With Chinese arrivals plummeting by 32.7% in the first five months, a major Chinese travel agency has proposed strategies to weather the crisis of confidence in Thailand and China’s economic slowdown, while emphasising that casinos may not be the right solution to restore this market.
Jennifer Fan, product director at Nasdaq-listed Tuniu Corporation, said prior to the pandemic, the number of Chinese tourists booking trips to Thailand via Tuniu tallied over 100,000 a year, but the market has plunged to 20,000, mainly due to eroded confidence in Thailand’s safety.
Another factor contributing to the market’s decrease is the number of flights between Thailand and China, which had a more extensive network prior to the kidnapping of Chinese actor Wang Xing, particularly to Chiang Mai and Phuket, but the seat capacity has declined significantly.
The situation is in stark contrast compared with Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam, which offer more flight options to the Chinese market and have experienced growth this year.
In the first four months, Singapore and Malaysia gained 1.30 million and 1.44 million Chinese tourists, surging 1.4% and 37.8%, respectively, while Vietnam recorded the strongest rate of growth — 156% to 1.9 million — according to the national tourism organisations of Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Thailand’s China market plunged by 32.7% during the period January to May 2025 compared to the corresponding period last year, securing 1.95 million tourists, according to the Tourism and Sports Ministry.
Based on the company’s 19 years in conducting outbound tour packages, Ms Fan said Thailand has been one of the most important destinations for Tuniu.
She believes Thailand still has the potential to rebound, if there are appropriate strategies to cope with the changing behaviour of Chinese travellers and Thailand can offer tourism products that really match different levels of purchasing power.
“Prior to the pandemic, the country mostly attracted the low-priced segment, but now it should focus on a new potential segment, which is tourists seeking high quality products,” she said.
“Since the company launched ‘Niu tours’, which means ‘excellent tours’, offering packages with higher prices than average that are equipped with high standard tour guides, five-star hotels and cuisine, and high quality experiences, feedback from customers has been overwhelming, including the responses to package tours to Thailand,” Ms Fan said.
She said even though the prices of Niu tours averaged 25,000 baht per trip, which is higher than ordinary packages, tourists are more satisfied with the quality of these tourism products.
Based on customer reviews calculated by artificial intelligence, the level of satisfaction for high quality packages to Thailand was quite high, especially for its “golden guides”, for which the company invested a huge budget to secure professional and friendly Thai tour guides and received a 100% rate.
“We prioritise investing in our tour guides by offering competitive rates. When guides are treated well, they’re more likely to provide exceptional service to customers,” she said.
Given China’s sluggish economic growth, Ms Fan said this is not a critical issue for the tour industry if operators have a wide range of products to cater to different levels of purchasing power.
She said customer preferences are different in each city. Those from first-tier cities are keen to pay more for high quality packages, travelling with a small group of no more than 20. Many of them opt for independent trips and mostly stay at five-star hotels.
For second- and third-tier cities, travellers tend to look for cost-effective packages and might choose three-star hotels.
LIVE-STREAMING SALES DRIVE
Tuniu has more than 300 branches across China and online sales channels via its website tuniu.com and mobile app of the same trademark, offering tour packages and travel services, including outbound tour packages.
However, Ms Fan said the emerging sales channel for the Chinese market is the live-streaming platform via Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.
“The power of new media in China and growing demand from the younger generation have prompted us to shift to new forms of promotion, particularly the live-streaming strategy,” said Ms Fan.
She said more Chinese prefer to book their trips while watching live-streams or broadcasts from the destinations for several reasons.
Last month, the company used Phuket Town as the backdrop of its live-streaming sale, which helped assure tourists the destination was safe when they saw people of the same nationality travelling there as live broadcasts allowed them to explore the atmosphere of the places.
Ms Fan said the Thai government should consistently hold business matching activities to help Chinese agents update new tourism products and meet with local partners in Thailand.
She said the company staff visited Thailand many times a year to inspect hotels, restaurants and experiences.
The strong partnership with local agents and tourism operators would help them understand the same core values and enable them to offer quality tour packages that truly match the demands of Chinese tourists.
During inspections, tour companies can set standards for accommodation, food and activities. They also take promotional photos to showcase these offerings, helping customers visualise the experiences they can get while travelling in Thailand, she said.
As the Thai government mulls legalising casinos via the entertainment complex project, Ms Fan said the Chinese government doesn’t encourage Chinese travellers to join such activities.
“We don’t suggest our customers join such activities. In China, we don’t encourage casinos,” she said.
Yuthasak Supasorn, former governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand and chairman of the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand, said it’s possible the Chinese market this year would plunge to 4-5 million as average daily arrivals dropped to 13,000 in the first five months — a stark contrast to the 30,000 a day in 2019.
He agreed Thai tourism should pivot to target revenue instead of relying on volume.
China remains a crucial market source, which should not be neglected, but the focus could shift to tourists with high-purchasing power, having specific interests or eager to travel responsibly.
At the same time, Thailand must develop quality products to be a trusted destination by heightening security for tourists for their entire journey, establishing the Tourism First Aid unit to help tourists during unexpected incidents, and preparing a compensation budget for those effected by accidents while travelling.
