![A Chinese tourist fires a water gun during the Songkran holiday that marks the Thai New Year in Bangkok, April 13, 2023. (Reuters file photo)](https://static.bangkokpost.com/media/content/20230528/c1_2580071.jpeg)
Thailand received one million Chinese tourists between January and May 18, a government official said on Sunday, 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, government spokesperson Anucha Burapachaisri said in a statement.
Last year, about 274,000 Chinese tourists visited the country, compared with 11 million in pre-pandemic 2019, or about 28% 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.