Please come back! Thais scurry to woo back Chinese tourists

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Please come back! Thais scurry to woo back Chinese tourists

 

Image: Thai Rath

 

Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said that the treasury will be suggesting a series of stimulus measures to promote tourism as targets have not been met. 

 

While tourism continues to increase it has not been as much as hoped. The shortfall is in the Chinese tourism market following damaging events such as the Phuket boat tragedy.

 

Immigration will also be presenting plans to the government in November regarding the waiving of visa on arrival fees for several nationalities including the Chinese, reported Thai Rath. 

 

Yutthasak Suphasorn of the Tourism Authority of Thailand suggested it was not all doom and gloom with tourism figures up year on year. 

 

But to meet targets into 2019 measures have to be taken to bolster the number of arrivals from China that have dropped off in recent months. 

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2018-11-03

[Thaiwrath]

10 minutes ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

Yutthasak Suphasorn of the Tourism Authority of Thailand suggested it was not all doom and gloom with tourism figures up year on year. 

[nausea]

The honeymoon period is over. Lots of excitement for a while. Thailand has three attractions - its natural beauty, its women, and its cheapness. Well, they're doing their best to lose its natural beauty, the women are getting 'ornery, and I'm not so sure it's that cheap anymore. Still, they've cornered the market in ladyboys, and there's a vast world-wide market for this.

[edwardandtubs]

The strategy of getting as many Chinese in as possible was always doomed to failure. It's totally spoiled the atmosphere in Thailand's major tourist destinations which has driven better quality tourists from other countries away. And as TAT have put all their eggs in the Chinese basket, they're now screwed.

Edited November 3, 2018 by edwardandtubs

[observer90210]

One good step for tourism promotion would be to get rid of all the taxi driver cheats in Thailand who refuse the meter....but then....they would almost be no taxis left....what else ?

 

....perhaps another good move would be to stop the red tape towards the retirees in Thailand on their extension of stay issues, ban the 90 day reporting or the re-entry permit requirements, as retirees tell a lot back home of their conditions of living and can make great or awful publicity depending on how they are treated.......but then many immigration offices all over would just become "inactive posts".....

 

...last solution may to to stop artificially inflating the Thai Bhat and give it an exchange rate of 1 US$ to 40 THB !!!

[Farrows3399]

Are there any factual examples on accurate decline in numbers of Chinese visitors. Like in Chiang Mai, Pattaya and Bangkok? 

[janclaes47]

4 minutes ago, observer90210 said:

One good step for tourism promotion would be to get rid of all the taxi driver cheats in Thailand who refuse the meter....but then....they would almost be no taxis left....what else ?

 

....perhaps another good move would be to stop the red tape towards the retirees in Thailand on their extension of stay issues, ban the 90 day reporting or the re-entry permit requirements, as retirees tell a lot back home of their conditions of living and can make great or awful publicity depending on how they are treated.......but then many immigration offices all over would just become "inactive posts".....

 

...last solution may to to stop artificially inflating the Thai Bhat and give it an exchange rate of 1 US$ to 40 THB !!!

So in others words, please you and the Chinese will come back?

[Sir Dude]

The Thais have made a mistake in prioritizing Chinese and Indian tourists above all others. They thought they would be able to trough on the Chinese RMB without limit. They figured it without realizing that the Chinese only do what is good for them and they have successfully weaponized tourism with many Chinese tourist only going where they are told to go by their government or zero $ tourist businesses. As for the Indian tourist...well, not much high spending quality there as we all know. As a result, the western tourist numbers have dived quite a bit as many don't want what is now on offer here. You reap what you sow Thailand.

[HalfLight]

I saw an article elsewhere a while back, which described how Spain and then Greece had killed their own tourism golden geese, and how Thailand is in the process of doing the same thing.

 

That even the Chinese are going off Thailand ought really to be ringing some very loud alarm bells, but with the arrogance for which Thais are famous in full view, I doubt it will be.

Edited November 3, 2018 by HalfLight

[Deli]

Bring back the Russians, they don't spit around and girls are often pretty, with long and straight legs ????

[bannork]

19 hours ago, Farrows3399 said:

Are there any factual examples on accurate decline in numbers of Chinese visitors. Like in Chiang Mai, Pattaya and Bangkok? 

