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

[Peterw42]

45 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Amazing. Someone in a position of authority spoke the truth? Astonishing actually. 

 

I think perhaps a few decades from now, they will have tourism classes at university, where they will discuss how Thailand lost the golden egg of Western tourism. Those tourists, unlike most Chinese tourists, spent anywhere from $100 a day, to over $4,000 a day. They brought real money into the country, and in exchange, were treated with utter and complete disregard, scammed, disrespected, and abused. Eventually, most said no more. Thailand thought the country was something very special, and that nobody would ever say no, or find alternative places to visit. The fact is that there are countless other spots, many in this region, that offer better service, more expertise in food and beverage (especially wine service and selection at fair prices, which rich tourists demand), reasonable import duties to sustain a luxury goods market, better training, and far better english skills. Thailand simply lost sight of the big picture, and had very little vision, with regard to big spending tourists, who need to be catered to, instead of scorned.  

 

 So, what happened? The Western tourists started to decline in number, and the genius minds at the TAT decided it was time to "lure" the Chinese. They came. They came in droves. But, they did not spend much money. Hotels, restaurants, gift shops, jewelers, galleries, spas, massage shops, bars, and countless other businesses suffered, and will continue to suffer from this extreme myopia, on the part of the officials in charge of tourism. Oh well. Can't say they were not warned. Zero baht tourists are perhaps the majority who visit Thailand now. Sure, they spend some money in restaurants, and in 7/11. But, that is about it, for some of the super low budget Chinese tours. Not many rich Chinese are not visiting Thailand, for a dozen good reasons. They have too many other options.

 

There are countless things the government could be doing, if they wanted to attract the high quality tourists. The very first thing would be to repeal the anti faring wine bill, that was passed by a few very corrupt senators way back when, to protect an anemic local wine industry. They are losing billions of dollars a year in revenue, that would be had from a 100% wine duty, instead of 460%. The five star hotels would have major wine events, and the entire industry would flourish here. 

 

I was recently with a group of friends, and we wanted to order a bottle of wine, at of one of those high end restaurants in the EmQuartier complex. It was Bella Rocca Restaurant. I asked about a 2011 Chianti they had on the list. I was told they were out of stock. I asked about a Barbaresco, at 2,600 baht. Again, out of stock. How about this Nebbiolo? Do you have the 2010, as stated on the list? No, we only have the 2015. OK, what is that wine like? Is it drinking well now? I do not know. Is there anyone here that is familiar with this wine list? No. Sorry sir. Wait a minute. You have 100 bottles on this list, ranging from 1200 baht to 10,000 baht per bottle, and NOBODY who works here knows anything about the wine? Are you serious? We all just looked at each other, and got up and walked out. We realized the restaurant was a pretender. And more than likely the food was marginal at best. It was all dressed up to look like a very nice Italian restaurant. But, it appeared to be only window dressing. High end tourists have little patience for that lack of quality and lack of service. 

But again, the lack of vision, combined with a naive, surly, silly, churlish, and ignorant sense of nationalism, bites the country in the butt. And again, who is the loser? The Thai people. 

The entire country is suffering from a declining tourism industry. And that will not change. It is a permanent declining trend. For a hundred valid reasons. 

Have a look at the Data on this website, a lot of your presumptions are incorrect, in fact Chinese actually have the highest daily spend, (but stay the least amount of time). http://www.thaiwebsites.com/tourism-income-Thailand.asp

 

 

 

 

Tourism certainly isnt in decline either

 

Edited November 24, 2018 by Peterw42

[spidermike007]

2 hours ago, simoh1490 said:

The amount spent by tourists from different countries in different countries on holiday is widely understood and available, they are not just Thai government numbers they are numbers that others have compiled in order to better understand tourist behaviour. And whilst every nationality has its high and low spenders it's the average that counts, there is no way on Gods green earth that daily average western spending in Thailand is even remotely close to $4k per day so why even mention it. Every set of stats. I have ever seen on the subject of daily tourist spend in any country has always shown the Chinese as the number one average spenders, not just in Thailand but globally.

