Thailand looks to India for new wave of high spending senior citizen tourists

 

Image: Reuters

 

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is targeting high spending senior citizens from India to make up the next wave of foreign tourists to visit Thailand.

 

This weekend the TAT held an event in New Delhi aimed at trying to tempt Indian retirees or those aged over 55 to visit Thailand on holiday.

 

During the ‘Amazing Thailand Golden Experience’ event, Thailand was promoted and showcased as an ideal destination for travelers who like to explore new destinations and enjoy memorable experiences, Indian news site The Pioneer reported.

 

The event detailed top attractions and activities that senior citizen travelers would enjoy, such as staying in boutique hotels, dining in Michelin Star restaurants, taking luxury cruises and relaxing at world class spas, as well as activities such as visiting a floating market, flower arranging and learning how to cook Thai food.

 

According to TAT New Delhi director Isra Stapanaseth, “Apart from the various attractions, warm Thai hospitality and welcoming nature of the Thai people is one of the main reasons that makes Thailand a favourite holiday destination among senior travelers.”

 

The report said that due to the close proximity, increasing number of direct flights, year round good weather and the visa on arrival facility, Thailand is now a destination of choice for Indian travellers over 55 years of age.

 

The news comes after Thai tourism chiefs said they expected a huge increase in tourism from India.

 

By 2028 10 million Indians will visit Thailand annually, the head of the Association of Thai Travel Agents said last December.

 

In January, it was announced that Thailand would waive the visa on arrival fee for tourists from India and 20 other countries.

 

On February 14, Thailand officially launched its new eVisa On Arrival (eVOA) service enables faster, more convenient arrival into Thailand for travellers from India and 20 other countries.  

 

By contrast, a survey carried out by Thaivisa in August 2018 gave an insight into the changing dynamics of tourists and expats in Thailand.

 

The survey found that fewer Westerners are arriving in Thailand than ever before, while there was also a decline in working Westerner expats.  

 

Many expats had decided to leave Thailand, citing financial pressures due to rising costs of living.

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2019-03-18

Great, so now it will be 10 octogenarian Indian men standing around a single hooker on Beach Road, rather than ones in their 30's... 

Has any one seen the Rupee Baht rates?......1,000 Rupees gets you 430 Baht......There will be no mass India tourism till this improves... 

Ooh, another gold mine identified. I wonder if this one will deliver the golden goose. None of the others seem to have done. Thailand quickly going the same way as Spain and Greece.

Thailand had loads of high spending westerners for decades until they decided to trade them in for millions of zero dollar Chinese tourist.. 

24 minutes ago, fforest1 said:

Thailand had loads of high spending westerners for decades until they decided to trade them in for millions of zero dollar Chinese tourist.. 

Yup. Som nam na. Enough is never enough, so they keep coveting until the whole house of cards falls down. Which I am convinced we are seeing now - or the beginnings of it at least..

 

 

Edited March 18, 20197 yr by MisterPenguin

God bloody blimey .. Thing is Indians are legendary for being frugal , they don't even like renting out sunlounger's on the beach .. And the negotiations about the boat rental to Koh Larn can go on for ages and get very animated with loads of arm waving and head shaking .. So it is optimistic to believe they are the new big spenders .. And when was the last time you seen an Indian " ling the bell " in a bar .. Exactly .. 

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

targeting high spending senior citizens from India to make up the next wave of foreign tourists to visit Thailand.

Does anyone know what counts as high spending? How much is that in Baht per day? 10,000? 20,000? 50,000?

Why would such a well-heeled person want to retire here? 

They had better change the Thai saying "If you see an Indian and a snake, kill the Indian first".

Well at least we know who we are being pushed out to make room for.

They will be right at home in Chiang Mai with air quality that rivals Delhi... 

 

Edited March 18, 20197 yr by sfokevin

I really don't know what would entice the Indian senior citizens to come to Thailand. If they want beaches, there is plenty of clean beach in Goa and Kerala. Jungle treks with real live tigers... And best of all, much better heath care. I would trust an Indian doctor over Thai any time. And Thailand even imports generic medicine made in India....

 

And, let's face it. There's just more culture in India.... do I say more? Even Thais do the pilgrimage to Bodgaya...

Edited March 18, 20197 yr by SpaceKadet

I'd suspect the elderly Indians that have got the cash can afford to go to better places than Thailand. 

5 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

I'd suspect the elderly Indians that have got the cash can afford to go to better places than Thailand. 

Indians-Americans are a very wealthy and sucessful population in the Land of Opportunity. They go back to Asia to see Mom, otherwise, its the Grand Canyon and Miami.

They tend to stay in cheap hotels, over occupy and cook in rooms with no facilities for it. Have been told this by a few Hotels employees in the past, maybe these new ones will be different?

2 hours ago, MisterPenguin said:

Ooh, another gold mine identified. I wonder if this one will deliver the golden goose. None of the others seem to have done. Thailand quickly going the same way as Spain and Greece.

Is there a named individual or department behind this?  Will they be giving numbers  showing their success or lack of it in the future?

