National—
On March 14th, 2024, Mrs. Thapanee Kiatphaibool, the Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), publicly revealed statistics of the number of Chinese tourists to Thailand increasing significantly after permanently waiving visa requirements with China.
TAT received positive responses from Chinese tourists according to Chinese data from “People’s Daily Online” and “Trip.com” after the permanently waived visa started on March 1st.
According to the statistics from Chinese databases, it was estimated that by 2024, the number of Thai tourists visiting China would be twofold and the number of Chinese tourists visiting Thailand would be threefold compared to the pre-COVID-19 period, said Thapanee.
Trip.com stated that the number of Chinese tourists traveling to Thailand increased up to 30% and the bookings from Thai tourists to China increased up to threefold compared to 2019, according to Thapanee.
However, the safety of life and property together with the quality of products and services played a crucial role in Chinese tourists choosing Thailand as their first travel choice, said Thapanee.
The Thai government gave importance to promoting tourism cooperation between Thailand and China by the permanent waiving of visa requirements with China said Thapanee.
The after-effects of the announcement of permanently waiving visas included an increasing number of bookings from Chinese tourists and a positive response from travel agencies as the tourists could pass passport control easily, according to Thapanee.
Although the flight tickets were cheaper after the high season and had positive impacts on those who traveled by themselves, group tours were still in a state of gradual recovery, according to Thapanee.
Furthermore, the China National Tourism Administration has an aviation support policy that potentially benefits Airline Travel agents and Charter flights, concluded Thapanee.
