The queues start to form before the lunchtime rush at Phed Mark, a Bangkok kitchen with a pop-up feel that dishes up steaming plateloads of pad kaphrao – a runny fried egg with fiery minced meat over rice – to a clientele of mainly Chinese tourists.
Founded by YouTuber Mark Wein, Phed Mark has turned a Thai staple into a must-eat for Chinese visitors, who defy the heat to patiently wait each day on plastic stools for their turn outside the Ekkamai bus terminal.
A lot has to do with its prominence on RedNote – the hyperlocal do-everything travel app with tens of millions of Chinese users whose recommendations and reviews can turn a backstreet business into a chart-topper.
Video reviews for Phed Mark have drawn so much attention that blatant rip-offs have sprung up trying to cash in on its distinctive fireball branding.
Thailand is meeting its crucial Chinese visitors where they are – online – amid a travel landscape roiled by economic crisis, safety fears, a strong baht and surging flight prices.
With the help of influencers, Chinese marketing experts, travel data sites and even wearable devices with QR codes to ping deals to the customer, it seeks to bring back the most connected market on Earth – which is also highly sensitive to what it sees online.
‘Challenging’ year
Last year a lot of news in Chinese social media about Thailand was bad, said Pattaraanong Na Chiangmai, the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s deputy governor for international marketing.
Reports of high-profile kidnappings of Chinese citizens to work in scam compounds on Thailand’s borders made the country’s main visitor market stay away. The cases went viral in China, just as domestic economic fears had put a chill on outbound travel.
“It was very challenging,” Pattaraanong told This Week in Asia. “Our numbers from the Chinese market were down very dramatically – maybe 30 per cent.”
But this year, so far, Chinese tourists are back, with around 1 million entering for two key festivals: the Chinese New Year in February and Songkran, the Thai new year, last month.
That is in defiance of rising oil prices caused by the US-Israel war on Iran, which has persuaded some long-haul travellers to instead book within their region.
Around 4.5 million Chinese visited in 2025. This year, the country is targeting over 6 million, depending on how the fuel crisis plays out.
To get there, Thailand is aiming at second and third-tier Chinese cities by partnering with travel experts like China-based Dida, which gets hotels, airlines and destinations across to Chinese customers on RedNote and WeChat.
“We’re seeing positive growth this year … Songkran was beyond our expectations. During the war and oil crisis, we did not expect this level of growth,” Pattaraanong said, adding she hoped reaching first-time Chinese tourists will become repeat visitors.
Still, the number of Chinese tourists is far below pre-pandemic figures of 11 million a year.
The kingdom is now seeking fewer but richer travellers who spend more at around 45,000 baht (US$1,400) each per trip.
Go, see, post
Conscious that making it to the RedNote “consumption guide” can affect the bottom line, Thai small businesses are turning to professional help.
Lee Chia Lun, CEO of Tong Hua Growth, a Chinese marketing agency that helps them score on the app, says young high-spending travellers value visual “local” experiences over heavily advertised content.
“In today’s Chinese market, trust is more valuable than traffic,” he said. “This is particularly evident in Thailand’s experience-driven industries, such as food and drink, tourism, beauty and skincare. These industries are naturally suitable for being authentically shared and disseminated.”
Content in language and style of the app’s Chinese base can bring “long-tail traffic for as long as one to two years and stable customer flow”, according to Lee.
Stores renting traditional Thai clothes and even school uniforms made popular in TV series have struck gold with their content, while backstreet noodle shops and cafes bring streams of visitors to unlikely parts of Bangkok.
The city’s highly competitive shopping centres have gone a step further – by hooking travellers before they even leave home.
Siam Piwat, owner of luxury malls Siam Paragon and Icon Siam, has a deal with Huawei to offer privileges and coupons to its customers through its wearable devices.
The last Chinese New Year saw a 100 per cent increase in sales through pre-trip registrations, the company said.
Wearable technology has “emerged as a defining trend in the wellness space”, Siam Piwat said in a statement, adding the data it gleaned from Huawei customers was invaluable to understanding market trends and preferences.