Why are thousands of Chinese flights to Thailand canceled?

Bookings plummet

Suttipong Kongpool, director-general of the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT), said 10 Chinese airlines have announced cancellations of flights to Thailand from December 2023 to January 2024.

Specifically, 10,939 flights were scheduled for December, but only 5,858 were confirmed, marking a 46% decrease.

In January next year, out of the 10,984 flights initially scheduled, the latest confirmation was 7,420 flights, resulting in a 32% drop, according to Nation Thailand .

Destinations in Thailand are almost empty of Chinese tourists

Piyasawat Amranand, executive director of business recovery planning at Thai Airways International, attributed the cancellations to China's economic slowdown and its policy of promoting domestic tourism. Initiatives such as visa exemptions for Chinese citizens have not brought in as many tourists as expected.

Korakot Chatasingha, Commercial Director of THAI Airways, also admitted that the visa exemption initiative did not significantly boost the Chinese market.

Currently, the recovery of Chinese visitors has reached about 40% compared to the pre-Covid period (2019), forcing THAI to redirect aircraft prepared for the Chinese market to potential markets.

Economic problems in China appear to be the main reason for lower-than-expected return of Chinese tourists , said Piyasawat Amranand.

The 10 airlines that have canceled flights are Air China, China Eastern, Shanghai Airlines, Spring Airlines, China Southern, Shenzhen Airlines, Juneyao Airlines, Ok Airways, Hainan Airlines and Beijing Capital.

China keeps visitors at home

Flights are still slow to resume and Chinese tourists are still few, forcing Thailand to look for new solutions to attract the country's most important source of visitors.

The government should focus on negotiating with China to grant more flights and slots to Thai airlines on a fair and equal basis with Chinese airlines, said Yuthasak Supasorn, former governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). This would speed up the recovery and keep airfares affordable amid the economic downturn.

As of November 20, the number of Chinese visitors reached 2.98 million, recovering 26.8% compared to 2019 levels.

The average daily number of Chinese visitors was 9,196, down from 30,000 per day in 2019.

Mr Yuthasak said Thailand needs to address allegations of tourism fraud and scams if it wants to attract more Chinese tourists. The tourism industry needs to provide high-quality products and services, while all sectors need to work together to rebuild trust in tourism.

China encourages people to travel domestically

Thailand is expected to welcome 3.4 million to 3.5 million tourists from China this year, lower than its target, despite implementing a visa-free program to attract Chinese tourists, the TAT said recently.

China is a key source market for Thailand's tourism industry, with 11 million Chinese visitors before the coronavirus pandemic in 2019, accounting for more than a quarter of total arrivals that year.

“China’s slowing economy is making people nervous about spending on tourism,” Chattan Kunjarana Ayudhya, TAT deputy director general for international marketing in Asia and the South Pacific, told a press conference.

“Safety concerns play a major role in tourists’ decisions,” Yuthasak said, adding that negative news about Thailand continues to circulate on Chinese social media, fueled by films about scam networks in Southeast Asia. This, along with China’s crackdown on “black businesses,” has fueled concerns about Thailand turning away from China.

However, this person assessed that the Chinese outbound tourism market is shrinking in many Asian tourist destinations, not just Thailand.

While China's overall outbound market only recovered to about 50% of pre-pandemic levels in the third quarter, the group's domestic hotel and airline bookings have increased to levels higher than those in 2019, said Jane Sun, CEO of China's leading travel group Trip.com. Specifically, domestic hotel bookings increased 97% year-on-year, while airline bookings increased 70%.

In addition, China also promotes the domestic tourism market by reducing service prices in over 100 domestic cities. That is also one of the reasons why Chinese tourists stay in the country instead of going abroad.

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