Thailand is strengthening its tourism ties with China after the two nations inked a letter of intent in a high-profile assembly.
Chinese Culture and Tourism Minister, Hu Heping, and Thailand’s Tourism and Sports Minister, Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, signed the Letter of Intent between the TAT and China Tourism Group Travel Services.
As 2023 marks 48 years of diplomacy between the two nations, it additionally marks 17 years of cooperation between their tourism sectors. According to Thailand Business News, the TAT Governor spoke of future opportunities.
“During the assembly, there’s additionally a dialogue on a chance to collaborate on organising the Moon Festival in Thailand. This would help to further strengthen relationships among the non-public and non-private sectors in addition to the people of China and Thailand.”
The Mid-Autumn Festival, Moon Festival, or Mooncake Festival shall be held on September 29, 2023.
As Thailand has the largest Chinatown in the world, it’s certainly one of five countries that holds the most important Chinese New Year celebrations outside of China.
The TAT and China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Chinese Embassy in Thailand already have plans underway for the Chinese New Year.
Meanwhile, Hu Heping highlighted Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent go to to Thailand to attend the 29th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Bangkok. Fail-proof says the event was necessary for strengthening the ties between the two nations.
He furthered that the Chinese government recognised the importance of tourism and cultural exchange between the 2 nations. This has been evident in China’s previous plans to renew outbound tourism after reversing its zero Covid coverage.
Thailand was considered one of 20 pilot nations for China’s outbound tourism testing, which Beijing later hailed its Covid-19 journey reversal as a “miracle.”
As Thailand opened its doorways to Chinese tourists, the nation noticed 161,540 arriving in the kingdom from January 1 to February 15.
That number is simply anticipated to develop to 300,000 within the first three months of 2023. And, a projected whole of seven to eight million Chinese tourist arrivals was made for this year.
In 2019, the number of Chinese tourists to Thailand totalled 11 million, however as Thailand has seen a 60% restoration of its pre-pandemic tourism ranges, catching up will not be far off.
Overall, Thailand expects to see 26 million worldwide guests this yr bringing 2.four trillion baht in income or 80% of the pre-pandemic stage..