In Thailand, street food was commonly sold by the ethnic Chinese population of Thailand. It did not become popular among native Thai people until the early-1960s when, due to urban population growth and rising incomes, it had "displaced home-cooking." About 76% of urban residents in Thailand regularly visit street food vendors. The rise of the country's tourism industry has also contributed to the popularity of Thai street food. Thailand's 103,000 street food vendors alone generated 270 billion baht in revenues in 2017. Suvit Maesincee, Minister of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, expects the Thai street food segment to grow by six to seven percent annually from 2020 forward. Multiple studies showed that contamination of food that street food vendors sell is at the same level as the contamination at restaurants. An estimated 2% or 160,000 vendors provide street food for Bangkok's 8 million people.