Phuket tourism going down the pan just like Pattaya: Few tourists and much worse than last year

[NightSky]

What can I say, many Europeans, Brits, Australians etc have tightened their purses and due to the exchange rates Thailand is not the low cost haven iit used to be. I do feel for the Thai's who rely on tourism and exports because they will feel the pinch also.

 

However I get the feeling the powers that be want a more insular looking society that looks after itself, there will be casualties usually the poorest as usual.

Edited July 12, 2019 by NightSky

[Pukehina1]

Where are the rich Indian quality tourists they were belting on about the other week ... ???!!! 

[AntipodeanThai]

I came over to Ao Nang from Phuket earlier in the week. It makes Phuket look like a tardy dirty tacky down market dump,

[ukrules]

10 hours ago, webfact said:

It is not just Europeans feeling the pinch with their poor economies

Hahaha, every currency is trading badly against the baht - the problem must be with all of the Euro countries - you almost couldn't make this shit up.

[adammike]

8 hours ago, yogi100 said:

"The flights to Bkk are quite full though."

 

Although the topic is about Phuket I've visited Pattaya every year since 1999 and this low season is about as quiet as I've even seen it.

 

A couple of my chums who are also regular visitors and have recently arrived also said that their panes were practically full. The industrial action recently taken by Eva Air staff surely can't have accounted for it.

Bangkok is a hub.One of the highlights of using Bangkok as a hub is travelling between the two airports to get a flight to Vietnam or one of the islands.

[ukrules]

8 hours ago, Joe Mcseismic said:

The foreign exchange market is far bigger than any single countries power to influence their own currency.

Britain tried to support Sterling in 1993, but, still crashed out of the ERM. 

Thailand tried to do the same in 1997 and spent most of their foreign currency reserves.

In both cases, it was the foreign exchange market that determined the outcome. 

Tou do realise that capital controls are in place and the Baht is not freely traded in the international markets don't you?

 

Thought not.

 

Not freely traded = controlled. So yes, it is controlled to some degree, it's certainly not a free market valuation.

[Lashay]

38 minutes ago, Youlike said:

Do they also have criminal ladyboys in spain? Or corrupt cops?

Corrupt cops? Hell yes. Policia local are generally on par with cops here and Guardia Civil are still the jackboot thugs from the Franco era. Police National is somewhere between the 2.

 

But there, like here, vast majority of tourists have little to no interaction with any of the forces and they are not as obvious about whole thing.

[Chongalulu]

9 hours ago, Pilotman said:

Yes to all that, but on balance, I see no difference in terms of ripping off tourists here than say Spain, Cyprus, Malta,  most Caribbean islands. It goes on everywhere. 

Well up to a point,but the additional fare and travel time to Thailand has to be offset by cheapness/value for money and better experience. That advantage has eroded to the point that it isn’t worth it and there is better to be had on a long haul by going to Thailand’s neighbours. Caribbean islands have a greater proportion of all inclusive packages and European destinations like Spain Greece and especially  Turkey respond faster to a drop in trade by reducing prices. The stupid Thai mentality of holding or even increasing prices to compensate leaves them with a drop in business while the idiots scratch their heads wondering why. 

[Jiggo]

Glad it has nothing to do with overpriced drinks and goods, being ripped of by taxi drivers and not forgeting the general attitude in Puke,it to visitors then...

[Straight8]

$7.00 AUD for a coffee, a beer about $7 - $10 AUD (no, not talking about sitting in the front of 7-11 or living in some village) and you still get numskulls saying Thailand is cheap.

 

 

 

[bander]

23 minutes ago, laocowboy2 said:

Thanks for that - have not been to Jakarta for a long time so perhaps I should remedy that.

I have been there, worse traffic jam than Bangkok, impossible to get a taxi, bus transport and sky train is difficult if you dont study a map closely.

[Straight8]

8 hours ago, yogi100 said:

The bar girls definitely can see it, in Pattaya anyway. They collectively hate their govt and wish Taksin could come back.

Yet they're quoting 5,000 LT. Oh yeah, thats right, Thai economics 101 at its finest.

[Call]

This is good news for Thailand! Consequences of 40 million tourists are far to high. Back to basic, 15-20 million a year and Thailand smiles again ????

[metisdead]

SOme posts and replies discussing prostitution have been removed. 

[Joe Mcseismic]

6 minutes ago, ukrules said:

Tou do realise that capital controls are in place and the Baht is not freely traded in the international markets don't you?

