kramer2011

3 hours ago, saengd said:

 

 

And of course TAT has an agenda, they are duty bound to put a positive spin on things, that's their job. That said it's a question of whether you believe they are deliberately misleading or are simply not fully competent, I'm very firmly in the latter camp.

And post 53:

"Tourist numbers and their spending habits are measured using the sampling technique. TAT has agreements with over a thousand businesses in each of the major tourist centres whereby they are sent details of tourist expenditure every week, this is supplemented by Immi. statistics of arrivals. Specific hotels for example are asked to record how many foreign visitors, their country of origin, number of nights stay and details of how much they spent. Tour operators provide similar information, as does restaurants large and small, department stores, 7/11's and even small mom and pop stores. That information is aggregated, extrapolated, averaged and modelled, using data from the same businesses every time helps reduce business specific distortion.

It's not a fool proof system but over time it can be fairly reliable..."

So which is it...TAT is incompetent or they are using sound techniques to measure tourist spending habits?

1 hour ago, saengd said:

I really don't want to make a thesis out of the subject because I've been round this loop many times previously. What I do want however is to demonstrate that there is data out there, if posters care to search for it, expecting me to find complete and conclusive data for them and complete the argument, just to have them walk away at the end, isn't going to happen.

 

And of course TAT has an agenda, they are duty bound to put a positive spin on things, that's their job. That said it's a question of whether you believe they are deliberately misleading or are simply not fully competent, I'm very firmly in the latter camp.

Fair enough...but if TAT is not fully competent, why do you present their data as proof that tourist numbers are up?  Rather misleading approach...no?

On 10/30/2019 at 10:31 AM, saengd said:

Ask and you shall receive:

 

http://www.thaiwebsites.com/tourism-income-Thailand.asp

 

https://thethaiger.com/thai-life/travel/whos-coming-spending-tourist-numbers-2017

@saengd, I agree with you that there are a lot of forum members who merely want to degrade Thailand. I also admire your attempt to back up your arguments with empirical evidence.  However, your sources are questionable at best.

From your first "source:

"How are these data gathered?
We honestly do not know, but they have been reported for many years."

This hardly gives the reader confidence in the data you present on spending and raises questions the validity of your source material.  It is best to use solid sources to support your data not sources in which the author has no idea about how data is collected.  
That said, much of the debate on in this thread and numerous others centers around TAT. Many around here say it is total B.S. where others, more open minded/curious, wonder how they arrive at their conclusions.  Your second source just quotes TAT and should not be presented it as separate or independent verification--doing so is disingenuous. I am not saying TAT is wrong...in fact I have no idea.  But perhaps you might want to be open to the possibility that TAT has an agenda as do many of the Thailand haters on these threads.

Regards

Just need to verify some info in order to keep up and stay in the loop.

In one recent "report" we have a forum member "... 95% sure this dude was getting a visa in savanaket last week..." was Kev.

In another "report" a vlogger, who is in charge of a GFM account, claims Kev has lost 70 kgs. 

If both reports are correct and we put them together, there is a 20kg Britt wearing a T-shirt with Kev's image who is updating his visa.

Social media is fantastic!  You can't make this shit up ????

7 hours ago, Jim P said:

Uh, Im wrong again, about what? Get your facts right, Kev paid up front for all his initial treatment before the GFM was ever started. Therefore he is not relying on GFM, that is an aside created by someone else. And as I said $5000 will probably eventually amount to a 10th of the overall cost considering it will be an ongoing process. Stick to the facts and not conjecture  if your going to pipe up.

GFM limit to increase in 3...2...1...

???? 

Just yankin' your chain...little humour to lighten the mood.