Journal of China Tourism Research

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Brothers or “Others”? Attitudes of Thais Towards

Chinese Tourists during COVID-19

Yi Lin, Worapinya Kingminghae & Pimravee Mahasirithai

To cite this article: Yi Lin, Worapinya Kingminghae & Pimravee Mahasirithai (2021) Brothers or
“Others”? Attitudes of Thais Towards Chinese Tourists during COVID-19, Journal of China Tourism
Research, 17:3, 437-454, DOI: 10.1080/19388160.2021.1948481

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JOURNAL OF CHINA TOURISM RESEARCH
2021, VOL. 17, NO. 3, 437–454
https://doi.org/10.1080/19388160.2021.1948481

Brothers or “Others”? Attitudes of Thais Towards Chinese

Tourists during COVID-19
a
Yi Lin , Worapinya Kingminghaeb and Pimravee Mahasirithaic
a
Pridi Banomyong International College, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand; bFaculty of Education,
Suan Dusit University, Bangkok, Thailand; cSchool of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan
University, Shanghai, China

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Although the influx of Chinese tourists boosts the economies of Received 12 January 2021
host countries, their arrivals are not without doubt. The present Accepted 12 April 2021
study aims to explore what underlies different attitudes of Thais KEYWORDS
toward Chinese tourists in the lens of exchange and contact at Chinese tourists; social
a time when the Covid-19 pandemic was decimating Thai tourism. exchange; intergroup
By examining the nature and intensity of host-tourist contacts, and contact; Thailand; Covid-19
through thematic analysis of interview data, this study found that
although the economic importance of Chinese tourists became 关键词
salient when the pandemic drove away tourists, what substantiated 中国游客; 社会交换; 跨群
体接触; 泰国; 新冠病毒
an exchange approach represented by Social Exchange Theory was
locals’ social and symbolic benefits/costs. Drawing on intergroup
contact theory, we found that for Thais to improve their attitudes
toward Chinese tourists, or metaphorically speaking, to find their
lost brothers, social-cultural compatibility and resonances between
the two peoples aroused in sustained interactions was the key. This
study suggests that tourism researchers pay careful attention to the
interplays of cultural particularities and the landscape-changing
pandemic in a more complicated reality, when applying existing
theories.

兄弟还是他人？新冠疫情期间泰国人对中国游客的态
度
尽管中国游客推动目的地国家的经济发展, 他们的到来也不无争
议° 本研究致力于通过交换和接触的视角来探寻在新冠疫情的背
景下, 泰国人对中国游客的不同态度的原因所在° 通过考察当地人
和中国游客的互动的性质和密切程度, 并且通过对访谈数据的主
题分析, 本研究发现:尽管中国游客的经济重要性在疫情期间更加
凸显, 支持以社会交换理论为代表的交换视角的, 是当地人的社会
和符号方面的收益和成本° 借助于跨群体接触理论, 我们发现, 要
让泰国人改善对中国游客的看法, 或者说找回他们曾经疏远的兄
弟, 关键要在持续的互动中唤起他们与中国游客的社会文化契合
以及共鸣° 本研究建议旅游研究者在应用现有理论的时候要注意
文化特殊性以及疫情所造就的复杂现实°

CONTACT Yi Lin [email protected] Pridi Banomyong International College, Thammasat University, Bangkok,
Thailand
© 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
438 Y. LIN ET AL.

Introduction
The Year 2018 witnessed 1.4 billion international tourist arrivals (UNWTO, 2019).
Making 149.72 million outbound trips, Chinese tourists contributed substantially to
this number (Ministry of Culture and Tourism (P.R. China), 2019). In that year, around
10 million Chinese tourists visited Thailand (Chayutworakan, 2018), a top ten interna­
tional tourist destination (UNWTO, 2019).
Chinese tourists are obviously vital for Thai tourism. Given that Thais are famous for
their hospitality, it would be reasonable to expect that the Chinese tourists were very
much welcomed there. Nevertheless, some negative news of Chinese tourists circulating
in both traditional media and social media in Thailand may suggest otherwise
(Fernquest, 2016). As a matter of fact, international tourism has both positive and
negative impacts on destinations. While bringing income, international tourists may
also cause problems. This is well-exemplified by a recent case: in January of 2020, Chinese
tourists transmitted the Covid-19 virus to a local Taxi driver in Bangkok (Pongpirul et al.,
2020).
While the taxi driver claimed that he ‘(I) do not hate Chinese’ (Charuvastra, 2020), he
might not speak for others. The purpose of this study is to gain a comprehensive under­
standing of Thais’ attitudes toward Chinese tourists when the pandemic of Covid-19 was
ravaging the country. The present paper contributes to the literature of tourism studies in
many ways. Although it is widely acknowledged that the locals can have different
attitudes regarding developing tourism and accepting international tourists, their varia­
tions and antecedents are still understudied (Luo et al., 2015). The studies on the locals’
attitudes toward tourism and tourists are also mainly carried out in the USA and China
(Hadinejad et al., 2019). Another research gap exists regarding the impressions of tourists
from a specific ethnic or national background (Griffiths & Sharpley, 2012; Moufakkir,
2015). Although Chinese tourists have become increasingly dominant in some destina­
tions, host communities’ attitudes toward them are not adequately analyzed (Chen et al.,
2018; Keating et al., 2015). Even less is known regarding the attitudes of the locals toward
international tourists in an era of a global pandemic.
Scholars often adopt exchange and/or contact perspectives to study the locals’ atti­
tudes toward tourists based on practices and experiences in the Western world
(Hadinejad et al., 2019; Sharpley, 2014). In this study, we purposely apply both exchange
and contact perspectives, as they can complement each other in understanding phenom­
ena in a region where economic activities have long been involving foreigners/immi­
grants and are often deeply embedded in non-economic institutions (Skinner, 1957). In
terms of theoretical contributions, while both paradigms have their merits and explana­
tory power, we need to pay more attention to their boundary conditions, or the ‘who,
where, when’, for theory evaluation and development (Busse et al., 2017). The plight of
Covid-19 in a China-Thailand pair provides a rare opportunity for us to explore these
conditions.
The rest of the paper is structured as follows. In the following part, we discuss relevant
research on locals’ attitudes toward international tourists and introduce tenets of the two
contrasting theoretical perspectives. Next, we report the methods for collecting and
analyzing data before presenting our findings. Lastly, we discuss the theoretical and
practical implications of this study and suggest opportunities for future research.
 JOURNAL OF CHINA TOURISM RESEARCH 439

