「タイは危険」と中国人観光客敬遠　映画・ＳＮＳで負のイメージ浸透

【バンコクＡＦＰ＝時事】中国人観光客にとってタイは、水掛け祭りやランタン祭り、美食などで知られる楽園だった。しかし、映画やＳＮＳを通じて危険な無法地帯だとのイメージが広がり、訪問客が激減している。（写真は資料写真）
　タイは観光立国だが、特に中国人観光客への依存度が高い。政府統計によると、新型コロナウイルスのパンデミック（世界的な大流行）前の２０１９年、中国からの訪問客は１１００万人と過去最高を記録し、全観光客の４分の１を占めていた。
　ところが、今年に入ってからの中国人観光客数は２３０万人にとどまる。
　政府は中国人観光客を呼び戻そうと躍起になっており、９月からはビザを一時的に免除している。
　しかし、中国のＳＮＳで、タイでは観光客が誘拐され、ミャンマーやカンボジアにある詐欺グループの拠点に連行され働かされる恐れがあるといったうわさが拡散したことが痛手となった。
　中国から家族で１週間の旅行にやって来たという看護師の女性（４４）はＡＦＰに対し、両親に反対されたと話した。
　「（両親は）タイは危険だと思っていて、行かないよう説得された」。「友人たちは、まず私が無事だったら、自分たちも行きたいと話している」と語った。
　大ヒットした中国映画『孤注一擲』が、追い打ちを掛けた。
　あるコンピュータープログラマーが某国で人身売買の被害に遭い、暴力がはびこる東南アジアの詐欺拠点に連れ去られるという内容だ。被害に遭った国がどこか明示されていないが、タイを強く連想させる描かれ方となっている。
　映画は「事実」に基づいているとうたっており、８月に公開されたばかりなのに、すでに今年の中国国内での興行成績第３位に入っている。
　実際、数千人の中国人がだまされて、ミャンマーやカンボジアを中心に東南アジアの詐欺拠点で働かされていると、ＡＦＰはじめメディアは報じている。
　ただし、そうした人々は旅行中に通りで拉致されたのではなく、高収入といううたい文句につられて被害に遭うケースが大半を占めている。これまでのところ、タイ国内では詐欺拠点は確認されていない。
　旅行中の北京の学生（２２）はＡＦＰに対し、「誇張された」部分もあるのは分かっているとしながら、「カンボジアやミャンマーなどに連れて行かれるのではないかと心配だ」と話した
　タイ国旅行業協会のシティワット・チーワラッタナポン会長はＡＦＰに、「事実ではないのにタイが標的にされている」と語り、オンライン上の否定的なコメントが観光客減少の一因になっていることを認めた。
　今年３月にそうした書き込みがあり、急速に拡散した。東南アジア旅行の安全性を問うトピックは、中国系ＳＮＳの微博（ウェイボー）でトレンド入りした。
　拡散が一向に収まらなかったため、北京のタイ大使館は、旅行者の安全対策を講じる方針を発表したほどだった。
　隣国カンボジアにも影響は及んでいる。カンボジア旅行業協会のチャイ・シブリン会長はＡＦＰに、状況は悪化していると打ち明けた。同会長が経営する旅行代理店では、今年に入ってからの中国人団体旅行客のツアー参加はゼロだ。安全面での懸念を示す人が多いという。
　シブリン氏は「中国人は政府の言うことは聞くので、中国政府が支援してくれればカンボジアにもすぐに来てくれるようになると思う」と語った。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/10/04-16:17）

For millions of Chinese tourists, Thailand used to be a happy land of water fights, lantern festivals and delicious food.
But thanks to social media rumours and a blockbuster movie, the kingdom's image among many Chinese people is now one of dangerous illegality and seedy scam border compounds -- leaving visitor numbers plummeting.
Thailand is hugely reliant on tourism, particularly from China. The country welcomed more than 10 million Chinese visitors each year before the Covid-19 pandemic -- numbers Bangkok is desperate to see return.
