Thailand’s Phuket cheers Chinese tourists’ return: ‘It’s good that they’re coming, and I’m not worried about Covid’

Tourism businesses on the Thai holiday island are hoping for a much-needed payday from the influx of Chinese visitors: ‘I’m so ready to welcome them’

‘With them here’s it’s good money’ said a speedboat driver in Patong – though some worry that they don’t have to staff to meet the uptick in demand

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A Chinese tourist rides an elephant as another is shown how to drive an all-terrain vehicle at a jungle park in Phuket, Thailand, last week. Photo: Reuters

Published: 11:02am, 24 Jan 2023Updated: 11:42am, 24 Jan 2023

Entrepreneurs on Thailand’s holiday island of Phuket are readying for the long-awaited return of Chinese tourists, hoping China’s reopening and dismantling of its strict Covid-19 curbs can boost their flagging businesses.

In the year before the pandemic, nearly one-third of Thailand’s visitors were Chinese tourists, who once accounted for annual global spending of quarter of a trillion dollars on their travels.

“I’m so ready to welcome Chinese tourists. I’m so ready because with them here it’s good money,” said speedboat driver Wittaya Yooyen, 56, who operates at Patong beach, the island’s biggest draw. “It’s good that the Chinese are coming, and I’m not worried about Covid-19.”

His watersports business, which offers paragliding, water skiing and other activities, suffered heavy losses during the pandemic, when Thailand’s strict entry conditions and long mandatory quarantine periods kept visitors at bay.

Chinese tourists dressed in traditional Thai costumes rented from a shop take pictures at a temple in Bangkok on Monday. Photo: EPA-EFE

With tourism picking up widely in the region from pent up demand and the end of most travel curbs, Asia’s holiday hotspots are welcoming the return of Chinese tourists, who are celebrating the Lunar New Year.

Thailand’s government is aiming for at least 5 million Chinese tourist arrivals this year, with 300,000 in the first quarter. Thailand’s health minister Anutin Charnvirakul has said the country expects seven to 10 million Chinese travellers to arrive by air this year.