Tourist arrivals on the rise

[overherebc]

Re tourist figures, if a group of 20 book into a hotel in Pats for 4 days and the hotel does the reports ( as required ) to Imm' and then the group moves to ChiangMai for 4 days and the hotel does the reports to Imm' for 4 days does that mean 40 tourists on the log?

[nong38]

I expect the frequency of the rail connection has been increased every year to deal with the extra flocks arriving? Thought not, tells the story doesn't it. You just cannot believe any figures that appear in this country, they are subjective, selective and massaged to produce any answer you wish. If the figures were to be true, all accommodation would be full and there would be no space on the beach and we all know the answers to those questions, they are only fooling the people here who either know know better or are fools, put 3 spades in the corner of a room and ask "take your pick'"

[Kaoboi Bebobp]

28 minutes ago, nong38 said:

I expect the frequency of the rail connection has been increased every year to deal with the extra flocks arriving? Thought not, tells the story doesn't it. You just cannot believe any figures that appear in this country, they are subjective, selective and massaged to produce any answer you wish. If the figures were to be true, all accommodation would be full and there would be no space on the beach and we all know the answers to those questions, they are only fooling the people here who either know know better or are fools, put 3 spades in the corner of a room and ask "take your pick'"

 

And airports would be full. I arrived last Wednesday on Vietjet around 1 pm, which dropped us off at Gate C10, just about the farthest you can be to the immigration ramp. Sign says 870 m. I was second out of the plane. There was not a single passenger or group of passengers who had deplaned for the entire length of C Gate AND D Gate. That was eerie. Walking past 18 gates (10 + 8 ) without another plane arriving made Swampy feel like a provincial airport. 

 

PS The immigration waiting lanes were empty. I was fourth in line at an IO desk. 

Edited September 9, 2018 by Kaoboi Bebobp
Additional details.

[LomSak27]

2 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Montri is 100% backpacker area.

You obviously don't come here. 

 

There is a Japanese guy, an Italian and an American all of whom I have seen before, they are either retired or long term at this hotel.  The newer boutique hotel, next to the Awana, scores the Chinese tourists. They rarely go to any other place on this soi. At least one hotel gets the juice. I am not mentioning the three boutique hotels that have went up in the last 2 years. These are  farther out towards the Irish pub and priced for a different clientele. Given your posts on pension funds which I have enjoyed by the way, these places are not where you want to be staying.  Then again I hardly see a soul in them. 

 

Edited September 9, 2018 by LomSak27

[Nyezhov]

9 hours ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

And no Thai government or media is ever going to tell you tourism is suffering.

 

See what I did there?

Exactly!

[Esso49]

There will soon come a time that the falsified claims made by TAT will mean that there are more tourists coming to Thailand than people on the planet.    That can only mean one thing and that is Thailand is now welcoming Aliens.

[bluesofa]

1 minute ago, Esso49 said:

There will soon come a time that the falsified claims made by TAT will mean that there are more tourists coming to Thailand than people on the planet.    That can only mean one thing and that is Thailand is now welcoming Aliens.

And the immigration forms prove it: Aliens, Alien Registration, Form for Alien to notify their change of address, etc.

 

[hotchilli]

Of course they are, despite the huge drop in Chinese visitors other nations have made up for the shortfall...

complete garbage !!!

[Chelseafan]

5 hours ago, Srikcir said:

Comparing top ten arrivals for first seven months 2018 to full year 2017 shows that

• the UK dropped from being in the top ten at #10 while having the 5th highest total revenues for 2017
• Australia and Germany were not in the top 10 for 2017 or 2018 while in 2017 had the 8th and 10th highest revenues respectfully
• Vietnam was not in the top ten in 2017 for either visitors or revenues
• Laos was in the top ten at #4 in 2017 but not in the top ten for revenues

https://www.thaitravelblogs.com/2017/12/top-10-foreign-tourists-to-visit-thailand-during-2017/

Really need to see the total revenues by country in the top ten for 2018 for any meaningful trend analysis. Otherwise, it appears that Thailand is losing visitors from nations generating high revenues for visitors generating lower revenues. That's not a sustaining revenue growth trend.

Well said. I've mentioned on numerous occasions that the ToT should tell us how they measure revenues.

I do not frequent shopping malls but I do spend a lot of money in bars and (historically) on girls. Is this being taken into account ? I doubt it very much.

 

 

[Chelseafan]

1 hour ago, Esso49 said:

There will soon come a time that the falsified claims made by TAT will mean that there are more tourists coming to Thailand than people on the planet.    That can only mean one thing and that is Thailand is now welcoming Aliens.

When the Chinese pull out, as surely they will one day, it will be interesting to see what stats they start spewing.

[CLW]

Exactly. Even the TAT themselves say " Estimated visitor expenditure rose by 14.44% to 1.18 trillion baht" .Could be down 20% then right ?
 
What annoys me about these reports is that the TAT never release details of how they arrive at their numbers, something that wouldn't happen in a western country.
 
Visitors are up. Do they include laborers from Myanmar, Loas and Cambodia who are looking for work ?
 
