CHIANG RAI – The Tourism Industry Council has reported that the province of Chiang Rai is seeing fewer Chinese visitors, tourism figures, and revenue in 2025 are on track to fall by almost half compared with 2024.
Local businesses are moving fast, working with municipal authorities to upgrade the downtown area, create walkable routes, and link the city’s art scene through a contemporary gallery with monthly events. Plans also include reviving the Doi Tung legend and backing ethnic groups to draw more overseas travellers during the high season.
Wiroj Chaya, President of the Chiang Rai Tourism Industry Council, told the Manager Online that travel patterns in 2025 look similar to 2024, even without major floods. The share of visitors remains steady, about 70 percent Thai and 30 percent foreign, but arrivals from China have dropped.
To grow the international market, the council has met Chiang Rai City Municipality to improve the core city area. The goal is to connect Bus Terminal 1, the Clock Tower, and nearby sights so visitors can explore on foot, especially at night. The municipality has responded positively.
New draws are also on the agenda. The council plans to work with the city’s contemporary art museum and local galleries, where Chiang Rai artists showcase new work every month. There is a push to bring back the stories and history of Doi Tung, support cultural activities led by ethnic communities, and promote local tea and coffee.
These efforts aim to make Chiang Rai more appealing to overseas visitors. The outlook for the winter high season is hopeful, led by travellers from Malaysia and Singapore. A welcome sign came in late October, when flights from Singapore increased from two to three per week.
Chiang Rai has around 400 hotels, resorts, and guesthouses, offering more than 20,000 rooms. About 100 properties are members of the Chiang Rai Hotel Association, with roughly 4,000 rooms. External investors are also developing four to five new hotels around the city, with about 50 rooms each.
Tourism data for 2567 shows 6,193,932 visitors, including 5,364,667 domestic travellers and 829,265 international visitors. Total tourism revenue reached about 49,420.04 million baht. From January to June 2568, the province recorded around 3,378,757 visitors, generating close to 26,000 million baht.
Overview of the Downturn
Thailand’s visitor numbers have slipped in 2025, with international arrivals down about 5% year on year by mid-year. The main drag is the sharp fall in Chinese travellers, which is tracking 30% to 34% lower than in 2024. In the first five months, only 1.95 million Chinese visitors arrived, a 32.71% drop.
Forecasts suggest just 4 to 5 million for the full year, compared with 6.73 million in 2024 and far below the 2019 peak of more than 11 million. The government has trimmed its 2025 tourism revenue goal from 3.5 trillion baht to around 3 trillion baht.
Chiang Rai, known for the White Temple, hill tribe culture, and its border location near Myanmar, has taken a heavy hit. It ranks among the top provinces for Chinese cancellations, with thousands of hotel bookings pulled early in the year. The province benefits from secondary-city appeal, yet its dependence on China-based group tours has magnified the fallout. The points below summarise the main drivers, citing Thai tourism agencies, sector reports, and media sources.
Why Chinese Visitor Numbers to Chiang Rai Are Falling
These issues overlap, with safety fears and tighter budgets leading the list. The Tourism Authority of Thailand and sector analysts describe a stack of setbacks, amplified by negative coverage on Chinese platforms.
| Reason | What is happening | Impact on Chiang Rai |
|---|---|---|
| Safety concerns and headline incidents | Fear spiked after the January 2025 kidnapping of Chinese actor Wang Xing in Bangkok, which spread widely on Chinese social media. Reports of scams, trafficking, and a March 2025 quake in Bangkok, with tremors felt in the north, added to the anxiety. Many Chinese travellers rely on domestic news and now view Thailand as unsafe, prompting more than 10,000 cancellations. Stories about grey businesses and isolated crimes have deepened mistrust. | Cancellations surged, including 4,572 hotel rooms in early 2025. Routes from second-tier Chinese cities into the north were disrupted. The province’s closeness to Myanmar feeds concern about regional unrest. |
| China’s soft economy and focus on domestic travel | A weaker economy has cut outbound travel budgets. State-backed projects are boosting domestic trips, pulling demand away from overseas holidays. Projections cap Chinese arrivals to Thailand below 8 million in 2025, with some days seeing only 5,000 to 7,000 entries. | Budget group tours to northern secondary cities have slumped. Independent travellers are picking higher-priced, high-value stays in other Thai destinations. |
| Stronger competition in the region | Japan’s weak yen and Vietnam’s rising appeal have drawn large Chinese flows, with Japan topping 3.1 million Chinese arrivals and Vietnam gaining pace on price, safety, and novelty. In May 2025, Malaysia overtook China as Thailand’s top source market. | Chiang Rai’s culture and nature offer parallels to Vietnam, which often comes with lower costs and shorter flights. Fewer charter services to Chiang Rai airport, including from Chongqing, have made access harder. |
| Changing travel habits and views | After the pandemic, more Chinese tourists prefer independent, experience-led trips over mass tours. Some see Thailand as tired after years of heavy visitor traffic. Negative posts on sites like Weibo amplify stories about crowd fatigue and safety concerns. | Chiang Rai, once a fixture in classic group itineraries, now attracts fewer younger first-time travellers who react strongly to safety news. TAT reports a 19% fall in Thailand searches on Chinese platforms in Q1 2025. |
| Operational and logistical hurdles | Flight capacity on China–Thailand routes has recovered to only about half of pre-pandemic levels, which keeps fares high and demand low. A stronger baht raises costs further. | Northern routes are losing priority. Airlines such as Thai Lion Air have cut charters. Floods in Mae Sai in May 2025 closed bridges for a time and discouraged border trips. |
Wider Effects and Efforts to Recover
The slump has wiped more than 14 billion US dollars in market value from Airports of Thailand and has strained Chiang Rai’s hospitality sector, where Chinese visitors once delivered 20% to 30% of tourism income.
TAT is now chasing higher-spending markets in Europe, India, and the Middle East, while rolling out government-to-government outreach. This includes Mandarin safety messages by Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and roadshows in cities such as Chongqing.
Campaigns for Chiang Rai highlight safe, premium experiences, yet many analysts warn that a full rebound will take time without a shift in perceptions.
If current patterns hold, Chiang Rai could return to roughly 2019 activity by 2026. A comeback to pre-2025 Chinese volumes looks unlikely unless China and Thailand act together on safety, air links, and marketing.
