Blockbuster scaring Chinese tourists away

Big business: Chinese tourists posing at the Grand Palace in Bangkok. Thailand is hugely reliant on tourism, particularly from China. — AFP

For millions of Chinese tourists, Thailand used to be a happy land of water fights, lantern festivals and delicious food.

But thanks to social media rumours and a blockbuster movie, the kingdom’s image among many Chinese people is now one of dangerous illegality and seedy scam border compounds – leaving visitor numbers plummeting.