Major Tourism Drop?

[JT65]

Curious to know from others out there and around Thailand maybe with businesses if they are seeing a major drop in tourist numbers for this time of year. I have a small takeaway biz in a prime location in Chiang Mai and the number of tourists has dropped considerably for the same period last year.

I have put it down to cancellations due to the coupe. Would be interested to hear about other areas around Thailand.

JT

[Ulysses G.]

I don't think that there is a drop in tourists. I think that Loy Katung came a month earlier than it usually does leading everyone to think that it is high season, but with less tourists than after Loy Katung last year. Last year high season started almost a month later than this year.

Many Europeans and Americans wait until the end of November when it is getting really cold to travel and I predict that there will be tons of tourists at that time - as per usual.

[Creeper]

As long as the girly bars stay open, Pattaya will always have a high season.

Close the bars, it'll be a ghost town.

Edited November 11, 2006 by Creeper

[womble]

certainly the bars areas in bangkok and pattaya are reporting the lowest takings for a number of years.

[meadish_sweetball]

Stronger baht and coup as well as visa rules may have caused a slight drop in numbers, but it will all be back to normal again in a month's time.

[GuestHouse]

This brings back memories of the 80s and Trink reporting, not so much on the numbers of people in the bars, but on the rumours going around the Bar Owners trying to talk up low season numbers.

Back then the numbers of visitors where very seasonal and more or less followed Christmas/NY, Songkran and the factory closure holidays in Europe.

Since Pattaya now has now far larger resident numbers this seasonal ebb and flow has become less marked, there being reasonable level of standing trade all year around.

I once heared a Pattaya bar girl refer to low season as 'Noodle Season', as she explained it's the time of the year when business is slack and all they can afford to eat is noodles.

This opened my eyes to another aspect of the seasonal trade down Pattaya way, at my regular bar you could visibly see the girls loosing weight and then gaining weight through the year as 'sponsors' came and went.

To be a resident foreigner is Pattaya during the 80s was also to be known, certainly by face and often by name. Girls from bars that might have been a one off stop over for a drink while the rains settled would remeber my name. Thais can do that, sometimes a couple of years after briefly meeting you they greet you by name, and if you stop for a chat you'll find they remember where you are from, how many children you have, a memory for names and detaisl that I have always found astounding, and still do. I'm hopeless with names.

I've know many a guy get caught out with this, spinning some false name out at the bars in the hope that it save him from being identified, setting a trap of his own making.

Back to the low seaseon.

So I'd have a smile to myself when the tourism picked up and I'd see a girl from a regular haunt, or a girl who's I can't for the life remember, but seems to know me, tucking into a huge meal with her new found customer at the end of the 'Noodle Season', her weight already beginning to recover.

Then there was the occasional girl returning from overseas, dressed in European fashions, a shade lighter and three sizes bigger.

Sorry to go on about that, it's just one of those 'living in Pattaya' things I remember.

[dantilley]

A tour operator friend of mine told me recently that this will be one of Thailand's busiest ever Novembers. The coup had hardly any effect at all on tourist numbers.

[womble]

A tour operator friend of mine told me recently that this will be one of Thailand's busiest ever Novembers. The coup had hardly any effect at all on tourist numbers.

Where is your bar located, just so I can pop in for a beer next time I pass

[bkkandrew]

A tour operator friend of mine told me recently that this will be one of Thailand's busiest ever Novembers. The coup had hardly any effect at all on tourist numbers.

Your friend is obviously nuts. There is not a single person I know in retail, entertainment or other tourist related trade that is not complaining about lack of tourists and customers..

[PeaceBlondie]

This week, in one day, I got two phone calls from...."special personal service providers" in another city. They both complained there were no customers, and they work in a tourist location. Maybe it's too early, and as mentioned, Loy Krathong came early. And the coup. And the strong baht. And...who knows what else.

GuestHouse is right; some of those service providers don't forget your name or your face.

[SabahCafeandCinima]

There has definately been an increase in tourist in the last 2 weeks in the KSR area.

High season has started and steadily, for the moment increasing.

The islands seem to be the flavoured destination.

Only been in business for 10 months so can't compare numbers to last year

[Ulysses G.]

A tour operator friend of mine told me recently that this will be one of Thailand's busiest ever Novembers. The coup had hardly any effect at all on tourist numbers.

Your friend is obviously nuts. There is not a single person I know in retail, entertainment or other tourist related trade that is not complaining about lack of tourists and customers..

My tourist related business is doing fine.

[Meerkat]

There's a travel website I occasionally post on. An American lady was saying that she thought India the only part of Asia that it's currently safe to travel to. As far as Thailand was concerned, it wasn't so much the coup that put her off, rather tales she'd heard about the unrest in the South. I put her straight, but wonder whether it's a feeling widely shared in the US at the moment.

[ovenman]

I put her straight, but wonder whether it's a feeling widely shared in the US at the moment.

That touches on a theme that I have harped on from time to time: the perception of a problem becomes, in and of itself, a problem.

[dantilley]

A tour operator friend of mine told me recently that this will be one of Thailand's busiest ever Novembers. The coup had hardly any effect at all on tourist numbers.

Your friend is obviously nuts. There is not a single person I know in retail, entertainment or other tourist related trade that is not complaining about lack of tourists and customers..

Nope, he's no fool, the MD of one of Thailand's largest tour operators and certainly in a position to know a great deal about the industry. That's what he told me the other day, that business is really booming this month for the tourism industry as a whole.

[dantilley]

A tour operator friend of mine told me recently that this will be one of Thailand's busiest ever Novembers. The coup had hardly any effect at all on tourist numbers.

