Thailand confronts the unexpected: A tourism slump

Washington Post

5 days ago

In major cities in southern Europe, protesters have railed against overtourism. In Thailand, the complaint is the opposite; visitor numbers are declining, and the government is starting to panic.
This year so far has seen a noticeable decline, from 17.5 million tourists in the first half of 2024 to 16.6 million this year, about a 5 percent drop. The sharpest decline came in May, with about 14 percent fewer tourists than in 2024. With tourism accounting for as much as one-fifth of Thailand's gross domestic product, these numbers are ringing alarm bells for the country's economic health.
And almost all of this decline can be traced to China, Thailand's biggest source of foreign tourists.
In the first five months of this year, tourist arrivals from China fell by about one-third, from 2.9 million in 2024 to 1.9 million. The reasons for this include the economic slowdown in China and rising costs of travel to Thailand, as the currency, the baht, has strengthened. There's also increased competition from Thailand's neighbors, especially Vietnam and Cambodia. These days, even Japan with its weak yen is seen as a bargain for Chinese travelers.
But more than any economic factor, safety is what concerns travelers.
In January, a struggling Chinese actor named Wang Xing was lured to Thailand on the promise of a movie casting. Instead, he was picked up at a Bangkok airport and whisked over the border into Myanmar, where his head was shaved and he was trafficked into one of the many 'scam centers' operating in Myanmar's lawless border regions. After his girlfriend launched a social media campaign that went viral, Thai security forces freed him in a cross-border rescue operation.
Wang's real-life plight eerily echoed the theme of a 2023 Chinese blockbuster movie called 'No More Bets,' which depicts a disillusioned Chinese programmer lured to an unnamed Southeast Asian country that resembles Thailand, where he is similarly kidnapped, taken to a remote jungle compound and forced to work in slave-like conditions.
Chinese internet users seem to have suddenly deemed travel to Thailand unsafe. What's left largely unspoken is that the scam centers, located in Cambodia as well as Myanmar, are operated mostly by Chinese criminal syndicates.
Thai tourism authorities have launched several promotional campaigns aimed at Chinese, including a social media push called 'Nihao-Sawadee' — 'hello' in Chinese and Thai — using tour operators and online influencers to promote Thailand as safe for travel. The government also rolled out a 'safe travel stamp' to certify that hotels, restaurants and shopping malls are secure for Chinese visitors.
Thailand has also made efforts to diversify its tourist market beyond China, with varying degrees of success. Sometimes, Thais are their own worst enemy.
Many tourists — not only Chinese — complain about being subjected to various scams in Thailand, including taxis refusing to use meters, giving inflated prices for short trips or taking circuitous routes. Many complain about the dual pricing systems for major attractions such as temples that charge foreigners extraordinarily high prices.
Thailand has done a good job of attracting more tourists from India, which is less than four hours away by plane. Thailand has a large ethnic Indian diaspora, thanks to centuries of trade and cultural interactions. But travelers from India and elsewhere in South Asia often report instances of discrimination in Thailand.
Likewise, tourists from the Middle East and Africa, as well as Black Americans, tell stories of being denied entry to bars or entertainment venues, where White or East Asian tourists are casually waved inside. Anti-Black prejudice often surfaces. In January, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a longtime power broker and father of the recently suspended prime minister, drew criticism after openly disparaging the looks of African women models. 'African people, who have black skin and flat noses that make it difficult to breathe, are hired for millions of baht to be models,' Thaksin said at a rally.
One of Thailand's biggest tourist draws since 2022 has been its legalized recreational marijuana. Cannabis dispensaries are now about as ubiquitous as massage parlors and handicraft shops in Bangkok, as well as in top tourist destinations such as Pattaya and Phuket beaches. With an estimated 18,000 dispensaries, Thailand is projected this year to see marijuana become a $1.2 billion industry, and a significant amount of this money comes from foreign visitors. Pot remains strictly illegal in most of the rest of Southeast Asia; in some neighboring countries, marijuana possession can be punishable by death.
But now the government — still run by Thaksin's political party — is planning to re-criminalize marijuana except for medical uses with a prescription.
Another of Thaksin's ambitious ideas, to bring casinos to Thailand, was put on hold after widespread public opposition, the withdrawal of a key partner from the government's ruling coalition and, reportedly, opposition from Chinese President Xi Jinping.
For decades, starting in the 1980s, Thailand was the tourism capital of Southeast Asia. It didn't have to work very hard to attract new and returning visitors. Now there's more competition — and once-closed countries such as Vietnam are seen as offering a safer, less commercialized, more authentic traveler experience.
Thailand's reputation has taken a hit. It's going to have to up its game. Stop the dual pricing and dial back the casual racism. And no more resting on its laurels as the 'Land of Smiles.'