Gifts, traditional dolls… Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin greeted with great fanfare the first Chinese visitors to benefit from a test visa exemption program aimed at reviving tourism since Monday.
The kingdom’s authorities are looking for ways to revive weak growth since the pandemic and are trying to attract large numbers of Chinese tourists, crucial for a sector that accounts for about 20% of GDP.
Since the borders were reopened without quarantine at the beginning of January 2023, there have been fewer Chinese than expected. Only 2.3 million of them – out of the 19 million foreign visitors who have come to Thailand since then – have visited the country since the start of the year, a figure well below 2019’s record of around 11 million Chinese tourists.
New Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin introduced a test visa waiver program for Chinese and Kazakhstanis in mid-September, valid until February 29, 2024.
Since the announcement, reservations have “increased tenfold,” assured the manager at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok.
During a ceremony, Srettha Thavisin herself greeted passengers on a flight from Shanghai with gifts and a traditional puppet show was performed in their honor.
“The visa waiver is a good policy, so I don’t have to worry. I can book a ticket at any time,” said one of the tourists, Jin Li, who came to Thailand for her honeymoon.
The success of a “true story” film released in China last summer about a young couple becoming victims of human trafficking in Thailand has helped lure tourists out of the country at a difficult time for China economic environment, which pushed local tour operators to promote travel offers within the country.
“The film (titled “No More Bets” or “Les jeux sont faits”, which was not released in France) has a great influence, so it would be wrong to say that I have no concerns about safety,” replied Zheng Zhongzhou, another Chinese visitor who arrived in Bangkok.
The Thai government hopes to welcome 30 million visitors in 2023, almost triple last year’s 11 million.
The Covid-related border closures have depleted the tourism industry, which welcomed just 427,000 visitors in 2021, at the height of the health crisis, including 13,000 from China.
The new government led by Srettha Thavisin, a businessman new to politics, has promised to revive the kingdom’s economy, which has seen a slower growth rate than its Vietnamese or Indonesian neighbors.