Unlocking western China

Two-way tourism has been a focus in driving Chinese arrivals back to pre-pandemic levels, said the Association of Thai Travel Agents (Atta) during a roadshow in new potential cities in China.

Last week, Atta held a roadshow in three cities — Urumqi, Dunhuang and Lanzhou — located in western China along the fabled Silk Road trade route.

In collaboration with the Thai Travel Agents Association (TTAA), which oversees outbound tours, Atta took more than 80 Thai tourism operators to meet 300 Chinese operators in Urumqi, 100 in Dunhuang and 300 in Lanzhou.

“If there are not enough Thai tourists travelling abroad, there will not be any foreign tourists coming here either,” said Thanapol Cheewarattanaporn, president of Atta, as the association targets 7 million Chinese arrivals this year.

NEW MARKETS

Mr Thanapol said the association visited Urumqi in Xinjiang to meet Chinese operators, as the area is considered a new market for both inbound and outbound agents. The city still lacks direct flights to Thailand after charter services were suspended during the pandemic.

According to the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s (TAT) Chengdu office, western China has a population of 223 million, or 15.8% of the country’s population.

Airports across the region handled more than 12 million passengers last year, a 35% year-on-year increase. Their key outbound destinations included Southeast Asia, Central Asia and Northeast Asia.

Urumqi International Airport accommodated more than 1.1 million passengers last year, a 64% year-on-year increase, with key outbound destinations including Kazakhstan, Russia and Hong Kong.

More than 28 airports operate across Xinjiang province, recording 4.4 million passengers last year.

Li Nuoyi, marketing manager at the TAT’s Chengdu office, said Xinjiang’s rising disposable income has driven outbound travel demand.

Chinese travellers prefer warm-weather destinations in Southeast Asia, such as Bangkok and Phuket, to escape the cold winter, as well as destinations offering visa-free entry or visa-on-arrival schemes with fewer barriers. Family and group travel also dominate the market.

Several airlines offer transit flights from Urumqi to Thailand, including Urumqi Air, Sichuan Airlines, China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines.

Ms Li said potential packages targeting Urumqi travellers include winter island escapes, Muslim-friendly tours, tropical fruit and seafood culinary trips, family and children’s adventure packages, and honeymoon packages.

Nijutti Yusufu, manager of CYTS Travel Service, a tour company in Xinjiang, said that in the past, around 50,000-100,000 tourists from Xinjiang visited Thailand annually, but that figure has now fallen to roughly 10,000-20,000 per year due to a lack of flights and concerns about travel safety in Thailand.

Mr Yusufu said that if operators on both sides work together to stimulate demand, visitor numbers could reach half of their previous levels in the coming years.

The most important factor is encouraging direct flights between Thailand and Xinjiang. Airlines can use Urumqi as a connecting point between Thailand and Russia due to its location, which serves another popular market for both inbound and outbound travel.

Top destinations for inbound travellers were Pattaya, Bangkok and Phuket, with trips typically lasting eight to nine days. Average tour packages were priced at around 6,000-9,000 yuan.

Cheng Xi Long, chairman of Xinjiang Chunqiu International Travel Service, said it remains difficult for other destinations to compete with Thailand due to its perception as offering excellent value for money.

However, Mr Cheng said emerging markets such as Nha Trang in Vietnam are gaining popularity, offering similar beach experiences at lower prices. During winter, direct charter flights also operate to that destination.

Some tourists choose to visit Chinese cities bordering Vietnam and then enter the country via land crossings, as this is cheaper than taking domestic flights.

TWO-WAY TOURISM

Chinese inbound travel agents also endorsed two-way tourism collaboration, seeing opportunities to attract Thai tourists.

Zhou Xin Wei, deputy general manager of Xinjiang Wanli International Travel Service, which handles inbound tourism to Xinjiang, said the province is a good option for travellers from Southeast Asia, where there is no winter season comparable to Xinjiang’s. The province offers attractions across all four seasons.

Kong Wen, manager of tour company Silushenyun, said that over the past two years there has been an increase in foreign tourists visiting Dunhuang due to collaboration and support from the Chinese government. His company caters to tourists from various Asian countries, including Thailand.

Known for its crescent-shaped lake nestled among sand dunes and the Mogao Caves, home to hundreds of grottoes, the city welcomed 52,356 foreign tourists, excluding visitors from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, last year, up from 13,325 in 2023.

More than 4,686 Thai tourists visited the city last year, making Thailand the fourth-largest source market, up from 995 visitors in 2023.

From Aug 28 through October, there will be 29 direct charter flights between Dunhuang and Bangkok. Atta aims to increase capacity to 70 flights through collaboration with Chinese agents, with average airfares starting from 15,000 baht.

Mr Kong said that in the past, travelling from Dunhuang to Thailand required a connecting flight via Lanzhou or Xi’an, which was inconvenient for tourists. With direct flights coming up, this would greatly help stimulate travel demand.

He said the company expects to sell a significant number of flight tickets to Thai tourists travelling to Dunhuang. Many Chinese tourists are also already familiar with, and keen to visit, Thailand.

WESTERN CHINA GROWTH

According to the TAT’s Chengdu office, Thailand remains the top overseas destination for travellers from western China, supported by an average of 147 weekly flights.

For Thailand-bound routes, the region had 1.26 million seats in 2025, recovering to roughly 65% of pre-Covid-19 levels. Of the total, 1 million seats were for flights to Bangkok, while the remainder were for Phuket.

The top two source markets were Sichuan and Chongqing provinces, with 791,849 seats and 219,825 seats respectively.

Northwest China, which includes the Urumqi hub, accounted for only 38,472 seats, leaving significant room for growth given its international airport facilities.

It was the only area in western China to record capacity growth from 2024 to 2025, increasing by 48.5%.

Summer data show that the region provided 117,599 seats and 117,209 seats to Thailand in July and August respectively, representing year-on-year increases of 15.4% and 13.9%.

Together with Atta and the TAT, the Thailand Science Research and Innovation agency, the Program Management Unit for Competitiveness, and King Power also helped organise last week’s roadshow.

Source – Bangkok News