Thailand

To further support the above news, listed below are excerpts from world renown economics authorities indicating a positive and healthy tourism industry outlook for Thailand. As these articles concluded, China will be an important element propelling this exponential growth.

“In particular, public fixed investment will rise in 2015 after last year’s decline and is expected to accelerate in 2016. The interim government has approved an infrastructure program that includes $95 billion in investments over 8 years in railways, roads, ports, airports, and special economic zones. This year, public investment will be confined to relatively small projects, with larger-scale construction to start from next year. The government plans to offer contracts for mass rapid transit rail lines in Bangkok and for double-tracking rail lines across the country.” – Asian Development Bank

“Thailand’s tourism sector appears to be turning a corner. Visitor arrivals increased 4.2 percent on year over the October-November period, led by a surge in Chinese tourists.

“The rebound in Chinese tourists is significant as they have become increasingly important to Thailand’s tourism performance in recent years, Capital Economics said. Chinese tourists accounted for 17 percent of foreign visitors in 2013.

“Chinese visitors are also among the biggest spenders, with per capita spending per day about 10 percent higher than the overall average,” it added.

“To stimulate tourist arrivals, Thailand launched a visa-fee waiver scheme for China and Taiwan passport holders from 9 August to 8 November. Despite the end of Thailand’s fee-waiver period, Chinese tourist arrivals in Thailand rose 2.5 percent on month to a record 513,441 in November,” CIMB said in a note last week.

“We expect Chinese tourist arrivals in the region to continue recovering as political stability returns to Thailand,” CIMB said.” – CNBC News ‘Chinese tourists to bring smiles back to Thailand’ by John Phillips (December 23, 2014)

“After many setbacks to Chiang Mai’s tourism industry—due mostly to political shenanigans in Bangkok—the city should be wholeheartedly embracing the swarm of visitors from China. In just the past 5 years, their number has increased from 0.7 million to 4.7 million annually. It’s enough of a phenomena that the traditional tourist low-season hardly exists anymore. There’s now a steady flow of new arrivals year-round.

One would predict the number of Chinese tourists to be expanding at an even pace due to the growth of China’s economy, but Chiang Mai experienced a sudden deluge of visitors from Mainland China beginning in late 2012 after the release of the hit movie “Lost in Thailand” helped put the city on the map among viewers in the People’s Republic.” – ‘Survey Says… Chinese Tourists…in Chiang Mai’ by Ryan Zander (February 20, 2014)