Vehicle ban will have limited effects: experts
Chinese tourists' enthusiasm for traveling to Thailand will not be affected by the Southeast Asian country's recent vehicle ban in the short term, but further impact may be possible in the long run as an increasing number of Chinese visitors have become fond of self-driving tours, experts said Tuesday.
These comments were made in response to a recent report in Thai media that Thailand's vehicle ban has cause a slump in Chinese visitors.
The number of vehicles being driven from China into Thailand's northern province Chiang Mai dropped by 98 percent from 600 cars daily to just 10 following a ban on inbound motorists from driving deeper into the country, the Bangkok Post reported on July 25.
Pornchai Jitnavasathian, chairman of the Tourism Council of Chiang Mai, said that the much lighter inbound traffic obviously resulted from the ban by the Land Transport Department, which took effect on June 27, that prohibits visiting motorists from driving beyond the province of entry, noted the report.
However, data from several major Chinese travel agencies shows that the number of Chinese tourists visiting Thailand has been rising in July.
During the summer, the number of Chinese visitors to Thailand has grown year-on-year, and Thailand ranks top among Chinese visitors' favorite outbound traveling destinations this year, Ctrip, a leading Chinese online travel service provider, said in a statement sent to the Global Times on Monday.
Ctrip did not disclose the actual growth rate it has seen this summer to protect its business data.
"The number of Chinese tourists to Thailand continues to grow in recent years and Thailand is now one of the most popular places for Chinese visitors," Chinese online leisure travel firm Tuniu Corp told the Global Times Monday.
Xu Xiaolei, manager of marketing at China's CYTS Tours Holding Co, revealed to the Global Times on Monday that Thailand remains one of their hottest destinations for Chinese outbound travel during the summer vacation.
"Chinese tourists can be seen almost everywhere on Phuket, and each beach here I jokingly call 'Chinese beach'," a Beijing resident staying on the island who only gave his name as Robin told the Global Times Monday night. Phuket is in southern Thailand.
"From what I've observed, about 60 to 70 percent of the tourists are from China," he noted.
Long-term impact
The vehicle ban will not cause a drop in Chinese tourists in Thailand in terms of scale because most visitors choose to travel to Bangkok and island resorts instead of the northern parts of the country, said Jiang Yiyi, director of international tourism development at the Beijing-based China Tourism Academy.
"But some changes will take place in the structure of tourists as the number of Chinese visitors who prefer self-driving tours may decrease," Jiang told the Global Times on Tuesday.
Ever since the Kunming (capital of Southwest China's Yunnan Province) to Bangkok highway opened in 2013, more and more Chinese tourists have driven to Thailand from Yunnan, according to Jiang.
"However, self-driving travel is not very common for Chinese tourists in Thailand and this kind of travel is generally preferred by Chinese tourists in the winter. This is why the impact from the vehicle ban won't be seen immediately," Chen Shaofeng, deputy dean of the Institute for Cultural Industries at Peking University, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
However, self-driving tourists do contribute substantially to Thailand's tourism income, experts noted.
Previously, each visiting vehicle from southern China carried three or more tourists who spent at least 5,000 Thai baht ($144) each day, the Bangkok Post reported, citing Jitnavasathian, chairman of the Tourism Council of Chiang Mai.
He estimates that the declining arrivals will cost Chiang Mai 1 million Thai baht a day in revenue.
Thailand has attached and will continue to attach importance to China as the country is one of its largest sources of tourists, Chen said.
The number of Chinese visitors to Thailand rose 22 percent year-on-year to approach 4.9 million in the first half of this year, accounting for 29.53 percent of the country's total foreign tourists, according to data from Thailand's Ministry of Tourism and Sports.
Tourism authorities in Chiang Mai will call for a review of the ban and will oppose any other future conditions that would inconvenience visiting motorists, a Thai official was quoted as saying by The Bangkok Post.
The current ban was enacted after an influx of visiting motorists resulted in a spike in traffic accidents and waste management problems, the report said.
