Pattaya high season hotel bookings well down on 2017 - but there could be a reason say THA

[jacko45k]

Interesting to get some Chinese perspective. 

[marcusarelus]

10 hours ago, Ctkong said:

Sorry. I am not mainland Chinese but Malaysian Chinese. I am in tune with those mainland Chinese though. 

You can take that kind of money out of china if you want to invest in overseas. Why not? I have many Chinese friends buying real estate in Canada, America, Australia, NZ and Thailand too. 

So long as you get the approval of the State admins of foreign exchange showing where your money come from. 

Why not?  It is illegal.  Chinese citizens are barred from sending money abroad to buy property. 
Beijing only allows its citizens to purchase up to US$50,000 dollars in foreign currency a year.

Chinese banks have to report customers that withdraw more than $10,000 in one day. 

 

Sorry but you don't know much about China. 

 

You could tell us how it's done if you knew.  I'm sure many would be interested why so many Chinese tourists really come to Thailand. 

[Ctkong]

1 hour ago, marcusarelus said:

Why not?  It is illegal.  Chinese citizens are barred from sending money abroad to buy property. 
Beijing only allows its citizens to purchase up to US$50,000 dollars in foreign currency a year.

Chinese banks have to report customers that withdraw more than $10,000 in one day. 

 

Sorry but you don't know much about China. 

 

You could tell us how it's done if you knew.  I'm sure many would be interested why so many Chinese tourists really come to Thailand. 

I have been at least more than 100 times to China staying 2 weeks to 3 weeks sometimes. Doing business with many Chinese companies too. Know their method of operation . They can send money overseas both legally ( using relatives to send as each can send less than $50,000 a year) and under the radar too. The savvy ones would use exported goods for payment to overseas accounts. So I know what I am talking about. No use BS in this forum because I only want to provide a balance view on issues pertaining to Chinese culture. 

Believe me when I said there are literally millions of Chinese doing this, it is true. Travel companies do it by using contra system with Thai travel companies by sending their customers who had already paid to the Chinese companies in China. Thai companies would get the tour amount balance only after the contra. That is why sometimes thai companies didn’t get paid at the end of the tour so they held onto the Chinese tour guide ( who is acting kinda like a guarantor) until balance is paid. 

So many tourists come to Thailand because the rural folks are curious about the world outside . Western culture do not appeal to the rural folks. They are more interested in their immediate neighbor. Also Thailand is a cheap tour. 

Food culture also acceptable to the rural Chinese . The savvy types already visited Thailand before so would bypass Thailand for other more developed countries . Chinese used to buy branded goods when overseas ( they came with a shopping list) before but now it is available at competitive prices in china too. 

Those buying properties in Thailand are those looking to invest in a second home via BnB or short lease . They can’t buy a second home in china the reason being that they do not pay the correct amount of taxes for their income. 

I hope this is enough information for you . Thanks. 

[Ctkong]

Replying to the poster as to why so many Chinese come visit Thailand . There are a few reasons for that. 

China has a huge population so even a small percentage of traveling Chinese would be a huge number. Those Chinese are mainly rural folks who rarely travel outside their comfort zone. The savvy ones already visited Thailand years ago when outward visas are not easy. They got to have a bond of yuan 50,000 for each overseas travel in case they don’t come back. This is even for business travel. 

Thailand has cheap tours providing beaches and islands which are lacking for those Chinese living inland. Going to beaches in china is more costly than Thailand because they are also further.!

 

Thailand is closer  to them as most of the thailand visitors are from southern China so traveling distance is not big. Food culture is similar too. Cheap too. 

 

Rural folks like to travel in a big entourage eating and drinking en mass. A Chinese village can organize a tour of a few hundred people from same village with the headman as tour leader. This is true story. My Thai friend who has a tour company once has a chartered plane load of about 500 tourists from a hainan island  village. Need more than 10 tour buses and guides. I help out as an interpreter for one of the buses .free of course. 

 

As investment wise, Thailand is not so attractive because of prohibited landed house ownership. The savvy ones would invest in western countries incl. Australia and NZ. Chinese are obsessed with landed properties. They have less faith in condos. Those who invested in chiangmai or Bangkok have an eye in renting them to social groups for short holiday stint. Chinese do not long stay unlike westerners because they have commitments at home. 

That is my take on the above.