Chinese Tourists Are Visiting Thailand For Their LGBTQ+ Community
- September 14, 2023
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Xinyu Wen traveled to Thailand in June, planning a two-week vacation around Bangkok's Pride parade. Instead, the 28-year-old stayed a month and a half, as her experience at the parade gave rise to discussions and discoveries in the Thai capital's thriving LBGTQ+ community. LGBTQ+ people from China, frequently scorned and ostracized at home, are coming to Thailand in droves, drawn by the freedom to be themselves. Bangkok is only a 5-hour flight from Beijing, and Thailand's tourism authorities actively promote its status as among the most open to LGBTQ+ people in the region. Wen got interested in Thailand when her friend sent her a photo of rainbow-colored, Pride-themed ice cream being sold on the streets. Wen describes herself as queer. At home, she regularly gets judgmental stares on the street for wearing her hair short like a man's, and was once asked by her barber: "What happened to your life?" But at the Bangkok Pride parade in June, she saw people confidently wearing what they wanted. She was excited to be able to express herself publicly and finally drop her guard. A Thailand Tourism Authority official confirmed the importance of the LGBTQ+ community in an August 9 article in The Nation newspaper saying that LGBTQ+ tourists are considered "high-potential" as they tend to spend more and travel more frequently than other visitors.
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