Thai tourism survey: Chinese want to visit Thailand but waiting for vax rollout and end of quarantine - then some! Thai Visa



Picture: Manager

 

A survey conducted among people in China has revealed that Chinese tourists want to come back to Thailand.

 

But the overwhelming majority are waiting for Thailand to vaccinate most of its people before making a decision, reported Manager.

 

Quarantine would need to end with more than a third saying even then they would wait SIX MONTHS before returning to Thailand.

 

The survey done online from the Thai China Intelligence Center at the start of April came as Thailand was in the grip of a third wave of Covid-19 infection.

 

And at a time when less than 1% of the Thai population had been vaccinated. The government has said that most people will need to wait until June at least and jabs at private hospitals are yet to get going. 

 

And quarantine for foreign tourists remains in place at least until July and possibly longer.

 

The survey indicated that 93% of Chinese people were taking the vaccine rollout into account in their decision to holiday in Thailand.

 

33% of people said they wanted to see 70% of the Thai population vaxxed before returning, while 28% said half the population would be okay. 

 

77% said they would only come when quarantine was completely ended.

 

But this was broken down revealing further interesting attitudes:

 

30% said they would wait between one and three months after the end of quarantine.

 

28% said they'd wait 4-6 months

 

and

 

36% said they wouldn't come to Thailand again until six months or more after the end of quarantine. 

 

Just over half, 51% said they would be holidaying in China for now.

 

The good news for the Thai tourism industry was that Thailand was number one on the list for places that the Chinese wanted to go to.

 

55% said Thailand, 24% listed Japan, 11% Singapore, 5% South Korea, 4% Europe and just 1% wanted to go to America. 

 

Within Thailand the places the Chinese wanted to go to most were as follows:

 

Bangkok 40%

Phuket 34%

Pattaya 12%

Chiang Mai 12%

Koh Samui 3%.

 

Those questioned were 57% fully independent travellers and 43% who would opt for tour groups. 

 

Pre-pandemic estimates put the percentage of Chinese tourists of the total visitors from abroad to Thailand at about 20%, easily the highest of any nation. 

 

Thaivisa notes that with the biggest tourism market wanting to see vaccination in Thailand, the much criticized slow rollout of jabs will be brought into even sharper focus.