 

Who ever said anything about average? There is nothing average about someone who spends $4,000 a day on a vacation. I had some friends visiting Samui, and they stayed at a $1,200 a night resort. His wife was spending money in the spa, like there was no tomorrow. He invited me to lunch, and it was 29,000 baht for our group. I asked him about his habits. He told me they make millions a year (he was an attorney representing primarily Russian oligarch families, in London) and that they only took two vacations a year. Average 10 days to two weeks. This was a ten day trip. He told me for them, everything had to be first class, and there was no room for problems, issues, or things going wrong. He also told me in his mind, he had already budgeted $75,000 for the ten days, including business class airfare, etc. His hotel bill alone was probably $20,000, or more, with meals, spa, etc. So, that left $4,000 a day to be spent on the ground. I knew others like him. Thailand used to attract some of them. Very few these days. There are too many alternative countries, that work alot harder to cater to tourists of his caliber.

 

In terms of the Chinese spending alot of money, that is cumulative, not per person. Big difference. They are the largest group of tourists in the world these days. On any given day, there are 150,000,000 Chinese tourists traveling around the world. A very small percentage of them spend more than $100 a day. Very small. 

[spidermike007]

2 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

Have a look at the Data on this website, a lot of your presumptions are incorrect, in fact Chinese actually have the highest daily spend, (but stay the least amount of time). http://www.thaiwebsites.com/tourism-income-Thailand.asp

 

 

 

 

Tourism certainly isnt in decline either

 

 

I do not buy the numbers on that chart, for a nanosecond. The Chinese spending more per day than the Westerners. The vast majority of Chinese in Thailand come on very low budget tours, including airfare, hotel, hotel meals, etc. They do most of their shopping at 7/11. The only luxury spending they seem to do, is at King Power. The only way that chart could be accurate, is if they somehow averaged in what the 800 or so Chinese billionaires spend on their travel. Not sure how it would be possible for them to even access those figures. When it comes to charts and surveys, I always like to take into account what organization did the work, what their agenda was, and who paid for the study. Alot can be learned from that. 

 

This article relates specifically to Chinese visiting Russia, but alot of the detail relates to Thailand too, in that most of the tours are similar. 

 

https://carnegie.ru/commentary/75921

 

 

Edited November 24, 2018 by spidermike007

[Kasane]

A drop in Chinese tourists in Thailand and around the world is to be expected with Chinese stock market in bear territory. With the markets in doldrums the wealth effect vanishes and disposable income takes a hit.

[simoh1490]

23 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

 

Who ever said anything about average? There is nothing average about someone who spends $4,000 a day on a vacation. I had some friends visiting Samui, and they stayed at a $1,200 a night resort. His wife was spending money in the spa, like there was no tomorrow. He invited me to lunch, and it was 29,000 baht for our group. I asked him about his habits. He told me they make millions a year (he was an attorney representing primarily Russian oligarch families, in London) and that they only took two vacations a year. Average 10 days to two weeks. This was a ten day trip. He told me for them, everything had to be first class, and there was no room for problems, issues, or things going wrong. He also told me in his mind, he had already budgeted $75,000 for the ten days, including business class airfare, etc. His hotel bill alone was probably $20,000, or more, with meals, spa, etc. So, that left $4,000 a day to be spent on the ground. I knew others like him. Thailand used to attract some of them. Very few these days. There are too many alternative countries, that work alot harder to cater to tourists of his caliber.

 

In terms of the Chinese spending alot of money, that is cumulative, not per person. Big difference. They are the largest group of tourists in the world these days. On any given day, there are 150,000,000 Chinese tourists traveling around the world. A very small percentage of them spend more than $100 a day. Very small. 

7

"Who ever said anything about average?" - I did, it's the only number that matters, anything else, high or low, if per person, is purely anecdotal and irrelevant.

 

 "A very small percentage of them spend more than $100 a day. Very small". If you look at the post above yours above you'll see a table of average spend per person, by country, note that the Chinese spend per person is around $178 and that was in 2016. To get to that sort of number as an average you need a shed load of people spending above that number IF as you suggest, only "a very small percentage of them spend more than $100 per day".

[DrTuner]

10 hours ago, Fex Bluse said:

China has used tourism as a weapon for awhile now

All part of their big plan. I've huge respect to Xi in the way he managed to usurp all power and how the commies execute on their 30y plans. The western millenials are going to be fish in a barrel.

