Thailand’s top tourism source market may be absent for another year, according to the Association of Thai Travel Agents.
ATTA doesn’t expect China to allow their citizens to travel to Thailand until late-2022.
Although China is on the list of 46 countries allowed to enter Thailand quarantine-free from next week, there is no indication Chinese nationals will be able overseas for possibly several months.
Eleven million Chinese tourists visited Thailand before Covid, accounting for more than a quarter of all foreign tourist arrivals.
It generated THB540 billion for the Thai economy.
ATTA says the industry has to push on and promote Thailand more heavily in traditional source markets of Europe as well the US and the Middle East.
A recent report by JLL’s Hotels & Hospitality Group said the continuing ban on outbound tourists from China could impact hotel rates by up to 20% across Southeast Asia.
The return of outbound travel from China ‘is a key determining factor to the recovery of hospitality markets across Asia,’ the report says.
Chinese travellers make up a massive 40% of international arrivals to the region.
