Cover News Reporter Zhang Xuan
On December 14th, the China Roadshow, jointly organized by the National Tourism Authority of Thailand and ATTA Thailand Tourism Association, was held in Chengdu. Representatives of nearly 60 hotels and travel agencies from Thailand met with 379 tourism enterprises and more than 400 tourism practitioners from Sichuan, Chongqing, Guangzhou and other provinces and cities in China to jointly promote the development of the Sino-Thai tourism market. With the increasing frequency of flights between China and Thailand, as well as Thailand's implementation of a short-term visa-free policy for Chinese tourists, the Thai tourism market is ushering in new opportunities.
The atmosphere of on-site negotiation was warm, and hotel bookings in Thailand continued to be hot
The roadshow was full of people, and the negotiation area was crowded with busy practitioners, who were in-depth exchanges and discussions on the possibility of cooperation. Ling Yongjia, from Sichuan Baozhong International Travel Agency, began to deal with inquiries from all sides from the moment he sat down, and he told reporters that Sichuan tourists prefer ice and snow themes and island tours during the Spring Festival. Thailand is still the first choice for Sichuan people to travel abroad, with the proportion of people choosing Thailand accounting for about 30% of the entire outbound travel, and the popular destinations are still Phuket, Bangkok and Pattaya. Flights to Chiang Mai and Samui have been suspended, and there have been no tourists to the two places recently. However, with flights about to resume, the volume of enquiries has already started to recover.
The person in charge of the hotel business of Guangdong Qiyouji International Travel Service Co., Ltd. also came from Guangzhou, and said in an interview with the cover news reporter that they have cooperative relations with nearly 1,000 hotels in Thailand. At present, bookings during the Spring Festival have begun to heat up, but compared with the same period in 2019, there is still a certain gap in the data, and the proportion of customers who book Spring Festival hotels is about 30%. At present, the hotel price is more reasonable, the daily price is between 500 yuan and 800 yuan, and the price is between 1000 yuan and 1600 yuan during the Spring Festival, which is a suitable time to book.
Flight encryption drives tourism recovery, with some flights reaching 90% occupancy
"We hope that through this promotion, tourists who come during the Spring Festival can better understand and experience the blue sky, white clouds and sea of Thailand. Li Wenhua, director of the East Asia Department of the National Tourism Administration of Thailand, said in an interview with the cover news reporter that although it is currently impossible to accurately predict the number of tourist bookings during the Spring Festival. However, from the perspective of flight occupancy in East China and Western China, the occupancy rate has reached 85% to 90%, and Thailand has entered the peak tourist season.
In addition, there are also flight encryption and route resumption in the western China market, such as Sichuan Airlines resuming the Chengdu-Chiang Mai direct flight route, NokScok Airways resuming the Chengdu-Phuket direct route, Bangkok Airways resuming the Chengdu-Koh Samui route, etc., and short-term routes such as Lion Air opening the Chongqing-Chiang Mai direct flight route and Chongqing-Koh Samui direct flight. These measures will provide more travel options and convenience for tourists.
A number of measures are in parallel, and the target of 8 million Chinese tourists to Thailand in 2024 is targeted
"As of the end of November 2023, the number of Chinese tourists to Thailand has exceeded 3 million, of which the western region accounts for about 9%. The target for 2024 is expected to be 8 million. In an interview with the cover news reporter, Mr. Li Wenhua said that in order to attract more Chinese tourists, Thailand plans to cooperate with airlines, hotels and other formats after the Spring Festival to launch more preferential policies, and the specific content and implementation methods are still being planned.
Recently, everyone is more concerned about whether Thailand will extend the 30-day visa on arrival period to 90 days. Xu Nalin, president of the Tourism Association of Thailand, said in an interview with the cover news reporter that the relevant departments are currently discussing this issue. Considering that the travel cycle of general tourists is 7 days, 15 days, and 30 days, the current discussion on whether to extend the visa on arrival period is still being discussed.
Photo according to the Chengdu office of the National Tourism Administration of Thailand
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