[DrTuner]

3 hours ago, Srikcir said:

Where are the VIP channels for other foreign tourists?

I went through the Chinese VIP thing last month at swampy. Maybe I've picked up Asian traits to my Northern European visage since they pointed me to go there. Or maybe it was because the lane was basically empty. The VIP treatment I got was the IO asking me about how many kids I got, giving a smile and wishing a good day.

[joecoolfrog]

6 hours ago, Vacuum said:

Anyone who enter Thailand with a non-Thai passport.

Yes that appears to be the case. So a Laos trades person who crosses the border every few days to sell goods will show up in monthly figures as 20 tourists.

[Vacuum]

24 minutes ago, joecoolfrog said:

Yes that appears to be the case. So a Laos trades person who crosses the border every few days to sell goods will show up in monthly figures as 20 tourists.

If you mean Mae Sai, I think the Lao persons are allowed to pass the border and going back without any passport stampings.

 

Edit. Sorry, I was thinking of Myanmar, but it wouldn't surprice me if the Lao border have something similar.

Edited November 24, 2018 by Vacuum

[GeorgeCross]

3 hours ago, shackleton said:

The Brits need to make the most of their spending power  before Brexit

on holidays to Thailand ect 

after they exit  quite a few will be staying at home 

 

lol - in ya dreams

 

 

[simoh1490]

Whether or not the system of counting tourists today is accurate or not is debatable, the fact is though that the system is the same one that has always been used hence the numbers on any given day, relative to the next day is probably what is important to see. So when they say the number of visitors has fallen by 0.51% that's probably correct, whether or not the underlying numbers are correct is another story.

[Vacuum]

Numbers of visitors, does it really matter. I for one wouldn't lose any sleep because of less tourists.

[sjaak327]

3 hours ago, JAG said:

 

Somehow I doubt that many of the Laos workers here pay income tax - I could be wrong...

True, not income tax as such, but you can be sure their wages are not tax free. 

[JAG]

52 minutes ago, sjaak327 said:

True, not income tax as such, but you can be sure their wages are not tax free. 

Yes, there are doubtless various "informal fiscal arrangements" which transfer money to the pockets of the authorities, if not the coffers of the state.

[stanleycoin]

5 hours ago, shackleton said:

The Brits need to make the most of their spending power  before Brexit

on holidays to Thailand ect 

after they exit  quite a few will be staying at home 

Whys that ?. Did the weather improve and all the Muslims leave. 

[Fex Bluse]

6 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

I asked about a 2011 Chianti they had on the list. I was told they were out of stock. I asked about a Barbaresco, at 2,600 baht. Again, out of stock. How about this Nebbiolo? Do you have the 2010, as stated on the list? No, we only have the 2015. OK, what is that wine like? Is it drinking well now? I do not know. Is there anyone here that is familiar with this wine list? No. Sorry sir. Wait a minute. You have 100 bottles on this list, ranging from 1200 baht to 10,000 baht per bottle, and NOBODY who works here knows anything about the wine? Are you serious? We all just looked at each other, and got up and walked out. We realized the restaurant was a pretender. And more than likely the food was marginal at best. It was all dressed up to look like a very nice Italian restaurant. But, it appeared to be only window dressing. High end tourists have little patience for that lack of quality and lack of service

All VERY standard operating procedure in Thailand. And, this fakery can be applied to almost anything Thais do. 

 

Professor at top tier Thai uni

 

Military or police donning dozens of medals 

 

CEO of airline 

 

Thai English teacher

 

Not all do, but SO MANY Thai people base their entire lives around webs of deceit and incompetence, it's almost otherworldly. And it's the thing that clued up farang end up hating about the country. There is almost no honesty in Thailand. 

[simoh1490]

8 minutes ago, Fex Bluse said:

All VERY standard operating procedure in Thailand. And, this fakery can be applied to almost anything Thais do. 

 

Professor at top tier Thai uni

 

Military or police donning dozens of medals 

 

CEO of airline 

 

Thai English teacher

 

Not all do, but SO MANY Thai people base their entire lives around webs of deceit and incompetence, it's almost otherworldly. And it's the thing that clued up farang end up hating about the country. There is almost no honesty in Thailand. 

