The first batch of China tourists have arrived! Thai media reported that Thai Deputy Prime Minister and other officials met at the airport.

The first batch of China tourists were welcomed.

From 65438+1October 9 to 10, the mainstream media in Thailand, such as Thailand Radio 7, Thailand TV, Thailand People's Daily and Manager's Daily, successively reported the incident. When interviewed at Suvarnabhumi Airport on the 9th, the Global Times reporter also met many Thai media colleagues. The reporter of Thailand Radio 7 turned to the reporter of Global Times for help because he could not speak Chinese, hoping to help interview the first batch of China tourists.

Thailand 7 reported that the Thai government has made clear the requirements for China tourists to enter Thailand. At present, only insurance is needed, and vaccination certificate and nucleic acid test report are no longer needed, which is helpful to stimulate the enthusiasm of China tourists to visit Thailand. "Three years after the epidemic, China tourists are still willing to come to Thailand, which bodes well for Thailand's tourism industry." Thailand 7 said that according to a reporter's on-site interview, "fine weather in Chiang Mai, diving in Phuket and going to sea in Pattaya are still China tourists' favorites".

Thai public television reported that the ministers of the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Communications and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports went to the airport to meet the first batch of China tourists, which shows that the Thai government attaches great importance to China tourists. At the same time, the Thai government is determined to solve the problems of too long queues for tourists to enter Thai customs, too slow baggage claim and inconvenient public transportation, which will help attract more international tourists, including China tourists.

Thai news website Thebangkokinsight also revealed that there will be 573 scheduled flights between China and Thailand in the first quarter of this year, including 338 in Bangkok, 200 in Chiang Mai and 35 in Phuket. "This will help the aviation industry in Thailand and China recover."

Thai officials welcome the first batch of tourists from China.

Thailand's popular tourist destinations are also expecting tourists from China. According to the news website Thaipbsworld, a subsidiary of Thailand Public Broadcasting Service Company, on September 9th, Yinnalong, the government of Phuket, extended a warm welcome to tourists from China, and said that Phuket had enough experience and was ready to prevent the COVID-19 outbreak.

Kaohoon, a Thai media, reported that China released its entry and exit restrictions in early 2023, and immediately ushered in the Spring Festival in China. Thai society is generally optimistic that a large number of China tourists will come to Thailand this year to promote the recovery of tourism in Thailand. "The arrival of tourists from China has even affected the stock market performance of airlines such as AirAsia Thailand. Since the outbreak of the epidemic, the Thai aviation industry has suffered serious losses, and the liberalization of China has helped the Thai aviation industry stop losses. "

Thailand's "Manager" commented that with the liberalization of China and the Thai government finally lifting most restrictions on tourists' entry, the last obstacle to the recovery of Thailand's tourism industry has been removed. Thailand's tourism, service industry and social economy are expected to usher in a real recovery this year, and real economic indicators such as people's income and employment rate are expected to improve.

The Bangkok Post reported that Yuthasak, director of Thailand National Tourism Administration, said that the authorities hoped to welcome at least 5 million tourists from China in 2023, but he was also worried that the flight conditions before the outbreak had not been fully restored. He said that at present, only 15 China flights enter Thailand every week, compared with 400 flights before the outbreak.

Thai Ambassador to China Atayu Sisamu told the Global Times reporter that embassies and consulates in China, Thailand is ready to resume the travel visa for travel agencies to Thailand. He predicted that once direct flights between cities of the two countries are resumed, tourists from China to Thailand are expected to return to the pre-epidemic level soon.

Xi Sam said that China's new epidemic prevention policy will help to increase trade, investment and tourism cooperation between China and Thailand, more Thai students will return to China, and more frequent high-level exchange visits between the two countries will also usher in more opportunities.

Extended reading

Thailand welcomes Japanese tourists. What do China and South Korea think?

Text | sea passengers

It is no exaggeration to say that China tourists will push the global tourism industry into a brand-new year of 2023.

The COVID-19 epidemic in the past three years has brought unprecedented challenges to the global tourism industry, including air transport, hotel catering and so on. Even, it is true that such industries in some countries have to be temporarily transformed.

Thai Deputy Prime Minister Anuddin made a speech at Mangu Airport to welcome tourists from China. Photo: Beijing News Network

As China's epidemic prevention policy against COVID-19 infection has been changed to "B and B management", the notice on temporary measures for the exchange of Chinese and foreign personnel has been officially implemented since June 5438+1October 8, 2023, mainly for two points-

First, it is no longer necessary to carry out full-time nucleic acid testing for entry personnel;

Second, China citizens' outbound tourism will resume in an orderly manner.

At 65438+ 13: 07 local time, with Xiamen Airlines flight MF833 landing at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok, 269 passengers landed smoothly. This is the first batch of tourists to China, Thailand after "Class B Management". Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health Anuddin, Thai Minister of Transport Chichob and Minister of Tourism and Sports Pippa greeted China tourists at the airport.

At the same time, Haisir also saw that the United States, Japan, South Korea, Morocco and other countries have also come up with some policies to deal with China's "B-type management". Obviously, tourists from China are not very popular at this stage.

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What do you think of this move in Thailand?

It can be said with certainty that Thailand is the "first crab eater" after China's "B Tube". This is a vote of confidence in the epidemic prevention measures of China government-the epidemic prevention measures in the past three years to the present.

On June 4th, 65438 local time, Anutin responded to the Thai media, and there was no need to discriminate against China tourists. Photo: Bangkok Post.

After China announced the "Category B and Category B Management" policy, it mentioned "orderly resuming China citizens' outbound tourism", which was keenly captured by the Thai media. On June 4th, 65438, local time, the Bangkok Post made an exclusive interview with Anuddin. Anuddin revealed that Thailand will not take discriminatory measures against tourists from China, but treat them equally. At that time, Anutin mentioned that "the only requirement is to provide a complete vaccination certificate".