Literature Review
Host-guest relationships
‘host-guest’ relations are fundamental to tourism (Smith, 1977). Between them, first and
foremost, exists ‘mutual gaze’ (Maoz, 2006). There are studies on how international
tourists view the locals (e.g., Pearce, 1982; Pizam et al., 2000). On top of ‘tourists gaze’ in
general (Urry, 2002), as tourists are often from western countries, they may take
a ‘western gaze’, i.e., see residents in the Global South destinations as ‘primitive’ or
‘exotic’ (Saarinen & Niskala, 2009). On the flip side, locals can see tourists as ‘others’, or
those who are different than ‘us’ (Evans-Pritchard, 1989). Some locals may at first
perceive the tourists as guests and welcome them, but their attitudes may change.
Doxey’s (1975) ‘Irridex’ model and Butler’s (1980) resort life-cycle model all proposed
that residents’ attitudes toward tourism and tourists can gradually become negative.
However, their arguments may oversimplify the process and assume that the host
community is homogeneous (Sharpley, 2014). Studies also indicate that the locals may
differentiate tourists based on their ethnicities or nationalities and adopt different
attitudes (Monterrubio, 2016; Pi-Sunyer, 1989; Pizam et al., 1997). In explaining locals’
attitudes toward tourists, social representation theory focuses on the collectively formed
and transmitted realities or patterns of responses, which can be applied even when there
are no opportunities for social exchange/contact with members of outgroups (Pearce
et al., 1996). However, social representation theory is deemed as being more descriptive
than explanatory (Sharpley, 2014). For a fundamental understanding of what underpins
locals’ attitudes toward tourists (and the collective representations), their direct experi­
ences and interactions with the tourists are indispensable, which have been conceptua­
lized into exchange and contact perspectives.

Exchange perspective in understanding local’s attitudes

With the growth of the tourism industry, locals begin to see international tourists more as
paying customers and take a non-affective ‘business-as-usual’ attitude (Sharpley, 2014).
This can be inspiring for tourism researchers. In explaining locals’ varying attitudes
toward tourists, Social Exchange Theory (SET) is the most popular theory (Hadinejad
et al., 2019; Sharpley, 2014). The tenet of it postulates that human interactions funda­
mentally involve exchanges of material, social, and symbolic resources, and people try to
maximize the gains and minimize the costs. Accordingly, if people have perceived
benefits from exchanges with an outgroup, they will have positive attitudes toward the
exchange and the outgroup, vice versa (Teye et al., 2002; Ward & Berno, 2011). SET
assumes that people voluntarily and rationally participate in these exchanges and can well
explain the robust findings regarding positive attitudes among workers in the tourism
sector toward tourists and tourism development (Hadinejad et al., 2019; Haley et al.,
2005; Haralambopoulos & Pizam, 1996). Besides cross-sector differences, cross-country
comparison also indicates SET’s explanatory power. When explaining the different
attitudes toward tourists between residents of Fiji and New Zealand, the perspective of
SET is incisive: the less developed country of Fiji economically depends on international
tourism more, thus the more positive attitudes toward tourists and tourism development
(Ward & Berno, 2011). Teng (2019) also found that when the economic dependence on
440 Y. LIN ET AL.

tourism is high, even conflicts with mainland Chinese tourists do not change the
residents’ generally favorable attitude toward tourism development.
Nevertheless, while SET focuses on the rational evaluation of benefits/costs after
locals-tourists interactions, it may ignore the interactive processes themselves and the
social/symbolic aspects in them when explaining locals’ attitudes. Studies indicate that
although mainland Chinese tourists boost economies of destinations such as
Hong Kong and Taiwan, quite a lot of locals there still hold negative views toward
them (Chen et al., 2018; Su et al., 2012). In our case, a stark incompatibility remains
between nit-picking floating news of the Chinese tourists and the latter’s significant
economic contribution.

