Brothers or “Others”? Attitudes of Thais Towards Chinese Tourists during COVID-19

ABSTRACT

Although the influx of Chinese tourists boosts the economies of host countries, their arrivals are not without doubt. The present study aims to explore what underlies different attitudes of Thais toward Chinese tourists in the lens of exchange and contact at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic was decimating Thai tourism. By examining the nature and intensity of host-tourist contacts, and through thematic analysis of interview data, this study found that although the economic importance of Chinese tourists became salient when the pandemic drove away tourists, what substantiated 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.

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。

KEYWORDS:

• Chinese tourists
• social exchange
• intergroup contact
• Thailand
• Covid-19

关键词:

• 中国游客
• 社会交换
• 跨群体接触
• 泰国
• 新冠病毒

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yi Lin

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

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

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]).