STORY: Surge in Chinese tourist arrivals to boost Thailand's economy
SHOOTING TIME: Recent footage
DATELINE: Oct. 8, 2024
LENGTH: 00:01:56
LOCATION: Bangkok
CATEGORY: ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of views in Thailand
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Chinese): HUANG LIJUAN, Chinese tourist
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): TRIRAD, Tour guide
4. various of views in Thailand
5. SOUNDBITE 3 (Chinese): WU JIANLING, Chinese tourist

STORYLINE:

The ticket office of the Grand Palace in Bangkok bustled with long queues of ticket buyers in the early morning and staff were constantly directing the flow of people.
   
Huang Lijuan, a 28-year-old Chinese tourist, chose to take a self-guided tour to Thailand with her three friends during China's week-long National Day holiday.
   
SOUNDBITE 1 (Chinese): HUANG LIJUAN, Chinese tourist
"This is the first time the four of us have traveled abroad. We chose Thailand because visa-free travel is very convenient and there are many flights between China and Thailand,we want to experience different customs and traditions."

SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): TRIRAD, Tour guide
"Chinese tourists are quite interested in Thailand's history, culture and cuisine. I am very pleased to introduce Thailand to Chinese tourists."

In the past few days, there have been many Chinese tourists in Bangkok's famous attractions such as the Grand Palace and Wat Arun, as well as seaside resorts such as Pattaya and Phuket.
   
Wu Jianling from south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region chose to travel to Thailand on a group tour.

SOUNDBITE 3 (Chinese): WU JIANLING, Chinese tourist
"Thailand is famously known as the Land of Smiles, I saw an introduction about Thailand at the China-ASEAN Expo held in Nanning not long ago."

According to the data from Thailand's Ministry of Tourism and Sports, foreign arrivals to Thailand in the first nine months this year were 26.08 million people, generating 1.21 trillion baht (about 36.1 billion U.S. dollars) in tourism revenue. Among them, 5.25 million were Chinese tourists, ranking the first.
   
Up to 183,000 Chinese tourists are expected to visit Thailand during China's week-long National Day holiday, generating 5.1 billion bahts (about 152 million U.S. dollars) in revenue, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Bangkok.
(XHTV)