Thailand top spot for Chinese tourists last year

Thailand was the top destination for Chinese tourists last year, according to new research data.

A total of 7.9 million Chinese tourists visited Thailand in 2015, an increase of 70 per cent on 2014, Bloomberg reported.

This was despite the August bombing of a Bangkok shrine popular with Chinese tourists, an outbreak of the Mers virus, and Thai’s general condemnation of Chinese tourists for bad behavior, including a temporary ban on Chinese visitors to Chiang Rai’s White Temple,

Graph showing increase in Chinese tourists to Thailand. Picture: Bloomberg

Thailand overtook South Korea as the top country destination for mainland visitors, which had a 2 percent decrease in Chinese tourists.

The Land of Smiles was closely followed by Japan, where visitors from China more than doubled to 5 million last year.