BANGKOK, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese mainland tourists to Thailand dropped 11.77 percent in August compared with the same month last year, according to Thailand's Ministry of Tourism and Sports statistics.

The ministry said that some 3,228,595 foreign tourists visited Thailand in August, which marked a 3.04 percent increase when compared with the same month last year.

These foreign tourists contributed some 168 billion baht (5 billion U.S. dollars) to the country, which increased 2.79 percent when compared with August last year, according to the ministry.

Some 867,461 Chinese mainland tourists, the largest group among foreign tourists, visited Thailand in August, which marks an 11.77 percent decrease when compared with August last year.

And these Chinese mainland tourists contributed 52 billion baht(1.61 billion USD) to the country, which decreased 7.21 percent when compared with the same month last year.

The number of Chinese mainland tourist arrivals had been increasing continually after May 2017 but dropped since last month after two tourist boats were overturn by rough seas in southern Thailands Phuket early July, which resulted in the death of 47 Chinese tourists.

For the first eight months of 2018, some 25 million foreign tourists visited Thailand and contributed 1.35 trillion baht (42 billion USD) to the kingdom.

Some 7.72 million Chinese mainland tourists visited Thailand for the first eight months of this year, marking an increase of 16.51 percent when compared with the same period last year and they contributed 423 billion baht (13 billion USD) to Thailand, marking an year-on-year increase of 22.17 percent.