NEW YORK – When the first Chinese tourists landed at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok in January, they were greeted like celebrities with welcome banners, flowers, gifts, and a scrum of reporters and photographers.
It was the moment that hotels, airlines, tour operators and government officials had long been waiting for – the reopening of China’s borders after nearly three years of pandemic restrictions that effectively cut the world off from Chinese travellers, once the largest source of global tourism revenue.
“It is very exciting to visit warm beautiful places again,” said Ms Hua Liu, 34, a graphic designer from Shanghai, who was among the first visitors to Thailand, where she took a two-week beach holiday as part of a Chinese New Year trip.
“I will make up for the lost time,” she said in a telephone interview.
Her plan: “Stay at nice hotels, book spa treatments, eat at fine restaurants and buy nice gifts for myself and my family.”
Before the Covid-19…
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