(Yicai) Sept. 13 -- Searches for Thailand on Chinese online travel agencies and holiday bookings in the Southeast Asian country surged the moment the Thai government said today that it will waive visas for Chinese tourists for five months from the end of September to boost its economy.

The Thai cabinet has waived visas for Chinese tourists for a five-month period from Sept. 25 to Feb. 29, 2024, CCTV News reported.

Within half an hour of the announcement being made, searches for Thailand on Trip.com soared nine-fold from the same period last week, according to data from the Shanghai-based online travel agency. And “Chinese tourists heading to Thailand enjoy visa-free entry” became the top trending topic on the site.

The visa-free period coincides with two major public holidays in China, namely the eight-day break which comprises the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday starting Sept. 29, and the week-long Lunar New Year break in February next year. Both are peak travel periods.

Thailand is a major destination for Chinese travelers and the Southeast Asian country was among the first batch of outbound tour destinations approved this year, an industry insider told Yicai. The five-month visa waiver period will encourage many more Chinese tourists to travel to the Southeast Asian country, boosting tourism.

Searches for air tickets to Thailand surged over 70 percent from a week earlier on travel platform Qunar and hotel searches in the country doubled. The topic “Self-guided tours of Thailand” became 253 percent more popular on Mafengwo. And online discussions about well-known getaways, such as Bangkok and Chiangmai, and lesser known ones, such as Ko Samui and Krabi, all heated up.

Trip.com plans to invest CNY100 million (USD13.7 million) to provide discounts, including price subsidies, for people who book hotels in Thailand over these five months, a company insider told Yicai.

Some 2.2 million Chinese tourists visited Thailand this year as of Aug. 27, second only to Malaysia’s 2.8 million, and accounting for 12.5 percent of all overseas visitors, according to Thai government data.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor