Thailand has introduced dedicated fast-track immigration lanes at major international airports to accommodate families of Chinese students arriving for school holidays, in an effort to revive declining tourist numbers.
The initiative, which began in July 2025 and will continue through September, aims to improve the travel experience for this group amid a broader tourism slowdown.
According to the Immigration Bureau, the program—branded the Happy Chinese Summer Channel—is operational at Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang, Chiang Mai, and Phuket airports. It is intended to reduce immigration processing times to around 15 minutes, significantly shorter than the peak-hour average of up to 40 minutes.
Tourism operators had urged authorities to take steps to attract more Chinese visitors, whose numbers have yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels. Official figures indicate that Chinese arrivals remain about 50 percent lower than in 2019, prior to the global outbreak of COVID-19.
Thailand continues to be a top destination for Chinese families with students studying abroad, ranking behind only Macau and Hong Kong. Marine attractions in Pattaya and Phuket are among the most favored sites, with daily arrivals from China currently averaging around 20,000.
Authorities expect the fast-lane channels to serve approximately 5,000 Chinese students and their relatives each day during the holiday period. A deputy director-general of Chinese consular affairs, who recently met with Thai immigration officials, confirmed there is no official discouragement from the Chinese government regarding travel to Thailand. However, economic constraints since the pandemic have led many Chinese citizens to opt for domestic travel.
The fast-lane initiative is overseen by Immigration Division 2, led by Pol Maj Gen Choengron Rimpadee.
