BANGKOK: For decades since the Vietnam war, the scantily clad dancers in the go-go bars of Bangkok’s Patpong red-light district have been the face of Thailand’s tourism industry.
But last year for the first time, the country drew more women tourists than men as a surge in Chinese female visitors outweighed a longstanding distortion spurred by men drawn to the world’s “sex capital.”
The shift is welcome news for Thai authorities, who have tried to promote the country’s shopping, beaches and temples and to minimize the importance of sex tourism, which thrived after Thailand became an R&R hotspot for US troops in the 1960s and 1970s.
Tourism ministry figures reviewed by Reuters showed 52 percent of more than 32 million visitors last year were women.
That compared to 48 percent in 2015 and only 42 percent in 2012. No earlier official data were available, but research from as far back as the 1980s shows a ratio of about 60 percent male to 40 percent female visitors.
“Not as many women visited Thailand because they thought we were a cheap destination with too much vice, but now more are coming, which means our image accommodates them,” Tourism Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul told Reuters.
Tourism accounts for around 12 percent of Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy and is easily the fastest growing sector, particularly since a coup in 2014.
Hoping to attract more female tourists, the state’s Tourism Authority of Thailand started a “Women’s Journey” campaign last year, with a website and mobile application offering discounts for hotels, spas, malls, and restaurants.
But the biggest factor has been tourism from China, which has reshaped the industry around the world.
The number of Chinese visitors rose from nearly 12 percent of Thailand’s visitors in 2012 to 27 percent last year. The number of Chinese women visiting Thailand nearly quadrupled over the same period to more than 5.3 million.
“When Chinese men make a lot of money, they tend to take their wife, daughter, and mother to travel, making the ratio heavier on the female side,” said Virat Chatturaputpitak, vice president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents.
Major Chinese travel website Tuniu reported that 62 percent of its customers last year were women, Chinese media reported.
“I chose to come to Thailand because it’s close by, there are many flights, it’s cheap to travel and easy to get a visa,” said Man Na Zhang, 24, at Bangkok’s Erawan Shrine, a favorite spot for Chinese tourists despite a deadly bombing in 2015.
Chinese female visitors, who get a tourist visa on arrival, also cited a simple tax rebate procedure on duty free goods as another drawcard as they snap up items such as cosmetics, bottled bird’s nest soup, vitamins and supplements.
Many stores in Bangkok’s shopping malls now accept Alipay, China’s giant online payment service. A Big C supermarket near the Erawan shrine buzzes with Chinese tourists who fill their trolleys with bulk packets Tom Yum Goong flavored instant noodles, crispy seaweed and dried squid snacks.
Businesses in tourist towns have started printing menus in Chinese and getting workers to learn the language to cater to Chinese tourists, who last year made up more than those from Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa combined.
China’s recent “Golden Week” holiday brought 70 percent more Chinese visitors than last year, the tourism ministry said.
Chinese women fuel Thai tourism boom
Chinese women fuel Thai tourism boom
Riyadh exhibition to trace the origins of Saudi modern art
- Features painting, sculpture and archival documents
- Open from Jan. 27-April 11 at Saudi national museum
DUBAI: A new exhibition in Riyadh is focusing on the origins of Saudi Arabia’s modern art scene, examining how a generation of artists helped shape the Kingdom’s visual culture during a period of rapid change.
The “Bedayat: Beginnings of Saudi Art Movement” show reportedly traces the emergence of creative practices in Saudi Arabia from the 1960s to the 1980s, an era that laid the groundwork for today’s art ecosystem.
On view from Jan. 27 until April 11 at the National Museum of Saudi Arabia, it includes works and archival material that document the early years of modern and abstract art in the Kingdom, according to the organizers.
It will examine how artists responded to shifting social, cultural and economic realities, often working with limited infrastructure but a strong sense of purpose and experimentation.
The exhibition is the result of extensive research led by the Visual Arts Commission, which included dozens of site visits and interviews with artists and figures active during the period.
These firsthand accounts have helped to reconstruct a time when formal exhibition spaces were scarce, art education was still developing, and artists relied heavily on personal initiative to build communities and platforms for their work.
Curated by Qaswra Hafez, “Bedayat” will feature painting, sculpture, works on paper and archival documents, many of which will be shown publicly for the first time.
The works will reveal how Saudi artists engaged with international modernist movements while grounding their practice in local heritage, developing visual languages that spoke to both global influences and lived experience.
The exhibition will have three sections, beginning with the foundations of the modern art movement, and followed by a broader look at the artistic concerns of the time.
It will conclude with a focus on four key figures: Mohammed Al-Saleem, Safeya Binzagr, Mounirah Mosly and Abdulhalim Radwi.
A publication, documentary film and public program of talks and workshops will accompany the exhibition, offering further insight into a pivotal chapter of Saudi art history and the artists who helped define it.
