While domestic tourism has started in China, the country is not yet ready to open its borders to foreign tourists, nor is it encouraging its citizens to travel abroad. Even if Chinese tourists did want to return to Thailand, the current border closures mean they are unable to do so, says a media report.
In more normal times, China accounts for around 10 million of the nearly 40 million foreign visitors to Thailand each year, according to 2019 figures from Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). However, despite numerous discussions about a safe re-opening, Thailand is also closed to foreign tourists for the foreseeable future.
Thailand’s plan to use Phuket as a pilot programme, allowing limited foreign tourists to return in a strictly controlled manner, actually looked like it might happen – until the discovery of Thailand’s first COVID-19 case in over three months. So, that plan too is put off for now, according to the TAT.
Like Thailand, China is also re-opening for foreign business travellers, and those approved to travel do not have to carry out a 14-day quarantine but are limited in where they can travel within the country. Like Thailand, various stimulus packages are being put in place to help small to medium-sized businesses.
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