Chinese tourists cancel tours to Thailand after actors repeatedly disappear

After the incident in which actor Wong Jing was tricked into a criminal den on the Thai-Myanmar border, many Chinese people are worried that their upcoming New Year trip to Thailand will not be safe.

Tourists walk along the beach in Phang Nga province, southern Thailand - Photo: AFP

According to the newspaper Bangkok Post On January 10, many Chinese people are expressing their opinions on the matter. social network said they were concerned and wanted to cancel travel to Thailand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, amid reports of missing Chinese people there.

Chinese citizens continue to go missing in Thailand

January 7, Thailand successfully rescued actor Wong Jing in a city in Myanmar bordering Thailand. He was found in a building belonging to an online fraud gang.

With the image of Mr. Vuong's shaved head and the horrifying experience he recounted, many Chinese people have lost the enthusiasm to go to Thailand to celebrate Tet.

However, the matter has not stopped there, as Thai police continue to investigate the case of two Chinese citizens who went missing upon arriving in this country.

Accordingly, model Duong Trach Ky's family recently announced that he lost contact in the Thai border area - Myanmar.

Before he went missing, Mr. Duong received a text message saying he had passed a movie audition. He flew to Suvarnabhumi Airport on December 20, 2024.

On December 29, Mr. Duong called his mother with an eye injury, saying that he was safe. The model's phone was later unreachable.

Mr. Duong's family has filed a petition with the Chinese police and contacted the Chinese embassies in Thailand and Myanmar for assistance in the search.

Thai police are also searching for Chinese national Wu Jiaqi, 21, who flew to Thailand on January 6. Her family and friends have not been able to contact her since then.

Chinese people are starting to hesitate to travel to Thailand.

On the Xiaohongshu platform on January 9, the search "How to cancel a trip to Thailand?" resulted in 380,000 posts.

After learning about the incident involving actress Wang Jing, Shawna Li (living in Zhejiang province) and three other friends canceled their trip to Thailand from January 28 to February 4.

"We changed our decision due to safety concerns, especially with four women traveling together.

I have never been to Thailand, which people say is affordable and fun. I thought it might be a bit unsafe, but not to this extent," Ms. Li shared.

The manager of the Shanghai branch of travel agency Ctrip said that the Wang incident had reduced the number of tour bookings to Thailand.

So far, this branch has only been placed 1 tour The group headed to Thailand, with departure scheduled for late January.

The Association of Thai Travel Agents (Atta) estimates the amount Chinese tourists Travel to Thailand could fall by 10% to 20% during the upcoming holiday season as tourists fear risks.

With 6.73 million arrivals, China will be Thailand's largest tourism market by 2024, according to the Thai Ministry of Tourism and Sports .

Source