Thailand Tourism

Report: Chatrudee Theparat

Thai tourism: bet on Chinese to reach 12 million foreign arrivals

The number of foreign visitors to Thailand may reach 12 million this year, if Chinese government allows its people to travel to Thailand this November.

If such an expectation becomes true, the total number of foreign visitors to Thailand may surpass a target of 10 million to 12 million in 2022.

Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn

Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said the Foreign Ministry reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping has verbally confirmed his participation at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Bangkok on November 18-19 this year.

“The ministry has continued to negotiate to Chinese government over a possibility to allow Chinese people to travel to Thailand. If President Xi Jinping agrees with the idea, it will be a gift given to Thailand following his APEC participation this November. More importantly, this will help add a financial contribution to the Thai tourism industry this year,” he said.

This year, Mr Phiphat is confident the number of foreign tourists to Thailand would achieve 10 million and 160 million trips of domestic tourists as expected previously, earning 1.25-1.5 trillion baht totally in revenue. However, the foreign tourist numbers may reach 12 million by pinning hope on Chinese tourist arrivals   

As of September 27, the number of foreign visitors reached 5.8 million and 157 million trips of Thai travelers. In general, Chinese visitor’s spending per trip was 50,000 baht, about 60,000 baht among EU visitors and 80,000 baht among the Middle East visitors.      

For domestic travelers, 160 million trips are expected to achieve this year, thanks to the government’s initiative campaigns. They included “We Travel Together”, half co-payment scheme and Tour Tiew Thai scheme. Also, Thais chose to travel at home because of their safety and expenditure concerns.

To drive tourism revenue up, the tourism ministry is putting a big effort to regain the momentum of the tourism industry in the country, hurt by the Covid-19 situation, with relaxing measures. The action has focused to the four clusters which have showed their readiness to welcome the coming of Chinese visitors.

The ministry has implemented an action plan to boost tourism since July this year. One of the four clusters is provinces of eastern provinces of Chonburi, Rayong, Chanthaburi and Trat, with a highlight of low carbon theme.

Thailand’s Riviera cluster is provinces of Phetchaburi, Prachuap Khirikhan, Chumphon, Ranong, focusing on wellness and community tourism. Chumphon is for example. The province owns one sand dune in Thailand with 22 km length and height up to 30 metres. The plot is developed to have a linkage to the local fishery communities in a bid to generate income to those communities along the beaches.

The cluster of Andaman includes Pgangnga, Krabi, Phuket, Trang and Satunl, highlighting activities to reduce carbon emission. Phuket is promoted as a city for medical tourism, while Krabi is turned into a world-class spa. Satun is positioned as a halal food destination.

The cluster of Nakhon Si Thammarat, Surat Thani Songkhla and Phattalung are focused on cultural and learning on bio-diversity.

Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT)Governor Yuthasak Supasorn

Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) governor Yuthasak Supasorn said the latest weakening baht to 38 baht against dollar would send a positive effect on the local tourism scenario. Clearly, the baht depreciation would help attract more foreign visitors to visit Thailand and spend more here.

Mr Yuthasak projected the number of foreign visitors would reach 6 million by the end of this September, while the high season between this October to December its number is likely to be 1.5 million per month, or 10.5 million in total.

The agency projected the country would earn 1.5 trillion baht in tourism revenue this year and its figure would increase to 2.38-2.39 trillion baht next year, with 20 million foreign arrivals in total.

To respond its good prospect, it is essential for the government to offer training programs to those people in the industry to strengthen their skills in order to serve a rising demand next year because more than 50% of the industry workforce has yet returned to work after leaving their jobs during the Covid-19 crisis, and probably they may not come back the industry again.

2019 was considered as the golden year of Thai tourism industry. The country enjoyed earning its tourism revenue of 3 trillion baht, 40 million foreign visitors, or accounting for 20% of GDP. Also, the industry promoted 10 million job creations.