Chinese Tourists Could Cause Years of Misery for Thai Airports

[newnative]

Wow.  What a poorly written headline.   Sorry for causing misery by wanting to spend money in your country.   Next up:  Chinese Toyota car buyers could cause years of misery for Toyota factories.

[Thai Ron]

26 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

What caused the change is a subject for debate, but IMO it just got too expensive.

Fantastic news

Price out the low-enders

[Thailand]

1 hour ago, ginjag said:

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.

Wait til the Chinese get there!  

[sambum]

19 minutes ago, champers said:

Oh dear, what a spoilsport you are, disrupting the rantathon by introducing facts.

At a prime location in Pattaya a Chinese estate/property agent has just opened for business. Many high spending Chinese are here and more and more will come.

If you don't like seeing lots of Asians, you are in the wrong place in Thailand.

As Alf Garnett used to say in "Till Death Us Do Part, " "the trouble with going abroad is it's full of bloody foreigners!"

[jaywalker]

3 minutes ago, Thai Ron said:

No topic more likely to incense the forum membership

Lots of butthurt farangs still pouting over the Thais' wholly understandable decision to start courting tourists from other parts of Asia while the West

was in the middle of a financial crisis and still trying to work out whether or not it could afford bus fare to get here.

 

As an exercise in diversification, it worked well enough.

Tourist numbers kept rising and contrary to what many still insist on believing, the cash registers kept ringing.

OK maybe not in the same areas that farangs favour - brothels, boozers and hand shandy massage parlours - but in Thai-based businesses that pay tax

 

Yes the Chinese can be annoying but, while I can understand the Thais being particularly pissed off about them, i don't know why foreign migrants here think they have a right to have a dig.

It's not our country and let's be honest . . . . I've not heard of a Chinois being nicked for keeping a dead body in a freezer or arrested for interfering with children.

I'm sure the Thais prefer a few unruly scrums around a hotel buffet to finding a Thai child on a bed with a farang. 

 

We can't exert any influence on who is or who is not allowed to come to Thailand on holiday (thank God)

Collectively, we seem to have this all-encompassing delusion, this breathtaking arrogance that, somehow, we know better.

We don't and if the Thais wanna find their own way, it's no one's business but theirs

 

If all the shops between Pattaya Beach Road & 2nd Road were demolished, and it was all turned into a highway to cope with the masses of Chinese tour buses (just one example), then maybe the masses of Chinese wouldn't be so noticeable.

 

Same with immigration lines at the airport & such.

 

"Facing a deluge of Chinese tourists that has strained its airports beyond capacity, the Southeast Asian nation is spending billions to upgrade its infrastructure"

 

That's a Thai person saying that. Not us farangs. We are agreeing with her!

 

Many of have also pointed out that due to endemic corruption, precious little of those billions spent on infrastructure actually GET spent on infrastructure.

[kurtmartens]

4 hours ago, Oziex1 said:

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

 

 

This about sums it up.  We own 2 small  (30 room size) hotels in Thailand and Laos and get a lot of independent Chinese travelers staying with us.  All very friendly, quiet and happy to spend for a quality stay.  (Thankfully we are too small to attract large tour groups.)  Honestly, these independent Chinese travelers that stay with us are less "trouble" than the US, UK or European guests as a whole.

 

[thaibeachlovers]

1 hour ago, ginjag said:

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.

Not getting at you personally, but honestly, so many complaints that Pattaya depended on the sex scene, and now when an alternative comes along everyone complains about that!

It's not as though Pattaya is ever going to attract the Dubai or Maldives clique, is it?

[sambum]

12 minutes ago, Thai Ron said:

No topic more likely to incense the forum membership

Lots of butthurt farangs still pouting over the Thais' wholly understandable decision to start courting tourists from other parts of Asia while the West

was in the middle of a financial crisis and still trying to work out whether or not it could afford bus fare to get here.

 

As an exercise in diversification, it worked well enough.

Tourist numbers kept rising and contrary to what many still insist on believing, the cash registers kept ringing.

OK maybe not in the same areas that farangs favour - brothels, boozers and hand shandy massage parlours - but in Thai-based businesses that pay tax

 

Yes the Chinese can be annoying but, while I can understand the Thais being particularly pissed off about them, i don't know why foreign migrants here think they have a right to have a dig.

It's not our country and let's be honest . . . . I've not heard of a Chinois being nicked for keeping a dead body in a freezer or arrested for interfering with children.

I'm sure the Thais prefer a few unruly scrums around a hotel buffet to finding a Thai child on a bed with a farang. 

