Thailand sees return of Chinese tourists after no-casinos pledge

In Thailand, the road to luring Chinese tourists back now runs through a moral pledge: keep gambling illegal and win Beijing’s favour. After months of sagging visitor numbers from China, once Thailand’s biggest source of tourists, the country expects an imminent recovery, according to Thai officials.

President Xi Jinping has agreed to hold internal discussions on how to encourage tourism to the Southeast Asian nation after its government vowed to oppose efforts to legalize casino resorts.

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“It is expected that there will be visible, positive results within one or two months,” government spokesman Siripong Angkasakulkiat told reporters after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, adding that the Lunar New Year holiday in February should bring a seasonal bump in arrivals.

Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul reassured Xi that his country stands against casino legalization when they met during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation gatherings in South Korea last week. Anutin, who was the interior minister during the Pheu Thai Party-led administration, said in July that the Chinese president had urged former Premier Paetongtarn Shinawatra to forgo a plan to legalize casinos or risk negative consequences on tourism and bilateral trade.

Thailand could use the help. The country expects 33.4 million visitors this year, nearly 6% less than in 2024 and the first decline in foreign arrivals since the pandemic. Only 2.3 million Chinese tourists visited in the first half of 2025, down by about one-third from the same period a year earlier. The kidnapping of Chinese actor Wang Xing in Myanmar through Thailand led to safety concerns, triggering a wave of Lunar New Year trip cancellations.

Philippines eases visa rules for Chinese visitors to aid tourism

Meanwhile, Boracay Island sailboat operator Sherwine Constantino longs to see Chinese tourists once again strolling on the resort isle's white-sand beaches. Since tighter entry policies were slapped on visitors from China two years ago, his business has suffered greatly.

Instead of bookings for eight trips a day, Constantino considers himself lucky if he gets two.

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Now the government is reversing its restrictions to help nearly seven million Filipino tourism workers like Constantino by implementing easier electronic visas for Chinese visitors starting Monday. It is removing curbs put in place in late 2023 over concerns that some visitors from China were involved in scams and illegal gambling.