The most popular actor, Mike Angelo, has more than 8 million followers on Weibo. Younger rising actors, such as Chanon Santinatornkul and Metawin Opas-iamkajorn, have some 2 million and 1 million followers, respectively. Dubbed the “T-wave”, the popularity of Thailand’s performers has some commenters speculating that soon, Thai music and dramas will overtake South Korea’s K-wave.
Unlike the K-wave, however, this emerging T-wave still appears too weak to significantly attract Chinese tourists to Thailand post-pandemic. In fact, Thailand reported a sharp fall in Chinese tourist arrivals, from 2019’s 11 million to 2.2 million from January to September last year. By end-2023, Thailand expects to receive only 3.5 million Chinese tourists, a far cry from its initial target of 5 million for the year.
