As of now, Thailand hopes visitors from China will help kick-start its battered tourism sector which has been badly affected by travel bans due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The immediate reason for the revival of optimism in the Thai tourism sector is a special charter flight that will fly 150 Chinese tourists from Guangzhou to the Thai resort island of Phuket after Oct 25, instead of the original schedule on Oct 8.
They will the first foreign tourists allowed into Thailand on special tourist visas, or STV, under a conditional entry scheme for selected groups of foreigners endorsed by the government. The Phuket Vegetarian Festival will be taking place with light and sound and other performances in Phuket's major towns from Oct 17 to 25.
Another group of 126 Chinese tourists, from Guangdong, will fly into Suvarnabhumi International Airport, in Bangkok, on a chartered Thai Smile flight. This will be followed by tourists from the Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Norway and Sweden) and the 26-member Schengen countries, on a Thai Airways International flight on Nov 1.
Thailand’s tourism industry has recorded exponential growth in recent years, largely due to the influx of tourists from the Chinese mainland. But the pandemic has decimated tourism not only in Thailand but globally with airlines grounded and national borders closed.
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