Contact perspective in understanding local’s attitudes

Aside from SET’s rather rational perspective, there are also theoretical approaches that
investigate the psychological processes or mechanisms underlying locals’ attitudes
toward tourists. An important theory in this paradigm is Intergroup Contact Theory
(ICT). Compared with SET’s focus on the exchange results, ICT investigates the overall
process of social interactions between groups and is theoretically more sophisticated
(Chen et al., 2018; Ward & Berno, 2011). The basic tenet of ICT is that intergroup contact
can improve people’s (often negative or prejudiced) attitudes toward outgroups when
favorable conditions exist. According to Allport (Allport et al., 1954/1979), these condi­
tions include perceived equal status, people working cooperatively toward common
goals, and with the support of authority, law, or customs (Allport et al., 1954/1979).
While scholars keep expanding on these conditions (Amir & Ben-Ari, 1988; I. Maoz,
2005; Pettigrew, 1998), the bottom line remains the same: the contacts themselves need to
be positively valenced for attitudes to be improved (Allport et al., 1954/1979; Pettigrew,
2008).
Like SET, ICT has also been widely applied to tourism attitude research
(Anastasopoulos, 1992; Liu & Tung, 2017; Luo et al., 2015; Monterrubio, 2016;
Nyaupane et al., 2008; Ward & Berno, 2011). Given that SET is the most popular
model in tourism attitude studies, some studies compared the relative explanatory
power of approaches behind SET and ICT. For instance, Pizam et al. (2000) found that
the ‘Kibbutz tourists’, who had the most ‘intense social relationships’ with their hosts, had
the highest positive feelings toward their hosts in Israel, contrasting with those econom­
ically driven ones. Nevertheless, the other way around, when studying the attitudes of the
locals who may economically depend on the tourists, a rational/exchange perspective
cannot afford to be neglected. In our study, although Thailand/Siam has been open to the
world at least since King Rama IV in the 19th century and Thais are commonly praised by
international tourists for their friendliness rather than being money-oriented, locals here
are generally not rich, and many depend on international tourism for livelihood.
Moreover, when explaining attitude-change, ICT emphasizes the effects of some general
conditions. However, their effects can be mediated by cultural particularities (Kende
et al., 2017). In the case of Thailand, where both traditional and modern lifestyles coexist,
rich cultural codes and meanings may play roles in locals’ evaluation of their interactions
with international tourists. Thus, both SET and ICT were adopted in this study to achieve
a comprehensive understanding of Thais’ attitudes toward Chinese tourists. In the
 JOURNAL OF CHINA TOURISM RESEARCH 441

meantime, examining what is in exchange and under what contact conditions in our
study would also help evaluate and develop these theories.

Method
Most of the research into local’s perceptions of tourism employs quantitative methods,
i.e., adopting largescale surveys to collect data (Deery et al., 2012; Nunkoo et al., 2013).
While having their values in theory-testing, quantitative studies are flawed for just
describing what residents perceive while lacking an explanation of why they feel that
way. (Deery et al., 2012; Sharpley, 2014). To better understand the phenomenon in an
atypical home-destination setting, as well as for theoretical development, this study took
a qualitative approach.

Data collection
A generic purposive sampling method was adopted in this study, which selects cases
based on a priori criteria or theories to ‘identify similarities and differences in the
phenomenon of interest’ (Palinkas et al., 2015). SET and ICT guided us for this
purposive sampling. The criterion was more specifically built on Krippendorf
(1987)’s differentiation of four types of residents, which include, first, those in direct
businesses with continuous contact with tourists; second, those in irregular contact in
unrelated businesses; third, those in regular contact but only partially deriving their
income from tourism; and fourth, those with no contact with tourists. In this study, we
first looked for those who neither directly derived income from nor had direct contact
with Chinese tourists. Secondly, we looked for sellers or service-providers who only
contacted Chinese tourists briefly and commercially. The third type in this study
corresponds to Krippendorf (1987)’s first type, or those ‘in direct businesses with
continuous contact’ with tourists. However, we specifically expected these contacts to
last for days, whereas people in Krippendorf’s first type included those in the catering
trade, in transport, in shops, travel agencies, etc. In other words, our last type excluded
those having brief encounters, regardless of how frequent they are, with Chinese
tourists.
We kept looking for informants that fit these descriptions from March to May in 2020
across different regions of Thailand. Table 1 shows brief information about our infor­
mants. Although the region is not a sampling criterion, most of the informants were from
the Bangkok area. Given that Bangkok is the only metropolitan of the country and the
first stop for most international tourists, this regional distribution is not surprising. After
literature searching, we did not find systemic regional differences regarding locals’
attitudes toward international tourists (e.g., Gong et al., 2019). We assume this regional
homogeneity also because many Bangkok residents are migrants from other regions
(Esara, 2004), and international tourists are ubiquitous across the country. The inter­
views were semi-structured, focusing on their opinions toward Chinese tourists and
possible experiences with Chinese tourists. This data-collection approach encourages
open and free-flowing dialogue, which enables the researchers to explore the topic
broadly but with some structure to ensure that the interview questions are relevant to
the research question (Denzin & Lincoln, 2011).
442 Y. LIN ET AL.

