The tourism industry in Thailand will recover in the second half of this year and will reach its target of luring 26.2 million foreign visitors by the year-end, according to the Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT).

Foreign tourists will start returning to Thailand in August, especially those from the Republic of Korea, Japan and China, as a result of the visa fee exemption for tourists from China as part of the celebration of the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two sides, said an official from TCT.

The council believed that more tourists will visit Thailand in the second half of 2014 and the sector will earn about 1.9 trillion THB this year.

It also called the National Council for Peace and Order, now administering Thailand , to lift martial law in a further effort to lure foreign tourists back to the country.

Thailand last year welcomed 26.7 million foreign tourists, earning 1.2 trillion THB, plus 800 billion THB from the domestic market.

VNA