Ride bookings by Chinese tourists on the Grab platform grew more than 75% in the first nine months of 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier, after Chinese travellers reclaimed their position as Thailand's number one source of foreign tourists, with more than 3.82 million Chinese visitors arriving in the country between 1 January and 26 September 2026. Panomkorn Chirasathianpong, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Grab Thailand, said the trend of travelling in line with social media, especially on the Xiaohongshu platform, where searches for Thai travel keywords exceeded 13 million, was the main factor driving growth. The Song Wat area saw round-trip ride bookings rise 10-fold, while Khlong Bang Luang floating market jumped more than 12-fold. Chiang Rai took the top spot as the most popular secondary city among Chinese visitors, and Lamphun province saw ride bookings grow more than 4-fold. Meanwhile, Banthat Thong Road came back to life, pushing trips up 3-fold. Mango sticky rice remained the number one favourite dessert, with orders through GrabFood rising more than 50%. For the Golden Week period from 1 to 7 October 2026, ride bookings are normally about 90% higher than in ordinary periods. Grab has joined hands with the Tourism Authority of Thailand to press ahead with the Grab Grand Golden Week campaign under the Nihao Month 2026 project, covering the use of influencers on Xiaohongshu, additional safety features, driver services able to communicate in Chinese, and Chinese-language pickup and drop-off signs in popular tourist areas, as well as booth activities and a parade in the Banthat Thong, Yaowarat and ICONSIAM areas.
Grab Holdings LtdGrab's ride bookings by Chinese tourists grew over 75% in the first nine months of 2026, with GrabFood mango sticky rice orders up over 50%, reflecting concrete end-customer demand for its services.
