Chinese tourists (and their habits) surge into Thailand

[handdrummer]

Chinese tourists caught running restaurant
Three Chinese who entered the country as tourists have been arrested for illegally operating a restaurant in Bangkok’s Huai Khwang district.

Immigration police inspected a Chinese restaurant with the Thai name Chaoshan Ocha and English-script name Chao Wei on Rama IX Road in Bang Kapi area of Huai Khwang early on Tuesday. They found three Chinese men were illegally operating the restaurant and had hired compatriots and other illegal migrants to work there, according to the arresting team.

When police arrived, one of the three Chinese men, identified only as Yang, was preparing revenue and expense accounts and the two others - Chin, 38 and Chen, 31 – were cooking in the kitchen. All three were unable to show their passports, but did show copies to the officers.

The immigration database showed the three men had entered the country as tourists. They were detained on charges of being aliens working without work permits, put on an immigration blacklist and will be deported to their country of origin.


https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... restaurant

I know its not the crime of the century ... but these are the people Thailand is bending over backward to accommodate ...

Or bending over forward.

[buksida]

Chinese tourists warned about wearing school uniforms
Young Chinese women visiting the country have taken to dressing up in Thai school uniforms, and the Ministry of Education is less than thrilled by their fashion statements.

Being a non-student and wearing a school uniform is okay, it turns out, as long as it does not have the initials of a real school on it. But if someone wearing a real uniform with a real school name on it ends up doing something that could stain the reputation of that real school, they’re in for real trouble.

Tourists — and probably most Thai people — might not be aware of it, but there is a Student Uniform Act in Thailand. Break it and you can be fined.

If tourists wear uniforms with school initials and misbehave, the management of the schools concerned have the right to file a legal complaint, Amporn Pinasa, secretary-general of the Office of the Basic Education Commission, told Thai PBS on Wednesday.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... l-uniforms

[Big Boy]

Tourists — and probably most Thai people — might not be aware of it, but there is a Student Uniform Act in Thailand. Break it and you can be fined.

Why am I not surprised? This country has a law for everything, just no police force to enforce anything.

[STEVE G]

Tourists — and probably most Thai people — might not be aware of it, but there is a Student Uniform Act in Thailand. Break it and you can be fined.

Why am I not surprised? This country has a law for everything, just no police force to enforce anything.

I don't think you'd be able to find one in your size anyway!

[Big Boy]

[buksida]

Return of Chinese Tourists to Thailand Has Pros, Cons
Thailand's tourist industry hoped for a quick revival when Beijing ended its zero-COVID policy late last year, unleashing a crush of Chinese travelers freed from pandemic-related travel restrictions.

Data from Thailand's Ministry of Tourism and Sports showed that more than 517,000 Chinese travelers visited Thailand during the first three months of 2023, up from 13,700 arrivals during the first quarter of 2022. In the first quarter of 2023, Chinese travelers were in the top five groups of foreign arrivals, along with Malaysian, Russian, South Korea and Indian visitors.

...

Some analysts, however, cautioned that the economic benefits from an increase in Chinese tourists might be exaggerated.

"I think there is too much hype about the benefits of the return of Chinese tourists and tourism overall for several reasons," said Kobsidthi Silpachai, head of capital markets research at Thailand's Kasikornbank.

One reason, he said, was the apparent return of zero-dollar tourism, or cheap travel packages aimed at Chinese tourists on a budget.

"Chinese operators have invested in condos and shops, which has provided initial capital infusion, something like what happened in Cambodia," Kobsidthi wrote in an email to VOA Thai. "But afterwards, there is little trickling effects to spread the wealth to the local economy."

Paisarn Suethanuwong, a travel business operator and a member of the Professional Tourist Guides Association of Thailand in Bangkok, questioned the considerable growth of businesses aimed at Chinese patrons.

"Some shops are nicely decorated, and I have never seen any customers eating there, but they are still operating," he said. "Honestly, I wonder if they are opened for money laundering. If so, then this not normal growth."

Rerngrit La-ookit, a barista from Cloud Cafe in northern Chiang Mai, said the influx of Chinese tourists has a downside.

"The arrival of the zero-dollar tour has been consuming our resources, and the economy here has never grown anywhere else," said Rerngrit.

While the return of Chinese tourists is a boon to many in Thailand, the country's law enforcement agencies have seen an increase in crimes committed by Chinese.

https://www.voanews.com/a/return-of-chi ... 07885.html

[pharvey]

Or bending over forward.