Table 1. Informants grouped by the nature and intensity of contact.

Gender Age Region Occupation
No contact
A Female 19 Bangkok college student
B Female 27 Chiang Mai (northern Thailand) housewife
C Male 50 Bangkok office clerk
D Female 36 Bangkok online seller
E Female 18 Nakhon Si Thammarat (southern Thailand) college student
F Male 38 Satun (southern Thailand) national park staff
Brief commercial contact
G Female 32 Khon Kaen (Northeastern Thailand) restaurant owner
H Male 44 Bangkok market vendor
I Female 42 Bangkok restaurant manager
J Male 54 Bangkok taxi driver
K Male 24 Bangkok snake farm narrator
Continuous service
L Male 51 Bangkok travel agency owner
M Male 40 Bangkok tour bus driver
N Female 27 Bangkok tour guide
O Male 24 Chiang Mai (Northern Thailand) hostel owner
P Female 17 Bangkok tour trainee

Interviews were conducted by a Thai national and were conducted in the Thai
language. The average interview time was 40 minutes. We made sure that informants
voluntarily participated after being informed well. We also took protective measures
to keep both ourselves and informants safe from the threat of the Covid-19 virus,
which led to a decreased sample size than planned. According to Guest et al. (2006),
information saturation in terms of meaningful themes and useful interpretations can
be achieved by a small sample (even less than 10), especially for carefully selected
purposive samples. After reiterative thematic data analysis, we assessed that informa­
tion saturation was largely reached before the pandemic caused more restrictive
lockdown measures in Thailand. Admittedly, our sample size is not large. However,
unlike those grounded approaches, theories consistently guided this study throughout
the research phases, i.e., purposive data sampling, semi-structured interviews, and
thematic analysis (as shown below). The systemic interaction between theories and
field data facilitates us reaching information saturation with a relatively small sample
size.

Data analysis
Interview data are transcribed verbatim in Thai. Following the suggestions of Decrop
(1999), the contents of the transcripts were cross-checked among the authors for
accuracy before being subjected to a thematic analysis.
Thematic Analysis is a flexible but systematic method for qualitative data analysis that
can straddle a continuum of “inductive versus deductive or theory-driven data coding
and analysis.” (Braun & Clarke, 2012, p. 58). In this study, we primarily adopt a deductive
approach with themes derived from concepts or ideas. Our analysis took a six-phase
framework recommended by Braun and Clarke (2012). The identified sub-themes, e.g.,
acknowledging the economic contribution of Chinese tourists, are reviewed together for
their compatibility with themes derived from SET and ICT, as well as their values in
answering the research questions. All the authors conducted intra-team communication
 JOURNAL OF CHINA TOURISM RESEARCH 443

regularly during the entire research process to ensure the accuracy and credibility of the
results.

Findings
A necessary evil: Attitudes of those have no contact with Chinese tourists
Acknowledging the importance of Chinese tourists
As China gradually developed into a middle-income country, Thai locals keep seeing
more Chinese tourists (Cai et al., 1999). But before that, tourism had already been
prosperous in Thailand. Pattaya city, for instance, became a world-known tourist city
during the Vietnam war (Wahnschafft, 1982). In this study, the participants all acknowl­
edged the importance of tourism and tourists for their country regardless of tourists’
nationalities. In relation to China, a college student said, ‘China is the largest source of
tourists. Our economy depends on them’. (Informant A). When the Covid-19 pandemic
hit the tourism sector hard, this became even more clear. As observed by a housewife:
“If they stop coming, the lives of many locals would be affected, whether it is for a large-scale
business like those in the hotel industry, or those small businesses such as street vendors.
Without them, we are hard to live, or even hard to survive.” (Informant B)

Bearing the costs of the Chinese tourists flooding in

On the other hand, residents complained a lot about their daily lives being disrupted by
the Chinese tourists. An office clerk said with a wry smile: ‘the only good thing they bring
is an improved economy; all other aspects are bad. Sorry to be so direct’ (Informant C).
A college student drew on her personal experience to explain why she had a negative
attitude toward Chinese tourists:
“I like to go to the markets in the evening where I usually find Chinese people. They have
temper tantrums and are excessively irritable, often fighting with vendors . . . . . . . they
argued loudly all over the market . . . . . . . choosing their goods for too long.” (Informant E).

