Covid curbs over, China's tourists hit Thai beaches for first time in three years

A woman holds her kid wearing red t-shirt, as the colour of luck as she walks past lantern decorations on Lunar New Year's Eve in China Town in Bangkok, Thailand January 21, 2023. - Reuters

PHUKET, Thailand, Jan 22 (Reuters): Hitting the white sand beaches and eating mango sticky rice and seafood, Chinese tourists are returning to Thailand for their first trips abroad since China ended its strict Covid-19 curbs and reopened its borders.

"Because of the pandemic, we hadn't been out of China for three years," said tourist and business owner Kiki Hu, 28, in Krabi on Thailand's southwest coast. "Now that we can leave and come here for holiday. I feel so happy and emotional".