Tourism boss warns of Chinese Blacklist threat. Thailand risks being blacklisted by China if another security controversy erupts, warns a top tourism leader. With tourism still lagging at pre-pandemic levels, the country faces economic turmoil as it relies on foreign visitors to boost a struggling economy.
A tourism industry leader has warned the Thai government not to be complacent about the security of Chinese-speaking arrivals. This week, Adith Chairattananon, the Secretary-General of the Association of Thai Travel Agents, suggested that Thailand could face being blacklisted as a holiday destination by China. His warning comes as tourist numbers for January are up by 22%, including arrivals from China compared to last year. However, Thailand has failed to recover to its pre-pandemic level and, in the meantime, has been overtaken in Southeast Asia by Malaysia as the region’s top destination. At the same time, the kingdom has become more dependent than ever on its tourism sector to power a stagnating economy.
A top leader in Thailand’s foreign tourism sector is warning against government complacency particularly regarding the number of Chinese tourists arriving in Thailand.
Adith Chairattananon is the highly respected Secretary-General of the Association of Thai Travel Agents. His voice has been prominent amid the turmoil that has beset the industry since the COVID-19 closure in 2020.
Certainly, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, led by Surawong Thienthong, has been upbeat. This comes despite the spate of cancellations linked to the Wang Xing incident at the border. Wang Xing was a Chinese tourist kidnapped into Myanmar by a Myawaddy-based scammer gang.
In short, this has led to a massive crackdown on scammer operations in Myanmar.
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In particular, Thailand made a decisive move last week to cut off electricity to five border regions in the war-torn country. This move and the operations linked with it are still ongoing.
Nonetheless, Thailand has reported a 22.2% rise in tourist arrivals in January 2025 compared to the same period last year. At the same time, Chinese arrivals led the way at 662,779, substantially higher than last year.
However, Mr. Adith has strong words of caution for the government. In short, the tourism industry leader suggests that Chinese authorities are rumored to be discussing a possible blacklist system.
Certainly, this would be disastrous for Thailand. The tourism industry boss suggests that such a ban may be on the cards if there is any further controversy over security in Thailand.
The veteran of the travel industry warns that Thailand should learn from the devastating Thai sugar and syrup ban imposed last year. Indeed, this saw Thai exporters lose over ฿400 million in one shipment. Afterwards, the total cost was projected at $29 million or over ฿1 billion.
Tourism leader warns of economic consequences from a potential Chinese blacklisting of Thailand
“This is a signal that Thailand must prepare to take strict action. Indeed, to be careful not to let an incident like the Wang Xing incident happen again. In effect, to foreign tourists or those who come to Thailand.
We must prevent any problems from happening. If the government has a problem and the Chinese government immediately orders a ban, it will be a big problem. Bringing it back will not be easy.
For example, the case of China banning the import of syrup from Thailand had a ripple effect. It takes time to solve the problem at the government-to-government level. When there is an impact and damage, fixing it later costs more than planning prevention. We must set up a system to create awareness of what Thailand has done instead,” said Mr. Adith.
At length, the industry leader insists on more Chinese language use in Thailand to assist tourists from China.
Specifically, he notes that the lack of Chinese communication further impacts visitors from Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and Malaysia. This is in addition to mainland Chinese visitors. Therefore, he has called on the government to establish a task force and outline a plan to do that within six months.
Thailand’s border Myanmar border crackdown sparks protests and international scrutiny
The warning comes after the government moved extraordinarily fast last week to cut electricity as well as telecommunication services to Myanmar border regions.
The moves came alongside a USAID suspension due to the Trump administration’s impacting healthcare in those areas have left many Burmese angry. Indeed, this week there were street protests by Burmese residents in Thailand.
Nonetheless, in Beijing last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping lauded Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s government’s efforts.
Certainly, it comes amid speculation that Chinese top security official Liu Zhongyi delivered ultimatums before Prime Minister Paetongtarn’s trip to Beijing.
In any event, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Phumtham Wechayachai, who coordinated the shutdown last week in the face of a more cautious approach by the Ministry of the Interior, this week had no regrets.
On Monday, he dismissed the Burmese protests.
Thai deputy PM Phumtham dismisses concerns as tourism sector faces growing challenges
“They should think carefully because they depend on consumer goods from Thailand. Without that food, they would have to take care of themselves,” he declared.
At the same time, this week the Ministry of Tourism and Sports has revised Thailand’s projected number of tourists to 40 million. In brief, it follows 3.7 million arrivals in January. Last year, the kingdom recorded 35.5 million foreign tourists.
That figure was 6.6% lower than Malaysia, which received 38 million visitors. Indeed, since the Covid crisis, Malaysia has soared ahead of Thailand as the Southeast Asian tourist’s favourite. Previously, Thailand was the industry leader.
Basically, the pandemic shutdown damaged Thailand’s foreign tourism industry more severely than any other country with a critically important tourist sector.
Certainly, Thailand has yet to recover the 39.8 million visitors it received in 2019. For instance, in that year, Malaysia only welcomed 26.1 million visitors.
Thailand’s economy faces mounting risks amid its strong reliance on foreign tourism income for 2025
Basically, the danger of further damage to Thailand’s economy is clear. The kingdom is particularly relying on foreign tourism as its uncompetitive manufacturing sector is being eroded.
In short, any ban or blacklisting of the kingdom by China at this time would be a significant economic setback. Thailand will confirm GDP figures for 2024 on February 17th.
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Reports suggest that impeded manufacturing and lower-than-expected foreign tourism earnings in the last quarter of 2024 saw overall growth last year disappoint. Consequently, Thailand is expected to post only 2.5% growth for the year.
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