Chinese company sends 12,000 employees on holiday to Thailand

A Chinese company is footing the bill for an all-expenses paid trip to Thailand for more than 12,000 people after a successful year.

Infinitus China, which develops and distributes Chinese herbal health products, is rewarding its staff, freelancers and even some of its customers for meeting sales targets.

The staff and customers will enjoy a six-day holiday to Bangkok and the beach resort of Pattaya. The seaside town's mayor said that guests had already begun arriving.

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"We are ready to welcome them and ready to facilitate their activities while they are in Pattaya," he said.

They will be travelling in groups of between 2,000 and 3,000 people, with resorts hosting "back-to-back banquets" and hundreds of staff on standby to cater for the huge influx of guests.

"It will be a challenge but it's one we relish," Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya, the executive director of Thailand's tourism authority told AFP.

Tourism accounts for a significant percentage of Thailand's GDP, with Chinese visitors making up the majority of visitors.

"The company chose Thailand because they were impressed with our beaches, temples, cultural performances and fruits," said a tour guide tasked with looking after the group.

News of the junket comes just days after another generous Chinese boss treated more than 6,000 of his employees to an extravagant four-day trip to France to celebrate his company's 20th anniversary.

Billionaire businessman Li Jinyuan, the 24th richest person in China, boasted that the holiday would generate €13m for the hard-pressed French economy, The Times reports.

His employees enjoyed a private tour of the Louvre and the Eiffel Tour, before eating in the city's most expensive restaurants and then travelling south to the Cote d’Azur.