So why stay or even come here in the first place?

[Fex Bluse]

15 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

So why stay or even come here in the first place?

God, I tire of this retort, so I'll be a bit nasty.

 

I am wealthy, have a young, attractive wife whose family is intimately connected to influential Thai people in industry and government. In Thailand, I own a villa on the water in Phuket and a cabin in the mountains in addition to a condo near wireless road. I don't need to work, but I do to keep busy in my old age. I read, write, speak and understand Thai reasonably well. I've lived in nearly a dozen countries. Most of the old expats I came up with have passed on, sadly, so I do lack many close friends. So, to pass time, I travel and tend to my garden. We are just back from several weeks in Mykonos, Greece. 

 

I go whereved I want as I'm unrestricted by lack of wealth or passport. And I live wherever I want. And, I complain as often as I like because I love complaining. I complained when I lived in Singapore and I complain now. 

 

Does that answer your question? 

[BritManToo]

9 minutes ago, Fex Bluse said:

I am wealthy, have a young, attractive wife whose family is intimately connected to influential Thai people in industry and government.

Is it only the Thais that indulge in 'deceit and fakery'?

I'm thinking there are many foreigners adding to the dream world.

 

As for the Chinese, I browse the female profiles in 'WeChat' when a bit bored (nearby females).

I noticed more Chinese females 'nearby' than have been about for several weeks, 2 pages in place of the normal 1 page (or less).

So in Chiang Mai I believe Loi Kratong may have attracted up to 50-100% more Chinese visitors.

Edited November 24, 2018 by BritManToo

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I'm trying to figure this one out, re the OP article.

 

The Brits and the Aussies are NOT on the list of the highest number of arriving tourists by nation.

 

But they ARE on the list of the highest spending tourists by nation.

 

On the other hand, the Americans, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, etc are on both lists -- most incoming tourists, and highest spending tourists.

 

How did the Brits and Aussies manage that one, assuming the TAT data has even the slightest resemblance to reality?

 

Quote

 

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. 

...

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. 

 

 

Hmm.... when I translate the Bangkok Biz News article myself, I get a somewhat different list. My Thai to English translation doesn't seem to have the U.S. in the first group of most tourists by nation.
 

Quote

 

The top 10 tourists included China, Malaysia, Laos, Korea, Japan, India, Russia, Cambodia, and Singapore, respectively.

 

Top 10 earning tourists included China, Malaysia, Russia, USA, Japan, Korea, UK, Australia, Laos, and India respectively. 

 

 

Edited November 24, 2018 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[damascase]

Passed through - and stopped at - the Golden Triangle yesterday, a wellknown tourist spot at the point where the borders of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand meet. Never seen it so quiet before, almost no tourists, about half of the shops etc. closed.

[simoh1490]

47 minutes ago, Fex Bluse said:

God, I tire of this retort, so I'll be a bit nasty.

 

I am wealthy, have a young, attractive wife whose family is intimately connected to influential Thai people in industry and government. In Thailand, I own a villa on the water in Phuket and a cabin in the mountains in addition to a condo near wireless road. I don't need to work, but I do to keep busy in my old age. I read, write, speak and understand Thai reasonably well. I've lived in nearly a dozen countries. Most of the old expats I came up with have passed on, sadly, so I do lack many close friends. So, to pass time, I travel and tend to my garden. We are just back from several weeks in Mykonos, Greece. 

 

I go whereved I want as I'm unrestricted by lack of wealth or passport. And I live wherever I want. And, I complain as often as I like because I love complaining. I complained when I lived in Singapore and I complain now. 

 

Does that answer your question? 

....and despite all of that you spend your time on Thaivisa Forum......pull the other one, it's got bells on!

 

The wonderful thing about the internet is that people can be whatever or whoever they want to be, getting others to believe it is something else however.

 

I think I'll put you on my ignore list just for the heck of it.

 

Goodbye.

[Fex Bluse]

17 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

I think I'll put you on my ignore list just for the heck of it.

 

Goodbye.

All the best. 

[zzaa09]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

Is it only the Thais that indulge in 'deceit and fakery'?

I'm thinking there are many foreigners adding to the dream world.

 

As for the Chinese, I browse the female profiles in 'WeChat' when a bit bored (nearby females).

