Is the Thai tourism market targeting high-end Chinese tourists?

The Tourism Authority of Thailand is formulating plans to attract more tourists from Asia and the South Pacific, as well as high-end tourists from China.

According to Thai media reports on March 19, Santi Chudintra, deputy head of marketing for Asia and the South Pacific market, said that from March 26 to 30, Thailand The tourism bureau will organize trips to four second-tier cities in China - Jinan, Shijiazhuang, Zhengzhou and Wuhan - to familiarize themselves with the situation.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand will assist 50 travel companies from the Association of Thai Travel Agents (Atta) in business negotiations with 30 to 40 local travel companies in each city.

Santi said: “This will be a big cooperation between Thailand, China and the Tourism Authority of Thailand, and is expected to help attract Chinese tourists, especially tourists from China’s second-tier cities and high-end tourists. ”

China has been Thailand’s largest source of international tourists for many years. In 2017, the number of Chinese tourists to Thailand reached 9.8 million, accounting for 28% of the total number of tourists in Thailand. That number is expected to exceed 10 million this year and reach 12 million next year.

Santi said that the four second-tier cities in China that the tourism bureau plans to visit are all densely populated areas with a growing middle class, which has cultivated individual tourists and high-end consumers.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand and the Thailand Travel Agents Association not only encourage individual travel and family travel, but also focus on the high-end travel market and will promote exclusive Thailand tour packages at the event.

Exclusive Thailand tour packages include existing or new attractions, but will be customized according to tourists' requirements. Santi said that the five Tourism Authority of Thailand offices and five marketing representative offices in China have begun to attract high-end tourists as required to increase the proportion of high-end tourists.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand’s offices in China are located in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Kunming and Guangzhou, and its five marketing representative offices are located in Wuhan, Nanning, Xiamen, Xi’an and Xiangyang.