Thailand tourism, why is it not the same as before?

Thailand has always been one of the favorite overseas travel destinations for Chinese tourists. Beautiful scenery, cheap prices, convenient visas, and cultural proximity...these are all reasons that attract us to Thailand.

Due to the impact of the epidemic, Thailand’s tourism industry has been almost suspended for three years. It was not until February this year that the Chinese government resumed the pilot program for outbound group travel and listed Thailand as one of the first destinations to be opened.

This should be good news. Countless Chinese who want to travel abroad have set their sights on Thailand. But when they actually started planning their itinerary, they found that Thailand tourism was no longer the same Thailand tourism it used to be.

The first is the price surge. According to the Beijing News, “The current price of air tickets to and from key cities in Thailand and China is 1.5 times that before the epidemic, and the average expenditure of Chinese tourists per trip has also soared from 50,000 to 54,000 baht to 60,000 or even 150,000 baht. ", which is approximately RMB 12,000 to RMB 30,000.

This means that a trip to Thailand may cost about the same as a trip to Europe. And this does not include additional expenses such as visa fees, testing fees, insurance fees, etc.

The second is the decline in experience. Since many restaurants, hotels, and attractions were closed or had layoffs during the epidemic, service quality has been greatly reduced after reopening.

Some netizens complained, “I went to Phuket and Bangkok twice last year, and the wait time at restaurants lasted for more than an hour; I also had to wait a long time when queuing up for transportation at scenic spots; and I found out when I checked in at the hotel. The room was dirty and messy; I was extorted by the driver when taking a taxi on the street..."

What's more, "a coconut is 15 yuan, the starting price of a taxi is 40 yuan, and a pair of slippers is 45 yuan..." These are very disturbing. I feel that “Thailand’s consumption is almost catching up with Sanya’s”.

Then the question is: Why does this happen? Is it because there are too many Chinese people and too much money? Or is it because Thai people are too poor and greedy?

In fact, the reason is not simple. On the one hand, it is true that some businesses want to take advantage of the opportunity to increase prices and make profits after seeing the recovery of Chinese customers; on the other hand, there are also many objective factors that lead to rising prices and declining services.

For example, inflation. According to the "Bangkok Post" report, "In December 2021, Thailand's consumer price index rose 7.4% year-on-year, hitting a 13-year high." Among them, energy prices increased by 23.8%, and food and non-alcoholic beverage prices increased by 9.6%.

Another example is the shortage of manpower. During the epidemic, many Thais working in the tourism industry lost their jobs or changed careers, resulting in a shortage of manpower after reopening. And due to low vaccination rates, many employees are worried about the risk of infection and are reluctant to come into contact with foreign tourists.

The last example is the imbalance between supply and demand. Since China is the largest source of tourists for Thailand's tourism industry, and other countries have not yet fully opened their tourism channels, the Thai tourism market has become one-sided.

This creates a "seller's market" phenomenon, where supply is small but demand is high, and prices naturally rise. And due to reduced competition, service quality is difficult to guarantee.

So, under such circumstances, whether we go to Thailand or not depends on our actual situation.