The decline in Chinese tourist arrivals to Thailand is expected to continue at least until the first quarter of 2017 due to recent crackdown on "zero-dollar" tours (tour packages priced below cost but with forced shopping), says the Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT).
The council expects Chinese tourist arrivals to fall by 20%, or 2.1 million in the first quarter of next year, reported Bangkok Post. However, the total number of Chinese arrivals in 2016 will still grow 12.3% to 8.9 million, missing the target of 10.1 million.
China has also begun a systematic crackdown on low-cost tour packages in November.
Chinese tourist arrivals to Thailand grew by 19.3% during January 1 to September 11, with the number of free independent tourists representing 60% of the total Chinese tourists.
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