Chinese Tourists Spent Over RM 50 Billion in Thailand in 2018
Chinese Tourists Spent Over RM 50 Billion in Thailand in 2018
How important are Chinese tourists? Thailand has been courting Chinese tourist for the past couple of years and they are seeing some handsome results.
For this year, Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) maintains its target of 10.5-11 million arrivals from China, up from last year’s 9.8 million. This year, from January to August, Thailand already welcomed 7.7 million Chinese tourists (+16.51%), generating 423 billion Baht (+22.17%).
How much is 423 billion Baht? It is RM 53,501,881,996.10 based on XE.com. That is 53.5 billion Ringgit Malaysia and that is only the first nine months of 2018!
According to Ctrip.com, China’s largest and most influential online travel agent during the October National Day Holiday, Chinese travelers visited more than 1,000 destinations in 100 countries.
Thailand overtook Japan as the top destination for Chinese outbound travelers, with Hong Kong coming in at third place followed by Vietnam and Singapore. South Korea, Croatia, Mexico, Serbia, and Tunisia were the top five dark horse destinations, averaging more than 50% year-on-year growth. Ease of visa contributed greatly to rising interest for the latter three countries.
Who spent the most in 2017?
According to UNWTO (United Nation World Tourism Organisation), the China tourists spent US$ 257 billion in 2017, followed by USA at US$ 135 billion and Germany at US$ 89.1 billion. For the tourism receipts, Thailand is ranked number four in the world with US$ 57.5 billion dollars. How much is US$ 57.5 billion in Ringgit Malaysia? It is about RM 238,990,292,813.75.
Honestly, we need more Chinese tourists in Malaysia. We need them to spent billions of ringgit in Malaysia. The big question is are we doing enough to lure them over to Malaysia?
