Thailand welcomed its 30 millionth foreign visitor for 2016 at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport on Monday, which means this year's number of foreign tourists till now has already broken the record of 2015, some 29.88 million.
Huang Junyi, 27, a Chinese tourist from Guangzhou, arrived at the airport around 5 p.m local time and was welcomed by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) as she is the 30 millionth foreign visitor for 2016, or "Thailand's Luckiest Visitor".
"It is amazing that I am the lucky one, I will come Thailand again as the kingdom is really good for a relax," said Huang.
She received two economy-class air tickets for future travel to Thailand from Guangzhou, which will be valid for a year, a voucher for a five-night stay in one of Thailand's luxury hotels, a mobile phone with a 4G sim card and seven days of unlimited internet usage and a certificate for being "Thailand's Luckiest Visitor".
The campaign was launched in 2015 to welcome and reward every millionth visitor to Thailand, said TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn, adding that the number of foreign tourists visiting Thailand this year is huge, marked by the 30 millionth visitor Huang.
Chinese are the biggest visitors to Thailand, accounting for about 30 percent of international tourists to the Kingdom.
TAT expects Thailand to net some 1.62 trillion Baht ( 46 billion U.S. dollars) from foreign tourists throughout 2016, representing an increase of 11.68 percent when compared with 2015.
To attract more tourists, Thailand decided to waive visa fee and halve the visa-on-arrival costs from 2,000 baht (56 USD) to 1,000 baht (28 USD) for tourists from 18 countries including China from Dec.1 to Feb. 28.
Tourists from any of these 18 countries, respectively Andorra, Bulgaria, Bhutan, China, Cyprus, Ethiopia, India, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, the Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Romania, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, can enjoy the fee cutting policy during these three months.