 

Thought not.

 

Not freely traded = controlled. So yes, it is controlled to some degree, it's certainly not a free market valuation.

You are right, but, there are only 17 freely convertible currencies in the world.

The Thai Baht is still subject to the whims of the market place as 1997 proved, even when it was pegged to the US$.

[Lashay]

37 minutes ago, ThomasThBKK said:

Not surprising, the gin i like: https://th.liq9.asia/gin-mare-mediterranean-gin-700-ml.html 2730 THB 

in Spain: https://www.decantalo.com/en/ginebra-gin-mare.html 28 EUR 

 

28 EUR vs 78 EUR aka 178% difference.

 

You can be lucky to pay only twice the amount you would pay in Europe here. 

 

While not arguing the overall point you are trying to make, comparing the price of localy made product in its home region vs same product that is shipped half way around the world to a market with limited demand is self defeating.

 

Could just as well argue UK is way overpriced because 1kg banana leaf here is about £1 and in uk in the region of £20, a 1900% increase. We could pick and choose individual products like that all day.

 

If you really want to highlight individual products, try Thai beers in Europe and  ask why the hell are they nearly same price in supermarkets there as here, especially after having  shipping, import taxes and generally high sales taxes added on top.

[roadrunner32]

Needs at least an Euro about 37/38 and a Pound of 42/43 in order to gain the hope to improve this situation 

[ThomasThBKK]

While not arguing the overall point you are trying to make, comparing the price of localy made product in its home region vs same product that is shipped half way around the world to a market with limited demand is self defeating.
 
Could just as well argue UK is way overpriced because 1kg banana leaf here is about £1 and in uk in the region of £20, a 1900% increase. We could pick and choose individual products like that all day.
 
If you really want to highlight individual products, try Thai beers in Europe and  ask why the hell are they nearly same price in supermarkets there as here, especially after having  shipping, import taxes and generally high sales taxes added on top.

It's a difference if price fluctuations that are caused by supply and demand plus logistics or deliberately get manipulated by sky high import duty to protect the local alcohol mafia.

We can compare to a whiskey fron japan instead if you want.

I bet i can buy them for half the price in germany compared to thailand.



Sent from my LYA-L29 using Tapatalk

[marcusarelus]

21 minutes ago, Jiggo said:

Glad it has nothing to do with overpriced drinks and goods, being ripped of by taxi drivers and not forgeting the general attitude in Puke,it to visitors then...

How many years have you been complaining about this and has it stopped an increase in tourism?

[Guitarzan]

9 hours ago, Skallywag said:

Tourism numbers have doubled in the last 9 years, 19M to 38M.  A 30% drop is disturbing, but in reality there has been a 70% increase during the last 9 years.  World population has increased just 15% during the last 9 years, so Thailand tourism is doing OK statistically I would think.  

Where money is spent by tourists is another thing.  Hotels that are built for the wealthy, restaurants catering to wealthy tourists, shopping malls charging more than the USA for goods and services,  those are problems with business investors who are greedy and were just wrong about what average tourists want or need.   

To me the problem here is infrastructure and no effort to keep cities and tourist beach areas clean and green, like Singapore or Taiwan. 

Tourism can support a combination of red light/entertainment areas, shopping malls, family/ entertainment areas, and beaches.  Yet with all the VAT being paid in Thailand , you still have tourist areas riddled with garbage, broken sidewalks, and polluted beaches - to me it just shows that Thai people have no pride (other than the Wats - very clean and well kept - 55)

 

Oh please, I hope Thailand doesn't turn into an antiseptic Singapore!  

[adammike]

3 hours ago, somtumwrong said:

Not if the flight operates from or to the EU. I got paid 600 € for a flight 4 hours late, from BKK to the Nordics. Same applies to cancellations. A lot of misinformation about this topic, but I believe my bank statement when it says +600€ from the airline. Hmm, converted to Euros, I paid a total of 120 € for a round trip flight that got upgraded to business both ways ????

A flight leaving late is different than a flight being cancelled,EVA have been doing it every summer for years,they don't cancell your ticket you just get a email that your Monday flight is now Tuesday as long as they let you know in time it's allowed.

[Straight8]

4 hours ago, jessebkk1 said:

Listen Up Dude! I know like 30 people who work in either Hong Kong, Singapore, the Gulf States who used to come to Thailand for R and R atleast once or twice in two months, and can no longer do it because of the visa regulations.

