SAMUI, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Despite the strong value of the Thai baht, an upcoming China's National Day holiday is expected to bring a large number of Chinese tourists to the southern islands of Thailand, said Wichawut Jinto, provincial governor of Surat Thani on Monday.
During the talk with Ma Fengchun, the consul general of China in Songkhla, Wichawut Jinto said that , tourism is an important economic pillar industry of Surat Thani. The local government welcome more Chinese tourists travel to Koh Samui and will spare no efforts to ensure the safety of Chinese tourists.
According to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Thailand, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Thailand in the first half of this year reached 5.654 million, down 4.73 percent year-on-year.
But tourism market in Thailand has shown signs of recovery from July to August 2019 because of the summer vocation. Islands in southern Thailand, like Phuket, Koh Samui, Krabi, which are under the jurisdiction of the Songkhla Consulate are among the most popular destinations.
China's National Day holiday, running from oct.1 to oct.7, is given high hopes of the tourism recovering.
Ma led a working group to check preventive insured work in Surat Thani and Koh Samui on Sept.28-30, and visited wharfs, beaches, attractions, hotels and other places. He said that as China's National Day Golden Week is approaching and Samui will enter the rainy season in October, the local tourism authorities should strengthen on-shore traffic safety supervision and ensure the safety of Chinese tourists.
