Some keep a low page and avoid talking with any Chinese-speaking neighbors
PUBLISHED: 29 Jan 2025 at 15: 45
Despite attempts to convince Chinese tourists visiting Thailand for the Lunar New Year, they are concerned about being kidnapped by gangs to work in squalorous scams.
6.8 million people made the trip to Thailand in 2024, making the top of the list of Taiwanese citizens visiting the country last year.
However, at their busiest, a reported 10,000 visits are canceled during the Lunar New Season breaks due to high-profile robberies on the Thai-Myanmar borders.
Thai aviation officials claim that despite higher general traveller numbers, they anticipate immigrants from China over the span from Jan 24 to Feb 2 to be lower than in 2024.
Even those who braved the journey are nervous.
” I didn’t dare to tell my home, so I came here secretly”, Gao, a 29-year-old tourists from Hainan province who gave only one brand, told AFP at Wat Pho, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha in Bangkok.
After Chinese professional Wang Xing was rescued from a computer scam facility in Myanmar earlier this month, doubts were heightened.
Wang claimed that he was lured to Thailand on the guarantee of an exam before being taken away and smuggled across the borders.
Tourists are apprehensive because the fact that robberies appear to be carried out by Chinese listeners.
” When we are here, we try not to speak too much to people who speak Foreign”, Hu Yangfan, a 25-year-old visitor from Zhejiang in eastern China told AFP near the Grand Palace, one of Bangkok’s most famous landmarks.
Foreign delays
After the devastating effects of travel closures during the Covid-19 pandemic, Thailand is looking to rebuild its vital tourism industry.
Tourism generated more than$ 50 billion in 2024, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand, equivalent to around 10 % of GDP.
Over$ 1 billion was spent on traveling over the Lunar New Year time as Chinese visitors searched for social experiences and shopping deals.
However, following kidnapping reports, the public broadcaster ThaiPBS said around 10, 000 Chinese tourists had cancelled flights, citing data from Airports of Thailand ( AoT), which operates six major international airports including Suvarnabhumi.
In a research note released next Friday, Kasikornbank predicted that during the holiday season this year’s visitor numbers could drop by up to 17.5 % compared to 2024.
The government is greatly concerned, and it published a very unusual picture of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra saying,” The country is protected for Chinese tourists,” in Mandarin, a speech she does not respond.
She wrote on the social media platform X that the unfortunate condition was not the result of Thai residents but rather that Chinese tourists visiting the country expressed concern.
A young Chinese security minister has also traveled to Thailand to demand that the government do more to stop the gangs operating scam hotels.
And Ms. Paetongtarn said she would try to calm doubts during her next meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
Tour guides wary
The impact is felt by those working on the front lines of the Thai hospitality sector.
Tour manual Buri Chin watched the thinning masses of Chinese tourists at the Grand Palace with uneasiness.
He has spent years guiding Chinese tourists around Bangkok’s historical sites, but he said the feeling had recently changed.
” When I ask if they need a Chinese-speaking guide, some seem scared. They don’t even want to talk to strangers”, he told AFP.
He claimed that he was getting ready for a difficult year.
Buri predicted that there will be fewer Taiwanese tourists this time.
” Some Chinese-speaking instructions I know are returning to their communities over the breaks.”
Not all guests are worried.
A 65-year-old man from Shanghai who gave his name merely as Li dismissed health problems.
” Tourism is their backbone. If Thailand was absolutely dangerous, its popularity may collapse”, Li told AFP.
” We walk around in the evening and it’s very healthy”.