I know a manager of a tour company that used to fly in between 800 to 900 Chinese tourists a month, at present they are only bringing in approximately 120 a month. He and other staff, including pilots, have taken a salary cut of 30%.

[Lupatria]

...and whoever spread news on social media damaging the image of the country with reports like this:

"Minivan operators appeal to Pattaya mayor to lobby PM against new safety rules"

will be indicted for causing panic among the (Chinese) public, and being a thread to national security, and finally be banned for life entering the country.

[Ulic]

My suggestion would be to let the tour operators employ their own guides here in Thailand if you really want them back. The tourists will go where the tours operate to. Make things easier for the tour operators or they will set up shop in Cambodia, Vietnam, and other cheap destination in the region. The Chinese are not interested in the bars and Go-gos. Just nice hotels, temples, shopping, and all you can eat shrimp buffets. Once the tour operators are set up in other countries it will be hard to get the Chinese back to Thailand.

[billd766]

Thailand could always try safety as a tactic.

You know the sort of thing, enforcing safe in boats by having enough life saving equipment on board and not overloading the boat. Ensuring that the boat is rigorously maintained and  inspected every 6 months, ensuring that the crews are properly trained. Not ignoring storm warnings.

The same sort of thing could be applied to the tourist (and normal) buses as well.

 

They could make sure that the trash is cleared up and that Thailand is clean and tidy for visitors.

 

Cut corruption etc.

 

Silly little things like that.

[Media1]

THAI people don't want the Chinese or the army government period

[Valentine]

New tourism minister is now trying to get the quality tourists back. To do so would require a big makeover in how tourism is run here like thinking about tomorrow instead of just gouging the tourists today

[joecoolfrog]

1 hour ago, billd766 said:

Thailand could always try safety as a tactic.

You know the sort of thing, enforcing safe in boats by having enough life saving equipment on board and not overloading the boat. Ensuring that the boat is rigorously maintained and  inspected every 6 months, ensuring that the crews are properly trained. Not ignoring storm warnings.

The same sort of thing could be applied to the tourist (and normal) buses as well.

 

They could make sure that the trash is cleared up and that Thailand is clean and tidy for visitors.

 

Cut corruption etc.

 

Silly little things like that.

That is precisely what they should do but they wont because it will involve a continual effort over a long period of time. Instead they will promote gimmicks and ignore the real issues at hand.

[Sir Dude]

2 hours ago, billd766 said:

Thailand could always try safety as a tactic.

You know the sort of thing, enforcing safe in boats by having enough life saving equipment on board and not overloading the boat. Ensuring that the boat is rigorously maintained and  inspected every 6 months, ensuring that the crews are properly trained. Not ignoring storm warnings.

The same sort of thing could be applied to the tourist (and normal) buses as well.

 

They could make sure that the trash is cleared up and that Thailand is clean and tidy for visitors.

 

Cut corruption etc.

 

Silly little things like that.

It's a nice idea...but sadly not possible. When you dig a bit deeper, you realise that it just simply isn't possible to get the average Thai operator in these environments to comply...can't even get most taxi to turn on their meters. The overall problem is that the whole tourism industry (well, can extend that to society at large TBH) and everyone involved in/related to it are cowboys and scammers that don't give a toss about anything other than money. The authorities try to dress it up as much as they can to make it look good but the truth is that it's all 'Yeee-Haaa' with little or no regulation and any that does exist can be gotten around with an envelope of baht. The local attitude/culture towards tourism is milk it for whatever it's worth and to hell with the law. Everything from scammers on the beach to 17 year-olds driving around without a license to learn to drive first to the only places that stop selling booze from 2-5 in the afternoon are 7/11, Tesco, Big C and the malls is the normal MO. There is very little respect for any law here and the only god is the baht.

Edited November 4, 2018 by Sir Dude

[joecoolfrog]

21 hours ago, HalfLight said:

I saw an article elsewhere a while back, which described how Spain and then Greece had killed their own tourism golden geese, and how Thailand is in the process of doing the same thing.

 

That even the Chinese are going off Thailand ought really to be ringing some very loud alarm bells, but with the arrogance for which Thais are famous in full view, I doubt it will be.

I remember a couple of years back stating that Thai tourism was heading for a fall , citing Spain as an example.