Do they include visitors who are in transit to other countries ?
 
Until such time as they tell us how they calculate out their reports I too will take this as a pinch of sale.
 
 
 
 

Was surprised about Laos, too.
Don't know how they can come up with this number...

[utalkin2me]

14 hours ago, SoilSpoil said:

How accurate are these numbers? Several resort owners told us that 2018 is the worst year since ages for them. So, where are all these tourists? Do they stay in Bangkok? Phuket, Samui and Hua Hin are relatively empty?

There is a guy who carves a notch in a piece of wood who stands at the bottleneck at immigration. 

[AtoZ]

7 hours ago, Krataiboy said:

Where have all the Europeans gone? They can't ALL be broke.

At the part of EU where I'm from is virtually 0% unemployment rate at the moment.

 

Only 2 people I know went to Thailand in the past 3 years.

 

The people I know go for holidays and trips to: USA, Greece, Spain, Italy, UK (for some reason), Sri Lanka, Vietnam (a lot), Bali (not worth it imo), Croatia

[the guest]

Thai baht is too strong, compared to Spain the country is terribly expensive. I speak to many EU citizens and Thailand is being left to the wayside in favor of other tropical destinations which are cheaper and just as pleasant.

[nowhereman]

11 hours ago, LomSak27 said:

Look sorry if English is not your first language. Read it twice, allright, you have done that, then Lets Go.

 

 Bangkok that 2014 to 2017 December - at least 5 days to two weeks each of those years, I have stayed in said hotel and do my Xmas shopping and attend a party. Located in Siam Square area.

 

In Chiang Mai On the soi behind the Montri (M) hotel. 2 Guest houses Belly up - these are not in the back packer area, but, farther up a Travelfish recommended place for years gate up just no one there - two other not a soul to be seen  - these are 20 plus places, one a boutique hotel.. Now this is lean season but the two that were closed were dead last February too. This is not THIS YEARS blather this is the last 2 to 4 to 6 years.

 

You want to troll fine, now contribute something, or change handles and off to a new post, and what fun!

 

Ok Nigel

Wow and this is in English. I still have a lot to learn.

[Nyezhov]

4 hours ago, Chelseafan said:

When the Chinese pull out, as surely they will one day, it will be interesting to see what stats they start spewing.

Pull out? Spewing? ????

[lamyai3]

Interesting the statistics run up until July, and they fail to mention the rash of cancellations from the Chinese since the Phuket boat disaster that same month. 

[lamyai3]

6 hours ago, the guest said:

Thai baht is too strong, compared to Spain the country is terribly expensive. I speak to many EU citizens and Thailand is being left to the wayside in favor of other tropical destinations which are cheaper and just as pleasant.

Yes, the overvaluing of the baht has made Thailand pretty expensive, unless you live here and know your way around. When you're paying more for long haul flights too it makes destinations closer to home seen a lot more appealing. 

[Nyezhov]

18 minutes ago, lamyai3 said:

Yes, the overvaluing of the baht has made Thailand pretty expensive, unless you live here and know your way around. 

Thats why I feel overall its cheaper than Cambodia, where they are using USD.

[Benmart]

21 hours ago, lanista said:

Could you translate this post into English ?

I re-read it and figured out the meaning...I think. 

[newnative]

2 hours ago, Chelseafan said:

When the Chinese pull out, as surely they will one day, it will be interesting to see what stats they start spewing.

     Chinese pull out?  Only 10% or so even have passports so tourists numbers from China aren't likely to be going down.  Yes, there was the boat accident but tourist memories are short.  Add to that the fact that they are buying condos and houses like crazy--another reason to keep returning.  And, let's not forget that China seems to see Thailand as a future S.A.R. (Special Administrative Region).  I was at the mall the other day and I picked up a couple of new condo brochures on the run.  Got home and when I went to look at them I discovered the brochures were written only in Chinese, not a word of Thai.  

[Chelseafan]

5 hours ago, newnative said:

     Chinese pull out?  Only 10% or so even have passports so tourists numbers from China aren't likely to be going down.  Yes, there was the boat accident but tourist memories are short.  Add to that the fact that they are buying condos and houses like crazy--another reason to keep returning.  And, let's not forget that China seems to see Thailand as a future S.A.R. (Special Administrative Region).  I was at the mall the other day and I picked up a couple of new condo brochures on the run.  Got home and when I went to look at them I discovered the brochures were written only in Chinese, not a word of Thai.  

Only needs some political issue for something like this to happen

 

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2156979/palau-asks-us-and-japan-help-after-china-imposes-tourist-ban

 

or in South Korea

 

https://www.ft.com/content/9fc4b1b4-ffb1-11e6-96f8-3700c5664d30

 

or making it difficult for them in South Africa

 

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-05/18/c_137187117.htm

 

Also I believe Bali or some island was once heavily reliant on Chinese tourism until the government stopped their citizens from visiting, it took the island years to recover.

 

China will use tourism as their new weapon and if they don't get what they want they will have the ability to seriously damage economies

 

 

 

Edited September 10, 2018 by Chelseafan