Thailand draws 3.1 million tourists in August, a record for the month

[lkv]

2 hours ago, Elkski said:

What motivation does tat have to publish fake numbers?.   

To make it seem like Thailand is the place to visit or do business?

Or try to keep the masses content and from an uprising?

So many cash transactions how can they guess the spending habits? 

Why are beer sales stopped 2-5 pm?   That pissed me off several times.  Go to a 7-11 after a day of travel or fun and want to take a few cold ones to the motel room.  

To impress the masses of locals yes, and to minimise the risk of a revolution.

 

Had the numbers been bad, one could deduct that the current administration is not doing their job (which is in fact the reality, everything went downhill since 2014).

 

So yes, the numbers have to be good, the Junta needs legitimacy in these times, to be able to bring back the happiness to the Thai people and move Thailand 4.0 forward.

 

 

Edited September 19, 2017 by lkv

[Bangkokazy]

TAT, trying to fool more tourists to the country, to blowing up the numbers of tourists

[silverado1]

3 minutes ago, lkv said:

To impress the masses of locals yes.

 

Had the numbers been bad, one could deduct that the current administration is not doing their job (which is in fact the reality, everything went downhill since 2014).

 

So yes, the numbers have to be good, the Junta needs legitimacy in these times, to be able to bring back the happiness to the Thai people and move Thailand 4.0 forward.

 

 

isn't it what is commonly named prop^g^nd^ , is it ? 

[sambum]

1 minute ago, silverado1 said:

isn't it what is commonly named prop^g^nd^ , is it ? 

Can anyone  EVER remember TAT saying that tourist figures are DOWN?

[lkv]

2 minutes ago, sambum said:

Can anyone  EVER remember TAT saying that tourist figures are DOWN?

I was about to say, but you beat me to it. :)

 

Never.

 

But then again, their rebuttal would be simple: never, because more and more people come to Thailand, because they love Thailand so much. :)

Edited September 19, 2017 by lkv

[silverado1]

2 minutes ago, sambum said:

Can anyone  EVER remember TAT saying that tourist figures are DOWN?

 i must confess : never ! junta or not junta ..... 

[sambum]

"The government has forecast about 35 million tourist arrivals this year, up from 2016’s record 32.6 million"

 

Best get some people to staff all those closed bars then!

 

 

[Damrongsak]

I heard that cattle stockyards in the US midwest attracted billions of flies this summer.  Not sure of the economic impact of gaining a bit more "hamburger".

[Familyonthemove]

3.1 million X zero dollars = ?

[hobz]

6 hours ago, joecoolfrog said:

Are you really suggesting that the majority of bars and restaurants (!@!) cater mainly to sex tourists ?

 

 

Nope, not really. But there's some areas in thailand that cater mainly to sex tourists. Pattaya and patong (phuket). Although thats half truths as best too.

[peperobi]

I do not know how they count, all the people that I know in tourists destination was complaining that they never see a bad year like 2017!

 

[JRUSA]

11 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Try telling the thai bar girls that tourism is up. They all look very lonely in them bars, or fighting over the one old man that drifted in.

HEY..... I resemble that remark..

[Zack61]

15 hours ago, Xaos said:

all chinese 0 $ tours ?

Havent seen them in Pattaya, aug was dead

3,100,000 x $0 = ZERO $$$

So why all the excitement 

[pattayadon]

I wonder how many of these quality tourists would come to Pattaya if they knew how contaminated the beach was?  As far as numbers are concerned, yeah, they're out here alright, but always standing around not spending one satang, just blocking the beach walk.  Argh!  Cheap cheap Charlies.  In the long run...... Will be devastating for Thailand's economy!!!!!!!   Keep coming up with those fake statistics TAT.  LOL.  

[pattayadon]

11 minutes ago, JRUSA said:

HEY..... I resemble that remark..

Same Same Here!

Edited September 20, 2017 by pattayadon

[gintis0604]

15 hours ago, Xaos said:

all chinese 0 $ tours ?

Havent seen them in Pattaya, aug was dead

There has been less and less tourists in Pattaya since 2014.

Did anything happen that year??????

[ToddinChonburi]

   You can see they are counting all arrivals as tourist.  The high percentage is for business.  

    Daikin has opened a plant in Vietnam and there is about 15 people who stay for 2 weeks of training then another group arrives.  

   MG group employees also stay here.

   4 new English teachers now staying in the building.   I would bet all count as tourists.

 

[hobobo]

8 hours ago, iReason said:

 

That would be roughly, 714.6 "tourists" per minute, 24/7, for every day of August.

 

Hmmm... sounds feasible...

 

 

You mean 71 "tourists" per minute, surely? Still feasible though 555

 

[tryasimight]

8 hours ago, joecoolfrog said:

Are you really suggesting that the majority of bars and restaurants (!@!) cater mainly to sex tourists ?

 

 

The ones I go to do!!!!

[Happyman58]

Prob counting all the Russian drug dealers as tourists Its dead i can tell you shops are closing left right and centre

[kcpattaya]

Welcome to the land of fairytales...

[Happyman58]

27 minutes ago, ToddinChonburi said:

   You can see they are counting all arrivals as tourist.  The high percentage is for business.  

    Daikin has opened a plant in Vietnam and there is about 15 people who stay for 2 weeks of training then another group arrives.  

   MG group employees also stay here.

   4 new English teachers now staying in the building.   I would bet all count as tourists.

