Chinese Tourists Could Cause Years of Misery for Thai Airports

By Natnicha Chuwiruch

 

File photo

 

-- Airport, rail expansions will take years to ease congestion

-- Meanwhile visitor numbers are projected to almost double

 

Thailand, land of golden temples, white-sand beaches, smiling hosts. Or of overcrowded airports, epic traffic jams and littered seashores.

 

Facing a deluge of Chinese tourists that has strained its airports beyond capacity, the Southeast Asian nation is spending billions to upgrade its infrastructure, open up new islands and cities to travelers, and tone down its image of cheap shopping, hotels and sex that underpinned the industry for half a century. But the change will take years and even then may fail to keep up with soaring visitor numbers that have given the Land of Smiles a reputation for delays, overcrowding and government crackdowns.

 

“Our strategy was more for less, not less for more, so we invited a lot of tourists from China,” said Suvit Maesincee, in an interview last month, when he was the minister attached to the Prime Minister’s office. “I think in the near future we need to change from volume to value.”

 

Full story: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-20/thai-airport-misery-may-last-years-as-chinese-overwhelm-upgrades

 

-- Bloomberg 2017-12-22

1 minute ago, webfact said:

Chinese Tourists Could Cause Years of Misery for Thai Airports

Er... Ahem...

 

Chinese tourists have already caused years of misery at Thai airports. 

 

I saw about 50 quality Chinese tourists having a scrum down around free water machine in DM airport

 

 

And on that it was said '"be careful of what you wish for".... TAT was

boasting about numbers of incoming tourists, now the country is being

selective as what and how many of them they really want and can

accommodate...

Just rule in drastic visa regulations for the Chinese, before arrival, and problem solved overnight.

 “I think in the near future we need to change from volume to value.”

 

You need to come up with a plan quick smart, a plan other than the much repeated and flawed Quality Tourist mantra.

 

Can you do it or are volumes, ripe for the picking preferred by scammers and the other assorted riff raff that loiter at tourist destinations.

greedy Thai's all wanted a piece of the ''Chinese pie'', all those Chinese with money and new passports,was easy pickings for thailand......what Thailand got was the whole enchilada,...

The Chinese are making very few people mega rich (likely more mega rich than they already are) as the tours only go to selected places to shop, eat & visit. The man on the street does not benefit the same as they used to when they were able to attract walk by customers.

21 minutes ago, mok199 said:

greedy Thai's all wanted a piece of the ''Chinese pie'', all those Chinese with money and new passports,was easy pickings for thailand......what Thailand got was the whole enchilada,...

I just mentioned this on the Pattaya news forum, but it can be said for the country as a whole.

 

Thailand is like a little boy with a giant bag of bubble gum when it comes to tourism.

 

The little boy thought one piece was good, so he crammed the whole bag into his mouth at once and started choking.

... and your wondering why the European tourists are going elsewhere ?

1 hour ago, observer90210 said:

Just rule in drastic visa regulations for the Chinese, before arrival, and problem solved overnight.

 

Wishful thinking, not a lot gets solved overnight here. It takes 30 days just to explain where a watch comes from.

2 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

Er... Ahem...

 

Chinese tourists have already caused years of misery at Thai airports. 

and my hearing

Maybe Thailand should change currency to Yuan (or RMB) ...

yes it is all regimented, they are like sheep being herded around by flag waving guides,its a shame realy, they only get to see what the itinery dictates, ever see a chinese person eating street food, i fish a lake at Lat Krabang, and beside it is a chinese restaurant, every 30 minutes a coach load of chinese would pull up,  must gobble their grub down as right behind them was another bus full,waiting their turn, so the dollar tours are still thriving, putting jack shit into the economy

Those pesky tourists... 

2 hours ago, Dave67 said:

 

I saw about 50 quality Chinese tourists having a scrum down around free water machine in DM airport

 

Chinese like free and cheap things. (I know, cause I lived more than two years in China.) They love Thailand, cause it's cheaper than their own "Hawaii" Hainan.

And when the bubble bursts, Thailand will be left with a mess.

Like locusts consume everything than move on, until the next time!

They will go home and not look back.

The Thai's will be left "fix" the special concessions from the past boom.

Probably a lot of "special" holes to plug to prevent the problems we are having now with undesirables allowed here in Thailand.

Immigration should come up with a better and faster system and stop complaining about the high number of tourists. Hong Kong is a good example where they just scan the passports in seconds.

