GuShiio.com Wen| Slightly larger reference, author| Fu Rao, Editor| wilderness
Two days after starting work, I discovered something new in my circle of friends: among the few social circles of my WeChat friends, four people went to Thailand during the Spring Festival this year.
The probability of such a coincidence occurring is usually small. To give a few examples, during the peak period of frequent concert activities last year, in my WeChat address book of nearly 500 people, there were no cases where four people went to see the same person’s concert.
What’s more, wasn’t the house of a tourist in Thailand collapsed due to the Wang Xing incident some time ago? How dare these people go?
I can’t understand it.
After chatting with these four friends one after another, I came to a consensus: Thailand, where the house collapsed, is still a popular tourist destination for China tourists to escape the cold. They revealed that on the streets of Thailand during the New Year of 2025, shopping malls in Bangkok, and the fine sandy beaches of Emperor Island are still occupied by the same familiar China faces as in previous years.
Ask why it is popular, and in the words of one of my friends, it can beat everything.
01 Thailand is still popular
It is not uncommon to choose to travel overseas during the Spring Festival this year. Statistics show that driven by favorable visa facilitation and visa-free policies, cross-border travel orders during the Spring Festival this year increased by 30% year-on-year.
But traveling to Thailand is a bit strange, especially after the cable fraud incident in Thailand and the outside world heard that Thailand’s tourist houses collapsed.
On social media, many people who were originally planning to go to Thailand have canceled their trips. ldquo; Behind the joke of being trafficked into electric fraud parks and being cut off, Thailand’s security issues have successfully persuaded China tourists to quit.
Unexpectedly, four friends in my circle of friends went to Thailand.
“Is Thailand safe? Has tourism been hit hard? Why do they still choose to go to Thailand?& rdquo; With questions, I interviewed four friends who did not know each other.
Although they all tacitly chose to travel to Thailand, their reasons were different: one was for reverse travel, and the other was because the itinerary had been booked long ago and could not be changed.
Amu, who works in the financial industry in Chongqing, told me that she went to Thailand for reverse travel.
As migrant workers who work from start to finish throughout the year, the Spring Festival is a rare short holiday in addition to the National Day holiday and annual leave. Changing the environment is one aspect, and the other is to avoid the cold.& ldquo; Winter in Chongqing is wet and cold, and there are many people in Hainan and Xishuangbanna in China. In my opinion, Thailand is a place where consumption is not high and the temperature is comfortable now. I have been there several times and am familiar with it. rdquo;
There are still 20 days before the Spring Festival, when events in Thailand are making a fuss, Amiu booked a ticket to Thailand.
She imagined that the number of tourists to Thailand would drop sharply this year, but this was not the case. Ami, who failed in her hopes, chose to return home after going to Thailand for three days.
However, Momo and Xiaoqing, who had already set their itinerary, were different. The plane and wine were not refunded, and the inability to change the itinerary became the biggest reason for them to go to Thailand.
This is the second time Mo has been to Thailand. Because she had been to Chiang Mai and Phuket before, and because of safety considerations, she chose to arrange her six-day trip in downtown Bangkok.
She is also cautious enough in her choice of transportation. She relies on subway +grab taxis for all travel. This year, I didn’t even dare to take a tuk tuk. I used to take it casually when I went to Chiang Mai." rdquo; She admitted that in fact, many friends around her chose to visit Thailand this year, and no one encountered anything strange. On the contrary, she didn’t have as much fun as she imagined because she was too cautious on this trip.
Xiaoqing, who bought a ticket to Thailand in September, told me that she was more looking forward to this trip to Thailand than worrying. ldquo; This is my first trip to Thailand.& rdquo;
Before the electric fraud incident in Thailand, she and her friends also specially booked the Racha Hotel with a better environment on Emperor Island, which cost 2500 yuan a night. ldquo; This hotel has an exclusive beach with great scenery and free diving.” rdquo;
Picture: Jelly Sea. Photo source: Photo provided by Xiaoqing
Although before embarking on the trip, Xiaoqing smiled and said that the persistence of wine was the biggest motivation for her to go to Thailand. After actually arriving in Thailand, she realized that Thailand was not as scary as the outside world said. ldquo; People who don’t go have been saying it’s unsafe online. rdquo;
On February 5, Xiaoqing, who had stayed in Bangkok with friends for two days, set off for Emperor Island. Xiaoqing told me that she observed that the boats going to the hotel that day were all China. ldquo; It was originally the day to return to work, and there were many China tourists.” rdquo;
This is not just the feeling of my friends.
