Thailand mulls easing tourist vehicle ban

The law hits 80,000 Chinese tourists.

Thailand's Transport Ministry is considering easing measures that regulates the influx of foreign-registered tourist vehicles entering the North of Thailand, particularly from China. This after a plunge in Chinese tourist arrivals has dented tourism revenue.

MayBank KimEng notes that the Land Transport Department's strict regulations on foreign-registered vehicles travelling into Thailand, which came into effect on 27 June, hit tourism traffic that involved some 80,000 Chinese tourists per year coming to the North of Thailand via land transport and spend an estimated THB30,000 per person each trip. These numbers have considerably dropped after the regulation came into effect.

In addition to the vehicle ban, the research firm says Chiang Mai tourism has also been likely affected by the clampdown on the zero dollar tourism.

MayBank Kimeng comments that while the negative effect of these measures will have no material effect on the listed tourism-related stocks, we believe the impact will be more significant on the economy because of backward linkages of tourism in the following areas: transport operators and employees; Restaurant operators, caterers and their employees; manufacturers of consumer goods patronized by these tourists ; and retailers