Follow-Up: Thailand's Foreign Minister Sihasak to Raise Travel Advisory With Chinese Ambassador; Travel Agents Warn Chinese Group Tours Could Drop 50% at Spring Festival
BANGKOK, Thailand — Sihasak Phuangketkeow, Thailand's deputy prime minister and foreign minister, said on October 27 that he plans to discuss with China's ambassador to Thailand the travel advisory for Thailand that China issued on October 16, arguing that issuing advisories alone cannot solve the root problem and that action should target the organized fraud networks themselves, including checking travelers' real purposes, rather than leaving ordinary tourists in doubt. The Thai side also said Thailand remains safe for ordinary tourists.
The October 16 advisory noted that Chinese nationals had recently been lured to Thailand under pretexts such as high-paying jobs, investment deals and performance invitations, with some going missing, being illegally detained or being trafficked toward the Thai-Myanmar border, and it urged travelers to be wary of transport and itineraries arranged by strangers. GSM previously reported Thailand's tourism minister responding to a spate of cases of Chinese travelers going missing after arriving in Thailand, and Thai police posting anti-scam warning signs in four languages at checkpoints along the Thai-Myanmar border.
Thanapol Cheewarattanaporn, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA), warned that Chinese group-tour business has already fallen more than 30% from the same period in 2025 under the advisory's impact. ATTA also forecast that if the underlying safety concerns are not addressed promptly, the drop in group tours during the Spring Festival holiday could reach 50%; the figure is an industry forecast, not a decline that has already occurred.
Figures from Thailand's Ministry of Tourism and Sports show China remains Thailand's largest source of visitors, with more than 4.19 million Chinese arrivals so far this year as of October 24. In the week of October 18 to 24, 49,494 Chinese tourists arrived, down 24.17% week on week.
Related:
Thai Police Post Scam Warnings in Four Languages at Myanmar Border Checkpoints
Source: GSM · America
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：曼谷素万那普机场航站楼内景资料图（Supanut Arunoprayote 摄，CC BY 4.0，Wikimedia Commons）。File photo of the Suvarnabhumi Airport terminal interior in Bangkok (by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons).
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