 

We can't exert any influence on who is or who is not allowed to come to Thailand on holiday (thank God)

Collectively, we seem to have this all-encompassing delusion, this breathtaking arrogance that, somehow, we know better.

We don't and if the Thais wanna find their own way, it's no one's business but theirs

Good post  - couple of very relevant points there.

[impulse]

32 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

5 hours ago, webfact said:

image of cheap shopping, hotels and sex

I think it's time to drop the "sex" part of the propaganda.

It's been a slow change, and happened without being obvious, but the farang side has diminished to the extent that it's no longer really visible unless going to look for it ( just like the Thai scene has always been ).

 

Seriously?  You may have become so jaded that you don't even notice it, but to a family coming for holiday, it's still "in your face".  

 

I have lots of friends back home that won't bring their families to Thailand because of its reputation for sex tourism.  And when they go on a family holiday, they outspend the average monger by a wide margin, treat their host countries with respect and don't use the locals as sperm receptacles. 

 

I continue to contend that every dollar lost by reducing or eliminating sex tourism would be offset by several dollars gained on family tourism.  But the families won't come overnight.  It'll take years, if not decades to shed the reputation.

 

[kurtmartens]

17 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

There are Chinese tourists, and Chinese tourists. I stay at an upmarket hotel in Dubai and see large numbers of them at breakfast. They are perfectly well behaved. They don't attack the buffet like pigs. They don't talk loudly or shout. They don't clog everywhere and spit. Thailand promotes itself as cheap so it gets cheap. Not all Chinese are like what we see in Thailand.

 

Thailand attracts the low end of the market and quality tourists, both Chinese and westerners, often prefer to go elsewhere to places with better attitude, better infrastructure, no double-pricing etc etc etc.

Well said.  I just posted roughly the same though.  We get a lot of independent Chinese tourists at our hotels and they are great guests.  And when I lived in the UAE, the same.  Chinese tours groups, like any tour groups (in my opinion) are representative of that country's quality tourist.

[jaywalker]

3 minutes ago, kurtmartens said:

This about sums it up.  We own 2 small  (30 room size) hotels in Thailand and Laos and get a lot of independent Chinese travelers staying with us.  All very friendly, quiet and happy to spend for a quality stay.  (Thankfully we are too small to attract large tour groups.)  Honestly, these independent Chinese travelers that stay with us are less "trouble" than the US, UK or European guests as a whole.

 

 

One or two locusts aren't too bad either. It's when they block out the sunlight that they become a problem.

 

[kurtmartens]

1 hour ago, pattayadon said:

I've been suggesting that for a while now. Too bad government officials don't look at ex-pat forums. Charge 1000 baht (or more) per chinese head as they come in through customs! What could be easier? They are all here for "1" reason and it's not for the so called white-sand beaches. It's a "CHEAP" holiday. That's it, a cheap holiday with little or no spending!  

Lets be happy they don't look at ex-pat forms or Thaivisa.com might be a quieter place.  Why not charge the US/UK/EU/RU folks 1,000 Baht or more as well - I've seen plenty of less than quality tourists from those countries.  I don't see many Chinese walking around the streets (far from the beaches) in either wife-beater tshirts or no shirt at all, riding their rented motorbikes with no mufflers (thinking they are on a Harley when its a Honda Click! LOL), etc.  We love to bash the Chinese tour groups, but plenty of low quality Western tourists are around too.  Just not in tour groups.

[jaywalker]

2 minutes ago, kurtmartens said:

Lets be happy they don't look at ex-pat forms or Thaivisa.com might be a quieter place.  Why not charge the US/UK/EU/RU folks 1,000 Baht or more as well - I've seen plenty of less than quality tourists from those countries.  I don't see many Chinese walking around the streets (far from the beaches) in either wife-beater tshirts or no shirt at all, riding their rented motorbikes with no mufflers (thinking they are on a Harley when its a Honda Click! LOL), etc.  We love to bash the Chinese tour groups, but plenty of low quality Western tourists are around too.  Just not in tour groups.

Key point here - NOT IN TOUR GROUPS...

[Alphy]

Unfrtunately The China "Chinese" have not been introduced to the world of civility and rightly or wrongly may be deemed as vulgar and rude. Whilst the economics may make sense, I hope the Thai's know what they are letting themselves in for?? Good Luck Thailand!

[Micbozy]

4 hours ago, Oziex1 said:

 “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.

 

Thinking this needed to be changed, but how to change it is successor's responsibility.

