According to the latest survey of consumers in some of the first-tier cities of China states that almost 53% of the respondents are willing to travel overseas in 2020. When we all are contemplating whether it would be safe to travel after withdrawal of lockdown, these respondents said that they would travel solo/independent instead of group.
We all know that Thailand’s economy is greatly dependent on Chinese tourism with around 11 million Chinese tourists visiting Thailand (2019 report). In fact, more than a quarter of inbound arrivals are Chinese. Therefore, they contribution is important for the Thai economy. According to the Tourism Authority of Thailand, the sudden drop in Chinese tourists from January 2020 to April 2020 could alone cost the economy $3.05 billion.
But the Coronavirus crisis is keeping Thailand’s top vacation spenders away with a 95% decline in Chinese visitors in the first quarter of 2020.
Just that this pandemic is keeping Thailand’s vacation spenders away. And so, a 95% decline in the Chinese visitors is been seen in the first quarter of this year.
To deal with the present situation, the country could effectively close its boundaries under the state of emergency since March 26, while bringing down the tourist entries to almost nil.
The Bank of Thailand released a data showing that tourism is down to 1,800 from 100,000 daily entries.
While, it is needless to say that there will be global fear factor for all the travellers worldwide in the wake of this pandemic, Thailand’s vast network of routes to the mainland and its door-to-door flying can be some influential factors. It is expected that when Thailand’s trajectory will reopen it will initially have domestic storyline and then will quickly move into inter-regional travel by the outbound Chinese who are willing to visit the country as stated by the survey.
