Thailand a Top Destination for Chinese Tourists

A leading travel website in China has revealed that Phuket in Thailand was the most searched for destination this year, with the capital Bangkok ranking seventh in the study.

The Chinese International Travel Monitor (CITM) published by www.hotels.com reported an increase of 27% in online searches for the famous beach resort of Phuket for this year's Chinese Moon Festival Holiday period on 6-8 September.

Of the top 10 most searched-for destinations, nine were in Asia with Phuket taking first place followed by Seoul, South Korea and Taipei, Taiwan.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) welcomed the news, commenting that the volume of Chinese searches relating to the important Moon Festival indicates rising interest in Thailand as a holiday destination.

Phuket was the most searched for destination this year

Thawatchai Arunyik, Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand said: "This great news also comes at an opportune time when Thailand is now offering a tourist visa fee-waiver for holders of Chinese and Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) passports for three months, from 9 August to 8 November 2014. Chinese travellers planning to visit Thailand during this three-month period can make use of this wonderful scheme to come to enjoy a wide variety of tourist attractions, famous Thai food and shopping opportunities, especially in Phuket".

As a consequence of the increased interest in Thailand as a holiday destination, Chinese investors are looking to its property market for investment opportunities, particular in popular resort areas.

Thai property developers Sansiri marketed their luxury beach apartment project in Phuket directly to Chinese investors, anticipating a lift in buying interest from high-net-worth-individuals.

Sansiri's CEO, Apichart Chutrakul said: "We see the trend of Chinese buying overseas property. About 2.7m Chinese tourists visited Thailand last year and it will be much more this year".

Growth in Thailand's tourist sector has attracted considerable attention from Chinese investors in commercial property. With an ever-expanding tourism infrastructure, there are plenty of opportunities to invest in hotels, shopping centres, roads and rail networks in the kingdom.

As witnessed in many countries with economies driven by tourism, expansion in the sector invariably leads to an upturn in local property markets. Rental yields on residential property investments are purely dependent upon demand and in countries like Thailand where tourism isn't seasonal, consistent demand delivers high yields.