Hotels and airlines have started to see mass cancellations from Chinese tour groups during the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday, while new bookings from independent tourists are also slower due to concerns over safety in Thailand.
Last week, Eason Chan, a singer and actor from Hong Kong, cancelled his planned concert in Thailand, citing safety concerns over Chinese fans visiting the country, while Hong Kong's Security Bureau sent a task force to Thailand this week to follow the case of their citizens being lured to job scams in Southeast Asia.
Natthriya Thaweevong, permanent secretary for tourism and sports, said Hong Kong security officials confirmed that tourists from Hong Kong have never been deceived or abducted in Thailand. The group of people affected were nationals who had been hired to transport goods to South Asia, but were lured to enter Myanmar via Thailand.
She said the Hong Kong authorities also urged its citizens to exercise caution if approached and offered the chance of a high-paying job.
Ms Natthriya said Thailand's Ministry of Tourism and Sports had also convinced Hong Kong that the country is now strengthening safety and security measures for tourists and instructed the Tourist Police to offer 24-hour assistance for those requiring assistance.
Prachoom Tantiprasertsuk, chairperson of marketing at the Thai Hotels Association (THA), said hotels in key destinations, who mainly target Chinese tour groups, have started receiving cancellations, particularly in Bangkok.
She said the impact on tour groups is more apparent as tour companies are still able to cancel their hotel and air ticket bookings, unlike independent tourists whose bookings are non-refundable.
Ms Prachoom said the THA is now monitoring the situation at hotels nationwide and would be able to forecast the impact more precisely on Wednesday, as most businesses have just come back from the weekend break and have yet to observe any clear movements among customers.
She said hotel operators would like the government to restore confidence in safety as soon as possible to prevent a possible decline in the short term.
Prior to the human trafficking case of Chinese actor Wang Xing, hotels in Thailand received robust bookings during the Chinese New Year holiday as every region reported an increase over the corresponding period last year, said Ms Prachoom.
She said hotels in Bangkok recorded a 70-80% occupancy rate, while resort destinations such as Phuket had an occupancy rate of 80-90%.
Nuntaporn Komonsittivate, head of commercial at Thai Lion Air, said there had already been a large number of cancellations from Chinese tour groups.
For instance, tour operators who previously planned charter flights to Phuket during the upcoming Lunar New Year decided to cancel their programmes due to weak demand from guests, while bookings from individual travellers remain unchanged as their plans are more flexible.
To gauge the actual impact of all segments, she said the airline would have to wait until the end of this week as the visa-free policy between Thailand and China has allowed travellers to decide 1-2 weeks ahead of the holiday period, which this year falls during the final week of January.
Meanwhile, a source from Thai AirAsia said new bookings from Chinese customers continued to slow this week. The source said this market was obviously showing some concern over their trips to Thailand.
