Crackdown on budget Chinese tours deals blow to Thai tourism

Bangkok

THAILAND is nursing a slide in Chinese holidaymakers after cracking down on low-budget tours from the world's most-populous country, muddying the South-east Asian nation's economic growth outlook.

Arrivals fell 16 per cent in December from a year ago, extending a slide that began after Thailand in September clamped down on operators bringing in large groups from China on cut-price holidays. Some of the impact could linger in the early part of 2017, according to Kasikorn Research Center Co.