Tourist arrivals in Thailand rose 2.46 percent in January from a year earlier after a 2.48 percent increase in the previous month, according to the tourism ministry.

A total of 3.81 million tourists in January spent about 188.8 billion baht (5.94 billion U.S. dollars), down 3.6 percent from a year earlier.

But visitors from China, Thailand's biggest source of tourists, dropped 3.71 percent in January from a year earlier to 1.03 million, with their spending down 10 percent following the coronavirus outbreak.

Read more: Coronavirus epidemic hurts neighboring countries' travel industries

Tourism is a key driver of Thai economic growth, with foreign tourist receipts making up about 11 percent of gross domestic product.