There is a new breed of Chinese tourists flocking to Pattaya, a city in Thailand, called FITs. FITs stand for a new generation of young tourists that are free, independent, affluent, and sophisticated.
Hundreds of young Chinese tourists go to Pattaya on their own. They have no interest to go on organized group tours that carry millions of foreign travelers.
A Chinese traveler named Jason from Taiyuan, in Shanxi province revealed he liked it in Pattaya because of the "feeling of freedom." "The price is OK, everyone is friendly. My favorite thing is to go to the islands and at night, drink some beers, go dancing," he told the South China Morning Post.
He also said Thai people are friendly, making him feels like they are all best friends. For the record, Thailand has a status as the world's number one "return tourism destination."
Pattaya Sea Adventure managing director Chavalit Daomukda revealed the place is the city's "first and most prominent" company that serves FITs. Seventy-five percent of the business' customers are said to be mainland Chinese while others are ethnic Chinese from South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
Pattaya used to have group tours. But now, it is continuously changing with the coming of FITs. The previous tourists loved to go to the beach, direct to the island and then come back, but the new generation of travelers has a different take.
FITs want to organize their travels by looking for some information on the internet. Other young tourists don't plan anything until they arrive at their hotel. From here, they will start to search for some destinations online and decide what they will do and where they will go.
In a 2016 study, titled "China Unbounded: The Rapid Rise of China's Outbound Millions," sponsored by TripAdvisor, it revealed half of the FITs planned to spend more and travel more in the next few years, per WiT. The Chinese National Tourism Administration also revealed the number of Chinese outbound leisure trips grew 20 percent year-on-year to 120 million with expenditure that reached US$205.7 billion in 2015.
Almost nine out of 10 FITs or about 89 percent belong to the 18-44 age groups. Forty-one percent is from the post-90s generation, aged 25-34. Three out of four or about 77 percent of this group have an undergraduate degree or higher while 44 percent has a monthly income of ¥15,000 (≈S$3,156) or more. The biggest contributor comes from the first-tier cities like southern China's Guangdong province, Shanghai, Sichuan province, Beijing, and Jiangsu province.
Although Daomukda finds the emergence of FITs is the new business model of the future, he can't deny that group tours still account for the "overwhelming majority" of mainland visitors to Pattaya. Pattaya Sea Adventure often receives 200 to 350 Chinese FIT customers that still depend on the season, but big tours bring in 2,000 to 3,000 Chinese travelers a day.
