By Ralph Jennings
Published Jan 23, 2025
Abduction of Chinese actor Wang Xing sent shock waves through Thailand’s tourism industry, which relies heavily on travellers from China.
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has used a heavily circulated, artificial intelligence-generated video this week to tell Chinese tourists that her country is improving safety after an actor fell victim to human trafficking and with pre-holiday travel bookings on the decline.
Shinawatra said in the video posted to her government’s Facebook page that all Thai government agencies will be told to crack down on transnational crimes and enforce illegal-immigration laws.
“I’ve noticed the recent news about Chinese citizens being lured to fraud-ring hideouts in neighbouring countries, and that has set off widespread worries among tourists about safety and human trafficking,” Shinawatra said in the 92-second spot.
“The Thai government attaches great importance to the safety of tourists,” said Shinawatra, who at age 38 is the youngest-ever prime minister of the country that sees tourism as an economic staple.
Thai Prime Minister seeks to reassure Chinese tourists with AI-generated Mandarin video
The video has been picked up by multiple Asian media outlets and cited by news websites in China since its Wednesday release. The clip begins with the prime minister’s likeness acknowledging the use of artificial intelligence to build a Chinese-language video and saying that she does not actually speak Mandarin.
Shinawatra’s appeal comes as bookings for Thailand by China-based travellers fell by 15.6 per cent from January 13-20 compared with the previous week, according to data collected by the travel marketing and technology company China Trading Desk.
Chinese actor Wang Xing’s disappearance in Thailand – news that spread quickly online in China – has stoked fears among Chinese travellers, according to social media posts after the incident.
Under mounting public attention, Thai authorities saved Wang from an online fraud ring in a Myanmar city bordering Thailand. An unknown number of Chinese citizens have also been dragged into Southeast Asia-based fraud syndicates.
“The video does help to reassure that Thailand gets Chinese back,” China Trading Desk CEO Subramania Bhatt said.
The prime minister’s appeal might come too late for Lunar New Year bookings, as the eight-day annual break starts next week in China, Bhatt said, but “this might help to stem any last-minute cancellations the travellers were planning”.
Chinese holidaymakers often favour East Asian countries over other parts of the world, due to relatively short distances from home and friendly visa rules, the business consultancy Dragon Trail International said in a mid-January market survey.
Thailand logged 6.7 million Chinese arrivals last year, making China its top source of tourism.
While “more risk-averse” Chinese travellers might now be shunning Thailand, tourism overall is unlikely to taper, forecast Lynn Song, chief economist for Greater China at Dutch financial services corporation ING.
“More rational minds will probably dismiss it as a targeted or individual case,” Song said.
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