It’s a shocking fact that an estimated 100 Chinese tourists die in Thailand every year. To be exact, 103 of them lost their lives here last year. “The number is very high,” said Chen Jiang, counsellor for the Cultural Section of Chinese Embassy. The main cause of death, he said, were accidents on land and in the sea as well as drowning due to water sports.
When asked how to reduce the fatality rate, the counsellor said every year the embassy issued travel advice, which includes letting Chinese tourists know they can contact the embassy and counsellors in Khon Kaen, Phuket or Songkhla when they need help.
However, he doesn’t want the Chinese to be scared of visiting Thailand. He still hopes to see more Chinese tourists come to Thailand, since even he finds the tourist destinations and friendliness of Thai people impressive. “I hope they’ll pay more and more attention to their safety — be more careful,” he added.
Thailand welcomed about 8 million tourists from mainland China in 2015, jumping 71.14% from the year before. Chinese tourists have comprised the largest group of international arrivals since 2012. They’re also the biggest spenders.
For this year, the Tourism and Sports Ministry forecasts that the total number of Chinese visitors to Thailand will rise 25% and reach 10 million.
Last Monday, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) joined hands with the Chinese internet giant Baidu to launch 17,000 tourism attractions in the Chinese language on Baidu Maps. The aim is to attract more of the tourists known as Free Independent Travellers to explore Thailand by themselves.
TAT will also work with Baidu to introduce a smart guide in which Chinese visitors can use a QR code to listen to brief information on tourist destinations in Mandarin. It’s been launched as a pilot test at the Temple of the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok, and Sanctuary Of Truth (Prasat Satchatham) in Pattaya.
Yes, we want more tourists and the revenue that comes along with them, as tourism largely drives the Thai economy. But having more tourists also means a higher possibility of tourist-related fatalities. The challenge is in figuring how best to prevent fatalities amidst increased numbers.
“We don’t want to see an increased rate of deaths, as it lessens confidence among tourists. Their deaths also cause a social problem in their countries,” said Charoen Wangananont, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents.
The several recent fatal accidents also give Thailand’s tourism industry a negative reputation abroad.
There are reports of tourism-related deaths every month. In January, a van accident in Phichit caused four Mexican tourists to lose their lives. Then a Brit died in a swimming pool in Koh Tao.
In February, an elephant trampled a Scottish tourist and gored him to death in Koh Samui. A 52-year-old French woman died after being struck by a boat while swimming in waters reserved for snorkellers near an island off Krabi.
If we want to keep count of the number of tourist deaths, a rough record on Farang-Deaths.com summarises the situation.
The statistic of the site showed that about 180 tourists have died in Thailand since the beginning of this year. That number may be lower than the real figure, as the website collected information only on reports from English, Thai and German news media.
TAT Governor Yuthasak Supasorn admitted that fatalities do discourage tourists. From 2014-2016, records show that 109 Australian tourists lost their lives in Thailand. Yuthasak added that the death of tourists was one reason the number of Australian tourists declined during the first half of this year, another being the fierce competition from other countries’ tourism campaigns.
To solve this issue, tourist safety should be made a national agenda, ranking with the issues of human trafficking, corruption and illegal fishing.
TAT will push the tourist-safety issue in the next meeting of the national tourism policy committee. If the issue makes the national agenda, he said, every party must get involved to fix and prevent the problem. In the end, prevention is always better than cure.
This source first appeared on Bangkok Post Lifestyle.