Chinese shun Thailand trips

Bangkok – As China kicked off its “Golden Week” holiday yesterday, Thailand said it was struggling to lure back visitors from its biggest source of tourists after a boat accident in July that killed dozens.

Lured by Thailand’s proximity and plentiful attractions, visitors from China accounted for nearly a third of last year’s record 35.38 million arrivals in the Southeast Asian nation. But a Thai tourism official said he expected arrivals during the Chinese holiday to dip 1% this year.

“The decrease is because the boat incident has affected our safety image,” said Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

The agency has rounded down its forecast of Chinese arrivals for the year to 10.5 million from 11 million, he added.

Thailand has tried to lure back Chinese tourists by offering special immigration lanes at key airports and is also considering offering them a double-entry visa.

In July, Chinese arrivals fell 0.9% from a year earlier in the first drop since the start of 2017, when the government cracked down on cheap tour packages.

Industry experts had hoped that Golden Week, which runs from October 1 to 7 and is one of China’s most popular holidays, would bring back its tourists, but that appears not to be the case. – Reuters