Chinese arrivals to fall over safety concerns: Tourism Ministry
Chinese arrivals in Thailand are expected to decline due to several negative factors, particularly concerns over travel safety, according to the Tourism and Sports Ministry.
Between January 1 and April 20, Thailand welcomed 11.27 million foreign visitors, marking a 0.52% year-on-year increase. The top five source countries were China (1.52 million), Malaysia (1.40 million), Russia (835,385), India (677,793), and South Korea (549,982).
However, the number of Chinese tourists reached a low of 5,833 arrivals per day on April 16, compared to the usual daily average of 15,000–20,000.
Nattareeya Thaweewong, Permanent Secretary of the Tourism and Sports Ministry, stated on Wednesday that the significant drop in Chinese arrivals was primarily due to safety concerns, increased promotion of domestic travel in China, and a reduction in international flights after the Lunar New Year period.
She noted that foreign arrivals during the Songkran festival fell notably compared to the same period last year. Daily figures included 91,000 on April 10, 124,000 on April 11, 122,000 on April 12, 93,100 on April 13, 75,000 on April 14, and 62,000 on April 15.
While Chinese arrivals temporarily rose to 16,000 on April 11 during Songkran, the overall trend has remained downward.
“The Ministry of Tourism and Sports, along with the Tourism Authority of Thailand, should revise their tourism promotion strategy and shift towards more targeted marketing efforts,” Nattareeya said.
“This includes focusing on long-haul markets with strong potential such as Sweden, New Zealand, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, Canada, Germany, Australia, Spain and Austria.”
She added that the long-haul market is showing promising growth and could help return the tourism sector to positive territory, as these visitors typically have higher spending power.
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has instructed the Tourism and Sports Ministry and the Tourism Authority of Thailand to generate 3 trillion baht in international tourism revenue this year—matching the pre-Covid-19 level recorded in 2019.
“Current projections for international tourism revenue in the first half of the year (January–June) stand at 862.29 billion baht, which is still far from the annual target,” Nattareeya said.
