TAT drives for more arrivals from China
The Tourism Authority of Thailand is eyeing the Chinese market, as it will soon become the largest source of tourists for Thailand.
TAT and the government are planning a series of marketing measures and activities specifically targeting China, including relaxed visa regulations, new campaigns and promotions, and investment negotiations.
Suraphon Svetasreni, governor of TAT, said last week that the Chinese would outnumber Malaysians, who were the biggest in arrivals last year. Nearly one million Chinese visited Thailand last year and more than a million are expected this year. Accord-ing to TAT figures, international visitors increased 12.63 per cent to 15 million last year, of whom 3.6 million or 20 per cent were from East Asia.
The top five East Asian markets from January-May this year were China at 793,266, up 68.2 per cent; Japan at 573,271, up 20.6 per cent; Korea at 517,725, up 35.4 per cent; Hong Kong at 206,935, up 58.9 per cent; and Taiwan at 252,170, up 26.8 per cent.
In turn, China is becoming one of the most popular destinations abroad for Thai tourists. More than five million Thais ventured overseas last year, with 630,000 heading to China.
The Thai and Chinese governments are talking about tourism cooperation as well as investment.
Tourism has grown rapidly in China. It is spending bundles of money promoting tourism and loosening laws governing the industry.
Over the coming years, Asia is supposed to experience the greatest growth in tourism, with the lion's share occurring in China.
In 2007, China ranked fifth in the world in tourism revenues with 55 million visitors generating US$42 million. Some predict revenues will reach $300 million by 2015 when China becomes the world's most popular tourist destination.
