Stronger baht not keeping tourists away

[Percy P]

2 minutes ago, jarda said:

It certainly keeps me from buying investment property here! Aussie buck went down 35% in 5 years.

British pound has dropped further

[nickmondo]

1 hour ago, marcusarelus said:

The money that goes off shore comes from income in Thailand.  So, back to the drawing board on that idea.  It's not a strong baht it's a weak pound.  

rubbish

[marcusarelus]

9 minutes ago, moe666 said:

Thailand has always had a good summer holiday season due to people in weatern countries having school breaks and in the US that is the traditional holiday season as in I get time off from my job. As for the US not any hotter here in Thailand than in most of the US. At present here in CM there is a uptick in the summer school tours coming thru usually 3 to 5 days in CM then on to Bangkok or the Islands

Ah no!

[Percy P]

Just now, nickmondo said:

rubbish

Correct. 1£ 38B

[WeekendRaider]

no problemo!  seriously.  quite. 

 

every morning my work includes checking a certain topic.  this one.  Google hit #1 this morning for XXXXXX for the past 24 hours results right now in a blog hit that has the message:

"The International Air Traffic Association (IATA) says 4.4 billion people traveled by airplane in 2018".

 

so!!!! Thailand can easily expect some of those folks, a few hundred million at least, yes?   easily.  very easily. 

except that at least 6 billion people have never "flown" ever or even been inside an airplane once in their life....... yet.  so duh!  those "4.4 billion people" are actually only a few hundred million and "people" is being used by someone instead of passenger/trips.  do you have to be a "linguist" to immediately see that?  an intellectual type.  yup.  so why would anyone want to believe that there are 4.4 billion jet setters today?  well duh!!!!  
 

until we take the first baby step on emissions, every other sector and "real people" [actual real people, everyone of us almost] will balk, as we have since the first Earth Day in the 1970's, at any major sacrifice at all, as long as even one person is emitting 285 grams of carbon per kilometer "flown" whether it is to Thailand for it's "night life" and elephant rides or Disneyworld for the 10th time.

 

no problemo!  4 billion tourists.  wonderful.  not.   

Edited July 17, 2019 by WeekendRaider

[bluesea]

I think he is from Planet uranus circling Thailand looking for Klingons. Needs a reality check i think!

[marcusarelus]

45 minutes ago, kcpattaya said:

So where are "ALL" these tourists hiding than?!?!

 

 

[nickmondo]

1 minute ago, Percy P said:

Correct. 1£ 38B

yes, but that is because of the strong Thai Baht.

You have noticed the amount of other currencies dropping against the baht?

are they all weak too?

[marcusarelus]

3 minutes ago, WeekendRaider said:

no problemo!  seriously.  quite. 

 

every morning my work includes checking a certain topic.  this one.  Google hit #1 this morning for tourism aviation climate carbon "air travel"  in past 24 hours is a blog with this message:

"The International Air Traffic Association (IATA) says 4.4 billion people travelled by airplane in 2018".

 

so Thailand can easily expect some of those folks, a few hundred million at least, yes?   easily.  very easily. 

except that 6.4 billion people have never ever traveled even been inside an airplane once in their life....... yet and the tiny little factoid that there are not 10 billion people..... yet.  because duh.... those "4.4 billion people" are actually only a few hundred million and "people" is being used by someone instead of passenger/trips.  those are not "people".  and why would anyone want to believe they are 4.4 billion people?  duh.  because they are people.  we all are.  and as dumb as humans can be.  -- Chomsky.  until we take the first baby step on emissions, every other sector and "real people" [actual real people, everyone of us almost] will balk whikle even one person is still emitting 285 grams per kilometer "flown" whether it is to Thailand for it's "night life" and elephant rides or Disneyworld for the 10th time.

 

no problemo!  4 billion tourists.  wonderful.  not.   

Why Chinese person take airplane when close enough and cheaper to take bus?

[newnative]

   Couple of things.  I think the way they count tourists hasn't changed so those who say the numbers are up because they count tourists just changing planes, I think they have always done that.  So, 18 million visitors a few years ago, when everyone thought it was busy, also included visitors just changing planes.

     Now, we supposedly have 20 million visitors, same counting system, and everyone doesn't believe the numbers and they say it's seems slower than what it used to be.

     How many of these post have some version of "I know a bloke who used to come here but now goes to ________". (fill in the blank)  Likely this is true.  But, that bloke has been replaced by half a dozen Chinese or Indians or Koreans or tourists from other ASEAN countries.  These tourists may not go to your favorite bar, that bloke you mentioned no longer comes, so your favorite bar seems empty.  And, if your favorite bar is empty, tourism must be down.