Will there be accountability this time or will TAT just go on to the next idea with its budgets and meetings and holidays?  How's the millionaire cyclists idea working out TAT?

2 hours ago, fforest1 said:

Has any one seen the Rupee Baht rates?......1,000 Rupees gets you 430 Baht......There will be no mass India tourism till this improves... 

 

An economics lesson?

 

Don't quit your day job just yet. 

I Guess bored with Chinese now , so on to the next lot.

 

but in all honesty what Is wrong with us westerners? Why TAT not investing as much energy and resources to attract  westerners ?

2 hours ago, fforest1 said:

Has any one seen the Rupee Baht rates?......1,000 Rupees gets you 430 Baht......There will be no mass India tourism till this improves... 

True but India has an enormous population meaning many millions of very rich Indians many of whom not too worried about the exchange rate.

 

And when they come they will bring their awful arrogance and rudeness with them. 

 

 

1 hour ago, Orton Rd said:

They tend to stay in cheap hotels, over occupy and cook in rooms with no facilities for it. Have been told this by a few Hotels employees in the past, maybe these new ones will be different?

Did you think all those huge bags they  wheeling was full of clothing? NO, full of food????????

Porter at the Bel Air Princess told me they stink the place out and mess up the carpets!, that was a few years ago though.

TAT don't talk to Thai people on the street or selling goods at a stall in a mall.

 

I have. The last customer they want to see is an Indian along with Chinese.

 

Every nationality targeted or vainly attempted to woo by TAT over the last 15 years has been demographically the wrong group when it comes to length of visit and spending power.

They should have gone out of their way to reward and court all of Europe, U.S., Canada, Australia and N.Z. Easy (90 day) visas and safe regulated facilities.

But no. They let hoodlums and rip off merchants along with a pathetic excuse for a police force on the streets and beaches destroy any willingness to come back. People arrive on a tourist visa and instantly become considered a heiness criminal just because they want to stay longer and spend more money on accommodation and goods.? Meanwhile letting all manner of real criminals/terrorists/drug runners on Interpol watch lists flood in. 

 

Nothing will change in Thailand as long as the same people dominate the real working classes and poor struggling to earn 300 baht a day, which will be more obvious once again after the election.

 

 

3 minutes ago, BestB said:

Did you think all those huge bags they  wheeling was full of clothing? NO, full of food????????

And/or check-in one room or several rooms, charge copious amounts of food and drinks to the room number, then just disappear.

 

In one case I'm aware of in Ramkhamhaeng area they disappeared, as best can be established about 5 am, left a total bill of around 24,000Baht and the TV and bar fridge also gone. 

 

 

After living here so long I'm personally surprised that Indian nationals would choose Thailand for a holiday... well, other than young/middle-aged horny men, like most males in that age group worldwide.  Why am I surprised?

 

My perception is the Thais have never been very accepting of Indians.  This is even true of Thai nationals of Indian descent whose families have lived here for generations.  Way back when I was stationed here at Ubon RTAFB, during the late Vietnam War, the Thais referred to anyone of Indian ancestry as a 'cack', which means visitor, a pejorative term still popular today.  Even as a young GI I found that odd coming from the friendly Thais.  And we young USAF grunts were even warned by Thais not to trust doing business with cacks. Just like today, most Indians back then had stylish nice looking tailor shops.  I'm not sure if they were fronts for illegal drugs and/or loan sharking, etc., like some are today.  At any rate, the negative term 'cack' still applies to Indians and Middle Eastern people.  And, no, those folks aren't lumped into the non-oriental 'farang' catch-all category, like the rest of us.

 

Yep, it will be interesting to witness this planned mass influx of holiday cacks wildly spending their extremely weak vs Thai baht Indian Rupees.  Tick tock.

 

Oh wait... on second thought, aren't we all suffering from the super-inflated Thai baht?!

We are forgetting one thing, Asia will never forget or forgive the European's  colonial past in Asia. Regardless, they will always stick together and favour Asia and it's peoples over westerners. The Aussie/NZ wish to be considered part of the greater Asia peoples is doomed to failure. 

2 hours ago, SpaceKadet said:

And, let's face it. There's just more culture in India.... do I say more? Even Thais do the pilgrimage to Bodgaya...

While believing themselves to be superior to Indians in every conceivable way.

17 minutes ago, scorecard said:

And/or check-in one room or several rooms, charge copious amounts of food and drinks to the room number, then just disappear.

 

In one case I'm aware of in Ramkhamhaeng area they disappeared, as best can be established about 5 am, left a total bill of around 24,000Baht and the TV and bar fridge also gone. 

 

 

In my experience, they empty out mini bar then refill it from 7-11 and deny touching anything. Sadly too stupid to know all minibar bottles  are marked????

15 minutes ago, fusion58 said:

While believing themselves to be superior to Indians in every conceivable way.

Unfortunately, yes.

I watch daily as thai beach flunkys treat indian seniors ,young men/ woman and children like cattle , this is not bashing this is reality..its a disgusting shame..