 

Totally obvious comment:  no continuous analysis and forecasting, and no planning. And no coordination.

A case of not wanting to feed the golden goose.  They love the eggs but the goose needs more attention than their inbred little minds can handle.  So they go ahead and defy logic and mess with basic economics which always ends in tears.   A country full of those with short attention spans and willing to make the same mistakes over and over again.  Thailand just hates investing infrastructure unless it is getting help from the Chinese or Japanese. 

3 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

Er... Ahem...

 

Chinese tourists have already caused years of misery at Thai airports. 

Yep, and it's gonna get worst, thanks to all the over promoting FOR Chinese tourists in particular.

"Suvit Maesincee, “I think in the near future we need to change from volume to value.”

 

- do you have a committee already?

28 minutes ago, mercman24 said:

yes it is all regimented, they are like sheep being herded around by flag waving guides,its a shame realy, they only get to see what the itinery dictates, ever see a chinese person eating street food, i fish a lake at Lat Krabang, and beside it is a chinese restaurant, every 30 minutes a coach load of chinese would pull up,  must gobble their grub down as right behind them was another bus full,waiting their turn, so the dollar tours are still thriving, putting jack shit into the economy

The street stalls near me are full of Chinese customers (also Russians).

 

For some reason they believe as it's street food it's good and cheap. They couldn't be more wrong. Double-pricing is the norm with tourists paying 20 baht for a BBQ stick that locals buy for 10 baht. Fried rice, phad Thai and other basic dishes sell at 100-120 baht, and it's of a quality that local Thais wouldn't eat at 50 baht. Four or five stalls have grown to maybe 12-15 in the last couple of years as more people jump on the bandwagon, and of course this allows the landowners to charge more as well for the rental of the increasingly crowded plot.

Enjoy the Chinese future...

falang have been causing misery since the first one arrived way back when.  so whats new?

Nothing changes it just rearranges.

 

Last month staying at the Grand Palace Jomptien,  OH MY GOD, reception clogged all day,  breakfast like a kids canteen, food eaten like pigs and endless queues for buffet..

Crowds on the outside steps-entrance smoking and spitting,  lifts a no go, floor corridors noisy,  buses in and out of the entrance.  This 5 day stay was a nightmare for NORMAL tourists.

8 minutes ago, wombat said:

falang have been causing misery since the first one arrived way back when.  so whats new?

Nothing changes it just rearranges.

 

I have yet to see throngs of farangs following anybody with a flag in Pattaya.

 

Chinese rarely do anything alone. They come 100's & 1,000's at a whack. 

 

Farang visitors are spread out, whereas Chinese tour groups are like a hive of locusts that leave a large footprint wherever they go.

 

EDIT: See post from ginjag above this one that he posted as I wrote mine. 

Thai's making lot of money though selling seafood, luxury goods etc. Central World and Siam Paragon is now full of Chinese tourists queuing up everywhere like ants. Many shops in China town selling loads of dry fruits and dry meat for Chinese shoppers.  Many food packaging already with Chinese language descriptions for them easy to buy.  Upper middle class can come for a fraction of cost, some tickets are as low as $200 round trip with $30 hotel average price.

 

Many Chinese also eyeing on Thai condos of smaller size, so that they can take longer vacation here during Chinese holidays.

 

This phenomenon will continue for while, as Thailand rating is gone up in China recently. Good for Thai business. Cash is God.

37 minutes ago, Thunder26 said:

Immigration should come up with a better and faster system and stop complaining about the high number of tourists. Hong Kong is a good example where they just scan the passports in seconds.

Thailand also scans. After scanning, they again enter the details. That's where Thailand is lacking behind.

3 minutes ago, NextStationBangkok said:

Thai's making lot of money though selling seafood, luxury goods etc. Central World and Siam Paragon is now full of Chinese tourists queuing up everywhere like ants. Many shops in China town selling loads of dry fruits and dry meat for Chinese shoppers.  Many food packaging already with Chinese language descriptions for them easy to buy.  Upper middle class can come for a fraction of cost, some tickets are as low as $200 round trip with $30 hotel average price.

 

Many Chinese also eyeing on Thai condos of smaller size, so that they can take longer vacation here during Chinese holidays.

 

This phenomenon will continue for while, as Thailand rating is gone up in China recently. Good for Thai business. Cash is God.

The problem is that they (the 'Tourism Authority') are trying to fit the Chao Praya river into a garden hose.