BANGKOK (Bloomberg): In Thailand, the road to luring back Chinese tourists now runs through a moral pledge: keep gambling illegal and win Beijing’s favour.
After months of sagging visitor numbers from China, once Thailand’s biggest source of tourists, the country expects an imminent recovery, according to Thai officials.
President Xi Jinping has agreed to hold internal discussions on how to encourage tourism to the South-East Asian nation after its government vowed to oppose efforts to legalize casino resorts.
"It is expected that there will be visible, positive results within one or two months,” government spokesman Siripong Angkasakulkiat told reporters after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, adding that the Lunar New Year holiday in February should bring a seasonal bump in arrivals.
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul reassured Xi that his country stands against casino legalization when they met during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation gatherings in South Korea last week.
Anutin, who was the interior minister during the Pheu Thai Party-led administration, said in July that the Chinese president had urged former Premier Paetongtarn Shinawatra to forgo a plan to legalize casinos or risk negative consequences on tourism and bilateral trade.
Thailand could use the help. The country expects 33.4 million visitors this year, nearly 6% less than in 2024 and the first decline in foreign arrivals since the pandemic.
Only 2.3 million Chinese tourists visited in the first half of 2025, down by about one-third from the same period a year earlier. The kidnapping of Chinese actor Wang Xing in Myanmar through Thailand led to safety concerns, triggering a wave of Lunar New Year trip cancellations.
-- ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
