Thai experiences surge from Chinese tourists

One of the world's most popular travel destinations is Thailand, where a record 20 million will visit this year. Martin Lowe explains that a growing majority of these visitors are from China.

Never before has splashing in the sea been such big business. Thailand has set itself a target of earning 65 billion US dollars a year from tourism, by 2015. And the country that's famous for its welcome to visitors - is on course to achieve it.

Thailand's hoping for a record 20 million visitors this year. For the first time, the highest number of arrivals is from China with around two million so far, up 40 per cent.

Huang Cheng, Chinese tourist, said, "It's my first time here. I'm most impressed by how the Thais have made us welcome."

This hotel provides traditional Chinese food and 80 per cent of the guests are Chinese.

Onsini Khachonkiadtichai, hotel owner, said, "Chinese guests are really important so our hotel focuses on service, welcome and everything. We do our best to take care of them."

Keeping visitors safe are the Tourist Police, dedicated to easing tensions between locals and those from different cultures.

Lt. Col. Aroon Prompham, tourist police, said, "Most of the problems are with mis-communication between the Thais and the tourists because the Chinese hardly speak English, the Russians hardly speak English so that is our part, our job is to help them."

This is Pattaya, one of Thailand's best-known resorts. Just 90 minutes by bus from Bangkok, it's one of the closest beaches to the capital.

After dark, nightlife is a popular feature here, but it's the sea, the sunshine and perhaps most all the welcome that are seeing tourist numbers in Thailand climbing by between 10 and 20 per cent, year-on-year.