I noticed more Chinese females 'nearby' than have been about for several weeks, 2 pages in place of the normal 1 page (or less).

So in Chiang Mai I believe Loi Kratong may have attracted up to 50-100% more Chinese visitors.

Actually - fakery, deceit, and illusion come much more honestly and exceedingly commonplace within the Western character. ????

 

With the exception of those whom don't recognize the reality as such. 

????

[HalfLight]

9 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Amazing. Someone in a position of authority spoke the truth? Astonishing actually. 

 

I think perhaps a few decades from now, they will have tourism classes at university, where they will discuss how Thailand lost the golden egg of Western tourism. Those tourists, unlike most Chinese tourists, spent anywhere from $100 a day, to over $4,000 a day. They brought real money into the country, and in exchange, were treated with utter and complete disregard, scammed, disrespected, and abused. Eventually, most said no more. Thailand thought the country was something very special, and that nobody would ever say no, or find alternative places to visit. The fact is that there are countless other spots, many in this region, that offer better service, more expertise in food and beverage (especially wine service and selection at fair prices, which rich tourists demand), reasonable import duties to sustain a luxury goods market, better training, and far better english skills. Thailand simply lost sight of the big picture, and had very little vision, with regard to big spending tourists, who need to be catered to, instead of scorned.  

 

 So, what happened? The Western tourists started to decline in number, and the genius minds at the TAT decided it was time to "lure" the Chinese. They came. They came in droves. But, they did not spend much money. Hotels, restaurants, gift shops, jewelers, galleries, spas, massage shops, bars, and countless other businesses suffered, and will continue to suffer from this extreme myopia, on the part of the officials in charge of tourism. Oh well. Can't say they were not warned. Zero baht tourists are perhaps the majority who visit Thailand now. Sure, they spend some money in restaurants, and in 7/11. But, that is about it, for some of the super low budget Chinese tours. Not many rich Chinese are not visiting Thailand, for a dozen good reasons. They have too many other options.

 

There are countless things the government could be doing, if they wanted to attract the high quality tourists. The very first thing would be to repeal the anti faring wine bill, that was passed by a few very corrupt senators way back when, to protect an anemic local wine industry. They are losing billions of dollars a year in revenue, that would be had from a 100% wine duty, instead of 460%. The five star hotels would have major wine events, and the entire industry would flourish here. 

 

I was recently with a group of friends, and we wanted to order a bottle of wine, at of one of those high end restaurants in the EmQuartier complex. It was Bella Rocca Restaurant. I asked about a 2011 Chianti they had on the list. I was told they were out of stock. I asked about a Barbaresco, at 2,600 baht. Again, out of stock. How about this Nebbiolo? Do you have the 2010, as stated on the list? No, we only have the 2015. OK, what is that wine like? Is it drinking well now? I do not know. Is there anyone here that is familiar with this wine list? No. Sorry sir. Wait a minute. You have 100 bottles on this list, ranging from 1200 baht to 10,000 baht per bottle, and NOBODY who works here knows anything about the wine? Are you serious? We all just looked at each other, and got up and walked out. We realized the restaurant was a pretender. And more than likely the food was marginal at best. It was all dressed up to look like a very nice Italian restaurant. But, it appeared to be only window dressing. High end tourists have little patience for that lack of quality and lack of service. 

But again, the lack of vision, combined with a naive, surly, silly, churlish, and ignorant sense of nationalism, bites the country in the butt. And again, who is the loser? The Thai people. 

The entire country is suffering from a declining tourism industry. And that will not change. It is a permanent declining trend. For a hundred valid reasons. 

 

Bet you'll be called a Thai-basher by the thickocracy, but I fear you're pretty much on the button. Thailand is only interested in a quick profit, perhaps selling large prawns for some ungody amount. The people who demand good service will be disappointed, as you experienced for yourself.

 

Well, they can't say they weren't warned, there's been lots of warnings. But naturally, Thais know best. Thailand came to prominence on the back of the US dollar, and soldiers randy for ready young (and not very discriminating) crumpet. Their ability to transition to an up-marked tourism industry has been laughable - as you say, they lied, cheated and stole from the people who were their revenue stream. Not smart, but then they've been brought up on boiled rice and myths about them being somehow superior, mainly spread by those of their countrymen who were busy exploiting them...

