New figures from SiteMinder, Meituan and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) reveal that over 1.3 million of the 11 million-plus international travellers to Thailand have this year arrived from China. The figures, which indicate that Chinese travellers could constitute one-fifth of all international travellers to Thailand by year’s end, were unveiled at the ‘Amazing Thailand Sailing with Meituan’ event in Bangkok.
These latest findings follow TAT’s projection that international arrivals to Thailand will reach 25 million this year, which is more than double the number of arrivals in 2022. TAT’s projection complements data from SiteMinder, the world’s leading open hotel commerce platform, which found that weekly reservations made by Chinese travellers to SiteMinder’s Thai hotel customers have increased by 79 percent since the start of the year.
Vincent Xie, General Manager of Overseas Lodging at Meituan, says, “With over 600 million users annually, Meituan has unique visibility into the growing appetite to visit Thailand among Chinese travellers. In particular, we are tracking the strong intent to travel among those born after the year of 1990. This is a segment accustomed to seamless digital experiences, and we are working closely with partners like SiteMinder and TAT to provide these users with the best experience possible, as they plan and book stays in increasing numbers.”
Bradley Haines, Market Vice President – Asia Pacific at SiteMinder adds, “Pent-up demand continues to result in the acceleration of international travel, with China a welcome and long-awaited addition into that mix. Since the start of the year, the weekly volume of bookings made by Chinese travellers to our hotel customers have grown by 79 percent in Thailand and 58 percent globally. These numbers are encouraging and a signal to hotels to invest in commerce technology that will allow them to sell, market, manage and grow their businesses in ways that cater for the modern Chinese traveller.”
