Hitting the white sand beaches and eating mango sticky rice and seafood, Chinese tourists are returning to Thailand for their first trips abroad since China ended its strict COVID-19 curbs and reopened its borders.
"Because of the pandemic, we hadn't been out of China for three years," said tourist and business owner Kiki Hu, 28, in Krabi on Thailand's southwest coast. "Now that we can leave and come here for holiday. I feel so happy and emotional".
Beijing in December abruptly dropped some of the toughest COVID restrictions on earth, which had battered the world's second-biggest economy. "I'm here to eat seafood. Previously, when I was here, I ate mango sticky rice, which was delicious. Back in China I kept thinking about the mango sticky rice here. I'm looking forward to the food, as well as visiting the beaches," Chen said.
The Chinese return was welcomed by businesses, despite some wariness about a huge spike in COVID infections in China after Beijing ended its zero-COVID policy.
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