But its struggling holiday industry has been hit by viral social media rumours claiming that tourists might be kidnapped and sent across the border to work in brutal scamming compounds in Myanmar or Cambodia.
Chinese tourist Jia Xueqiong spent a week in Thailand with her husband and daughter, despite her parents' disapproval.
They felt it was not safe here, and tried to persuade us not to come, the 44-year-old nurse told AFP outside Bangkok's unusually quiet Grand Palace.
All my friends said 'You go first to explore, if it's ok we will follow', she said.
Her family and friends' concerns were stoked by No More Bets, a high-octane thriller claiming to be based on real events, about a computer programmer who ends up in a violent scamming compound in Southeast Asia after being trafficked through an unnamed country remarkably similar to Thailand.
The movie has some basis in reality.
Extensive reporting by AFP and other media has documented thousands of Chinese people lured to centres in Southeast Asia, mainly in Myanmar and Cambodia, to operate online scams fleecing victims for large sums.
But most of those involved are tricked into it with fake offers of lucrative work -- not dragged off the streets while on holiday -- and so far, no such scam compounds have been found in Thailand.
Despite only being released in August, No More Bets has become the third-most-popular film in China this year, raking in 3.8 billion yuan ($521 million) and super-charging online discussion about the dangers of visiting Thailand.
Beijing student Leanna Qian, 22, told AFP that while she knew some of the stories were exaggerated, she was still concerned about travelling to the kingdom.
I'm worried that we'll be taken to other places, such as Cambodia or Myanmar, she said.
- Action call -
Thailand welcomed a record-breaking 11 million Chinese tourists in 2019 -- a quarter of all visitors that year, according to official data.
But since the start of 2023, only 2.3 million Chinese tourists have come, and last week the Thai government announced temporary visa-free travel for Chinese travellers in a bid to restart the flow.
Sisdivachr Cheewarattanaporn, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents, told AFP that negative online chatter had played a role in the drop.
Things don't happen in Thailand but Thailand is targeted, he said.
Rumours began in March online and spread rapidly, with posts shared and viewed millions of times. Topics about whether travel in Southast Asia was safe trended on Weibo.
The rumours grew so persistent that earlier this year, the Thai embassy in Beijing released a statement reassuring visitors that officials would take measures to secure tourists' safety.
And across the border, the president of the Cambodia Association of Travel Agents, Chhay Sivlin, told AFP that the situation was worse.
Chhay Sivlin said her company has received no Chinese tour groups so far this year, and feedback highlighted many tourists' worries about safety.
If the Chinese government helps, we will receive tourists soon because Chinese people listen to their government, she said.
- 'Never return' -
Back in China, travel agents are switching their focus from foreign trips -- which accounted for more than 40 percent of their tourism revenue pre-pandemic -- to pushing domestic tours.
Business is also suffering the after-effects of Beijing's draconian Covid control measures, which saw around 1.2 billion people unable to leave China after its borders were shut in 2020.
Gary Bowerman, director of travel and tourism consulting firm Check-in Asia, said it took time for people to get used to travelling abroad again.
Going out of the country again, you start hearing about these scams... It does have an impact on people's psychological willingness to travel, he told AFP.
Meanwhile, domestic travel is booming -- especially for younger people, who view it as an on-trend alternative to flying abroad, Bowerman explained.
In the office of a Beijing-based travel agency, which declined to be identified, staff were busy pushing domestic holiday promotions.
The agency formerly employed more than 200 people but downscaled to only a few dozen as a result of the worsening global economy, visa difficulties, and a slow aviation industry recovery.
There's not much willingness to go abroad, employee Guo, who asked to be referred to by only one name, told AFP.
And, she added, for Southeast Asia there's also the fear that they could go but never return.
Outside Bangkok's Grand Palace with her family, tourist Jia dismissed the fears of many inside China.
It isn't like what's said on the internet, being scammed or other things, she said.
There is nothing like that at all.