 

  Half my friends who lived in Bangkok had their children, family members, friends  and some grand children come to visit them once or twice a year, a lot of those guys are gone or leaving, so their kids are not coming here.

 

   Excessive policing of party venues, forcing all bars/discotechs to close at midnight or 1 am in bangkok/pattaya/phuket, why would a person skip all 24 hour first world cities and come  here to be told when to go to bed. Half the tourist I met on Khaosan in 2018 swore they'd never come back.

 

  Finally the word is slowly getting out on how horrible westerners are treated in thailand with regards to visa regulations for long stayers and repeat visitors at the airports. So these negative tourism numbers are just icing on the cake, bound to get worse - eventually it would become known. Since the thai people are not out on the streets asking for their government to stop the unnecessary harassment/clampdown on foreigners who live or visit here, soonest no one will come.

 

  So not it's not the strong baht, it's not the trade war with china, those from the west who have money to travel wouldnt mind all of that...it's the xenophobia and shitty tourism policy - Change the 2 times per year tourist visa policy and watch the numbers implode in the positive direction.

Saying its not the baht is just plain dumb!!

[PingRoundTheWorld]

LOL. Typical. He gave every possible reason in the world EXCEPT the main reasons:

1. Strong baht - no brainer there.

2. Phuket (Patong) is severely overpriced. Everything costs too much even if the baht was weaker.

3. Taxis refuse to use the meter, overprice, scam, and not to mention the instances where they beat up customers. They want 300-400 baht for a 2km ride - literally 10x times more than Bangkok.

 

Lower prices by 50% and fix the taxi situation and maybe tourists will consider it again. Otherwise there's far better value for baht elsewhere.

[Lenny Jones]

10 hours ago, Snuller21 said:

And a way to strong Baht. Thailand used to be an affordable country for holidays. Not anymore as the Baht is way too strong. And that is also for the Export. Just look at the price for rice, and the declining of that as export as well. And Toyota making an assembly factory for HiLux in Myanmar, as they lose money on every assembled car in Thailand. Just saying.

Yep - Three words: - - BAHT TOO STRONG

[Joe Mcseismic]

Nope, the wave of Russians drove the Europeans away and the tidal wave of Chinese has driven the Russians away.

Rip-off prices, lack of infrastructure, traffic woes, bad publicity, strong Baht, over-development, pollution of the beaches, overcrowding at tour sites and the Thai sense of entitlement to tourists money have all played a part.

 

But, don't worry, the Indians are going to be Phuket's salvation.

[Bugsy777]

What's the big surprise? Never ending rip offs. Bangla Road full of dickheads. Crap exchange rate. Raw sewage pumped no too far out to sea. The average business in Patong Beach are good at giving tourists attitude. Well, I don't need their crap attitude. They want me to spend my money in their establishments? Really? Well they had better change their attitude and start providing the service, minus the rip offs. Unfortunately, as the Thais are now finding out, it's going to take years of serious sucking up to reverse this problem of their own making.

[Lenny Jones]

47 minutes ago, Call said:

This is good news for Thailand! Consequences of 40 million tourists are far to high. Back to basic, 15-20 million a year and Thailand smiles again ????

Wow! - Very astute!

 

And What economic modelling do you base these astounding figures?

[PingRoundTheWorld]

34 minutes ago, ThomasThBKK said:

I bet i can buy them for half the price in germany compared to thailand.

 

One thing that is probably not common knowledge is that between all taxes levied on alcohol imports to Thailand, imported alcohol price is inflated about 400%. That's the real reason alcohol is so (relatively) expensive in Thailand. Has nothing to do with cost of shipping etc. I understand the need to protect local products, but 400% is just ridiculous and hurts consumers and tourism.

[ramr]

10 hours ago, Pilotman said:

because the rich want to buy assets out of Thailand, the strong baht assists that.  I imagine that the elite are racking up a lot of property outside the country. 

Or as George Carlin would have more accurately termed them: "Rich business criminal a#@holes."

 

Screwing over their own countrymens'  exports and tourism for their own selfish gain.  And because we are talking about countrymen, any Thais involved are IMHO even worse than the Chinese or Chinese-Thais... I'd expect it (or half-expect it, if you get my drift) of them.

 

Getting off topic, but it really does make my blood boil... Sadly, selling out your own is a worldwide phenomenon.

 

 

[Unify]

Kamala beach at sunset Tuesday night. You can see how many people were there.