It can't be sold below 1,000 yuan, and some travel agencies have suspended all Thai routes

Recently, the reporter learned that

traditional outbound travel destination Thailand tour products,

The price has fallen below 1,000 yuan.

In 2023, for the tourism industry,

There is a promising beginning.

But Thailand travels in the Chinese market

But there have been many ups and downs:

• In early February, the pilot of outbound group tours resumed, and the tour fee of the Pattaya line from Bangkok, Thailand from Hangzhou was about 7,000 yuan, and some travel agencies even sold a high price of tens of thousands of yuan. At that time, "Thailand, which used to travel poorly, now makes me unable to climb high", and rushed to the hot search.

• At the end of April, the Pattaya Line from Bangkok, Thailand, was unpopular, and the price of travel agencies fell to 3,000 yuan.

• At the end of June, the Pattaya line from Bangkok, Thailand, from Hangzhou fell below 2,000 yuan, and some travel agencies put up a special price of 1,999 yuan.

• On September 13, Thailand announced a visa exemption for China, and on September 25, the Pattaya route in Bangkok, which sold 3,999 yuan, soared to 5,599 yuan during the National Day.

• After Eleven, the Pattaya line in Bangkok, Thailand fell below 1,000 yuan, and a travel agency in Hangzhou hit 999 yuan and no one cared.

"We are like a ship of hope that has come to a standstill and set sail again, seeing the sea open and feeling the undercurrents surging, repeatedly hitting the rocks, and inevitably doubting and waiting." A senior practitioner engaged in Southeast Asian tourism told reporters.

From the tip of the wave to the bottom, what has happened to the Thai tourism market? Will there be a turnaround in the last quarter of the year? What changes will happen to the Southeast Asian outbound tourism market in the future? With these questions, Chao News reporters interviewed Shi Qing and Li Chao, heads of two travel agencies with export qualifications in Hangzhou.

A tour of Thailand that has been "defeated and defeated"

In the eyes of travel agency practitioners who professionally organize outbound tours, the Thai tourism market from the beginning of 2023 to the National Day Golden Week is indeed very magical.

Since the resumption of outbound group tours on February 6, there have been long queues in the entry-exit halls of various places for a long time. Southeast Asian tourism, led by Thailand, became the "first choice" for tour groups to go abroad for a while. Because the market demand has been surging, Thailand tourism has been on the rise. The first stop in the recovery of the outbound tourism market, many Singaporeans chose Thailand.

Shi Qing analysis, Thailand has a suitable climate, both the current popular Citywalk, but also island vacations, there are many playable content, before the epidemic has always given people the impression of "low consumption, convenient visas".

But the relaunched Thailand tourism market has upended the perception of it.

How much will it cost to go to Thailand in 2023? This number is difficult to say, but many people who travel to Thailand lament after returning and sighing that after three years of absence, Thai tourism is no longer a representative of the original affordable tour. A trip to Thailand to swim down, less to say that everyone costs 10,000 pieces, people feel "unattainable".

Some tourists told reporters, "Just landed at the Thai airport, it cost 800 yuan, the visa fee was 2200 baht, the telephone card was 700 baht, the taxi cost 500 baht, and the meal cost 500 baht, adding up to a total of 3900 baht, equivalent to almost 800 yuan." In the three years of the epidemic, prices in Thailand have risen a lot. ”

Not only that, but local hotel prices have also soared, and before the epidemic, staying in a five-star hotel in Bangkok was about four to five hundred yuan, and at least more than one thousand yuan at the beginning of this year.

The loss of local tourism employees is serious, the quality of the tourism service industry is much worse than before the epidemic, and the cost of tourism services has increased... Even so, many people still choose to travel to Thailand. "After all, I went abroad, I haven't gone out for three years, and I want to take a good look at the world." This is the voice of many tourists who go to Thailand.

Many airlines saw the opportunity and opened more routes to Thailand. Taking the Hangzhou-Bangkok line as an example, at the beginning of the year, there was only one Hangzhou-Bangkok route in Hangzhou, and the round-trip ticket price including tax was once close to 3,000 yuan, and the market was in short supply. Subsequently, many airlines joined the route, and after May Day, a total of five airlines in Hangzhou flew to Bangkok.

Just when all travel agencies were planning to "make a big profit" during their trip to Thailand, a series of local security incidents had seriously dampened the enthusiasm of Chinese people to travel to Thailand.

On March 20, the Thai government announced the dissolution of parliament, and the clarion call for the election campaign officially sounded, and the whole country entered a period of great political turmoil. On March 24, two shootings in Bangkok killed four people and injured two, and on March 28, Chinese students who were kidnapped and blackmailed in Thailand tore up their tickets.

The impact of these negative news on the local tourism market is obvious. "Since the beginning of April, the Thai line has been losing money, and by the end of April it was simply plummeting." Shi Qing told reporters.