 

Anyone wearing sunglasses would count as a tourist

[Cadbury]

13 hours ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

TAT gave up issuing their annual report in since 2014. I guess, they realized, what is the point anyway?

 

https://www.tourismthailand.org/About-Thailand/About-TAT/TAT-Informative

 

Something else happened in 2014. This must have something to do with military standing orders. 

[Mattd]

13 hours ago, craftyhen said:

who's the wrong crowds?

The ones that come here and spend virtually no money.

[maxcorrigan]

10 hours ago, Elkski said:

What motivation does tat have to publish fake numbers?.   

To make it seem like Thailand is the place to visit or do business?

Or try to keep the masses content and from an uprising?

So many cash transactions how can they guess the spending habits? 

Why are beer sales stopped 2-5 pm?   That pissed me off several times.  Go to a 7-11 after a day of travel or fun and want to take a few cold ones to the motel room.  

The motivation my friend, is to keep his Generalship happy first and foremost!

[lordblackader]

14 hours ago, Just1Voice said:

I live in Chiang Mai, and can tell you for a fact - NO tourists here.

 

 

I'm not sure what cave you're living in but I'd suggest heading down to the Night Bazaar of an evening , the Thapae Gate or even one of the weekend walking streets - plenty of tourists around (including farangs) and seems to be more about this year than years gone past. 

[JayBird]

I read this as 400,000 tourists in august. The Chinese do not spend money here and stay in very isolated venues. The other asians are not here for tourist purposes.

 

Of the 400k I wonder how many are expats, or possibly workers who are flagged as tourists.

[SupermarineS6B]

Just when you thought the sticky stuff couldn't get any higher...... Here it is !    But remember, ninety odd percent voted for the present ruler......... High enough ?  The old saying is, "Tell as many lies as you want, but don't tell them to yourself"....... Rule broken.......

[Ossy]

15 hours ago, webfact said:

During August, the number of visitors from East Asia increased 10 percent from a year earlier to 2.26 million, with nearly one million from China, up 10.3 percent.

 

Numbers from the Middle East rose 19.4 percent to 103,784 in August while those from Europe were flat, at 437,739

The claimed global total of 3.13M tourist visitors, equates to a daily average figure for August of 100K. According to official 2016 figures, Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports handled only 77K international passengers, many of whom, let's say 15% or 12K, would be visiting for non-tourism related reasons, giving a 'true' tourist figure of around 65K, which, allowing for an unlikely 'airport' increase of 10% for 2017, would become 71.5K, i.e. 28.5% less than the Ministry's hideously exaggerated claim. Given, as the evidently overworked permanent secretary of the Tourism & Sports Ministry has stated, that August is the 'low season', the daily average figures, shown above, should be a reasonable bench-mark against which to look at the absurd numbers boasted by Pongpanu. Maybe he'd be better just fiddling his sports stats.

 

Assuming that the airport figures are true, at 28.5% less than the perm. sec.'s claims, that would give a monthly adjusted figure for August of only 2.15M. And, wait for it, this would represent a 26% downturn from last years 2.9M figure. Just who, for Christ's sake, are these idiots trying to kid?

 

The hard truth is that the T & S ministry, like the rest of this shambles of a government has no regard for the truth. Why don't they sit down for a minute or two more and try to get some semblance of truth into their utterings? They'd get so much more respect - and belief - if they did . . . but, then again, the visitor stats would show the truly bad picture that Thai tourism faces.

[TheGhostWithin]

In August, I was in Bangkok, Pattaya and the deep south. Obviously the deep south has no tourists apart from the border crossings 365.

 

Bangkok was absolutely dead, and it was not hard to see why - no street food vendors anymore virtually anywhere, restaurant prices often  on par with my home country New Zealand or near to. Shopping malls selling off the same old products, at prices on average only 10-15% cheaper than home. Night life closing typically at 2am, with only 3 places in the tourist areas that I am aware of open until 4-5am. The price of company has gone up at least 20% since I was last there, so say old friends working in the establishments. Drink prices are getting quite stupidly priced.in some places, I guess owners are subsidising the lack of bar fines with increased pricing on drinks. Soi Cowboy now asks for up to 250 baht for some lady drinks. The shopping was.boring, and night life and eating were expenaive, I may as well have spend vacation at home. Bangkok is a shadow of what it was a year ago. 

 

Pattaya was good, it was nice to be in the company of old friends. The street food was good and the massages are still lovely and cheap -literally half the price in the tourist areas than in Bangkok. Drink prices are slowly going up, but I appreciated places being open considerably later than in Bangkok. Hotels were an absolute bargain. People are much friendlier and polite than what I experienced in Bangkok, maube because those at the coal face appreciate that their lovelihoods depend on making people want to come back.

 

My old budget was 10,000 baht per day, for 30-45 days per trip twice per year in the past. I spent 4-5,000 baht per day this trip because I was not.impressed enough to spend more and deterred by higher food prices etc, and spent 2 weeks of my 6 in the Cambodian countryside. I will absolutely return to Cambodia.

 

Thailand needs to decide if it will continue to encourage low spending, non-thai/English speaking group tourists, who will cover their streets in trash and spit and fill them with flags and odd smells, fill their roads with tour busses and the hallways of their hotels with guests screaming at each other from one doorway to the other, or look to quality tourism which will reduce infrastructure demand and is more sustainable. Group 2 has already voted with their feet, Thailand will now need to spend money to get them back, and even more money before they arrive to ensure that they come back.