Thailand tourism could see over 10 million foreign tourist arrivals this year, the tourism minister said on Friday, as the key industry recovers from the impact of the pandemic.

There have been around 5.8 million foreign arrivals since the start of the year, Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn told a seminar.

Thailand is targeting 5 to 15 million foreign tourist arrivals this year, according to an earlier Reuters estimate. Since May 1, the Southeast Asian country has abolished COVID-19 testing upon arrival. The latest move was aimed at reviving its struggling tourism industry, which typically accounts for around 12% of gross domestic product. Tourists are expected to spend between 630 billion baht ($ 18.35 billion) and 1.2 trillion baht this year, government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said in a statement, citing the Tourism Authority’s projection of Thailand tourism.

The expected number of tourists would be a substantial improvement over 428,000 foreign arrivals in 2021. However, this is still far less than the nearly 40 million visitors in 2019 who spent around 1.91 trillion baht.

From January to April, Thailand received 742,386 foreign tourists and the number is expected to increase significantly, Thanakorn said.

At a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, an economic task force approved the extension of support to the national travel industry from May to September.