This photo taken on Feb 6, 2020 shows a waitress cleaning an area at a nearly empty restaurant at Ao Nang beach in Krabi province, Thailand. (NICOLAS ASFOURI / AFP)

BANGKOK - Thailand's first batch of tourists from China Tuesday evening arrived at Bangkok airport.

The first group of 41 tourists travelling on the Special Tourist Visa (STV) from Shanghai was the first batch of tourists granted permission to land in Thailand since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

The first group of 41 tourists travelling on the Special Tourist Visa (STV) from Shanghai was the first batch of tourists granted permission to land in Thailand since the COVID-19 pandemic began

No reporters or people unrelated to the arrival of the tourists, were allowed into the arrival premises of the Suvarnabhumi International Airport on Tuesday.

"The first group of Chinese tourists have arrived on Tuesday evening, but the Thai government had not organized any welcoming ceremony for the tourists," said Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).

"Instead the tourists had to fill up some forms and download the state-sponsored COVID-19 tracing platform, and whisked away into hotel quarantine sites."

ALSO READ: Thailand seeks travel bubble pact with China to spur tourism

A second group of 100 people from Guangzhou will fly in on Oct 26 and another group will be flown in from Shanghai on Oct 28.

"So until now, we have been quite successful in handling the arrival of Chinese tourists as both sides have been very cooperative in adhering to health control measures," said the TAT governor.

"We also have a few STV tourist groups flying in from Europe, but we are still working out which airports to land, as it may depend on where the tourists have booked their 14-day mandatory quarantine," said Yuthasak.

The new STV scheme allows a 90-day stay in Thailand that can be renewed twice, adding up to about nine months.

READ MORE: Thailand to slowly restart tourism with flight from China

The scheme had been approved earlier by the Thai Cabinet in an attempt to salvage the Thai tourism industry, badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.