Thailand struggles to win back Chinese tourists during Golden Week holiday

By Patpicha Tanakasempipat and Panarat Thepgumpanat

 

FILE PHOTO: Chinese tourists visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok, Thailand August 19, 2018. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun/File photo

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - As China kicked off its "Golden Week" holiday on Monday, 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 percent 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 percent from a year earlier for their first drop since the start of 2017, when the government cracked down on cheap tour packages.

 

Tourism experts blamed a July boat disaster off the coast of Phuket that killed 47 Chinese in Thailand's worst tourist-related disaster in years, underscoring concerns over the kingdom's lax attitude to safety.

 

Chinese tourist arrivals continued to fall in August, plunging 11.77 percent from a year earlier, tourism ministry data showed.

 

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

 

The government said it had cut by 11.5 percent its forecast for the number of Chinese arrivals for the six months from July, to 5.1 million.

 

(Editing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Clarence Fernandez)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-10-01

Maybe a BJ can help the situation?

42 minutes ago, webfact said:

Thailand said it was struggling to lure back visitors from its biggest source of tourists

 

How much would it cost to lay a trail of shrimp buffet coupons from Beijing to Bangkok ?

 

43 minutes ago, webfact said:

the boat incident has affected our safety image

 

Translation "revealed" our safety image.

1 hour ago, webfact said:

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

 

10.5 instead of 11 million. Yes, that's almost no Chinese arrivals at all. Time to panic indeed!

34 minutes ago, Darcula said:

How much would it cost to lay a trail of shrimp buffet coupons from Beijing to Bangkok ?

 

Could be quite expensive (i.e. at least the price of 3 submarines) if you also put up neon signs every mile or so, reading "ALL YOU CAN EAT! THIS WAY!".

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Thailand struggles to win back Chinese tourists during Golden Week holiday

 

Good. I hope this "Golden Week holiday" last for the rest of the year.

1 hour ago, webfact said:

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

 

"All that glitters is not gold"

I thought NOTHING affected the tourist numbers coming

to Thailand,at least that's the spin,TAT keeps spewing out.

regards worgeordie

1 minute ago, PatOngo said:

 

"All that glitters is not gold"

 

Certainly not the Chinese tourists.

 '' its not you , its me''...

Edited October 1, 20187 yr by mok199

 

"The decrease is because the boat incident has affected our safety image,"

 

Oh how unfortunate for Thailand 

Time to copy some messages of  how the Thai react when the first Chinese arrived here in Thailand and how they thought about it.

My God what a disaster it was and still is. 

Where are the posters who said (moaned) the Chinese would all be back in a month? 

You don't understand the risk averse mentality of most northern Asian cultures!

Koreans and Japanese also spook easily.

And they don't forget, especially when their media have a vested interest in making them look good by pushing the big bad outside world narrative for nationalistic ends. 

 

 

1 hour ago, Misterwhisper said:

 

10.5 instead of 11 million. Yes, that's almost no Chinese arrivals at all. Time to panic indeed!

But it's a rubbish figure, a wishful prediction, pulled out their arse. They cannot possibly know. And Thailand won't fix their safety record any time soon. And therefore other disasters will occur. And so it goes, until or if they start to invest seriously in safety on land and sea. 

 

But it's a rubbish figure, a wishful prediction, pulled out their arse. They cannot possibly know. And Thailand won't fix their safety record any time soon. And therefore other disasters will occur. And so it goes, until or if they start to invest seriously in safety on land and sea. 
 

I live on lower Sukhumvit BKK and it's annoyingly bursting with Chinese especially T21 that used to be at an acceptable noise level but now is full of yelling china's

In Pattaya now and walking St full of flag [emoji626] followers.

Somebody forgot to tell the Chinese they shouldn't be here

5 minutes ago, blackhorse said:

I live on lower Sukhumvit BKK and it's annoyingly bursting with Chinese especially T21 that used to be at an acceptable noise level but now is full of yelling china's

In Pattaya now and walking St full of flag followers.

Somebody forgot to tell the Chinese they shouldn't be here

Here's a funny thing. A billion and a half people are not going to entirely vanish, even when the next great depression hits, and it will.  

If you are upset about something or someone, they are in your consciousness, you notice them or it.

A lot.

The Chinese don't bother me, I don't 'see' them. 

