BANGKOK: Chinese travellers now account for roughly a quarter of Thailand’s weekly arrivals, underscoring the return of the country’s most important tourism market.
The share of arrivals from China during the week ended Feb. 22 - spanning the Lunar New Year peak travel season - reached 23%, close to the level seen before the pandemic and up from just 9% at the start of the year, according to Bloomberg calculations based on Tourism Ministry data.
Although weekly arrivals from China edged down slightly, the country has remained Thailand’s largest source of visitors for seven straight weeks, with volumes still well ahead of visitors from Malaysia, which led inbound tourism for much for last year.
The rebound is significant for Thailand, where tourism contributes to about a fifth of economic output.
The country was on track to receive 40 million visitors annually before Covid, but has yet to fully regain that momentum, in part because Chinese outbound travel has been slower to normalise.
The abduction of a Chinese actor in Thailand early last year deterred some potential travellers to the country, which was already facing stiffer competition from destinations like Vietnam and South Korea.
Recent geopolitical tensions between Beijing and Tokyo have again reshaped regional travel patterns, with China warning its citizens against travel to Japan because of "severe” safety risks during the lunar holiday.
Thailand appears to be capturing some of that redirected demand.
But while Chinese arrivals have posted strong gains in recent weeks, total inbound tourism remains about 5% down from the same period a year ago.
Between Jan 1 and Feb 22, Thailand received 5.9 million foreign visitors, with China accounting for 16% of the total. Malaysia, Russia, India and South Korea round out the country’s five largest source markets. - Bloomberg