 

Like all things, it had to end sometime, perhaps this is it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[HalfLight]

2 hours ago, Fex Bluse said:

All VERY standard operating procedure in Thailand. And, this fakery can be applied to almost anything Thais do. 

 

Professor at top tier Thai uni

 

Military or police donning dozens of medals 

 

CEO of airline 

 

Thai English teacher

 

Not all do, but SO MANY Thai people base their entire lives around webs of deceit and incompetence, it's almost otherworldly. And it's the thing that clued up farang end up hating about the country. There is almost no honesty in Thailand. 

 

Sorry to say it, but you're right. Corruption is endemic in SE Asia, same as all tin-pot countries - Africa's a really good example, as is Latin America.  Thailand isn't learning the lesson, though others are. Dishonesty in Thailand stretches from the village head man right to the top and back again, it's a way of life. Police, military, civil service, big business, they're all at it, and they will always be at it until they get a decent government in Thailand who'll build enough new, large prisons to stop it. It won't happen in my lifetime.

 

In the meantime though, they provide decent entertainment by telling anyone who'll listen how smart and soffistimicated they are.

 

Enjoy.

 

 

Edited November 24, 2018 by HalfLight

[spidermike007]

15 minutes ago, HalfLight said:

 

Bet you'll be called a Thai-basher by the thickocracy, but I fear you're pretty much on the button. Thailand is only interested in a quick profit, perhaps selling large prawns for some ungody amount. The people who demand good service will be disappointed, as you experienced for yourself.

 

Well, they can't say they weren't warned, there's been lots of warnings. But naturally, Thais know best. Thailand came to prominence on the back of the US dollar, and soldiers randy for ready young (and not very discriminating) crumpet. Their ability to transition to an up-marked tourism industry has been laughable - as you say, they lied, cheated and stole from the people who were their revenue stream. Not smart, but then they've been brought up on boiled rice and myths about them being somehow superior, mainly spread by those of their countrymen who were busy exploiting them...

 

Like all things, it had to end sometime, perhaps this is it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

but then they've been brought up on boiled rice and myths about them being somehow superior, mainly spread by those of their countrymen who were busy exploiting them...

 

Like all things, it had to end sometime, perhaps this is it.

 

Pretty classic line. The nationalism hogwash is quite laughable. A first year law student could convince nearly anyone that the merit just is not there to justify the whole superiority nonsense. Nobels? Science awards? World shattering inventions? Great mathematicians?

 

 You are spot on about the politicians who use the mind numbing fake nationalism to achieve their goals of astounding enrichment. It continues to this day. Perhaps even more so. What are the constant postponements of the elections really about? Mucho dinero.

[zzaa09]

Imagine a Thailand slightly vacant of foreign tourists and residents. 

 

Paradise.

Societal beneficiary. 

[Fex Bluse]

2 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Is it only the Thais that indulge in 'deceit and fakery'?

I'm thinking there are many foreigners adding to the dream world.

 

As for the Chinese, I browse the female profiles in 'WeChat' when a bit bored (nearby females).

I noticed more Chinese females 'nearby' than have been about for several weeks, 2 pages in place of the normal 1 page (or less).

So in Chiang Mai I believe Loi Kratong may have attracted up to 50-100% more Chinese visitors.

No, not only the Thais. However, I've not lived in another country where the fakery is so pervasive. Every country in SEA for sure is less fake. The ME was a bit off too, but, while lying when one doesn't know was common, their emotional offerings were at least genuine. 

 

Here, what they say is usually fake, same for what they do and even what they feel. All fake 

[joecoolfrog]

On 11/24/2018 at 8:09 AM, Vacuum said:

If you mean Mae Sai, I think the Lao persons are allowed to pass the border and going back without any passport stampings.

 

Edit. Sorry, I was thinking of Myanmar, but it wouldn't surprice me if the Lao border have something similar.

Yes I believe that may be the case in certain circumstances ( can only travel a certain distance.) Thats not to say there still isn't a headcount which gets added on to the figures lol.

A million Laos tourists  is simply not feasible so some group or other are hopping across the border and being classified as such.