     Sometime ago there was a story put out by some hotel official about hotels not being as full as they used to be.  Occupation percentages down or something like that.  Likely this is true.  However, hotels being less full doesn't automatically equate to tourist numbers being down.                Almost every new, big condo project that opens in Pattaya and Bangkok becomes an instant illegal hotel, attracting many tourists who would normally be staying at those now slow hotels.  I've seen it first-hand in both cities. The Base Condo garners most of the negative publicity but they all have lots of illegal short-term renters.  So, you have the old hotels and the new hotels like Mytt, Centre Point, Brighton, the new LKs, and so on, competing with all the large new high-rise and low-rise condo projects that have opened--each with around 1000 rooms.  The pie slices for the actual, legal hotels are being sliced thinner so the mistaken perception is tourism must be down.

    I didn't read the whole article, just the T-V posting, but the tourism guy managed to only mention the countries with rosy numbers in what I read; I didn't see any mention of America, Australia, the UK, and other Euro countries.  The T-V posters are likely right and the blokes from those countries are going elsewhere and the numbers are down.  That's where TAT should be focusing its tourism efforts.

[Johnnyngai]

Stronger baht not keeping wealthy tourists away,  

 

but I am not wealthy.  

[Cadbury]

1 hour ago, marcusarelus said:

The money that goes off shore comes from income in Thailand.  So, back to the drawing board on that idea.  It's not a strong baht it's a weak pound.  

What a profoundly obvious statement..."The money that goes off shore comes from income in Thailand"

Really? ...........Of course it does, even my 5 year old grandson knows that!

The point I made was that the legal wealth going offshore comes from the filthy rich 1% elite plus military generals and politicians who are/were protected by the junta. Or are you suggesting the wealth going offshore is generated by rice farmers, day labourers, motorbike taxi drivers and fishing boat deckhands. 

BTW what has the pound got to do with it except other than for UK residents.? The UK is not the centre of the universe even though you might think so. There is a whole world out there with about 180 currencies. Get a grip man.

The story is about the baht as a rising value currency not about the pound as a diminishing value currency.

[AntipodeanThai]

I agree with a fellow OZ poster here. I lot a very lot of antipodeans and UK  people are not coming back; been there done that attitude. Plus many many comments about the attitude to foreign tourists and the constant battle about having to be careful not to get ripped off. Plus, the bargain to middle type accommodation is old, worn out and lacking from any real maintenance for a very very long time and most of it looks very tired, are the general comments. The attitude of staff and management similar: go to a reception and there too busy looking into their phones to pay any attention, is regular comment. pain tout something is not working properly and they comment that the attitude seems to be " your problem". Places like Phuket (" dirty, crowded, hard to get around, costly, drab, tacky," et al) they particularly single out as not wishing to go back . Why"? "Just don't like the place" the usual comment. So perhaps the tourist industry needs a decent investigation. 

[Jaxxper]

For the one time tourist I would suggest that the ultimate destination for holidays is driven by prices of hotels and packages which may well be driven by currency fluctuations. Without knowing what things actually cost selecting a destination based on exchange rate is I think on the outside of the decision process.Returning travellers may well compare current exchange rates to their last trip and may play a part in their destination selection.

Either scenario means that arrivals have to budget their spend based on what their home country currency exchanges to in local currencies. Not sure there is a strict correlation between exchange rate and number of tourists but I’m sure you could correlate local currency spend in local currency per tourist......ie I think tourists will still come but just not flash the cash as much.

[Percy P]

2 minutes ago, nickmondo said:

yes, but that is because of the strong Thai Baht.

You have noticed the amount of other currencies dropping against the baht?

are they all weak too?

Correct . Malaysia has dropped from 12-13 Mr to 7.5 Mr/1Baht

[john ianson]

13 hours ago, FarFlungFalang said:

What he is trying to say is that as there were 20.9 million visitors the the income earned from those visitors is more than 20.9 million baht!That's how you know if you made a profit!

When a person enters a shop does the propieter ask if you are a tourist ? If not then please tell me how these Thai authorities know how much they spend !

 

[spidermike007]

Simply more nonsense from highly partisan folks that we cannot trust one iota. 

 

All you have to do it go out and talk to anyone. An owner of a restaurant, a hotel, a travel agency, anyone. And they all say the same thing. Tourism is way, way down. Income is way, way down.

 

Yet, the desire to  lie and mislead continues. Deflect. Never take responsibility. 

[Barry343]

If what he said was true then all the hotels, guesthouses, resturants, attractions are all lying. What we all can see there are less overseas visitors now. The higher baht also is affecting the export market and manufacturing is moving to Vietnam, Myanmar and other Asian countries. 

[Brickbat]

Lying seems to be a substantial part of Thai culture. And the sad part is the majority of Thais are gullible and weak. Tourism is dead quiet from what I see in hotels and complaints from staff at various establishments . Vietnam and Bali are booming from what I hear .

[jing jing]

12 hours ago, Traubert said:

They aren't staying away, marra.

 

20m of 'em already this year. More than ever. Goose is still cramming hard.

Quite so.

