Chinese economic woes dampen bookings for Thai tourism sector

Tourism operators indicated a slowdown in forward bookings from China for the upcoming Golden Week holiday in October due to a challenging economic climate.

A representative from the Tourism Council of Thailand, Surawat Akaraworamat, revealed that a sluggish economic rebound and potential deflation are having far-reaching effects on disposable income for prospective tourists from the Chinese mainland.

“Travel agents have reported slower booking than usual for China National Day, one of the longest holidays in that country.”

In recent developments on the economic front, major property firm Country Garden defaults on bond repayment further fuelling worries about the state of the national economy.

As part of its efforts, the Chinese Government is promoting domestic tourism in a bid to activate local consumption.

As for the alleged slower tourist visa processing for Chinese visitors to Thailand, Surawat downplayed its impact on tourism numbers. Instead, he implicated economic travails as the root cause.

“The dip in numbers should not be attributed majorly to the visa process, with economic woes being the principal villain.”

According to Surawat, the visa application process has undergone considerable ease as the Department of Consular Affairs pledged to upgrade its approval system. A host of Chinese tourists can resort to the alternative visa-on-arrival method.

“As China maintains its emphasis on export promotion and sees businessmen travelling to different countries, Thailand should tailor its marketing to appeal to the meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions (Mice) sector and individual tourists, as opposed to concentrating merely on tour groups.”

He predicted a possible surge of up to 500,000 Chinese tourists per month in the last quarter due to increased flight capacity. To put this into context, Thailand regularly welcomed approximately one million visitors per month from mainland China in 2019.

Prachoom Tantiprasertsuk, from the Thai Hotels Association, revealed that although hotels in Phuket are noticing a slow uptick in bookings from Chinese tourists for the Golden Week, the numbers still fall short compared to previous years.

“Bookings remain tempered due to a combination of constricted flight availability and soft economic growth.”

She was, however, optimistic about the high season drawing a good number of long-haul tourists from Europe and Russia. She disclosed that these markets are beginning their bookings in October, a month ahead of their usual travel period.

“This pattern should help elevate the occupancy rates and diversify the market base to counterbalance China’s slowdown.”

According to Prachoom, even though the overall volume has dropped, the Chinese tourists that were still making the journey to Thailand, particularly young couples and families with stable jobs and wealth, exhibited substantial spending power.

“These demographic groups have been relatively undisturbed by the downturn and display a trend of longer stays and greater expenditure in hotels.”

In preparation for the high season, several hotels increased their staff numbers, with some operators expressing concerns about a potential labour crunch in the final quarter.