Bangkok

Chinese tourists take photos of the sunrise on a small boat near Ko Lanta, Krabi in southern Thailand. (People's Daily/Zhang Jinruo) The Wat Arun, a Buddhist temple by the Chao Phraya River, Bangkok, was crowded with sightseers, including Yu Fan, from east China's Zhejiang province, who was looking for the best angle to take photographs, wearing a traditional Thai outfit with a matching Thai-style hairpin. She told People's Daily that her trip to Thailand was inspired by a mutual visa exemption agreement between China and Thailand. "I've already been to attractions like Siam Square and Wat Paknam in Bangkok, and in a couple of days I'll be going to Phuket as well," she said. On March 1, the mutual visa exemption agreement between China and Thailand officially took effect, leading to a continuous rise in the enthusiasm for travel between the two countries. According to Thailand's Ministry of Tourism and Sports, as of March 31, Thailand received over 9.37 million foreign tourist visits this year, generating around 454.7 billion Thai baht ($12.38 billion) in revenue. Over 1.75 million visits were from China, making China the biggest source of tourists for Thailand during this period. The arrival of Chinese tourists has…

BANGKOK, Jan. 5 ( tasteallchina ) -- Thailand is targeting 8 million tourists from China this year, as the country will waive visa requirements for Chinese citizens starting March 1, Thai government spokesperson Chai Wacharonke said on Friday. The response to the visa waiver announcement on Tuesday was excellent, with an over 90 percent spike in the number of searches for Thailand on a major Chinese travel platform, Chai said in a statement. The visa exemption will increase the number of flights between the two nations, lowering airfares and helping boost Chinese visitors to meet the year-end target, he added. Thailand had previously granted temporary visa waiver status for visitors from China, which was set to end on Feb. 29, 2024. The Southeast Asian country welcomed 28 million foreign tourist arrivals last year, including 4.56 million visitors from Malaysia and 3.51 million from China, the two largest source markets, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports. Tourism plays a crucial role in the kingdom's economy, with 1.2 trillion baht (about 34.52 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue generated from foreign visitors in 2023, the ministry data showed. In pre-pandemic 2019, Chinese tourists accounted for about 28 percent of the nearly…