Reflections #2 – Thailand Tourism Forum – ‘Chindia Tourism’
‘CHINDIAN’ Tourists – Same Same or Different?
by Wimintra Raj – hotelintel.co
If you’re running a hotel or any business related to the local tourism industry in Thailand, this is an article you need to read, then read again. It was just one of the many presentations at the annual Thailand Tourism Forum held in Bangkok recently.
“For the third year running, I had the honour of being invited to be one of the speakers at the Thailand Tourism Forum, 2019 which was organised by Thailand’s American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) and Bill Barnett of C9 Hotelworks. The topic that was requested this year – ‘CHINDIAN Tourists – Same Same or Different?’.”
While the term ‘Chindian’ is sometimes used to refer to people of mixed Chinese and Indian descent, in this case it’s just a shorthand way to refer to tourists coming from either China or India.
It was a fascinating topic to research, looking to answer questions like ‘How they are important to us and our industry?’, ‘What are the risks and benefits of each group?’ and ‘What are the key issues that are important to each of these groups? – are they fundamentally different?’.
By 2020, there will be 240 million passport holders from China, and approximately 73 million passport holders from India. Most Chinese travelers will be traveling for business and leisure. Indian travelers are slightly different, whilte still having high rates of tourism based travel, there are also many Indians traveling abroad for employment, as well as visiting friends and relatives.
In fact ‘VFR’ or ‘Visiting Friends and Relatives’ is actually an official category known amongst Indians used to categorise their own travel. VFR travelers don’t tend to stay in hotels as much and will usually stay at their friends and relatives homes and spend less money.
Read more about Wimintra’s presentation on the rise of ‘CHINDIAN’ tourism HERE.
