Thailand’s Phuket cheers Chinese tourists’ return: ‘It’s good that they’re coming, and I’m not worried about Covid’
- Tourism businesses on the Thai holiday island are hoping for a much-needed payday from the influx of Chinese visitors: ‘I’m so ready to welcome them’
- ‘With them here’s it’s good money’ said a speedboat driver in Patong – though some worry that they don’t have to staff to meet the uptick in demand
In the year before the pandemic, nearly one-third of Thailand’s visitors were Chinese tourists, who once accounted for annual global spending of quarter of a trillion dollars on their travels.
“I’m so ready to welcome Chinese tourists. I’m so ready because with them here it’s good money,” said speedboat driver Wittaya Yooyen, 56, who operates at Patong beach, the island’s biggest draw. “It’s good that the Chinese are coming, and I’m not worried about Covid-19.”
His watersports business, which offers paragliding, water skiing and other activities, suffered heavy losses during the pandemic, when Thailand’s strict entry conditions and long mandatory quarantine periods kept visitors at bay.
With tourism picking up widely in the region from pent up demand and the end of most travel curbs, Asia’s holiday hotspots are welcoming the return of Chinese tourists, who are celebrating the Lunar New Year.
Thailand’s government is aiming for at least 5 million Chinese tourist arrivals this year, with 300,000 in the first quarter. Thailand’s health minister Anutin Charnvirakul has said the country expects seven to 10 million Chinese travellers to arrive by air this year.
Phuket is expected to get a much-needed payday from an influx of Chinese visitors, with the island typically attracting one-quarter of Thailand’s annual arrivals.
With its economy almost entirely dependent on tourism, many Phuket businesses were crippled by the coronavirus. Some, like Mr. Good’s Seafood restaurant in Patong, were forced to cut staff dramatically.
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“When Chinese tour groups come, they order quite a lot, and I miss that momentum we used to have four years ago,” said Rinnicha Vanichworachod, its assistant manager.
“We aren’t ready to provide full service as we don’t have enough staff.”
Chinese citizens will be able to travel abroad in tour groups again from February 6.
Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy only drew around 428,000 foreign arrivals in 2021. The tourism industry had generated about 18 per cent of GDP pre-pandemic, according to government data
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
