BANGKOK — The strengthening Thai baht is casting a shadow over Thailand’s tourism industry, potentially derailing the country’s economic recovery plans.
Ronnarong Cheewinsiriamnuay, President of the Thai-Chinese Tourism Alliance Association (TCTA), revealed on September 24 that the strengthening of the Thai baht is certainly affecting the tourism sector, especially the travel decision-making atmosphere.
Currently, many countries are promoting to attract foreign tourists to visit their own countries, making tourism highly competitive. Several countries with weakening currencies are becoming more attractive to tourists, such as Japan with its weakened yen.
When tourists plan their trips and find that the Thai baht has strengthened, resulting in higher exchange rates, it will inevitably affect the psychology of tourists, whether it’s us or them.
“Comparing with the Chinese market visiting Thailand, currently Chinese tourists who come here don’t just travel, but they also love shopping because prices in Thailand are cheaper than in China, and many Thai products are popular. They enjoy coming to buy in Thailand themselves,” he said.
Before COVID-19, a survey found that Chinese tourists coming to shop in Thailand reached up to 60%. So now, Thailand should have Chinese tourists coming to Thailand for travel and shopping exceeding 60%, but it has not reached that number yet, even though Thai government has implemented a visa-free measure to facilitate travel.
Ronnarong said that after discussions among the private sector, it is believed that if Thailand continues to let the foreign tourist market grow naturally like this, it will be difficult to reach the government’s targets, especially in terms of revenue, which the Tourism Authority of Thailand has set at 3 trillion baht.
This means the government needs to support opening up the country by increasing flights to Thailand, particularly for the Chinese market. They should support direct flights from secondary Chinese cities to Thailand, whether they are major cities or tourist destinations, because we still see high demand for travel to Thailand.
“This needs to be done quickly because October 1st is China’s National Day, an important holiday when Chinese people travel abroad. If we don’t support direct flights soon, we may miss out on these tourists.”
He added that currently, we’re seeing Thai people traveling to China at unprecedented levels because the mutual visa-free arrangement makes travel easier and more convenient. With the strong baht, it may encourage more people to travel abroad, including to Thailand, as they can exchange for more foreign currency than before.
For example, previously 1 yuan would cost 5 baht, but now it only costs 4.67 baht. If the currency strengthens further, it will become even cheaper. The concern is that if the baht remains strong for a long time, it will lead to more Thais planning trips abroad, as they can now accumulate foreign currency for future use, making it easier to travel anytime.
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