To offset losses from the decline in Chinese visitors to Thailand, Chinese travel agents are offering steep discounts on unsold flight tickets to Thai travelers planning to visit China during the Songkran holiday.
Thanapol Cheewarattanaporn, an advisor to the Thai Travel Agents Association, noted a significant increase in Thai tourists traveling to China since the beginning of the year.
Mr. Thanapol, who is also the managing director of Quality Express, highlighted that Thais view China as a safe destination with convenient transportation, making it an increasingly popular choice for outbound travel, especially during Songkran.
In anticipation of a tourism boom following the implementation of a mutual visa-free agreement, many travel agents had pre-booked large blocks of seats on flights to China.
However, the appeal of Thailand to Chinese tourists has weakened after an incident earlier this year, when a Chinese actor was deceived and taken from Thailand to a scam center in Myanmar, according to Mr. Thanapol.
The March 28 earthquake further impacted the market, leaving travel agents unable to sell tour packages that included pre-purchased flight tickets, Mr. Thanapol explained.
To minimize their losses, some agents are now offering these tickets to Thai travelers at discounts of up to 50%.
Despite taking a loss of 3,000 to 5,000 baht per ticket, agents prefer this approach over losing around 10,000 baht per ticket if they go unused, Mr. Thanapol added.
He expects that during the Songkran holiday, China will become the top outbound destination for Thai travelers, surpassing Japan, although overall outbound travel may still be affected by concerns over the sluggish Thai economy.
He projected that the number of Thai visitors to China could exceed 1 million this year, potentially overtaking Japan, which drew more than 1 million Thai travelers last year.
Mr. Thanapol also noted that tour packages to China typically start at 15,000 baht, while trips to Japan begin at 30,000 baht.
He added that South Korea is no longer a preferred destination for Thai travelers due to strict immigration policies and the requirement to register in advance for the Korea Electronic Travel Authorization.