Poor service , failure to upgrade infrastructure , lack of long term planning and sheer greed is a recipe for disaster.

At the time my views were dismissed as ' Thai bashing ' , they are looking pretty accurate now.

[VBF]

3 minutes ago, joecoolfrog said:

I remember a couple of years back stating that Thai tourism was heading for a fall , citing Spain as an example.

Poor service , failure to upgrade infrastructure , lack of long term planning and sheer greed is a recipe for disaster.

At the time my views were dismissed as ' Thai bashing ' , they are looking pretty accurate now.

So true!  After being a massive fan of Phuket for decades, and visiting very soon after the 2004 Tsunami, I remember discussing with friends there (Thai and Farang) that awful as the Tsunami was, they had an opportunity to rebuild and learn lessons from the past.

And what have we ended up with?  A Thai version of Benidorm! ????

 

Sadly, the same process is underway in Sihanoukville, in Cambodia.

[guest879]

when I lived in pattaya it was mostly german tourists, then Russians and then Chinese. who is next? is there anyone left?

[RotBenz8888]

If you are serious about bringing the Chinese back, could you please build an extra airport first?

[simoh1490]

Chinese friends tell us this is a currency issue, the Yuan is down by 10% thanks to Trumps trade war, that's why they are not coming here, but they are visiting Japan in droves apparently. 

[Retiredandhappyhere]

On 11/3/2018 at 3:45 PM, Farrows3399 said:

Are there any factual examples on accurate decline in numbers of Chinese visitors. Like in Chiang Mai, Pattaya and Bangkok? 

As even TAT say that Chinese tourist numbers are down 10 to 15% since the boat disaster, you can be sure that the true figures are at least that.  I cannot really see why Chiang Mai, Pattaya and Bangkok would be much different.

[scorecard]

3 hours ago, billd766 said:

Thailand could always try safety as a tactic.

You know the sort of thing, enforcing safe in boats by having enough life saving equipment on board and not overloading the boat. Ensuring that the boat is rigorously maintained and  inspected every 6 months, ensuring that the crews are properly trained. Not ignoring storm warnings.

The same sort of thing could be applied to the tourist (and normal) buses as well.

 

They could make sure that the trash is cleared up and that Thailand is clean and tidy for visitors.

 

Cut corruption etc.

 

Silly little things like that.

All good points, and I add there needs to be leader who is well respected who fairly quickly pushes and encourages and achieves changes in attitudes. 

 

The Phuket boat tragedy several months ago. 49 people died, but there was little evidence that any Thai officials, tour operators, the public at large really cared about the large loss of life, the impact on families etc.

 

I've been watching for some serious action to change safety procedures, serious processes in place to continuously check seaworthiness, maintenance, on-board safety equipment, vessels need clearance (repairs, maintenance up to date and storm warnings etc.)  for every trip before they go to sea, etc., etc.

 

Seems like there's been lots of talk and lots of comments from officials who have no professional knowledge or experience in these subjects.

 

But what serious & permanent actions have happened?

 

 

Edited November 4, 2018 by scorecard

[ozmeldo]

Thailand needs to check China's economic situation. While there will always be a need for zero dollar tours, the Chinese are tapped out and the economic party based on a massively insane real estate bubble is about to pop. If Thailand were wise it would start to create measures to encourage people with limited but adequate means to retire here. The Chinese are a flash in the pan.

 

The only difference is that Thailand treated the one billion potential tourists like every other nationality that comes and goes thru here, horribly. The boat incident just laid bare to the Chinese how much mafia is #1 and tourists # whatever. Anyone been seriously prosecuted?? So now they know what we all know. We accept the risks as expats - one week tourists have options.

[zzidenn]

maybe a focus on sustainable quality tourism would be an option, but then again who needs all that modern stuff?! 

 

[PatOngo]

1 hour ago, guest879 said:

when I lived in pattaya it was mostly german tourists, then Russians and then Chinese. who is next? is there anyone left?

Families!   It's a world class family resort!

[hotchilli]

The Chinese have rumbled Thailand for what it is & have moved on to pastures new... suggest T.A.T do the same instead of going on bended knees pleading for the gravy train to return..

[mok199]

FOR SALE ... Next to new shopping mall ,hardly used ....contact Pattaya terminal 21 for details...