenue to locals and communities," he said.
"The Tourism and Sports Ministry and various other agencies have been instructed to be prepared to handle the visitors arriving now, and the expected numbers in the future, and revise the tourism plan based on the readiness and potential of the country."
