The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is not concerned about China's real estate slump as the agency remains confident about securing 5 million visitors from the country this year.
TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn said he believes most Chinese tourists are still keen to travel after saving money to travel abroad during the pandemic.
He said the agency aimed to see 5 million Chinese travelling to Thailand, 50% of the approximately 10 million arrivals recorded in 2019.
This is feasible when comparing this target with the huge population of over 1.4 billion on the mainland.
However, in terms of top inbound markets, there has been a consistent growth of Malaysian tourists and this market secured first place, closely followed by China.
From January to May, Chinese tourists tallied more than 1.1 million, while the Malaysian market stood at 1.6 million.
Mr Yuthasak said the agency has held discussions with the Consular Affairs Department in an effort to ease the application process and help recheck visa application documents of Chinese travellers before they are submitted for approval.
Speaking at an event to promote the domestic market, Mr Yuthasak said the TAT plans to use "superstition" tourism as a new soft power to increase domestic trips.
Faith is designed to be a new product on top of the existing 5Fs -- food, film, fashion, festivals and fighting (Muay Thai).
The promotion will also attract Chinese travellers and visitors from other short-haul markets to Thailand this year with increasing spending per trip due to add-on activities.
The TAT forecasts the value of superstition tourism to reach 15 billion baht this year, up from 10.8 billion baht in 2019.
Mr Yuthasak said people have been seeking moral support during the crisis more than at any other time.
Those demands match Thailand's attractions pertaining to local culture and beliefs that could be turned into economic value.
The agency will promote 12 superstition tourism routes across every region, and a special event entitled "Amazing Muteverse" between June 30 and July 2 at CentralWorld, offering faith products and fortune tellers utilising different methods.
According to Future Market Insight 2023, this sector globally is expected to grow threefold in 10 years to US$40.9 billion in 2033.
Given that the yen has become even weaker in relation to the US dollar recently, Mr Yuthasak believes this wouldn't prompt more Thai tourists to travel abroad as the baht hasn't been strong either.
