The days of staggering number of Chinese arrivals in Thailand may soon be over as the tourism structure has changed.
Package tour groups from the world's largest outbound tourist market are falling while free and independent travellers (FITs) and "quality" travellers are gaining a higher profile.
"We are not reverting to the old scenario of growth which was not realistic. Our future growth will be sustainable," Tourism and Sports Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul told the Bangkok Post.
Tourism authorities are no longer obsessed with the number of arrivals from China but focusing on the revenue growth they can contribute to the country, she said.
The profile of Chinese tourists is also changing with 55% of all Chinese arrivals classified as FITs and their proportion is expected to rise to 70-80% in the near future, she added.
Package tours have been the key driver of the influx of Chinese arrivals, leaping from 2.8 million in 2012 to 7.9 million last year, according to official figures.
After several downward revisions, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said Chinese visitors this year would top 9.10 million, up by 14%, but missing the target of 11-13 million set earlier in the year.
Official records showed that Chinese tourists tally 8.4 million so far this year, spending an estimated 390 billion baht.
TAT officials have said they want to raise Chinese visitors' spending per trip per head to 48,000 baht this year, taking the total earnings from the prime source market to 483 billion baht.
Ms Kobkarn did not say how many Chinese tourists, who constitute about a third of total international arrivals, would visit Thailand in the years ahead.
"Our priority now is to make Chinese tourists spend more time and money here," she said.
On average Chinese FITs stay nine days compared with six days for tour group visitors, she said.
The minister defended the government against charges of being slow to address the repercussions from the clampdown on "zero-dollar" tours that caused Chinese arrivals to plummet since September.
Chinese tour scams involve offering cheap package tours to customers, who are then pressured into buying goods and services at inflated prices so that operators can recoup their losses.
Some critics have argued that the crackdown was not the best way to tackle the problem.
"It was inevitable that we took this path which only provides short-term solution, but is unsound in the long term," she said, without providing a time frame for when the fallout from the crackdown would be over.
Ms Kobkarn said the crackdown on the tour scams was the right thing to do and was even supported by Chinese authorities and tourism operators.