After a ban in April aimed at preventing coronavirus outbreaks, Thailand registered its first 1,201 international tourists in October, as the nation is steadily opening up to a select number of visitors to support its struggling, tourism-reliant economy.

The second-largest economy in Southeast Asia contracted 6.4 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier after the 12.1 percent downturn in the second quarter as most virus restrictions were relaxed, but the rebound is constrained by a lack of visitors.

A fraction of the 3.07 million arrivals in the same month last year is the 1,201 international tourists in October.

Data from the Tourism Ministry showed that the most recent tourists were 471 from China, 231 from neighboring Cambodia, 178 from countries in the Middle East and 116 from Europe, all traveling on special 90-day visas requiring two weeks of quarantine.

The entry restrictions for Thailand have helped keep its case of coronavirus tally to less than 4,000.

It aims to restart talks on a travel bubble with China to support an economy that the government expects would contract this year by 6 percent.

However the nation has yet to agree on any such agreements, and previous proposals were abandoned in August after cases of coronavirus increased in Asia.

Several other travel bubbles between Asia-Pacific countries have been aborted or failed to take off in new outbreaks, including between New Zealand and Australia, and between Hong Kong and Singapore.

The number of international tourists in Thailand fell 79.5 percent to 6.69 million in January-October 2020 - there were zero tourists registered in April-September.

After last year's updated record of 39.9 million visitors spent 1.91 trillion baht ($63 billion), or around 11.3 percent of gross domestic product, the state planning agency predicted 6.7 million international tourists this year (GDP).

In 2021, it expects just 5 million overseas visitors.