Today, Thailand has two news about Chinese tourists.
Among the two news, the fate of Chinese tourists has taken a 180-degree reversal.
From there, we can see a kind of microcosm of the fate of Chinese tourists in Thailand -
They are always counted as "VIPs", but they are often lambs.
The first piece of news can be regarded as a "positive energy in Thailand".
On September 18, maritime law enforcement officers and naval personnel from Phuket Province, Thailand, went to the famous local tourist attractions Racha Island & Coral Island in the afternoon to rescue stranded foreign tourists, including many children, women and the elderly.
The tourists, who came to visit the area on September 15 and stayed at hotels on the island, totaled 143 people, of whom 138 were Chinese tourists and the rest were Russia and Middle Eastern tourists.
Originally, these tourists were going to return to China in the near future, but due to the strong wind and waves at sea, the port authority ordered that small boats should not go to sea, and the hotel urgently requested help from the Phuket Maritime Law Enforcement Command Center.
After receiving the request for help, the department immediately dispatched a rescue boat to the island, during which the staff found that the sea surface was indeed very strong, so they adjusted the plan to move from the rear of the island, but still encountered waves about 3-4 meters high on the way back.
Despite this, under the organization of the staff, all the tourists followed the instructions and put on their life jackets in an orderly manner, and finally it only took about 1 hour to arrive safely in Phuket.
After successfully receiving help, all the Chinese tourists were relieved and happy, and they were worried that they would not be able to catch their return flight that morning, but they were very fortunate to receive help from the navy in the afternoon.
In this regard, all tourists also expressed their sincere gratitude to the Thailand authorities for their help and care, and said that they would come to Thailand again for the opportunity.
At the same time, there was another news in Thailand.
The content can be described as a "classic within a classic", and every year during the tourist season, Chinese are familiar with it - Chinese tourists travel to Thailand and are abused by tour guides for not buying things.
The tour guide who caused the accident was a "foreign illegal tour guide".
Recently, the Facebook account of a well-known tourism circle in Thailand posted a video of a foreign tour guide attacking and harming Chinese tourists.
In the video, a male tour guide was taken away by the store's security guards after yelling at several female Chinese tourists who were not buying goods and trying to push and attack them to prevent them from filming the video.
The incident took place on September 17 at a well-known jewellery store in Bangkok's Khet Lat Krabang area.
The store has long been dedicated to Chinese tourists, often with illegal tour guides who lead them to shop and earn commissions. The reluctance of tourists to buy goods can lead to the inability of tour guides to earn commissions, so it often leads to conflicts between tour guides and tourists.
After the video was released, it caused heated discussions in the Thailand tour guide circle, foreign illegal tour guides have always been a serious problem in Thailand's tourism industry, and the existence of black tour guides not only caused losses to Thailand's tourism economy, but also had a negative impact on Thailand's tourism image.
Not long ago, Thailand tour guide groups sent a letter to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports calling for the solution of the problem, but the scandal occurred immediately afterward, so many people called on the relevant departments to step up the crackdown and restore the image of Thailand's tourism industry.
These two incidents just mirror the two realities of Thailand for Chinese tourists.
At the official level, the Thailand government is wholeheartedly interested in welcoming and serving Chinese tourists.
Sometimes, this strong sense of "serving Chinese tourists well" has even developed to the extent that we Chinese ourselves feel that it is too flattering.
Can you imagine that in any country, including China, the government would send a navy ship to serve as a free water bus for tourists because they were afraid that they would not be able to catch the plane?
However, Thailand can do it.
Many Chinese netizens think that Chinese tourists in Thailand are in a state of being despised, ignored, and even bullied and hunted.
In fact, on the contrary, the highest level of Thailand actually has a strong sense of VIP service for Chinese tourists, and they regard Chinese tourists as the god of wealth, and they are afraid of neglecting half a beat.
Grassroots civil servants, who have received this top-down pressure, have a general sense of caution and even extra preferential treatment among Chinese tourists.
When the police receive cases involving Chinese tourists, if the fault lies with the tourists, the police often deliberately make the big deal small, and will not overly hold the tourists accountable.
Chinese tourists also tend to receive more preferential treatment than locals when they ask for help from government agencies.
Because, the police themselves don't want to be careless on the hot search on Douyin, ruining Thailand's official plan to generate income, and they can't eat and walk.
It's just that due to the communication barrier, most Chinese tourists often can't understand this, and they think that Thailand people have neglected us.
However, this kind of sincerity from the top is difficult to convey to the grassroots, especially the tourists themselves.
That's because, after all, it is not the Tourism Bureau of Thailand that determines the travel experience of Chinese tourists.
It's the travel agency, and the tour guide itself.
The Thailand that Chinese tourists see is not the real Thailand, let alone the Thailand that the Thailand government wants everyone to see, but the Thailand presented to tourists by tourism operators and tour guides.
"High-quality development" has been said for many years, but under the pressure of performance, Thailand is still unable to defeat the laws of nature, and has returned to the old road of "China's preferred destination for low-cost groups".
The tour fee is lower than the other, and the emerging so-called "exhibition tourism" - that is, customer feedback groups, employee reward groups, performance elite groups and the like, is even cheaper than ordinary individual groups.
And the Chinese bosses have taken over the entire route of Chinese tourists to Thailand, not only creating special shopping spots, but also islands, cruise ships, beaches and temples for Chinese tourists.
They have almost turned Thailand into a man-made theme park, placing Chinese tourists in a closed loop.
Since the routine is the same, the problem is also the same.
In the end, it created the classic plot of "black tour guide vs. Chinese tourists".
While praising the Thailand government, he also advised Thailand a few words.
Now, don't worry too much about the numbers.
In fact, most of the time, traffic and numbers are not under Thailand's control.
If there are few people, you can't help it; There are many people, and it's not your fault.
Rather than abandon self-standards and achieve tourist KPIs by re-admitting low-cost tours (and various variations of low-cost tours), the Thailand government should spend more time on quality control.
After all, there are only a few typhoons a year.
When tourists meet scolding tour guides, the probability of walking into a "custom temple" and buying a Yiwu Buddha card of tens of thousands of yuan is much more than that of a typhoon.
Text: Yue Han