Chinese tourist packing their bags to come back to Thailand

Some groups of Chinese say they’re ready to pack their bags and start travelling again. And, astonishingly, Thai tourism officials say they they’re preparing for a return of Chinese tourists!

Chinese tourists groups say they expect to resume their travels in April as the novel coronavirus (Covid19) infections start to subside in China.

Thai tourism officials say they are aiming to apply more safety and health administration programs to help operators enhance their ability to deal with the pandemic and assuring the safety for tourists.

Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) says… “China has passed over 45 days of virus containment (fact check – there is no containment in China, just a large reduction in new cases over the past two weeks). Chinese tour operators are desperate to restart business. If at that time Thailand is still an unsafe place for travel, we’ll lose the opportunity.”

The TAT and Public Health Ministry say they are implementing regulatory outlines to raise the cleaning and hygiene standards of tourism services in tourist attractions such as hotels and restaurants.

“The program aims to win the confidence of tourists as they increasingly prioritise health and safety issues when choosing a destination. The TAT offices in China have also been assigned to monitor the safety manuals and practices of tourism attractions in the Thailand also creating more case studies to assuring consumer confidence.”

After getting results, the TAT will summarise them to the Public Health Ministry and come up with complete guidelines. The TAT will seek cooperation from state agencies to give incentives to operators who commit to keeping their employees or creating more job opportunities upon joining the program.

Governor of TAT, Mr Yuthasak says…

“tourism businesses are in agreement on the initiative. The industry will kick off with a big cleaning nationwide once Thailand has the virus contained.”

“Outbound tour operators in China have informed partners in Thailand that two provinces, Zhejiang and Jiangsu, have lifted travel restrictions but citizens are likely to venture out within their own provinces first”

“Operators in China expect most mainland residents to start taking domestic trips in April before resuming outbound trips later.”

The Thaiger – Whilst we admire the optimism of the TAT Governor and tourism officials that this will “all be over” by April, the stark reality is the pandemic is still in its very early days and still in a swift growth phase worldwide. There are NO epidemiologists, scientists, or the WHO or US CDC who think that this pandemic will see new cases levelling off any time soon.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post