But for travel agencies, the inability to sell the route means that all the previous investment has been lost.

To sell an outbound route, travel agencies to cut seats from airlines (i.e. empty seats on the plane), and to purchase routes from local authorities, all of which require upfront costs. Now that the line can't be sold, it's good to recover a little cost, so travel agencies can only reduce the price out of helplessness. Despite the upcoming summer tourism peak, some travel agencies in Hangzhou still offer low-cost routes for 1999 yuan to visit Bangkok, Pattaya, Thailand.

"This summer, we cut 30 seats a week for airlines on the Bangkok line, which is about 90 people a month." Li Chao told reporters, "The summer was so-so and sold some routes, but it was not good. ”

After entering the off-season in September, the local government in Thailand can no longer sit still. On September 13, Thailand announced a five-month visa-free policy for Chinese tourists starting from September 25, and after the announcement, the popularity of Thailand-related searches on Ctrip's platform soared by 800% month-on-month.

"On September 25th, we received more than 300 calls to inquire about Thailand tours, and many customers booked 11 Thailand travel orders." Li Chao said.

Li Chao said that Thailand's announcement of visa exemption before the Mid-Autumn Festival National Day holiday not only saves the time of tourist visa processing, but also shortens the travel planning cycle of tourists, which has substantially boosted tourists traveling to Thailand during the short holiday. Before the implementation of the visa exemption, tourists to Thailand to travel in the form of a visa on arrival, pay a visa fee of 2,200 baht (about 440 yuan), every peak season such as "Golden Week", the entry time for a visa on arrival may be as long as 3-4 hours, the implementation of the visa-free policy improves the comfort of tourists' travel experience.

Many travel agencies believe that this visa-free policy has ushered in a real "spring" for Thai travel.

And just when many travel agencies were purchasing relevant routes from Thailand, the market once again reversed due to unexpected events: on October 3, the shooting at the Siam Paragon Mall in the center of Bangkok killed two people and injured five others, and the victims included a pair of twin daughters more than 5 years old, who had planned to return to China in the early morning of the 4th, but suddenly suffered an accident. On October 6, a 34-year-old Chinese female tourist crashed to her death at a five-star hotel in Phuket, Thailand.

Although the cause of the crash is unknown, two emergencies in three days have once again aroused everyone's doubts about the safety of Thai tourism, and Thailand's outbound tourism has been "hit hard" again.

"Now Thailand can't sell 999 yuan, and after mid-October, all lines in Thailand have stopped." Li Chao told reporters, "Now everyone is afraid when they hear the word Thailand, and no one dares to do this market anymore." ”

Chao reporter interviewed senior tourism players said that before the epidemic, she would go to Thailand every year to play, in addition to Phuket, Koh Samui and other places for vacation diving, but also to Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Hua Hin and other niche places for in-depth play. The local residents are warm and friendly, and they have not heard of any unsafe incidents. However, since the beginning of this year, many vicious incidents in Thailand's public security have made people prohibitive, "after all, no one dares to risk their lives to travel abroad." ”

Reporter Observation:

In the future, Thai tourism may transform into in-depth experience

In the three years of the pandemic, the number of unemployed people in Thailand has increased, and it will take time to resolve the problems of social unrest and instability. Although visa-free is a benefit, it does not give tourists confidence in the safety of tourism in Thailand.

Previously, a senior tourism insider told reporters that after three years of "baptism" of the epidemic, the tourism industry will inevitably need to upgrade and transform. New consumption habits, new market forms and new market operations are all being rebuilt. The future development of tourism must be carried out around the two keywords of experience and scene.

Li Wenhua, director of the East Asia Department of the National Tourism Authority of Thailand, said in a previous interview with the media that although there is no more detailed portrait of the customer group, some common points can be seen. For example, most of the Chinese tourists who come to Thailand at this stage are 18-30 years old, basically no more than 35 years old, many of them are new media operators engaged in flexible work, free time, higher income, high spending power, prefer products close to nature and in-depth experience.

Shi Qing and Li Chao also said that according to their judgment, by the end of this year, Thailand tourism will no longer improve, after all, the risk is too great, and travel agencies are not willing to take this risk. As for whether the Thai tour during the Spring Festival will sell out, they will not risk purchasing it for the time being.

At the same time, an industry insider engaged in Thai tourism revealed that the local tourism bureau of Thailand is worried about this situation, and they are discussing countermeasures, hoping to save the image of Thai tourism in the Chinese market.

Chao News reporters believe that if the Thai government hopes to attract young and high-net-worth customers in the future, on the one hand, it must eliminate the low-priced tour products in Thailand before the epidemic and transform to a high-quality tourism development route. On the other hand, it is also necessary to reshuffle the tourism market, make more products suitable for the public's in-depth tourism experience, and strengthen social security related measures.