Travelers Spend More Money in Thailand Than Anywhere Else in Asia

By Nikki Ekstein

 

 

It’s the fourth-most-profitable tourism destination in the world.

Just more than a year ago, I ate at Nahm, in Bangkok—and walked out after paying barely $60 for a tasting menu that currently ranks 49th on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. My grand, five-star hotel, the Anantara Siam, with its gilded murals and landscaped courtyards, cost $150 a night, including a breakfast buffet that was truly fit for royalty. Even the most expensive souvenir I bought in town, an elephant figurine with inlaid mother of pearl, cost less than a typical outing to McDonald’s back home in New York.

Yet, according to a visualization of recent UN World Tourism Organization data by HowMuch, a financial literacy and infographics agency, Thailand outranks every other nation in Asia when it comes to tourism spend.

Last year, it collected $57 billion in international tourism receipts, nearly doubling Macao ($36 billion), Japan ($34 billion), Hong Kong ($33 billion), and China ($33 billion). Globally, the only countries that out-earn Thailand in terms of tourism dollars are France ($61 billion), Spain ($68 billion), and the United States—which handily takes the gold medal, at $211 billion.

Full story: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-10/travelers-spend-more-money-in-thailand-than-anywhere-else-in-asia

 

-- Bloomberg 2018-10-10

That’s because everything is at least double the price ????

16 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

Travelers Spend More Money in Thailand Than Anywhere Else in Asia

Take into account the scams and rip offs and Thailand probably gets more travellers money than anywhere else on earth. 

I think it's all about the TAT figures and the lies around it.

It's time TAT lies and BS was reined in...as most just think that it's another case of,

 

 

 

 

 

'Travellers in Asia nowhere fleeced as in Thailand'...? IMHO, this is much closer to reality, but I'm afraid the spoiled mandarins' bunch of TAT will disagree... But, hey, with the money they get paid, maybe keeping their head under the sand (or inside their ...?) is the preferred option.

When the US fool writing this piece for Bloomberg chose the picture of took-tooks to illustrate his blabber, I rest my case.

28 minutes ago, bangrak said:

When the US fool writing this piece for Bloomberg chose the picture of took-tooks to illustrate his blabber, I rest my case.

Yes its complete nonsense the UK takes far more too here

The value of tourism in England. Generating £106 billion a year

 

It looks like Nikki Ekstein is one of the big spending tourists

that TAT,would love to have a lot more of, $60 dollars for a meal

and $150 a night hotels are not the normal tourists that come

to Thailand,people have read too many bad things about Thailand

of late,that's why the Chinese are buggering off to destinations

that are safer and with less chance of getting ripped off.

The Golden Goose is not feeling too well,laying less eggs,

and who are to blame........well its always something and

someone else's fault.

regards worgeordie

3 hours ago, bangrak said:

When the US fool writing this piece for Bloomberg chose the picture of took-tooks to illustrate his blabber, I rest my case.

On the other hand, unscrupulous tuk tuk drivers definitely feature on the list of how unwary travellers get parted from their money... 

I didn't think they took their caravans that far away from Ireland?

11 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

paying barely $60 for a tasting menu that currently ranks 49th on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list.

This dining experience is actually on my bucket list as I have never been to any of the World's best restaurants. Yes, it is expensive at B1800 a meal and I probably don't know anything on the menu. I bet they even have a dress code. I have also heard these fancy food joints have cloth napkins and different forks for different dishes. 

 

My Thai wife thinks my idea is crazy. She says for B1800, I could smoke some pork, fish and chicken for ten of her relatives...

 

12 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

nearly doubling Macao ($36 billion)

The difference between Thailand and Macao is that in Macao you might actually win something.

9 minutes ago, Darcula said:

The difference between Thailand and Macao is that in Macao you might actually win something.

No the difference between Thailand and Macao is that in Thailand you might catch something. 

Just back from BKK & can agree that it is easy to spend big there if you ask to go a kilometre in a tuktuk.

1 hour ago, Darcula said:

The difference between Thailand and Macao is that in Macao you might actually win something.

No, get a shot dead relative and you win the 1m Baht lottery

2 hours ago, missoura said:

This dining experience is actually on my bucket list as I have never been to any of the World's best restaurants. Yes, it is expensive at B1800 a meal and I probably don't know anything on the menu. I bet they even have a dress code. I have also heard these fancy food joints have cloth napkins and different forks for different dishes. 

 

My Thai wife thinks my idea is crazy. She says for B1800, I could smoke some pork, fish and chicken for ten of her relatives...

 

Great Smoker set up.....   your design.?

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Travelers Spend Loose More Money in Thailand Than Anywhere Else in Asia

Yes there are more scams in Thailand.

I honestly believe that Thailand uses different calculation methods to anywhere else.

 

Just a quick sum tells me that the average overseas visitor to Thailand spend $1600. That same visitor to the UK, where hotel room prices run into multiples of those you find in Thailand, where an average restaurant will set you back an arm and a leg and a top restaurant involves remortgaging your house, spends a mere $800!

 

France, Italy and Spain are all more expensive countries than Thailand and have more overseas visitors, yet all have a supposedly much lower per capita spend. 

 

When you also consider the number of tourists on packages from China, weekenders from bordering countries and Russians who spend their entire holiday budget in the 7-Eleven, it convinces me even more that Thailand's statisticians are on a different wavelength to their international counterparts.

And look how we are treated!

 

 

"It’s the fourth-most-profitable tourism destination in the world."

Income - expenses = Profit... as it seems they put no money into infrastructure, law enforcement, licensing, training, etc, expenses are negligible. It's all gravy.

Those figures bandied about are just gross receipts, not per capita. I point that out because the bit of filler/fluff regarding authors experiences at 49th out of top 50 restaurants has nothing to do with gross receipts per country. Jeez, shut up already. We get enough of these sorts of articles from "experts".

I sometimes wonder if anyone, seriously, is believing all this stuff. I find Thailand more expensive than Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia; and I travel a lot! 

That’s only because it’s a lot more expensive than some of the neighbouring countries .

2 hours ago, missoura said:

This dining experience is actually on my bucket list as I have never been to any of the World's best restaurants. Yes, it is expensive at B1800 a meal and I probably don't know anything on the menu. I bet they even have a dress code. I have also heard these fancy food joints have cloth napkins and different forks for different dishes. 

 

My Thai wife thinks my idea is crazy. She says for B1800, I could smoke some pork, fish and chicken for ten of her relatives...

 

Off topic, but that is a mightily impressive smoker. Qudos.

...

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Even the most expensive souvenir I bought in town, an elephant figurine with inlaid mother of pearl, cost less than a typical outing to McDonald’s back home in New York.

 

Compare to HCMC, China, Hong kong, Macao, Malaysia and Indonesia, Thailand is the best value for my limited retirement dollar. 

Philippine is the lowest on my list.   I spent the most money at different Thai soapy massage parlors.     

I have always been of the opinion that the only thing that keeps Thailand floating financially above other neighbouring countries is the ease of availability of what all men want, at a reasonable price, at all times of the day or night

People on this site complain a lot about the costs in Thailand 

but the Tourists keep coming year in and out 

and  increasing their  numbers Yearly 

Surely that figure is just based on someone's calculation of what the total tourism spend is on x million people.  Singapore would be much dearer per person but they presumably don't get/couldn't handle 20 million tourists a year. 

It's total amount spent.... NOT on a per capita basis.

Thailand is one of the top tourist destinations in the world.