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

[marcusarelus]

14 minutes ago, Jiggo said:

OMG they (TAT) are scraping the bottom of the barrel now, what next affluent North Korean's  

The Chinese and Indians can get money out of China and India because of relatives and family banks in Thailand.  Don't think the Koreans have those here.

[DrTuner]

18 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

The average is like 99% stays in Thailand as the purpose of most trips is to get money out of China.  Chinese afraid economy collapsing. 

 

9 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

The Chinese and Indians can get money out of China and India because of relatives and family banks in Thailand.  Don't think the Koreans have those here.

 

That's a nasty liability for Thailand, if foreign controlled money is sitting in Thailand, waiting to move somewhere else at a moment's notice..

[MisterPenguin]

29 minutes ago, Jiggo said:

OMG they (TAT) are scraping the bottom of the barrel now, what next affluent North Korean's  

All been done before in the Mediterranean. Target the next big tourist market, rip them off until nobody comes back, then on to the next one. Eventually there's nothing left; the golden goose is dead and everyone turns around, asking 'What did we do? Why don't nobody love us any more? We have polluted seas, rubbish-strewn beaches and scams just everywhere - who could ask for more?'.

 

Nothing new under the sun.

 

Sadly, nothing original either, human nature and  greed are the same everywhere.

 

 

[Nyezhov]

3 hours ago, dunroaming said:

You rarely find them in a gutter, drunk and peeing their pants.

Yeah well they just dont-know-how-to-par-ar-ar-ar-ty then.

 

Ill teach them, Come on, Rock n fn roll you wuss bastids, there is a sale on Chang at 7-11 and the gutters are dry, whos with me, yes you there Gupta, come on, real men puke in their turbans, lets Gooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!

*then I be like doing the fat waddle to the 7-11 with like 6 indian guys wearing wife beaters and Muay Thai shorts following me and looking scared*

 

I still like the one about the dude dumping the stinkbomb in the bin. Thats farang style that probably Indians could master easily, although the thought of curry is tough.....

[spidermike007]

11 hours ago, Matt96 said:

high spending?!

 

for 5000 a month guesthouses and Chang beers? lol a few days ago I saw one of these" high spending westerners" eating shitty tuna with shitty bread and shitty beer from 7-11 in a food court (free aircon and tables!)

 

Chinese tourists gave Thailand more money then all Westerners. This is a fact you cant accept))

You are missing the point. There were thousands of very high end Western spenders for many years. Few have decided to return. We are not talking about ex-pats on a budget here. We are talking about the $2000 to $4000 a day tourists. Very few high end Chinese coming. Very few will come. Same with Indians. Services are not up to par. Thailand continues to miss the mark. 

[Jonah Tenner]

On 3/18/2019 at 6:43 PM, 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... 

One should also factor in that the cost of living index in India is on the average half of what it is in Thailand.

https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/rankings_by_country.jsp

https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/rankings.jsp

[Swedenlars]

You are missing the point. There were thousands of very high end Western spenders for many years. Few have decided to return. We are not talking about ex-pats on a budget here. We are talking about the $2000 to $4000 a day tourists. Very few high end Chinese coming. Very few will come. Same with Indians. Services are not up to par. Thailand continues to miss the mark. 

Very true. The Chinese might have paid more in terms of absolute figures. But this money never found its way to the small Thai retail business. Only a few big corrupt tour operators became rich. All these cheap charly chinese tourist come to Thailand with a package tour. They don't spend any money here. All is included. I talked to some Thai business people and they all confirm this. But ok TAT. go ahead with Indians. Good luck.

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[joecoolfrog]

21 hours ago, Pilotman said:

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. 

You are forgetting that the Thais proudly ( and somewhat eroneously) boast that they were never colonised.

[marcusarelus]

37 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

You are missing the point. There were thousands of very high end Western spenders for many years. Few have decided to return. We are not talking about ex-pats on a budget here. We are talking about the $2000 to $4000 a day tourists. Very few high end Chinese coming. Very few will come. Same with Indians. Services are not up to par. Thailand continues to miss the mark. 

You are missing the point.  The Chinese are desperately trying to get cash out of China and much of it is coming to Thailand.  It comes by a variety of methods but come it does.  Far more than the Farang spent.  Check the foreign currency balance 2002 to today.  https://tradingeconomics.com/thailand/foreign-exchange-reserves

[marcusarelus]

14 minutes ago, joecoolfrog said:

You are forgetting that the Thais proudly ( and somewhat eroneously) boast that they were never colonised.

Somewhat erroneously?  Pray tell us who colonized Thailand?  

[DrTuner]

1 hour ago, Nyezhov said:

I still like the one about the dude dumping the stinkbomb in the bin. Thats farang style that probably Indians could master easily, although the thought of curry is tough.....

 

[Nyezhov]

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

here were thousands of very high end Western spenders for many years. Few have decided to return. We are not talking about ex-pats on a budget here. We are talking about the $2000 to $4000 a day tourists.

You mean the ones who go to the fully booked high end resorts that you cant afford? The folks who dont pay attention to the angst on  TVF becuase the get a private transfer to their palatial surroundings and have no need to know anything more. Have a truffle.

