Pattaya’s tourist buses are back at the floating market, but missing Chinese

Now that many of Thailand’s Covid-19 restrictions have eased, tourists are boarding buses to Pattaya once again. Tour buses were back at the Pattaya Floating Market earlier this week.

While there were several Indian and Vietnamese tourists on the busses, the buses were missing a group that once played a major role in Thailand’s tourism market- the Chinese. One boat noodle seller at the market said there are still some Chinese tourists who go there, however, they usually come with their families and in small groups. She said they usually don’t come on organised tours.

The noodle seller, Atcharaporn, along with other vendors, said the government should work on bringing back Chinese tourists. They said that Indian and Vietnamese tourists don’t spend as much money as Chinese tourists do.

This year, the Tourism Authority of Thailand has targeted India to offset the lack of Chinese tourists. So far this year, 337,000 Indian tourists have flocked to the kingdom. The one country to beat India in the number of its citizens travelling to Thailand is Malaysia, with 420,000 tourists. TAT claims that wedding tourism has grown popular among Indian visitors to Thailand, and it now has a goal of holding 400 events related to wedding tourism this year.

Before the Covid pandemic, Chinese tourists made up between 25-30% of visits.

SOURCE: Pattaya Mail