Beijing, China, October 23, 2023 / TRAVELINDEX / Thailand’s Prime Minister Mr. Srettha Thavisin, during his first official visit to China this week, presided over the signing ceremony of a letter of intent (LOI) between the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and eight leading tourism players in China – Huawei Technologies, Trip.com Group, Meituan.com, Spring Airlines, Sina News, Alipay, iQIYI, and Jego Trip – to boost Chinese tourists’ confidence and quality tourism to Thailand.

Mr. Srettha said, “The Thai government places importance on reinforcing the comprehensive Thailand-China strategic partnership and strengthening cooperation in areas, such as trade and investment, education, art and culture, and tourism. To facilitate Chinese travellers, the visa exemption scheme has been put in place from now until 29 February 2024. This signing of the LOI will lay a framework for long-term strategic cooperation on promoting quality tourism and maintaining tourists’ confidence in Thailand.”

The LOI signing ceremony was held today at Kerry Hotel, Beijing, China. The agreement was signed between Ms. Thapanee Kiatphaibool, TAT Governor, and top executives of the eight strategic tourism partners – Huawei Technologies’ Mr. Walter Ji, Trip.com Group’s Mr. Sun Bo, Meituan’s Ms. Lu Menxi, Spring Airlines’ Mr. Wang Yu, Sina News’ Mr. Cong Song, Alipay’s Mr. Zhou Yi, iOIYI’s Mr. Yang Xianghua, and Jego Trip’s Dr. Yong Ji.

Ms. Thapanee said, “This LOI is the largest cooperation agreement that represents the greatest coverage of travel alliance businesses in the Chinese market covering all steps of the customer journey. From obtaining Thailand’s travel information through iQIYI and Sina News, planning and booking trips via the Trip.com Group, Meituan.com, Alipay, and Jego Trip to travelling to Thailand with Spring Airlines, TAT aims to leverage this partnership to elevate the positive image of Thailand as a tourist destination, boost Chinese tourists’ confidence, and roll out tourism promotions to stimulate more travel to Thailand.”

The cooperation with eight of China’s leading tourism players, including top tech companies, online tourism platforms, airlines, and online banking is expected to help strengthen cooperation in tourism-related technology for the Thai tourism industry as well as promote quality tourism to Thailand.

Ultimately, this will help reach the target of 4 million to 4.4 million Chinese tourists in 2023, generating over 200 billion Baht, and bringing the overall number of this year’s tourist arrivals to 25-30 million.

From 1 January to 15 October 2023, Thailand recorded a total of 2,645,885 Chinese tourists, thus making it the second largest tourist market.