By XUE Bingbing
Until last week’s shooting in a Bangkok shopping mall, Thailand was a popular destination for Chinese tourists. The Thai government introduced a visa-free policy before the National Day holiday and rolled out a series of other services to attract more Chinese visitors.
But then there came the shooting, which claimed the life of a Chinese citizen and injured another.
Hassle-free arrival
In the first week of visa-free entry, more than 100,000 Chinese tourists entered the country.
On September 27, SUN Chenguang and his girlfriend jetted off from Shanghai to embark on a 6-day holiday in Thailand's Phuket. They planned their trip around the National Day holiday to make the most of their time.
Budget carrier Spring Airlines added extra flights for this popular route, however, Sun noticed that prices surged during peak season and so departed two days before the holiday to avoid peak prices.
Sun told Jiemian News that upon landing at Phuket International Airport, the staff only checked his passport and ticket. After fingerprinting and facial recognition, he was allowed to enter, and the whole process took less than five minutes.
However, during the National Day holiday, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Thailand only reached about half of the average in 2019. Prior to the pandemic, China was Thailand's largest source of tourists. In 2019, Thailand received an average of 30,000 Chinese tourists per day. But from September 25 to October 11 this year, that was only 15,000.
‘Still much lower than before’
Axing is a local tour guide on Phuket Island, specializing in leading Chinese tour groups. He is fluent in Mandarin. When interviewed by Jiemian News, Axing had just finished a day on a sea excursion.
He has seen a noticeable increase in Chinese tourists, but when asked how the current numbers compare to pre-pandemic levels, Axing shook his head and said, "It's still much lower than before."
Axing entered this line of work around 2018. In his first couple of years, the company would send out 10 to 20 boats each day. Now they send out fewer than five. He added, "Not only that, in the past, customers had to book at least a week ahead of time. Now, they can just walk on board."
A Thai tour guide told Jiemian News that due to the pandemic, there had been significant changes in local operators. Many Chinese restaurants have closed, tour guides have changed professions or taken up other jobs, and Chinese language services have declined.
Sun said only his tour guide and some staff at the airport could speak Chinese. Other staff he met on the island didn’t understand Chinese at all, a huge change since he visited here five years ago.
As if things were not bad enough for Thailand, on October 3, one Chinese citizen was killed, and another was injured in a random shooting at the Siam Paragon shopping mall in Bangkok, one of the biggest shopping malls in Asia.
A Jiemian News reporter found on social media platforms that after the shooting, some travelers canceled flights scheduled for the next day, despite the loss of nearly 5,000 yuan. A tourist who was in Thailand said that his group ended their trip early and returned to China on October 4.