There are other inconveniences caused by Chinese tourists. Informant E complained

about Chinese tourists for ‘blocking the pathway’. Chinese tourists can be more of
a threat to the locals when they are on the roads. Informant B saw Chinese tourists
‘crossing the road without minding the cars’, and when they drive, they ‘often overtake
the lane and stop wherever they want’. She even lamented that ‘I miss Chiang Mai when
there were not many tourists like this.’
It is not just the residents’ daily lives that are negatively affected. When Thais travel
domestically, they may find that the natural environment is no longer the same due to an
excess of tourists. An official working in a southern natural park particularly blamed
Chinese tourists for this and gave us an example: ‘They used to hire fishermen to catch
hundreds of Clownfish. What came to my mind is, why would they do that? is it just for
fun?’ (see also reporting of Chueniran, 2020; Suntikul et al., 2016).
A woman running a small online business said: ‘if I had a choice, I would say I did not
like Chinese tourists, because they bring problems, especially when there are too many of
them. They litter and destroy the environment.’ (Informant D). She even explained to us
the reason: ‘here is not their home, and they do not care.’
444 Y. LIN ET AL.

Under the grip of the media’s negative reporting

The generally negative attitudes toward Chinese tourists in this group originate not only
from the inconveniences caused by Chinese tourists but also from the mass media. To
prove their points, they commonly referred to the news regarding behaviors of Chinese
tourists, e.g., washing feet in public sinks of a temple (Kitching, 2015) and shoveling
shrimps as much as possible in a buffet restaurant (Fernquest, 2016). These reports with
disturbing pictures are also viral through social media, which can reinforce a very
negative image of Chinese tourists through perceived ‘symbolic threat’ (Stephan &
Stephan, 2000) into the minds of ordinary Thais.
While ICT does not shed too much light here as there is no direct contact between
locals belonging to this group and Chinese tourists, SET can be drawn on to explain their
attitudes: after rational consideration, these residents, from a distance, believe that the
costs or inconveniences caused by Chinese tourists outweigh the benefits they only
receive indirectly, and hence the negative attitudes. In terms of social-cultural aspects
of the exchange, influenced by some negative reporting of Chinese tourists, those who
only observe Chinese tourists from a distance often feel that their quiet and peaceful lives
have been disrupted by these ‘others’ from China.
‘I would prefer westerners than Chinese tourists’: attitudes of those who have brief
commercial contact with Chinese tourists.

More incomes thanks to Chinese tourists

Chinese tourists bring income not only to big corporations (e.g., King Power
International Group, the duty-free shopping giant) but also the small-scale businesses
in Thailand (Parasakul, 2020). A restaurant owner observed that ‘When the Chinese are
traveling, they are not stingy at all’. (Informant G) A market vendor explained to us why
he liked Chinese tourists:
“I sell fruits in Tha Chang (in Bangkok) for 10 years. Normally, we sell mangos to the locals
for just 20 Baht. Right? But if you sell them to Chinese tourists, you can sell them at 100
Baht. Now I can have a decent income and can even afford a house, all thanks to the Chinese
tourists.” (Informant H)

Later, when Chinese tourists were not allowed to come due to the worsening situation of
the Covid-19 pandemic, a manager of a restaurant in Suvarnabhumi Airport painfully
realized that ‘We must depend on them. Now because of the pandemic, we have no
business, and our staff has no income at all. Thais do not eat at the airport; they know the
food here is expensive.’ (informant I)

With extra costs

Nevertheless, even though informants in this group were aware of the economic impor­
tance of Chinese tourists, they still held quite negative views about their Chinese custo­
mers. People working in the restaurant business frowned upon the poor manners of
Chinese tourists. While Thai food (unlike hamburgers) has its fair share of food residue,
Thais usually cover them with tissues. However, ‘They (Chinese tourists) rarely use the
tissue and just leave the food on the table, not caring about hygiene at all.’ (informant G).
Leftovers also gave rise to more table-cleaning work for the restaurants. Similarly,
Informant G further complained about Chinese customers for ‘sitting for too long’.
 JOURNAL OF CHINA TOURISM RESEARCH 445

Informant I, the airport restaurant manager, complained that Chinese customers ‘like to
ask for a lot of free stuff, such as hot water or soup. Otherwise, they would not choose our
shop’. She also learned that Chinese customers were unsympathetic:
“The worst experience with the Chinese tourists is that once I had to follow them to the
boarding gate. This is crazy. It was because our waitress served the wrong dish. However,
they just ate it and refused to pay. We admit that our waitress made a mistake, but they
should have told us. They cannot blame it all on us (informant I)

Not much social gains

While informant J, a taxi driver, also complained about Chinese tourists for being too
loud as well as the mess after a drunk Chinese tourist vomited in his car, there are other
unsatisfactory qualities about Chinese tourists for him and possibly many others.
“They talk only in Chinese or keep quiet, do not try to communicate with me. The
westerners have better personalities, and they try to talk with you. They are more friendly.
If I could choose, I would prefer westerners to Chinese tourists.” (informant J)

According to SET, the benefits that drive positive attitudes include social gains. Thus,
although Chinese tourists pay as others, the taxi driver, and others who lack commu­
nication with Chinese tourists, did not have great opinions about them, as they are just
indifferent customers.

