The incident involving Chinese actor Wang Xing being kidnapped while filming in Thailand has escalated. Chinese tourism platforms and travel agencies confirm that the incident has led to a wave of cancellations for trips to Thailand. Many netizens express reluctance to travel there and are actively seeking ways to get refunds through social media.
The Bangkok Post reported on the 9th that the Thai Travel Agents Association (TTAA) estimates that due to concerns over safety following the Wang Xing incident, the number of Chinese tourists to Thailand during the upcoming Spring Festival holiday could decrease by 10% to 20%.
According to Chinese media reports, major Chinese tourism platforms and travel agencies note an increase in inquiries about the safety of traveling to Thailand over the past few days. They have already received some requests for trip cancellations or changes, with some tourists opting for alternative Southeast Asian destinations, while others are temporarily canceling.
The official customer service of the travel platform Ctrip stated, “Recently, because of the news about that kidnapping in Thailand, many customers have called in requesting refunds because they are too scared to go there.”
A manager at a Ctrip physical store in Shanghai pointed out that the incident has led to a decrease in travel bookings to Thailand. Currently, there is only one scheduled tour group to Thailand, planned to depart before the end of the month, with only about a dozen participants. “In the short term, this will definitely affect tourism confidence,” the manager said.
A travel agency in Jiangsu also noted that nearly 30% of tourists have canceled trips to Thailand. During the Spring Festival period, where there were originally 20 to 30 groups, only a dozen remain.
On the Chinese lifestyle platform Xiaohongshu, searching “How to cancel my Thailand trip?” yielded over 380,000 posts just on the 9th. The posts raise straightforward questions like, “How can I refund my flight to Thailand? Is Chiang Mai still safe? How do I persuade the travel agency to refund my canceled Thailand trip?”
It's reported that Ms. Li from Zhejiang had originally planned to travel to Thailand from January 28 to February 4 during the Spring Festival with three female friends but decided to cancel the trip after learning about Wang Xing's situation. “Out of basic safety considerations, we changed our minds, especially since it's the four of us women traveling together,” she said.
Thai statistics show that China has been Thailand's largest source of tourists for several consecutive years, with up to 6.73 million Chinese tourists visiting Thailand in 2024. The Thai Tourism Authority had previously expected the number of Chinese tourists traveling to Thailand to exceed 8 million by 2025.