The deals from major credit card companies keep coming. Call it a small — very small, I know — silver lining in today’s dismal economy. To attract customers today, credit card companies are offering more sign-up incentives than ever.

The Citi ThankYou Premier Card — already a solid rewards card — is the latest card to offer its new customers a hefty incentive just for applying.

Under Citi’s new offer, you can quickly receive 30,000 bonus points. To illustrate how valuable this offer is, consider this: The 30,000 bonus points are enough for about $400 worth of airline tickets or $300 in gift cards.

To nab your 30,000 bonus points, you’ll have to make $2,000 worth of purchases with your Citi ThankYou Premier card during the first three months after you’ve opened your account.

Once you earn these points, you can redeem them for just about anything, home electronics, restaurant gift cards, airfare, hotel stays and car rentals. Citi already has a great rewards program set up. If you redeem the points through Citi’s ThankYou Travel Center, you’ll be able to turn those bonus points into roughly $400 worth of airline tickets.

The Citi ThankYou Premier card does come with an annual fee of $125. HOWEVER – This fee is waived for the first year.

Your purchase interest rate with this card will vary depending on your creditworthiness.

The Citi ThankYou Premier card also comes with its own rewards program. You’ll earn one rewards point for every dollar that you spend on purchases with your credit card. You’ll also earn 1.2 ThankYou points when you use your Premier card at supermarkets, gas stations, drugstores and parking merchants. You’ll also earn the 1.2 ThankYou points for every dollar that you charge for commuter transportation.

It seems clear that this card, thanks in part to its 30,000 bonus points, is worth its annual fee. Sure, there are plenty of rewards cards out there that come with no annual fee. But how many of them provide you such an easy way to earn 30,000 rewards points?