Quite..... And it's certainly not just Thailand

[buksida]

Tourist visa requirements eased for Chinese visitors
The government has further relaxed its tourist visa requirements and shortened the standard time required for approving visas for Chinese visitors in a bid to make the process easier for people visiting the country.

Last week alone, 95,581 Chinese arrived in Thailand, representing the largest proportion of international visitors, followed by Malaysians (73,810), South Koreans (37,754), Indians (27,707) and Vietnamese (25,717), deputy government spokeswoman Rachada Dhnadirek said on Thursday.

Under the newly relaxed visa requirements, Chinese visitors to Thailand are required to submit along with their visa application just six documents, namely their passport, three photos, an air ticket, a document showing their accommodation in Thailand, a document certifying their permanent residence, and financial statements, she said.

This will truncate the application process from 14 to seven working days, she noted.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports are also working to sync their tourist visa application database systems in order to speed up the process for all foreign visitors, Ms Rachada said.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... e-visitors

[buksida]

China no longer Thailand's top tourist source due to visa issues
China was not Thailand's top source for tourists in the first seven months of this year, mainly because of visa hassles.
1.83 million Chinese tourists visited Thailand during January-July, about 20% of the same period in 2019, making China the second-biggest source of visitors after Malaysia, Global Times reported.

Before the pandemic, Chinese tourists were the biggest feeder market of Thailand's tourism industry. In 2019, over 11 million Chinese tourists visited Thailand, accounting for more than a quarter of its total foreign arrivals.

Visa hassles and flight availability have been blamed for the decrease in Chinese tourist arrivals.

Currently, flights to Thailand have not yet returned to pre-pandemic level, said Jiang Yiyi, deputy head of the School of Leisure Sports and Tourism at Beijing Sport University.

The visa approval time for Chinese visitors now takes two weeks and Thailand has said it will reduce the process to less than a week to ease travel from the world's largest outbound tourism market.

Many Chinese tourists complained the visa approval time was currently too long since it had taken only 3-5 working days to issue visas before the pandemic.

https://e.vnexpress.net/news/travel/chi ... 41615.html

[buksida]

The floodgates have been opened so expect more of this ...

Chinese tourists arrested over skimming device on ATM in Thailand
Two tourists have been arrested for allegedly installing a skimming device on an ATM in Thailand.

Chinese holidaymaker Zhang Qiyu, 28, and his Taiwanese friend Chiu Yung-Sheng, 41, reportedly attached the skimmer to an automatic teller in the popular red light district nightstrip Walking Street in Pattaya on September 25.

CCTV footage shows the pair standing in front of the ATM at 1 am to fit the card reader, which they used to copy card details. An eagle-eyed bank employee filed a report about the 'abnormal' ATM, and Chonburi police swooped in to arrest the suspects at Room 607 of the Mylin Holiday Hotel on September 28.

Police Major General Ittiporn Phothong, the deputy commissioner of Provincial Police Region 2, who led the operation, said authorities seized five skimmers, a data recording device, a computer, six counterfeit ATM cards, and two fake ATM keypads from the scene.

https://www.victoriaadvocate.com/chines ... 791f4.html

Flights from China to Thailand almost full amid visa waivers, Thai Airways says
https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeas ... rways-says

[2/cb]

In all the times I’ve visited HH, I haven’t really seen many Chinese tourists.
Is this changing, and if so, where are they staying.

[buksida]

They're all in Market Village...

I've said this before, but Chinese tourists seem to come here for shopping which makes little sense since most of what they're looking at comes from China and is probably cheaper there!

[Big Boy]

I must say, I've always seen quite a few about (notwithstanding the Covid years), but they tend to keep themselves to themselves in this area. Certainly Hua Hin isn't a prime tourist spot for the Chinese. I think they seem to be centred around international airports.

[buksida]

Chinese tourists lose confidence
Hoteliers and tourism entrepreneurs in Chiang Mai are calling on the government to step up gun controls to ensure safety for the tourism sector after the shooting incident at Siam Paragon shopping mall on Oct 3 hit Chinese travellers' confidence in Thailand.

About 60,000 tourists from the country have cancelled their trips to Thailand after the Siam Paragon shooting which left three dead -- including one Chinese tourist -- and four injured. Airports of Thailand data showed the number of Chinese arrivals has declined by 9.2% from 650,000 to 590,000 visitors following the incident.

China was Thailand's biggest overseas tourism market before the pandemic, with around 11 million Chinese arrivals in 2019.

However, tourism authorities expect less than half that number, or about 5 million, to visit the country this year.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... confidence

[Mikeyb]

Interesting article here about some of the reasons why the Chinese are not returning

Chinese tourists are returning - but not to Thailand
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-67305693