Some signs of positive attitude change through contact

Nevertheless, instead of only influenced by mass/social media that often hold negative
views of Chinese tourists, people in this group also pick up some positive experiences
through direct contact with Chinese tourists. A narrator working at a snake farm told us
that:
“Before working here, negative news of them affected my opinions. I feared working with
Chinese tourists because I thought they would surely give me a headache . . . . . . After
working here, I find that they are just like Thai people. They may make a lot of noises and
screams, but here we have snakes, other foreigners or Thai people also scream . . . . . . .I
would still be thinking negatively about Chinese tourists if I were not hosting them.”(infor­
mant K)

Contacts can even cut through language barriers to improve intergroup attitudes. The
narrator said: ‘When I lead them to watch the snakes and narrate, they encourage me
even when we talked in different languages’. The attitude-improvement even happened
in contact settings where the formal sanctions required by Allport et al. (1954/1979) were
weak. Although not understanding the Chinese language, informant J, the taxi driver,
told us that he could feel the ’ when he was offered free snacks and sweets from the
Chinese passenger.
SET can be drawn on to understand the love-hate attitudes of locals who have brief
commercial contacts with Chinese tourists: While they were glad to earn more money
from Chinese tourists, they felt that this money is hard-earned. The exchanges were
also brief economic transactions in nature that lack communication and hence few to
no social/symbolic gains. An important theme that emerged in this part is that the Thai
locals in this group often compare the Chinese tourists with western tourists in terms
446 Y. LIN ET AL.

of exchange results and derive a subpar feeling toward the former. Meanwhile, ICT can
also shed light on their mostly negative attitudes, as conditions of these contacts were
far from optimal. Still, some improved their attitudes through these brief contacts,
especially when the contacts happened in places of leisure activities (see Snepenger
et al., 2007).
‘The atmosphere is like a family’: attitudes of those provide continuous service to
Chinese tourists

Livelihood ruined by the pandemic of Covid-19

People in this group have more economic dependency on Chinese tourists. When the
situation of the Covid-19 pandemic worsened, they wailed about the disappearance of
Chinese tourists that made them ‘cannot even make a living’ (informant L, owner of
a travel agency).
Informant M, a tour bus driver, missed the days when ‘Chinese tourists made me a lot
of money’ and ‘Even though I am just a driver, I can make a living as a manager’. While
the fruit vendor mentioned above also cashed in, he might have to bargain with the
Chinese tourists if not overcharge them, which may engender feelings of guilt. But the
income from Chinese tourists here included voluntarily given tips.

“Chinese tourists are generous with tips. When they are going back to China, they tip with
all the coins and small denomination banknotes, even 100 Bhat ones. (informant M)

Perhaps the Benefit-Cost ratio needs to pass some threshold for Thais to have positive
opinions toward their Chinese tourist customers, as the cases of the fruit vendor and the
tour bus driver suggest. However, sometimes, easy money does not automatically make
a beneficiary like the payer. As shown below, aspects of interaction other than economic
transactions are also at work in changing attitudes.

Missing the Chinese tourists as friends

There is a conundrum of Chinese tourists being fussy in the last section and being
generous here. Chinese culture is often characterized by particularism, or favorable
treatment of friends and relatives (Bendix, 1962). The tour bus driver (informant M)
told us that ‘The cute (“na lak”) behavior among the Chinese tourists that others don’t see
is that they look kind and like to share food’, which echoes the aforementioned taxi driver
who was also offered snacks. What is interesting here is that the taxi driver still generally
disliked Chinese passengers for their apparent coldness or detachedness, while the tour
bus driver felt the warmth from the Chinese customers. When the tour was ending, the
tour bus driver was invited to eat together with the Chinese tourists, and he felt that ‘the
atmosphere is like a family’. (informant M)
It is not just the tips from Chinese tourists that these tour servers miss. The joyous
Chinese tour group chime with the cheerful/friendly nature of Thais. A tour guide
(informant N) also uses “cute” to describe Chinese tourists: “if I were not doing this
guide job, I would have never known how cute they were.”
In the last section, the narrator realized that Chinese tourists were not as terrible as he
previously thought. But through continuous contacts, people in this group showed their
positive attitudes more clearly.
 JOURNAL OF CHINA TOURISM RESEARCH 447

Cultural pride induced by Chinese tourists

Not only do Chinese tourists tip and befriend people in this group, but they also arouse
national pride as they like to go to palaces and temples, which ‘nourish our Thai culture’.
(informant N)
Western tourists in Thailand also visit temples and other cultural heritage sites.
However, their often-casual visits cannot be compared with the pilgrimage-like visits of
many Chinese tourists. As well commented by a hostel owner, ‘after all, China and
Thailand have very similar cultures and beliefs.’ (informant O) Ironically, the very nature
of Chinese tourists being criticized by Thai mass media for inappropriate behaviors in
temples could be simply that enthusiastic Chinese tourists overran the temples. While the
Thai media and public may fixate on the inappropriate behaviors of Chinese tourists,
their empathy with Thai culture seems to be only picked up and fully appreciated by the
tourism service providers.

