In the first half of this year, Chinese tourists became Thailand’s largest visitor group with 3.43 million arrivals, surpassing Malaysians. Malaysia followed with 2.43 million arrivals, and India with just over 1 million, based on data from the Thai Ministry of Tourism and Sports. Thailand welcomed a total of 17.5 million foreign arrivals from January to June, half of its annual target of 36.7 million. Last year, Malaysia had overtaken China as Thailand’s top tourism market. Thailand made the visa waiver permanent for Chinese tourists in March and expanded visa-free entry to travelers from 93 countries since June, up from 57 previously.