Travel China Planner

According to udnbkk.com, one of Thailand’s largest Chinese media outlets, the director of the East Asia Office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand has said that Thailand will host 700,000 Chinese tourists in 2009, a decrease of 12% compared with the 900,000 visits of 2008.

The director said that if the situation in the country stays normal, TAT will get a budget of THB60 million from Thailand’s recovery plan, and will launch promotional activities with the aim of attracting one million Chinese tourists in 2010.

The East Asia Office will cooperate with five Chinese tourism offices and set up its own offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, and Kunming. It will invite 100 Chinese tour agents in China to visit Thailand, and believes that this will improve the confidence of Chinese tourists in visiting Thailand.

In a step to court more tourists from the increasingly important China source market, Tourism Authority of Thailand has announced that visa fees for Chinese tourists will be waived for the next four months.

A representative from TAT Beijing Office has confirmed that the favorable visa policy will last for four months, and said that they are waiting for notice of the exact date on which the policy will be implemented. The waiver will save Chinese tourists more than CNY200 for each visa application.

The events in November 2008, when airports in Thailand were closed as a result of political turmoil, have inflicted heavy losses on the country’s tourism. This offer of free visa service to Chinese tourists is seen as a move to revive the country’s flagging tourism industry.

China accounts for about 10% of the tourists visiting Thailand. However the numbers are dropping from one million Chinese tourists in 2006, to 800,000 in 2007, and to fewer still in 2008.

Thailand