Anuddin also revealed that at the government work conference held on October 4th, 65438/KLOC-0, it was discussed how China tourists would travel to Thailand after October 8th, 65438/KLOC-0, and how Thailand should respond.

In Haisir's view, at present, Thailand's policy towards China tourists is more appropriate-

On the one hand, we welcome ordinary tourists, and the ministers in charge of health, transportation and tourism led by the Vice Premier welcome ordinary tourists. This row is really big.

On the other hand, it also made arrangements for China tourists' plans. This is very important. After all, China has just implemented "Class B and B tube", and the epidemic situation in some places has just passed the peak of Omicron mutant virus infection. At this time, if you don't make any plans at all, it may not be appropriate.

At the welcoming ceremony of China tourists on June 5438+1October 9, Anutin revealed the latest policy-

Entry passengers from all countries are no longer required to provide vaccination certificates.

It can be seen that Thailand has the latest judgment and made the latest policy adjustment.

"The Thai Minister will welcome the first batch of China tourists on Monday" Photo: Screenshot of ThaiPBSWorld report.

Today, the Thai media published such a set of figures-

In the first quarter of this year, it is estimated that 338 flights from China will arrive at Suvarnabhumi Airport, including 98 in June 5438+ 10, 44 in February10 and 96 in March.

At Chiang Mai International Airport, there will be 200 flights from China in the first quarter of this year, including 42 flights in 65438+ 10, 84 flights in February and 74 flights in March. The first direct flight from China to Chiang Mai Airport is expected to arrive on March 15.

From June 20438 to 2023 10, the number of China tourists visiting Thailand is expected to reach 50,000; In March, this number will increase to 90,000.

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On the other hand, Haisir found that popular tourist destinations in China were different before the outbreak.

Take Japan as an example-

Japanese Prime Minister kishida fumio held a press conference in Ise City, Mie Prefecture on October 4th, 65438, saying that the management of COVID-19 Port for immigrants from China will be strengthened from October 8th, 65438.

Earlier, the Japanese government has announced that from June 30, 2022, passengers who have lived in China for seven days will be subject to landing inspection when they enter Japan. If the test is positive, it should be isolated for seven days in principle. 654381the new regulations that came into effect on October 8 have stricter requirements, that is, nucleic acid testing or antigen quantitative testing must be carried out when entering the country.

65438+ On June 5, 2023, local time, at the Immigration Department of Incheon International Airport, the sign "Passengers from China" was written in Chinese, English and Korean.

South Korea also began to treat immigrants from Chinese mainland, Hongkong and Macau differently. In other words, a special queuing channel is divided for nucleic acid detection. In Haisir's view, it would be nice if South Korea had this clause alone.

6543810.5, at the COVID-19 Inspection Center of Incheon International Airport, immigrants from China were ready for inspection. You can clearly see the yellow logo picture worn by the immigrants: Yonhap News Agency.

Some Koreans told Uncle Hai that they were being watched by military police at the airport, and some Koreans were watching, just like watching prisoners.

Looking back, before June 8, 65438 10, when China took isolation control measures for inbound pilots, was anyone watching? There is absolutely no way! What's more, even Yonhap News Agency disclosed that the positive rate of passengers who entered Korea from China on October 7th was 14.8%! This positive rate is not higher than that of Korean immigrants in the United States, is it? Because China and South Korea are adjacent to each other and China has a large population, it is not incomprehensible for South Korea to take certain epidemic prevention and testing measures. But is it just for epidemic prevention, or do you want to run on China after the US and Japan? A friend said that South Korea's epidemic prevention measures against China, especially the "yellow card", have a Nazi accent. I wonder what the ROK thinks about this?

03

Of course, Morocco and other countries want to show China some performances on epidemic prevention. I believe that with the passage of time, most of these countries with strong "desire to express" will adjust their policies according to the situation. Why did Haisir have such a prejudgment? Obviously, no one will have a hard time with economic growth!

A friend in Germany told me that before the outbreak, some large and medium-sized cities, such as Frankfurt, had formed industrial chains for China tourists. However, with the changes in the tourism market after the epidemic, some German people who do tourism business in China have switched careers. As far as the industries run by Chinese in Germany are concerned, Chinese restaurants that used to take group meals have now been changed into mala Tang restaurants, mainly to maintain business and do local Chinese business. Some friends used to take tour groups, but now they are all in the logistics industry. "I know, they may not come back. After all, I have joined a new industry and my income is fairly stable. But they will also recall the time when China's tourism industry was "brilliant". After all, making money now is faster than logistics. " A friend in Germany said so.

You know, Germany is also a developed country, and the manufacturing industry accounts for a high proportion in the economy. For some countries that depend on the tertiary industry, such as Thailand, the early return of China tourists is certainly the best stimulant to restore market confidence. Aren't Japan and Korea the same? Think about all kinds of cruise ships and flights that entered Japan and South Korea before the epidemic. At that time, tourists greeted each other with songs. Nowadays, these governments have introduced policies aimed at China, and their domestic tourism practitioners bear the brunt of opposition.

Japan's current policy towards China tourists is not supported by Japanese tourism practitioners. Photo: Screenshot of Japanese media.

Shiori Sakurai, manager of STR, an American hotel market research company, said: "Without Japanese tourists, the recovery and growth of Japanese domestic tourism demand may be slower than it is now."

"What I want most is China guests, but Japanese domestic policies are really worrying." The staff of a large travel agency in northeastern Japan talked so much. From this, we can actually see that Japan and South Korea have similar epidemic prevention policies for China, and the rabbit's tail can't grow!