After losing favour with China travellers, Thailand pulls out all the stops to woo them back

EVEN though Thailand fell short of its 2023 target to attract four million Chinese tourists, the government says it is confident enough to double that figure this year – a goal that industry observers have described as a tall order.

Thailand’s economy – the second-largest in South-east Asia – is heavily reliant on tourism throughout the year, with a key source market being China. The tourism sector accounts for about 12 per cent of gross domestic product.

The Chinese made up Thailand’s largest group of tourists in the year before the Covid-19 pandemic, accounting for more than a quarter of the 40 million arrivals in 2019, but they have since given up their top spot.

According to latest figures, of the 28 million foreign visitors to Thailand in 2023, Malaysians topped the chart with 4.6 million, followed by the Chinese (3.5 million) and South Koreans (1.7 milion).

The Chinese arrivals were well below the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s (TAT) initial target of five million, which it later whittled down to between four million and 4.4 million.

TAT’s deputy governor for international marketing (Asia and South Pacific) Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya said that the authority is “confident” of reaching the goal of eight million Chinese visitors.

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In recent weeks, Thailand has introduced new measures to woo back tourists in a big way, including visa waivers and extended nightlife hours.

Eight new Thai airlines are set to begin operations this year, while Thai Airways International is currently in advanced talks with Boeing to buy some 80 wide-body jets.

“More airline flights and seats are added to new and existing routes between China and Thailand due to a consistent surge in travel demand (between the two countries),” said Chattan. “In addition, Thailand is becoming known in China as an ‘all-year-round destination’ with a wide variety of tourism products and services throughout the country.”

Ambitious goals

In a Jan 16 report in online daily The Nation, Tassapon Bijeveld, the executive chairman of Thai AirAsia and Thai AirAsia X, said that about 40 per cent of flights between China and Thailand on the two budget carriers have been booked for January and February.

Describing this as a “good start”, he added that he expects Thailand to see at least five million arrivals from China in 2024.

Industry experts whom The Business Times spoke to, however, said the Thai government will find it tough to get close to the eight-million target.

Thailand lost appeal among many Chinese last year amid safety concerns. The release of two Chinese blockbuster movies ended up portraying Thailand as a hotbed of kidnapping, gang crime and scam activity.

It was also reported that last October’s fatal shooting at the Siam Paragon mall in Bangkok which killed one Chinese national and injured another, resulted in as many as 60,000 Chinese tourists cancelling their trips to Thailand.

Termsak Chalermpalanupap, visiting senior fellow and coordinator of the Thailand Studies Programme at the Iseas – Yusof Ishak Institute, said that Thailand is “very unlikely” to see eight million Chinese arrivals. “The outflow of Chinese for overseas tourism depends very much on (the) domestic economic situation in China,” he noted.

“We have seen numerous reports about high unemployment of college graduates and urban Chinese. This means fewer Chinese will travel overseas, especially those who are jobless,” he said, adding that Thailand would be “lucky” to have four million Chinese tourists this year.

Gary Bowerman, an analyst of travel and consumer trends in Asia, said that a strong Chinese New Year travel period will be essential for Thailand to get on track to hit the “fairly ambitious” target for the year.

Thailand might expect a stronger recovery from the China market this year, but travel demand and airline capacity will still remain sub-par compared to 2019, said Bowerman, who is based in Malaysia. “This year will bring more flights and more Chinese tourists into South-east Asia, and new patterns of travel and new expectations from tourists, but there needs to be a degree of organic regrowth,” he explained.

For now, however, the initial numbers seem to suggest that Chinese visitors are gradually returning to Thailand, although it’s too early to tell if this pace can be sustained throughout the year.

For the week of Jan 8, Thailand received an average of 14,000 new arrivals from China each day. This was up from about 12,500 to 13,000 visitors daily the week before, said TAT’s Chattan.

For the first 10 days of 2024, Thailand welcomed a total of 125,904 visitors from China, he added.

On Jan 2, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin announced that Thailand and China will permanently waive visa requirements for each other’s citizens. The scheme, which took effect from last September, was earlier meant to last until the end of February this year.

Last November, Srettha’s administration also extended the opening hours of entertainment venues, clubs and karaoke bars in popular destinations such as Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya by two hours until 4 am. The authorities also approved tax cuts on alcoholic beverages and entertainment venues in an effort to boost tourism.

The Ministry of Tourism and Sports is also working with the Tourist Police to deploy more Chinese-language communication tools and personnel, added Chattan.