Country still attractive to mainland visitors, stability key: analysts
Many Chinese tourists said they will postpone travel plans to Thailand, after King Bhumibol Adulyadej passed away Thursday.
Thailand will observe a yearlong mourning period and flags are to fly at half-staff for the next 30 days, media reports said.
People have been encouraged to wear black, and they should refrain from organizing any festive events, including shows and sports events, for 30 days, according to the Thai government.
A number of scenic sites, including the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew, have closed their doors temporarily.
The Global Times spoke at random with about 50 Chinese over the weekend in a number of cities across China, and 98 percent said that they were affected by Thailand's 30-day entertainment restrictions.
"I respect the suggestion to wear dark clothes. But for me, if I cannot wear bright suits and take photos when I travel to a foreign country, I would rather not go there," Tang Ting, a 20-something white-collar worker in Beijing, told the Global Times on Saturday. "Maybe I will choose to travel to Thailand one year later," she said.
Others showed concern about conditions in Thailand, and most said they wouldn't travel to Thailand in recent months, although they would like to go there eventually.
Zhu Zhengyu, a tourism analyst at Beijing-based market consultancy Analysys International, said that the closure of major scenic sites and the suspension of shows and night-time entertainment will affect sentiment among Chinese tourists.
"Sightseeing and island tours are the main attractions for Chinese tourists in Thailand, and the unavailability of some activities will affect people's itineraries," Zhu told the Global Times on Saturday.
To cope with the closures, online tourism and ticket-booking site lvmama.com substituted visits to the Grand Palace with alternatives such as Safari World in Bangkok and the Ancient Siam miniature world.
"The travel package that covers Pattaya is the most affected, while itineraries covering Phuket Island and Chiang Mai are less affected," Ni Jiali, general manager of lvmama.com's overseas travel business, said in an e-mailed statement to the Global Times on Friday.
Ni said Thailand ranked No.1 as a destination for Chinese who prefer to avoid peak travel seasons, citing a report from the company.
Some 280,000 tourists from the Chinese mainland visited Thailand during China's National Day holidays in the first week of October, media reports said.
"The situation in Phuket Island is normal so far. People can be seen wearing any color of clothing, but music is banned in bars," said Zheng Jiulin, a tourist from Guiyang, Southwest China's Guizhou Province.
Zheng is currently taking an eight-day trip in Phuket Island.
"From what I observed in recent days, about 30 percent to 40 percent of foreign tourists are from China," Zheng told the Global Times on Sunday.
In 2015, a record 7.93 million Chinese tourists visited Thailand, up 91.62 percent from a year earlier, chinanews.com reported in February. China is currently the largest tourist market for Thailand by visitor numbers.
"With the upcoming peak season for travel time in Thailand, the number of tourists visiting Thailand is still expected to grow significantly. The long-term potential of Thailand's tourism sector is closely related to the country's stability. If Thailand is stable and secure, its tourism is still promising," Zhu said.
