On March 3, a topic of "Is Thailand really too expensive to go?" appeared on Weibo. Thailand's overall price rise has once again sparked heated discussions. A number of tourists said in interviews that the prices of local hotels and cars in Thailand have increased significantly. The fare that used to cost a few tens of baht may now cost about 20 yuan. However, with the encryption of flights, the price of air tickets to Thailand has dropped to a greater extent than before. As May Day approaches, some tourists are also looking for alternative destinations. After the resumption of the second batch of outbound group travel destination pilots, Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam are expected to become one of the most popular destinations for Chinese tourists after Thailand.

Insufficient supply has led to an across-the-board price increase

"Prices in Thailand rose across the board" "spent 3 times more money than usual" ... Recently, news about rising local prices in Thailand has been pouring out on social media platforms. Is Thailand really expensive? With such a question, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily interviewed a number of tourists who have recently traveled to Thailand.

Bai Fan (pseudonym), who works in Beijing, signed up for a group tour of CYTS Tours Thailand in February this year. Before the epidemic, Baifan's main outbound destinations were Japan, European countries and other destinations. This is her first trip to Thailand. Talking about local prices in Thailand, Bai Fan said: "I heard from friends in the same group that prices in Thailand have indeed risen, but I think it's okay, because the transportation, accommodation, etc. of the group tour are arranged by travel agencies. My personal expenses are mainly used for night markets, snacks, etc. ”

Bai Fan said that the price of snacks, skewers and so on she bought at the local night market is about 30-50 baht, equivalent to about 10 yuan. She said: "Although prices have risen, they do not feel very outrageous, after all, prices have risen in many parts of the world in the past three years, and prices are generally acceptable." ”

Tourist Hu Xin said, "Relatively speaking, the price of hotels and cars in Thailand has increased at a higher rate. The distance that used to be a taxi of several tens of baht may now cost about 50 yuan. The price of Thai hotels has also increased compared to 2019."

Another local ground operator staff said: "The price of international high-end hotels such as Marriott and Hilton has increased significantly, up by about 2019% compared with 50, while some local hotel prices have increased by a smaller amount, about 30%. ”

According to Wu Liyun, an associate professor at the China Institute of Culture and Tourism Industry at the Second Foreign Chinese University in Beijing, the increase in outbound travel prices is not limited to one destination in Thailand, but has increased prices in multiple destinations. "First of all, the operation of international flights has not fully resumed. And from the perspective of accommodation, some catering and accommodation that used to receive Chinese tourists have been transformed under the epidemic and no longer receive tourists, which will also lead to an increase in travel costs. Overall, the core reason is still the lack of supply leading to higher prices. ”

Airfares will fall back in the second quarter

In addition to rising hotel and small transportation prices, high air tickets have also been one of the reasons that plague tourists to Thailand.

After the opening of the first batch of outbound group tours, a relevant person in charge of a travel agency revealed to a reporter from Beijing Business Daily that not only Thailand, but also due to the lack of direct flights, the price of many outbound destinations is temporarily at a high level.

However, recently, many airlines have encrypted and opened new direct flights to Thailand. A few days ago, Hainan Airlines announced that it plans to open a direct international route between Guangzhou and Bangkok from April 4, which is the second Thai route opened by Hainan Airlines in the Guangzhou area. China Eastern Airlines previously announced that there are seven round-trip routes to Thailand in March, of which the Shanghai (Pudong) route to Phuket is a daily flight.

From the perspective of air ticket prices, take the Beijing-Bangkok route as an example. According to Ctrip's App, the price of direct flights in January was about 1,5000-7000,3 yuan, the lowest price of direct flights in March was 2293,6 yuan, and the lowest price of direct flights in June dropped to 1657,<> yuan.

According to Qunar's data, compared with the beginning of February, the price of round-trip air tickets from Guangzhou and Shanghai to Thailand is about 2% cheaper. For example, from Guangzhou to Bangkok, the minimum one-way trip in the near future is only 50 yuan, and the lowest one-way trip from Shanghai to Bangkok is 732 yuan. Qunar analyzed that with the arrival of the new season, the number of international flights will continue to increase in the future.

Han Jie, Chairman of CYTS Aoyou Technology Development Co., Ltd., said: "Most airlines will add flights or resume flights in late March, and they expect airfare prices to decrease in the second quarter, but not significantly. As the price of air tickets decreases, so will the prices of our group tour products. ”

Vietnam is expected to be a new option

With the resumption of the second batch of national pilot outbound group tours, the options for tourists to leave the country have gradually increased. Among them, Vietnam has become a new choice for tourists.

According to the number of inbound calls of Zhongxin Travel Call Center and the number of product views on its official website, in addition to Southeast Asian destinations such as Thailand and Singapore, the popularity of intercontinental tourist destinations such as Switzerland, Egypt, Dubai and South Africa has increased rapidly.

Jiang Wen, CEO of Ctrip Group Tours, said: "In the second batch of outbound group tours, some visa-free or visa-on-arrival countries are currently relatively fast, such as Serbia and Mauritius. In addition, Vietnam in Southeast Asia is expected to become a popular destination after Thailand. ”

In addition, with the launch of more and more outbound travel products, "May Day" overseas tour products have also entered the peak booking period. According to Ctrip's data, the number of orders for overseas tour products booked during the May Day holiday in the past half month increased by 167% compared with the first half of the month. In addition to Thailand, the overseas tour destinations that are currently popular for "May Day" registration include Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives and so on.

"Among the 60 countries currently open, Southeast Asian destinations closer to China are still the top choices for tourists and travel agencies. From the perspective of travel agencies, on the one hand, it is necessary to pay attention to the changes in tourists' consumption demand, and on the other hand, it is necessary to formulate attractive tourism products based on the local supply situation of the destination. ”

Beijing Business Daily reporter Guan Zichen Zhang Yiran