[shackleton]

Have to agree with some of the comments about groups of tourist Chinese  at buffets eating like there was no tomorrow plus the shouting instead of talking

But  they pay their money and its proberly their first time out of China

So who are we to deprive  them of enjoying  themselves 

[The Deerhunter]

4 hours 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,...

Don't you mean "the whole chop suey"???

[The Deerhunter]

Here's an idea.  Make all the cheap Chinese charter flights use. U.T. or Phuket.

[quandow]

WHAT "white sand beaches?!?"

[The Deerhunter]

Here's an idea.  Make all the cheap Chinese charter flights use. U.T. or Phuket.

[impulse]

17 minutes ago, shackleton said:

Have to agree with some of the comments about groups of tourist Chinese  at buffets eating like there was no tomorrow plus the shouting instead of talking

But  they pay their money and its proberly their first time out of China

So who are we to deprive  them of enjoying  themselves 

 

I'd also question whether the venues where they do cause havoc at the buffet are adjusting their operation to accommodate the big groups.  It's not unusual for a venue that's in a habit of hosting 50 families for dinner to have problems when they're suddenly hosting 200 families- of any nationality.  Nor is it unusual to see some Thai venues resist any investment to improve their service level if they don't have to spend the money.

 

At my go-to resort in Jomtien, they set up a separate buffet with Chinese food, and signs in Chinese directing those who want a Chinese breakfast or dinner to that buffet.  Though the guests are free to go to the buffet they prefer, that solves a lot of the problems right there.  

 

Edit:  I'd also add that the same resort does a similar thing when they host large Thai company events where they have hundreds of Thai's and their families all eating at the same time.  But in those cases, the company event package requires them to eat at that specific buffet.

 

 

Edited December 22, 2017 by impulse

[moe666]

4 hours 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,...

Actually no most of them do not want chinese as they are a pain in the ass. I live in Chiang Mai near Chiang mai Gate we have our share of Chinese in this area and they are all considered more of a liability rather than a plus for business. The few who eat at a restaruant can be very picky  to a down right pain. The average shops and restaruants are making very little from the Chinese tourist

[kurtmartens]

58 minutes ago, jaywalker said:

 

One or two locusts aren't too bad either. It's when they block out the sunlight that they become a problem.

 

Sure.  But then lets get rid of all the tourists?  I know what you are saying though, but the reality is any and all tour group sucks.  LOL

[Nemises]

Sympathies to those who are, for whatever reason, unable to move away from areas heavily frequented by Chinese tourists.  

 

Thank goodness there’s lot of other great areas of Thailand to live which are well away from Chinese tourists. 

 

 

[kurtmartens]

56 minutes ago, jaywalker said:

Key point here - NOT IN TOUR GROUPS...

Agreed.   Just got tired of the Chinese bashing when there are plenty of other low quality tourists to bash.  :-))

[Thai Ron]

A few weeks ago, there was a thread about Pattaya business owners lamenting on the severe shortage of Americans and the proliferation of Chinese

A lot of farangs popped up crowing predictable sentiments along the lines of

"You wanted Chinese, Indians and Arabs so that's what you got"

and

"Som nam na - you robbed and cheated farangs so much, they've all gone elsewhere".

 

It was only when people took a closer look at the type of businesses who were bitching that the truth became apparent.

Rub & tug massage shops, gogos, brothels and cheap booze bars crying for the whoremongers/pissheads because the new tourists aren't particularly

interested in what's on their menu.

Hotels, restaurants and other businesses that don't rely on sex tourists or massive alcohol sales seemed perfectly happy, though

[malibukid]

they arrive like a plague of locust, took an hour to clear CM airport immigration the other day.  welcome to China

[malibukid]

the Commies are a comming

Edited December 22, 2017 by malibukid

[kurtmartens]

42 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

 Nor is it unusual to see some Thai venues resist any investment to improve their service level if they don't have to spend the money.

 

 

I can give so many examples of this.  When my company was looking for our initial hotel to purchase we were amazed by the state of the buildings because owners hadn't reinvested in maintenance, etc.  Never mind the staff training we had to do to get the "cannot do" thinking out.

[Ossy]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

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.”

And which branch of rocket-science are you going to employ to achieve that change? Yes, that's it . . . whack up the prices so that the Chinese riff-raff will be re-directed to Tenerife . . . or Blackpool , maybe. Question is, which hotel, night-club or airline will be brave enough to be the first to lift their price by so much as a baht, business being as cut and thrust as it is? Are price-fixing consortia legal in Thailand? Just a thought.

 

And where's Suvit, now . . . pastures new?

Edited December 22, 2017 by Ossy
omission