Thailand's Tourism Ministry admits Chinese visitors down nearly 20% in October

[webfact]

Tourism Ministry admits Chinese visitors down nearly 20% in October

 

Picture: Bangkokbiznews

 

Thailand's Ministry of Tourism and Sport has admitted that Chinese tourist visitors to Thailand fell by 19.8% in October compared to the same month last year. 

 

And spending by Chinese tourists was down 16.59% as well.

 

Announcing the figures representative  Pongphanu Sawetrun said that this contributed to a drop in overall tourism revenue of 0.51% in October compared to October last year. 

 

Bangkokbiznews reported that visitors from China still made up the largest slice of tourists coming to Thailand - they were followed by those from Malaysia, Laos, Korea, Japan, India, Russia, the US, Cambodia and Sinapore respectively. 

 

In terms of geographical locations most tourists came from East Asia followed by Europe, South Asia, the US, Oceania, Middle East and Africa. 

 

Visitors spent 14,060.57 million baht that represented a 0.66% increase overall. 

 

Those spending the most money were (in order of the most) from: China, Malaysia, Russia, the US, Japan, Korea, the UK, Australia, Laos and India. 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2018-11-23

[PatOngo]

Careful minister, you may lose face telling the truth!

[bluesofa]

Only TAT left to admit it now.

When hell freezes over...

[ezzra]

Double any bad news figures that comes out the TAT and half all good news from them, that i what i have learned listing to them over the may years i'm here...

[colinneil]

What !! Phonpanu your future is toast, saying that, every other day your lot have been spouting about how the numbers are up.

Then you come out with the truth, just pack your bags now, no way can you stay after causing your department Big loss of face.

[JimmyJ]

"Those spending the most money were (in order of the most) from: China, Malaysia, Russia, the US, Japan, Korea, the UK, Australia, Laos and India."

 

How would this be determined?

Edited November 23, 2018 by JimmyJ

[zydeco]

Chinese tourists numbers "down" because they never left.

[neeray]

10 minutes ago, colinneil said:

What !! Phonpanu your future is toast, saying that, every other day your lot have been spouting about how the numbers are up.

Then you come out with the truth, just pack your bags now, no way can you stay after causing your department Big loss of face.

ONLY THE TRUTH HURTS.

 

OMG, that had to really hurt !

[RotBenz8888]

The earplug sales is down and ENT clinics around the country reports a decreasing number of tinnitus cases.

[BobbyL]

I expect in a few months it'll be - 

 

"Chinese tourist figures rise by 30%"

 

Well done TAT. 

[Pond Life]

My friend in the boat industry in Phuket estimates that Chinese bookings are down 75%.

[Lupatria]

In view of claiming unemployed money it is better to get fired than to quit. Maybe that's the case with Phonpanu.

[pattayadgw]

I bet this is not per person!

 

"Those spending the most money were (in order of the most) from: China, Malaysia, Russia, the US, Japan, Korea, the UK, Australia, Laos and India."

 

 

[Borzandy]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Tourism Ministry admits Chinese visitors down nearly 20% in October

Is that means Thailand would be habitable again soon.

[klauskunkel]

Weerasak, the Minister for Tourism, had Pongphanu, a "representative", announce the ominous figures.

That figures, I guess.

[peter14]

That is super good news....

[Fex Bluse]

If Thais admit to 20% decline, it's probably 40%

[Maestro]

I guess it doesn't help that Thai consulates in Europe make it more difficult to get visas. In Switzerland, for example, neither the Thai Embassy nor any of the three consulates (Basel, Geneva, Zurich) now accept applications by mail. Zurich has stopped issuing visas altogether.

[Percy P]

5 hours ago, JimmyJ said:

"Those spending the most money were (in order of the most) from: China, Malaysia, Russia, the US, Japan, Korea, the UK, Australia, Laos and India."

 

How would this be determined?

Exchange of currency.

 Whether it's in the bank,ATM or exchange outlets it's all recorded at the foreign exchange

Edited November 23, 2018 by Percy P

[CanuckThai]

 

[stanleycoin]

Great stuff,   keep up the good work. 

 

 

 

Edited November 23, 2018 by stanleycoin

[sjaak327]

Something does not add up here. The number of Chinese tourists is down almost 20% and their spending is down over 16%, they also claim the Chinese spent the most further in the article. Yet the overall revenue is just down 0.5%. And the Chinese remain the biggest group. So this points to either a price increase or a cost cutting if that figure of 0.5% is to be believed.

 

Furthermore, both Cambodia and Lao are listed as two countries where most tourists come from. Both are probably 90% workers, not tourists. 

[Fex Bluse]

8 minutes ago, sjaak327 said:

Something does not add up here. The number of Chinese tourists is down almost 20% and their spending is down over 16%, they also claim the Chinese spent the most further in the article. Yet the overall revenue is just down 0.5%. And the Chinese remain the biggest group. So this points to either a price increase or a cost cutting if that figure of 0.5% is to be believed.

 

Furthermore, both Cambodia and Lao are listed as two countries where most tourists come from. Both are probably 90% workers, not tourists. 

You na. Farang not understand math Thailand. Not same same you country na. 

[newnative]

4 hours ago, Pond Life said:

My friend in the boat industry in Phuket estimates that Chinese bookings are down 75%.

No surprise there.

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Those spending the most money were (in order of the most) from: China, Malaysia, Russia, the US, Japan, Korea, the UK, Australia, Laos and India.

So all the tourists from Laos spend more money than all the German or French tourists, right?

[sjaak327]

1 minute ago, HiSoLowSoNoSo said:

So all the tourists from Laos spend more money than all the German or French tourists, right?

Income tax, there are a shit load of Lao working in Thailand ????

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

1 minute ago, sjaak327 said:

Income tax, there are a shit load of Lao working in Thailand ????

Should not be in the statistics for tourism income (or spending per country). But who knows from where TAT get their figures from! 

[madmitch]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Visitors spent 14,060.57 million baht that represented a 0.66% increase overall. 

Coming up with a pretty exact figure such as this makes the amount less believable than if they had stated approximately 14 billion baht. 

 

Especially as in an earlier paragraph they stated that tourism revenue was down by 0.51%.

 

I do believe their arrival figures, accepting they would include visa runners and frequent border crossers but whenever I see the revenue figures I wonder how on earth they are calculated: take last year's figure and add a bit seems to be the methodology to me.

 

[Cake Monster]

7 hours ago, ezzra said:

Double any bad news figures that comes out the TAT and half all good news from them, that i what i have learned listing to them over the may years i'm here...

And dont forget to add the 7% Tax to the total.

[Srikcir]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

In terms of geographical locations most tourists came from East Asia followed by Europe, South Asia, the US, Oceania, Middle East and Africa. 

But the trend does not look good:

Thailand’s Key Macroeconomic - November 2018

https://www.bot.or.th/Thai/Statistics/Graph/Chart_Pack/Chart Pack.pdf