Edited March 19, 2019 by Nyezhov

[Swedenlars]

You are missing the point.  The Chinese are desperately trying to get cash out of China and much of it is coming to Thailand.  It comes by a variety of methods but come it does.  Far more than the Farang spent.  Check the foreign currency balance 2002 to today.  https://tradingeconomics.com/thailand/foreign-exchange-reserves

And you are missing point completely as well. That is another story. I hope you have noticed, we are takling here about tourist arrivals. But this is often case in this forum. Mixing up things.

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[DrTuner]

8 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

The folks who dont pay attention to the angst on  TVF becuase the get a private transfer to their palatial surroundings and have no need to know anything more.

Alas, unless it's a helicopter, they get stuck in the traffic the same as normal mortals. 

[ravip]

4 hours ago, DrTuner said:

I have a pet theory about India and the British East India Company. Maybe it was the Brits who brought the corrupt form of government to Asia. They seemed to let their colonies run all sorts of rackets.

Absolutely correct!

[Nyezhov]

10 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

Alas, unless it's a helicopter, they get stuck in the traffic the same as normal mortals. 

Its nice in the back seat of a Benz

[ravip]

4 hours ago, DrTuner said:

Yes but they'd have an even thicker layer of dung if the colonization never happened. Probably would still be just a bunch of tribes trying to whack each other off.

I cant expect anything different from you. 

[ravip]

4 hours ago, dunroaming said:

I have been going to India for over twenty years and the difference now is more than noticeable.  There is still a massive difference between the poor and the rich and you will get different impressions from different experiences.  I deal with middle class Indians in the cities mainly and they are always polite savvy individuals though notoriously lacking in a western sense of humour.  Miles away from rural India and the poverty and hardship you find there.

 

But just like China, India is booming and there are massive changes coming all the time.  I am sure that targeting older middle class Indians is a sensible move for TAT, in the long term.  However they need to be selective and the Thais tend to just go after the rupees no matter who has them.

However they need to be selective and the Thais tend to just go after the rupees no matter who has them.

They should learn by now by the standards some westerners have shown.

[nong38]

Thailand must open cricket stadiums and have 20/20 matches plus the ever popular Test Match, Thailand does understand this  and what a toss is?

[DrTuner]

10 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

Its nice in the back seat of a Benz

It's passable. I prefer the S600L. 

[Swedenlars]

It's passable. I prefer the S600L. 

Me Maybach.

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[DrTuner]

2 minutes ago, Swedenlars said:

Me Maybach.

Of course, coming from Swampy to Patts needs the proper transportation:

 

 

I think they can fit about 150 Indians in/on/at that.

 

[marcusarelus]

32 minutes ago, Swedenlars said:

And you are missing point completely as well. That is another story. I hope you have noticed, we are takling here about tourist arrivals. But this is often case in this forum. Mixing up things.

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They come on a tourist visa and buy a condo with 4 million cash and then go back home.  How much did the tourist who bought the condo spend?  4 million new cash brought into the Thai economy.  More jobs more money more of everything.  Tourist comes back once a year and stays in his condo and buys high ticket items.  What am I mixing up?  Do your tourists have money than mine?  Comes from China goes to Thailand stays in Thailand. 

[DrTuner]

10 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

They come on a tourist visa and buy a condo with 4 million cash and then go back home.  How much did the tourist who bought the condo spend?  4 million new cash brought into the Thai economy.  More jobs more money more of everything.  Tourist comes back once a year and stays in his condo and buys high ticket items.  What am I mixing up?  Do your tourists have money than mine?  Comes from China goes to Thailand stays in Thailand. 

This used to be quite normal with Western snowbirds, buying a holiday home and spending a few months in it, with all the modern trappings. Doesn't seem like it's happening anymore, the Chinese took that over too. Westies seem to be selling and leaving. At least there are buyers.

[marcusarelus]

10 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

This used to be quite normal with Western snowbirds, buying a holiday home and spending a few months in it, with all the modern trappings. Doesn't seem like it's happening anymore, the Chinese took that over too. Westies seem to be selling and leaving. At least there are buyers.

No surprise.  Currency down vs baht and people leave. 

[kickstart]

On 3/18/2019 at 8:07 PM, Nyezhov said:

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.

I would say wealthy Indians, would go to the USA or Europe to visit son's, daughters .grandchildren  ect rather than vist a country, that is not so different from their own . 

[marcusarelus]

6 minutes ago, kickstart said:

I would say wealthy Indians, would go to the USA or Europe to visit son's, daughters .grandchildren  ect rather than vist a country, that is not so different from their own . 

Indian men will come because Thai women are not the same as Indian women. 

[Swedenlars]

Indian men will come because Thai women are not the same as Indian women. 

Really ? Do they have a horizontal one :)

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[Scott]

A post with a racial slur has been removed.

[Monkeyrobot]

On 3/18/2019 at 7:19 PM, Justgrazing said:

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 .. 

I was at Koh Larn and I witnessed two Indians in there mid 50s arguing with a beach chair boy over 10Baht.