Some contact conditions that help

When the tour lasts for days to ride through, unlike the brief and often conflictual
contacts, Chinese tourists become more cooperative. Informant L said that his travel
agency did not encounter any inappropriate behaviors of Chinese tourists, and ‘when
I raise my voice because of misunderstandings, Chinese tourists help to mediate and
explain to each other’. Moreover, he had never received complaints from the cooperating
hotels.
The other conditions proposed by Allport et al. (1954/1979), or perceived equal status,
were also easily spotted. Being invited to dining together, the tour bus driver (informant
M) was surprised, as he thought he was ‘just a driver’ but was treated equally like
a ‘brother’. The hostel owner (informant O) noticed that Chinese tourists often helped
the waiter/waitress to clean the table and even bought gifts for servers who speak Chinese.
In his words, ‘they are very nice to Thais, unlike some westerners who discriminate
against us’ (informant O). We conjecture that the socialist ideology that promotes
equality may play a role here. Moreover, the inter-group contacts here were better
sanctioned by authorities, as tourism is a highly regulated industry in Thailand
(Nuttavuthisit, 2007).
In the recent development of ICT, many emphasize the role of a friendly environment
because the friendship and affective ties formed would lead to empathy, which is
a necessary mediator for positive attitude-change to happen (Miller, 2002; Pettigrew,
1998; Pettigrew & Tropp, 2008; Tredoux & Finchilescu, 2007). The close and sustained
interactions in this group facilitate friendship-developing and positive affective ties,
especially when the informants can speak Chinese.

“Chinese is my third language. I thought the westerners would be more friendly than the
Chinese. . . . . When the Chinese tourists hear me speak Chinese, although not perfect, they
encourage me. They are very friendly and mean to make friends with me.” (informant N)

While SET was found valid to connect positive attitudes with economic and social-
cultural gains of people in this group, its explanation seemed rather simple. Particularly,
the chemistry found between the hosts and tourists in this group begs to be further
answered. ICT, on the other hand, sheds more light by referring to these favorable
448 Y. LIN ET AL.

conditions of contact. On top of these conditions, our data suggested that some shared
elements of the two cultures played a critical role.

Conclusion and Discussion

Although the influx of Chinese tourists boosts the economies of host countries, their
arrivals are not without doubt. The present study aims to find out what underlies
different opinions of Thais toward Chinese tourists by examining the nature and
intensity of host-tourist contacts. Drawing on both social exchange theory (SET) and
intergroup contact theory (ICT), and through thematic analysis of interview data, this
study found that although the economic importance of Chinese tourists was highlighted
when the Covid-19 pandemic was hitting Thailand, what substantiated SET here were
locals’ social and symbolic benefits/costs. More specifically, while the economic impor­
tance of Chinese tourists is acknowledged across the board, locals who had no or only
brief contacts with the Chinese tourists based their predominantly negative attitudes on
those uncivilized behaviors of Chinese tourists, whereas those providing sustained
service to Chinese tourists missed the sentiments of amicability and national pride
aroused by the Chinese tourists. Drawing on intergroup contact theory for deeper
understanding, we found that for Thais to improve their attitudes toward Chinese
tourists, social-cultural compatibility and resonances between the two peoples aroused
in sustained interactions was the key for positive attitude-change.
While generally supporting the validity of both rational-exchange (i.e., SET) and
psychological-contact (i.e., ICT) perspectives, our findings also indicate their weaknesses
and suggest directions for their development. Firstly, SET assumes people to have
rational evaluations about the results of their intergroup contact in economic, social, or
symbolic terms and then form attitudes accordingly. However, as evaluations of social or
symbolic benefits/costs are very subjective, the power of SET often relies on economic
regard to demonstrate. Indeed, there is sufficient evidence supporting SET when the
exchanges are in economic terms: people working in the tourism sector have been found
to have favorable responses to tourists (Haley et al., 2005; Haralambopoulos & Pizam,
1996); and residents of developing countries are more positive toward foreign tourists
than those in developed countries, as they ‘would perceive greater economic benefits
from tourism and would, therefore, hold more favorable attitudes toward tourists’ (Ward
& Berno, 2011, p. 1558). Unexpectedly, although many Thais with modest income in this
study admitted the significant economic contribution of Chinese tourists to their country
and themselves, they nonetheless held quite negative attitudes toward Chinese tourists.
This raises doubt about the causal link between rational evaluations and attitudes that
SET postulates. Some may argue that it is because of the considerable cost, e.g., damaging
the natural environments, brought by Chinese tourists. However, the backdrop here is
the sheer number of Chinese tourists. Anecdotal stories aside, we have not found
statistical evidence to prove that average Chinese tourists are more devastating than
others.
While claiming an anomaly for SET, we think the particularities of the destination
country in this study, as boundary conditions for SET, should be considered. Although
not a high-income country, Thailand is famous for its rich culture, exemplified by
a popular creed there that happiness comes from spiritual growth rather than material/
 JOURNAL OF CHINA TOURISM RESEARCH 449