Try to not let them live rent-free in your head, life's too short. 

Here's a funny thing. A billion and a half people are not going to entirely vanish, even when the next great depression hits, and it will.  
If you are upset about something or someone, they are in your consciousness, you notice them or it.
A lot.
The Chinese don't bother me, I don't 'see' them. 
Try to not let them live rent-free in your head, life's too short. 

Woah to deep for me dude, I just let beer [emoji482] take care of the bothersome stuff... Speaking of which I think it's that time of day [emoji16]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

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.

 

They're not coming once, never mind twice in a short period of time.

 

They seem to think that a double entry visa is some kind of enticement to tourists - it's not.

 

Thailand has spent the last 4 or 5 years dedicating itself to pissing off the foreign tourists with their ever increasing set of visa rules.

 

The METV visa with its bank accounts audit being the pinnacle of arrogance and ignorance.

 

Hopefully a number of chickens will come home to roost for the TAT over the next few years.

 

This coming high season, if there is one will be very interesting.

1 hour ago, blackhorse said:

I live on lower Sukhumvit BKK and it's annoyingly bursting with Chinese especially T21 that used to be at an acceptable noise level but now is full of yelling china's

In Pattaya now and walking St full of flag followers.

Somebody forgot to tell the Chinese they shouldn't be here

Terminal 21 was insane on Saturday.

 

I heard that MQuartier was bereft of Chinese today. 

The PM has just spent a lot of time reassuring the Chinese they are most welcome. He will be gutted to hear this bad news.

I have a friend in Australia who was thinking of coming to Thailand. I told him not to bother; the Prime Minister is only welcoming Chinese tourists. I suggested he go to Vietnam which welcomes all tourists except Chinese.

Well they forgot the Chinese vs the 10 kids stuck I  july. I  the cave...  karma to Thailand..  they slip Chinese at DM... 

 

The government said it had cut by 11.5 percent its forecast for the number of Chinese arrivals for the six months from July, to 5.1 million.

 

Every cloud has a silver lining !!!!!

18 hours ago, mok199 said:

 '' its not you , its me''...

“But me first”

The problem is the Chinese have done Thailand, been there done that, they've got the hat, got the T-shirt and got the message !!!

Tired of rubbish tours & being ripped off at every opportunity.

Now they're looking elsewhere in SE Asia for something that's more interesting and they have a better chance of getting home in the comfort of a seat instead of in the freight hold in a body bag !!

Thais may have a short memory but that doesn't mean everyone else does !

16 hours ago, Cadbury said:

The PM has just spent a lot of time reassuring the Chinese they are most welcome. He will be gutted to hear this bad news.

I have a friend in Australia who was thinking of coming to Thailand. I told him not to bother; the Prime Minister is only welcoming Chinese tourists. I suggested he go to Vietnam which welcomes all tourists except Chinese.

 

I just got back from Malaysia and this time hated to have to come back to Thailand. I have been telling all I know that they are not wanted anymore and save themselves the bad experience of being treated like garbage by Thai immigration and go to a country where you still can enjoy your visit. 

Vietnam doesn't even have a gogo bar, Your friend was coming here for pussy and you sent him away? What sort of friend is that

The PM has just spent a lot of time reassuring the Chinese they are most welcome. He will be gutted to hear this bad news.
I have a friend in Australia who was thinking of coming to Thailand. I told him not to bother; the Prime Minister is only welcoming Chinese tourists. I suggested he go to Vietnam which welcomes all tourists except Chinese.

Why would we want to entice them back ?

So nice without them hanging their Undies to dry on the backs of seats at the Airport, Pooping and Peeing on the Walls around the Moat, Jaywalking or riding/ driving like ( Dare I say...) a “Thai on Turps.”

17 hours ago, ukrules said:

Hopefully a number of chickens will come home to roost for the TAT over the next few years.

I have been hoping for & thinking the same thing for many years, for some reason they seem to have an immunity to the "Roosting" ???? 

How about spending some monies  to lure my 6 Farang mates back to Thailand who have 

not bothered coming here now for 4 years but still travel twice a year internationally ?

The reason, GREED!

Ahhh don't worry

Within a month TAT will be reporting 'record' numbers of Chinese tourists.

The pattern is so predictable, I could write the news copy myself LOL