Where is your bar located, just so I can pop in for a beer next time I pass

Sorry, you must have me confused with someone else, I don't own a bar...

[lannarebirth]

I don't own a business catering to torists or anyone else, so i think I can be impartial.

I haven't seen any reduction in the number of tourists, and at times it seems like it's the most I can remember having seen. One thing I've observed however, is a proliferation of bars, clubs, restaurants, hotels, guesthouses and attractions aimed at the tourist trade. What some people may be complaining about, is getting a smaller piece of the same or even bigger pie that is the tourist trade.

[womble]

I don't own a business catering to torists or anyone else, so i think I can be impartial.

I haven't seen any reduction in the number of tourists, and at times it seems like it's the most I can remember having seen. One thing I've observed however, is a proliferation of bars, clubs, restaurants, hotels, guesthouses and attractions aimed at the tourist trade. What some people may be complaining about, is getting a smaller piece of the same or even bigger pie that is the tourist trade.

You may be right but about sharing the action more, but I think the numbers we had pre Tsunami have not been beaten yet. Arrivals I believe are up from after then, but not up on the period before.

I believe 15m was the tourist target the year of the tsunami, obviously it wasn't reached. It also wasn't reached least year.

Anyway what I have heard is that bars are taking less this month than they did the same same month in the previous last few years.

This does not mean there has been less tourist arrivals, maybe the demorgraphics have changed?

Edited November 11, 2006 by womble

[Cyberstar]

I wouldn't count too much on what this or that business owner might say concerning how well his business is doing. If it's doing well: better tone down the success as not to encourage potential competition. If it's not doing well: better make it appear as a success as to encourage potential buyers.

[terry57]

rambuttri street is chockas.

[bkkandrew]

A tour operator friend of mine told me recently that this will be one of Thailand's busiest ever Novembers. The coup had hardly any effect at all on tourist numbers.

Your friend is obviously nuts. There is not a single person I know in retail, entertainment or other tourist related trade that is not complaining about lack of tourists and customers..

Nope, he's no fool, the MD of one of Thailand's largest tour operators and certainly in a position to know a great deal about the industry. That's what he told me the other day, that business is really booming this month for the tourism industry as a whole.

Well he sounds detached from the real world.. Whatever..

[alexth]

Well, that's because luck has it's limits. Common sense also has a fingerprint here and there. Service improving is way too slow and that "you farang are just a guest here and you should feel blessed by letting you stay here" line gets more boring and boring for some hardworking people that, if not interested in sex tourism, could have a great sunbathing elsewhere with way much more better services. That bombing in south should also be silenced one way or another. Guess a strategic springcleaning in the tourism industry in Thailand could be a good start.

I know that maybe I am being a little too drastic, but facts are facts and unfortunately the tourism is going down.

[Ulysses G.]

I wouldn't count too much on what this or that business owner might say concerning how well his business is doing. If it's doing well: better tone down the success as not to encourage potential competition. If it's not doing well: better make it appear as a success as to encourage potential buyers.

That might be true if we were using our real names or announcing the name of our businesses, but virtually no one is.

My business is doing fine!

[womble]

Well here's something interesting.............

a friend of mine has a well known bar with a popular website, and he's told me something pretty interesting.

His year on year figures are well down since the coup, but here's where it gets interesting. Straight after the coup the number of daily hits on his site dropped by half, and has remained at that level since.

But.....

In the last week or so the number of hits on the website has started to climb, could this be interest in Thailand picking up again, and those who have booked for high season starting to look around and decided what to do whilst they are here?

[Soju]

The OP mentions a drop in tourists in Chiang Mai. After the tsunami, many tourists to Thailand avoided going to Phuket and other areas affected by the tsunami and went to Chiang Mai instead. Now the tsunami has been all but forgotten by most tourists and they are returning in mass to the beaches, thus not so many to Chiang Mai. That's my opinion, and don't think the coup will have any noticeable effect on the tourist season. The strengthening Baht may play a minor role, especially for Americans or others who are experiencing a weak local currency.

[lampard10]

Curious to know from others out there and around Thailand maybe with businesses if they are seeing a major drop in tourist numbers for this time of year. I have a small takeaway biz in a prime location in Chiang Mai and the number of tourists has dropped considerably for the same period last year.

I have put it down to cancellations due to the coupe. Would be interested to hear about other areas around Thailand.

JT

Well, as the tourist season hasn't started yet, I can't comment. Here, in Surin, we have the Elephant round-up late november, then the tourist season kicks off. However, saying that, we have been excessively busy in the weeks leading up to now. Also, I think hits on my web-site went up after the coup. That is natural though, with people looking for news on Thailand.

[womble]

The OP mentions a drop in tourists in Chiang Mai. After the tsunami, many tourists to Thailand avoided going to Phuket and other areas affected by the tsunami and went to Chiang Mai instead. Now the tsunami has been all but forgotten by most tourists and they are returning in mass to the beaches, thus not so many to Chiang Mai. That's my opinion, and don't think the coup will have any noticeable effect on the tourist season. The strengthening Baht may play a minor role, especially for Americans or others who are experiencing a weak local currency.

If the coup has had no effect, how do you explain the drastic drop in hit directly after?

Coincidence?

[Maigo6]

If the coup has had no effect, how do you explain the drastic drop in hit directly after?

Coincidence?

I would have thought hits would have increased after the coup, to try to assess the situation in Thailand.

Edited November 12, 2006 by Maigo6

[womble]

I expect most hits are channeled through other holiday and travel information websites not news type websites.

[David Duke]

I must say that it has been very dead around Sukhumvit Soi 11 where I am, however the past couple of days that has done a 180. I suspect the past few weeks were the calm be4 the storm

Dukester