Research Article Open Access

China’s Image Repair: The Case of Chinese Tourists on Social Media in Thailand

Abstract

The images of Chinese tourists are presented through social media which are expected to offer a wider range of content than broadcast and print media. How Chinese tourists negatively behave can be seen on social media which can influence other people's perceptions about China's national image in overseas. Thailand is one of the top destinations for Chinese tourists which can be seen from the Chinese outbound tourism statistics records. They have visited Thailand, generated and contributed the highest revenue to the domestic tourism industry. This research studied on Thai media contents associated with the Chinese tourists on social media which could affect the planning to improve the images of Chinese tourists and content presentation of Thai media. The research methodology used in this paper was Thai language content analysis on popular social media in Thailand during the past one-and-a-half years. The findings indicated that the social media in Thailand mainly rely on the social media from the US media platforms for the reason that Thailand does not particularly possess any social media platforms. The contents were mostly created by web content writers, who conveyed value, beliefs, and attitude, through Thai media outlets. Most of the images of Chinese tourists on social media in Thailand seemed to be stereotyped and contained negative images. Message strategies are using to dominate the image repair strategies. Both media outlets and government from China and Thailand have generated strategies to restore the images of Chinese tourists on social media in Thailand.

Teerati Banterng

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