physical pleasure. These cultural codes might have dampened the effect of economic
benefits in changing attitudes in our case. To say the least, as argued by Monterrubio
(2018), SET needs to be tested further in different sociocultural contexts, as people may
assess these exchanges differently. Thus, our study contributes to SET by highlighting the
varying synergistic effect of economic, social, and symbolic aspects of exchanges that may
vary with hosts-tourists country pairs.
It is also worth noticing that in countries with a developed tourism industry like
Thailand, locals tend to compare the tourists from new markets with old ones. Thus,
what matters to local Thais is not what Chinese tourists actually brought but its relative
terms. Specifically, with all their money, Chinese tourists can be more uncivilized
compared with those from Europe or Japan and thus may constitute a symbolic threat
to the locals. Chen et al. (2018) also noticed the subtle mentalities underlying the negative
attitudes of Hong Kong residents toward tourists from mainland China, drawing on
a perspective of social comparison. Fair to Chinese tourists or not, these findings none­
theless suggest that the rationality assumption of SET needs to be qualified with more
attention to the circumstances of the source and destination countries, especially those
other than western settings.
Interestingly, this comparison by the well-experienced locals can also work in Chinese
tourists’ favor when a ‘contact’ lens is adopted. Compared with SET’s emphasis on rational
evaluations of exchange results, ICT relies on mechanisms in the contact itself and try to
identify the mediators of contact (Hewstone & Swart, 2011). The recent development of
ICT has emphasized the role of affective ties aroused from friendly environments rather
than the cognitive process of perspective-taking (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2008; Stangor et al.,
1991). However, with all these favorable conditions, superficial politeness aside, true
affections toward outgroups are not guaranteed. Just like a couple could break up after
living together and knowing each other more, incompatible values and mindsets between
groups could become salient over time (see Kaell, 2014). While these conflicts could be
resolved through systematic efforts, e.g., ‘communicative action’ (Habermas, 1990), they
are too idealistic in predominately business-oriented tourism settings. Nevertheless, the
contacts lasting for days in our study seem enough for Thais to tell that Chinese tourists do
not ‘western gaze’ at them but instead share many fundamental beliefs and values with
them than they previously thought, just like a long-lost brother. For instance, it may take
a while for a local Thai to notice that a Chinese tourist is a pious Buddhist, and there is no
need to remind her that Buddha statues should not be employed merely as decoration in
inappropriate places, a common cultural Faux Pas for westerners. Our study thus reminds
those applying ICT in tourism studies that this sociocultural closeness could facilitate
meaningful contacts and the building of affective ties (see also Shenkar, 2001; Swift, 1999).
Once again, the contacts shall consist of sustained interactions to be effective, as Chinese
people can be slow to warm up.
This study carries practical implications as well. Like Thailand, many neighboring
countries of China are accepting increasing numbers of Chinese tourists. How to
minimize their negative impacts on destinations and develop sustainable tourism is
a challenging task. Specifically, improving the attitudes of residents toward Chinese
tourists is critical. After all, tourists would not want to revisit places where they felt
unwelcomed (Yoon et al., 1999). While the governments in Thailand try to break
through the ‘tourism bubble’ by promoting community-based cultural excursions
450 Y. LIN ET AL.

(Kontogeorgopoulos et al., 2014), there are caveats when Chinese tourists are
involved. Rather than superficially experiencing Asian or Thai culture and lifestyle,
which may suit first-time western tourists, excursions targeted at Chinese tourists
should be more culturally thematic, e.g., practicing Buddhism for days or even weeks.
There should also be more opportunities for Chinese tourists to have intensive
social-cultural exchanges with local Thais. Studies suggest that locals have better
attitudes toward alternative tourists than toward mass tourists (Gursoy et al., 2009;
Ooi & Laing, 2010). In our study, we noticed that F.I.T tourists from China are
gaining momentum in Thailand, which shall increase the opportunities for more
ordinary Thais to know Chinese tourists directly. Accordingly, we suggest more
policy support for the less institutionalized tourism, especially for those family-run
guesthouses where hold more opportunities for host and tourists to have sustained
social-cultural exchanges. That being said, sanctions from authorities should also be
present, as ICT postulates. Lastly, tourism is a peaceful industry and has implications
in public diplomacy (D’Amore, 1988; Sharpley, 2014). Mutual fondness generated
between hosts and Chinese tourists will lead to not only revisiting but also economic
cooperation, migration, and peace. Future studies can follow up on how the bur­
geoning F.I.T Chinese tourists change the attitudes of hosts, while keeping in mind
the conditions when applying the exchange or contact theoretical approaches.

Notes on contributors
Yi Lin Assistant Professor in Pridi Banomyong International College at Thammasat University,
Bangkok, Thailand. His research interests involve cross-cultural experiences of international
students, international tourists, and other social phenomena involving China and Thailand
(E-mail: [email protected]).
Worapinya Kingminghae is a Lecturer in Faculty of Education at Suan Dusit University, Bangkok,
Thailand. Her research interests include second language acquisition and international relations
(E-mail: [email protected]).
Pimravee Mahasirithai is a graduate student in School of International Relations & Public Affairs
at Fudan University, Shanghai, China. Her research interests include China-Thailand relations and
social issues in Thailand (E-mail: [email protected]).

ORCID
Yi Lin http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3923-9070

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