BANGKOK, August 21. /TASS/. About 900,000 Russian nationals visited Thailand year to date and this evidences the return of tourist sector indicators to the level before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) told TASS.

"From January 1 [to August 20, 2023 Thailand has welcomed around 898,170 Russian tourists," TAT said.

Malaysia ranks first with 2,462,083 arrivals. China comes in second with 2,111,638 arrivals, followed by South Korea (1,010,696), and India (961,543).Russia ranks fifth.

Thailand canceled, effective October 1, 2022, all visitor entry restrictions and the state of emergency imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the tourist traffic increased dramatically. The country also expects to have record high two million arrivals of Russian tourists in 2024.