What is Thailand tourism like now?

Thailand has always been one of the favorite overseas travel destinations for Chinese tourists. The scenery is beautiful, prices are cheap, visas are convenient, and the culture is close. The most attractive thing is the price advantage. However, if there is no price advantage when traveling to Thailand, I will choose other similar tourist destinations and never travel to Thailand again.

Thailand tourism has encountered unprecedented difficulties. Due to 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 traveling to Thailand was no longer the same as before.

1. Prices soared.

The current price of air tickets to and from key cities in Thailand and China is 1.5 times higher than before the epidemic, and the average expenditure of Chinese tourists per trip has soared from 50,000 to 54,000 baht to 60,000 or even 150,000 baht, approximately A total of 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.

2. Experience decline.

Due to the fact that many restaurants, hotels, and attractions closed down or reduced their staff during the epidemic, the quality of service has been greatly reduced after reopening.

The reasons for rising prices and declining services are 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.

1. 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%.

2. Manpower shortage.

Due to 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 the low vaccination rate, many employees are worried about the risk of infection and are unwilling to come into contact with foreign tourists.

3. Supply and demand imbalance.

Because 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.

Everyone has different expectations and affordability for travel. Some people may feel that as long as they can go abroad and see the scenery, they will be satisfied; some may feel that it is not worth spending so much money; some may feel that they will wait for a better time before going.