 

I notice the press release made no mention of any desire to attract more tourists from North America, UK, Western Europe, or Australia.  It would seem Thailand has moved on and has no need for those of us who continually complain about how horrible Thailand and Thai people are, yet malinger here like a stubborn case of syphilis, or bleat from afar regardless.

 

Let's get over it already.  Thailand obviously has.

[Percy P]

6 minutes ago, Johnnyngai said:

Stronger baht not keeping wealthy tourists away,  

 

but I am not wealthy.  

What is wealth. If you can buy a house at 30-40 million here in Thailand you have money to throw about

[Percy P]

12 minutes ago, john ianson said:

When a person enters a shop does the propieter ask if you are a tourist ? If not then please tell me how these Thai authorities know how much they spend !

 

By how much foreign money goes though the foreign exchange.

Edited July 17, 2019 by Percy P

[Golden Brown]

More thais are holidaying abroad because of the strong baht.   I live with my thai wife in Chiang Rai and we normally holiday in Thailand 2-3 times a year.   However with the strong baht we are holidaying twice this year abroad, to Singapore and KL.   Service is much better particularly in Singapore.   Even luxury items there are cheaper by far than Thailand.   I am not spending my money here as much as better as it appears many other ex-pats aren't either.   No doubt my wife will also be counted as tourists when we re-enter the country to inflate the figures!   I believe these problems all stem from the top and this guy will face the consequences in 3-4 months time when he will be ousted.   All the thais that I speak with do not like him and want him gone asap.

[peter14]

Liars usual.... strong foundation  LOL.

 

No need to  the difficulties getting visa...

 

 

[Guderian]

Timing is everything. Why would the tourists worry about the strength of the Baht when they're not even allowed to buy a cold beer in the afternoon, or glass of wine to go with their evening meal, both yesterday and today?

[jaiyen]

The strong baht is definitely keeping me and my friends away. Much better places with better atmosphere and nicer people to be found.

[Renzo]

28 minutes ago, Cadbury said:

What a profoundly obvious statement..."The money that goes off shore comes from income in Thailand"

Really? ...........Of course it does, even my 5 year old grandson knows that!

The point I made was that the legal wealth going offshore comes from the filthy rich 1% elite plus military generals and politicians who are/were protected by the junta. Or are you suggesting the wealth going offshore is generated by rice farmers, day labourers, motorbike taxi drivers and fishing boat deckhands. 

BTW what has the pound got to do with it except other than for UK residents.? The UK is not the centre of the universe even though you might think so. There is a whole world out there with about 180 currencies. Get a grip man.

The story is about the baht as a rising value currency not about the pound as a diminishing value currency.

I think you will find certain people with a lot of cash in TH are moving it offshore while the THB is artificially high, so they can make a killing when it returns to more reasonable levels. Buy USD at 30 THB and sell at 35 - that's better interest than you will get from a bank anywhere, and tax-free...

 

[marcusarelus]

5 minutes ago, Renzo said:

I think you will find certain people with a lot of cash in TH are moving it offshore while the THB is artificially high, so they can make a killing when it returns to more reasonable levels. Buy USD at 30 THB and sell at 35 - that's better interest than you will get from a bank anywhere, and tax-free...

How would they make a killing?

[kinyara]

I'll need to google it to get up to date on the historical trend of tourist numbers by country and also the currency trend for the growth markets like China and India.  Natural for posters on here to be seeing things from their own country perspective, which on here I would say is mature markets like Britain, Australia and America and while those numbers may decline slightly they are being outgunned by the developing economy Asian neighbours. How many beers does a boat trip to an island, a parasailing ride or any of the other non-drinking tourist activities "normal", ( or is it abnormal :)), indugle in equate to ? Bars in Pattaya have always been dead in low season and Indians have always been low season hotel fillers, but just watching beach road for a couple of hours the other day there is without doubt loads more of them.

 

Like others on a declining currency income I cut my expenditure on the non-essentials like discretionary shopping and trim the entertainment budget, it will have an effect on the economy but I think it's far less relevant than the spending patterns of what the targeted mass market visitors are doing. Still seems to plenty of tour buses clogging up the Pattaya streets full boats streaming across to the islands and active building sites knocking up new developments.

 

While I don't expect a Thai tourism minister to shout declining numbers from the rooftops and I've lived here long enough to have a healthy dose of cynicism regarding officialdom and its agendas, there's a hell of a lot more to it than " my 3 mates from England aren't coming this year because the pound is shit ".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SuperTed]

14 hours ago, DLock said:

"However, we have also learned that the average income earned from foreign tourists is still higher than the number of overall travellers entering the country,” Weerasak said.

 

I must have read this 10 times.

 

I could be having a dyslexic day...but I don't understand what he trying to say.

Based on my 25 years as a professional translator, it was most likely meant that "foreign tourists spend more per head than domestic tourists," and the translator for the PR department should be sacked.

 

Where do I send my resume?

Edited July 17, 2019 by SuperTed