On the morning of September 25, Thai Prime Minister Seita, Thai Minister of Tourism and Sports Sudawan, Thailand National Tourism Authority Director Tapeni and others welcomed the first batch of 341 Chinese visa-free tourists flying from Shanghai Pudong to Suvarnabhumi Airport by Thai AirAsia at Suvarnabhumi International Airport.
On the same day, the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Thailand also held a grand welcome ceremony for tourists from China and Kazakhstan at Bangkok's Don Mueang Airport, Chiang Mai Airport and Phuket Airport. These welcoming ceremonies include theatrical performances, garlands and souvenirs designed to impress visitors.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand pointed out that the Chinese tourist market has an important impact on Thailand's economic recovery. From January 1 to September 17, 2023, Thailand welcomed a total of 19,000,988 international tourists, of which 2,341,080 were Chinese, making it the second largest visitor market to Thailand after Malaysia, with a recovery of about 37%. The number of Kazakh tourists entering Thailand has also increased significantly, and the Thai government sees this market as an emerging high-growth market.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand estimates that the visa-free policy in 2023 will stimulate about 4.01-4.4 million Chinese tourists to enter Thailand, generating an estimated revenue of 257.5 billion baht. Between September 25 this year and February 29, 2024, about 2,888,500 Chinese tourists are expected to enter the country, generating 140,313 million baht and a recovery rate of 62%. In addition, it is expected that 150,000 Kazakh tourists will enter Thailand in 2023, and about 129485 Kazakh tourists will enter Thailand within 5 months of the visa-free policy, generating about 7.93 billion baht.
The Thai government believes that the visa-free policy will become an important engine for Thailand's economic development and help the recovery and development of Thailand's tourism industry. The visa-free policy also helps ease restrictions on travel time and cost for Chinese tourists, making it easier for Chinese tourists, especially family group tours, tour groups and company group building to make the decision to travel to Thailand. In addition, during the New Year holiday, the Thai tourism industry will be further promoted to achieve the goals set in 2023, that is, the number of international tourist arrivals will reach 25 million to 30 million, and the revenue of the country's overseas markets will reach 1.5 trillion baht, an increase of 80% over 2019, achieving the development goal of total revenue of 2.38 trillion baht.
(Compiler: Yang Qian 4.0 Translation Workshop Review: WAN)