Chris, who was also in Thailand five days ago, also revealed on his social media that the Spring Festival atmosphere in many business districts in Bangkok is even more lively than that of first-tier and second-tier cities in China that focus on the image of the city (in comparison, in Beijing, on the streets south along the central axis, only the Chinese knots of each telephone pole can exude a little Spring Festival flavor), and men and women are wearing festive red clothes. In this atmosphere, he ate tom yum and grilled seafood in Bangkok. There were many tourists, including many China faces in business districts and restaurants.
Despite everyone’s lip service, Thailand, where the house has collapsed, is still a popular tourist destination for China tourists.
On many travel OTA platforms, there are also data showing this trend. On the Hornet Honeycomb platform, Thailand ranks among the top ten popular destinations for outbound travel; in the “2025 Spring Festival Holiday Travel Consumption Report” released by Tongcheng, Thailand ranks among the top five popular destinations for outbound travel.
On February 4, according to data released by Thailand’s Minister of Tourism and Sports Soraon, from January 1 to February 2, the number of China tourists to Thailand reached 710,000, firmly occupying the top spot in the number of foreign tourists.
Data from both China and Thailand show that China tourists with integrity still cannot resist the charm of Thailand tourism.
But in fact, the crisis has already emerged. During the Spring Festival period (January 27-February 2), the peak period of travel to Thailand, Thailand received 178,000 China tourists, while this figure was 211,300 during the Spring Festival in 2024, with passenger flow dropping by 15%.
02 Bargain and go to Thailand
Why are so many China tourists willing to go to Thailand?
In an interview with the media, Cai Muzi, a researcher at the Qunar Big Data Research Institute, once analyzed that the reason why Thailand has become the first choice for many China tourists for outbound travel during the Spring Festival is that it is close, visa-free, cheap and affordable, and suitable temperatures., which also makes it difficult for Southeast Asian countries to be completely replaced.
On the consumer side, many people evaluate Thailand tours as being cost-effective.
Netizen Wukong said that in September last year, he and his wife went to Thailand, from Pattaya to the Thai King Temple, from watching a shemale show to shooting guns. The two of them only spent a little over 10,000.
There have always been two important reasons why Thailand is popular among China tourists: cheap.
The earlier you book the trip, the cheaper the machine wine will be. Xiaoqing, who bought a plane ticket in September last year, told us that she only spent more than 2000 yuan on a round-trip ticket from Beijing to Thailand during the Spring Festival. It was precisely for this reason that she made up her mind to stay in a high-end hotel.
“This price is more cost-effective than star-rated hotels in China, not to mention that you can eat a star-rated Michelin restaurant in Thailand for only 200 yuan per person. rdquo; Xiaoqing, who likes to eat durian, has relaxed her belly in the past few days in Thailand. The price of durian at 27 yuan/kg is much more cost-effective than eating in Beijing.
Source: Xiaohongshu @MiLena
In comparison, Mo Mo, who bought the ticket later than Xiaoqing, paid nearly 5,000 for the round-trip ticket. But even so, she still felt it was worth it.
“Consumption in Thailand itself is not expensive, and local Thai food is much cheaper than Thai restaurants in Beijing. Although the air ticket cost a lot, the six-day trip cost almost 10,000 yuan, including meals, accommodation, and local specialties. rdquo;
During the Spring Festival, many people decided to go to Thailand only after trying to find low-priced air tickets.
Chris is one of them. He said that he was suddenly curious about the price of air tickets in Thailand after the Wang Xing Thailand cable fraud incident and found that the air tickets to Thailand were discounted.
