(Yicai Global) Feb. 6 -- The number of Chinese tourists visiting Thailand this year will likely bounce back to about 80 percent of 2019’s pre-pandemic level, according to a Thai official.

Between 7 million and 10 million Chinese tourists are expected to land at Bangkok Airport this year, Nonglux Yooyendee, director of Tourism Authority of Thailand Shanghai Office, said today at the welcome event for China’s first overseas group tour to the country since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Thailand had 11 million travelers from China in 2019, accounting for a quarter of the Southeast Asian country’s total overseas visitors that year.

China’s first post-pandemic group tour to Thailand, organized by Spring International Travel Service, departed from Pudong International Airport to the beach resort island of Phuket this morning, The Paper reported.

The number of people entering Thailand from China is steadily increasing, Yooyendee noted. More than 90,000 Chinese entered in January, when only individual travelers were allowed to depart.

From this month, there will be 75 weekly flights to Thailand from eastern China, with nearly 13,000 passengers, she added. The number is expected to increase to 50 percent of the pre-pandemic level by the third quarter and 80 percent by the end of the year, she pointed out.

Shanghai-based Spring Travel said that because of the limited preparation time, the number of tour groups that could depart today was limited, but with staff returning to work and feedback from the first groups is taken onboard, outbound travel is likely to truly recover this spring.

Editor: Martin Kadiev