In the first ten days of the Spring Festival holiday, he bought an air ticket at a broken price for only a few hundred yuan, and made an impromptu trip to Thailand with his friends at the lowest cost.
Through chatting with others, he learned that many tourists who came to places such as Siam Place and Shangtai Department Store in Thailand, like him, had come to Thailand on a whim.
But not all consumption is as lucky as air tickets.
During the Spring Festival, many China tourists who paid low-cost air tickets to Thailand lost a lot of money in accommodation expenses. The hotel cost for one night was 2-3 times higher than usual.
Xiaoqing told me that the price of her hotel in Phuket has increased from 2500 yuan to 7500 yuan a night. Fortunately, she booked it early, and at this price, she might not be able to afford it. But even so, on the Internet, some netizens laughed and said that even if the price has increased several times, it is still much cheaper than Sanya.
Photo source: Xiaohongshu @ Xiaosweet potato 62824
But for some China tourists, traveling to Thailand is not just about being cheap.
03 There is still a crisis of trust
Thailand’s high cost performance in attracting China tourists is not only reflected in the cost of machine wine, but also in some special life experiences.
On January 26, Oli shared pictures of herself shooting with a real gun at a shooting range in Thailand on her circle of friends. With this experience alone, she collected photos of Jiugong grid in different postures from three angles: front, side and back.
Photo: Oli wears earmuffs and shoots under the guidance of a coach
In her view, ordinary people have not many opportunities to touch real guns in an environment where guns are banned in China. Being able to go to Thailand to experience real shooting is a cool thing in itself.
At the naval shooting range more than 10 kilometers away from downtown Bangkok, she experienced how to load and press the gun according to the instructions of the coach. From pistol to rifle, Oli fired 30 rounds with three different gun types. On the wish list, you can cross off another item. rdquo; She said.
Picture: Murals on the walls of the shooting range
She admitted that at this time point, not everyone can understand her decision to go to Thailand.
But it is also China tourists like Oli who do not listen to advice that can be said to have maintained the performance of Thailand’s tourism industry during the Spring Festival this year.
China tourists have always been the main force of travel to Thailand. Throughout 2024, Thailand received more than 35 million foreign tourists and spent more than 1.6 trillion baht (about 340 billion yuan). Among them, China tourists brought about 450 billion baht (about 96.3 billion yuan) in revenue to Thailand’s tourism industry, accounting for as much as 28%.
After the Wang Xing incident, the Tourism Board of Thailand was obviously panicked amid the calls of China tourists to persuade Thailand to withdraw.
The Thailand Travel Agents Association even made a set of estimates that tourism safety issues may cause the number of China tourists visiting Thailand to drop by 10% to 20% during the Lunar New Year, which directly caused losses to Thailand’s tourism industry of up to 5 billion baht (about 1 billion yuan) during the Spring Festival.
In the past two days, Thai Prime Minister Peitontan has visited China to discuss tourism safety issues in Thailand and enhance China tourists ‘confidence in Thai tourism.
However, data from the Spring Festival holiday clearly shows that China tourists have never been completely reassured about Thailand.
This is also reflected in the attitude of China tourists towards Thailand.& ldquo; When you go to any place or country, you must pay attention, especially in Thailand.” rdquo; Even Oli, who had made a lot of preparations and checked out strategies before going to Thailand, could not fully trust Thailand.
This is not the fault of China tourists.
From 2023 ‘s “The Disappeared Her” and “All in All” to 2024 ‘s “Past Events in the Water”, film and television themes based on real events in Southeast Asia are reminding China tourists to pay attention to their own safety. Coupled with the Wang Xing telefraud incident at the end of 2024, China tourists are becoming more and more cautious about tourism in Southeast Asia. Some people have even put Thailand on the tourist blacklist.
For Thailand’s tourism industry, which should have achieved good results during the peak period in Thailand, the loss of 15% of China passenger flow is already a dangerous signal. How to boost China tourists ‘confidence in Thailand’s tourism industry next remains a question.
