Thai tourism in trouble: And competitor Vietnam is "scary" for Pattaya

[webfact]

Thai tourism in trouble: And competitor Vietnam is "scary" for Pattaya

 

File photo

 

Reports from the government that Thai tourism is up were disputed today. 

 

By the government themselves!

 

As one ministry appears to disagree with another a business leader says that tourism on the ground in Pattaya is much worse than the figures suggest. Whatever those figures are.

 

In fact the outlook is terrible - with Vietnam presenting a "scary" proposition as a competitor for the tourism dollar.

 

Earlier the Ministry of Tourism and Sports had said that tourism was up 0.89% in June year on year. 

 

Now the National Economics and Social Development Council - a ministerial body - has said that first quarter results in Thailand showed an across the board slowdown in tourism. 

 

From an increase of 4.3% in the last quarter this plummeted to 1.8%. Tourists from Oceania, Europe and the middle east were not coming as expected. 

 

Tourism from China was faring better but was still in decline from 10.5% down to 1.7%.

 

Pattaya business and tourism leader Ekkasit Ngamphichet - who two weeks ago said that tourism in Pattaya was going down the pan - has not changed his mind in a new interview with the Thai media. 

 

If anything he is even more pessimistic than before. 

 

He said that from his analysis of local businesses it was hard to find any reason to be positive. 

 

He said there were few Europeans. Yes, the Russians had returned in some numbers but it was not a great deal. 

 

The Chinese tourism market was "rather quiet". Chinese New Year back in February had been a mere shadow of previous years and by April and May there were less and less Chinese - far fewer than could be expected on previous year's results. 

 

He suggested that the figures coming out of government spin doctors were not being shown on the ground.

 

He described Vietnam as "naa glua" - meaning scary. 

 

He said that Vietnam was increasingly a rival of Thailand for tourist cash. Vietnam has lots of unexplored and new tourism locations and many people are choosing to go there instead of Pattaya in particular and Thailand in general.

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2019-07-23

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[Metapod]

Exchange rate is bad, costs are going up, visas are getting a lot harder to get, and more competitive alternatives are arising.

 

it isn't really surprising stuff. Thailand ain't that cheap anymore. Aussie dollar is like 21.7 thb these days. A lot of things are cheaper back in Aus now,

[Lucius verus]

1 minute ago, Metapod said:

Exchange rate is bad, costs are going up, visas are getting a lot harder to get, and more competitive alternatives are arising.

 

it isn't really surprising stuff. Thailand ain't that cheap anymore. Aussie dollar is like 21.7 thb these days. A lot of things are cheaper back in Aus now,

ANZ bank this morning offering 20.9 baht for your hard earned dollars.

You may as well just toss your money over the counter and go home.

PI's and Vietnam with weak currencies are going after the Aussie market as well as new direct  destination sri Lanka. Throw cheap Bali into the mix and others and Thailand is in trouble.

[Matzzon]

That´s great news! Maybe the bigger part of all foreign criminalty in Thailand can move to Vietnam too. Then this nice country can go back to what it once was.

[soalbundy]

3 minutes ago, Matzzon said:

That´s great news! Maybe the bigger part of all foreign criminalty in Thailand can move to Vietnam too. Then this nice country can go back to what it once was.

Poor you mean

[GeorgeCross]

wait a minute..

 

if visitors from china, europe, oceania and the middle east are down but tourism is still up where are the new tourists coming from?

 

russia, india? they dont have the numbers to offset europe never mind china, so are they counting surrounding countries too?

 

this cannot be good either way (well for thailand, good for me :D)

 

 

[LomSak27]

38 minutes ago, webfact said:

He suggested that the figures coming out of government spin doctors were not being shown on the ground.

 

???? Noooooooooooooooo

[ChrisY1]

Prayuths' wish to eradicate prostitution (2015)n as a main source of Falang tourists seems to be taking affect....

The Thai government is now expediating the original wish......falang out!

[RichardColeman]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

He suggested that the figures coming out of government spin doctors were not being shown on the ground.

Re-education bus coming for that man

[nev]

What next they will be offering fre tourist visas to those they have been trying their hardest to make it hard to stay here, You may laugh but it happened before.

[Peterbilt]

14 minutes ago, GeorgeCross said:

if visitors from china, europe, oceania and the middle east are down but tourism is still up where are the new tourists coming from?

Creating those figures is the job of the TAT's spindoctors.....

[BestB]

Taxi company I use for my biz was always somewhat arrogant but did the job so stuck with them.

 

the other week was going away myself, owner was crying how quite it is. 

 

Anyhow actual owner shows up , no hello of any kind, no assistance to put bag in the car . Not a single word on the way , no assistance taking bag out of the car .

 

did not want to keep quit, told him who I was, and he was not interested at all, not even a sorry.

 

Point is, there are less customers and locals provide even less service yet cry about not having customers .

 

not only that but happy to mistreat existing customers.and charge more .

 

was I a massive customer? No, but was giving them about 10-15 trips per week, now it’s done.

 

if that’s how he treats the owner, do not even want to think how he treated my customers 

[PingRoundTheWorld]

But yes- keep demanding TM30 and denying long stayers randomly... it'll be alright!

 

 

They must be counting day laborers and layovers in the "arrivals" figures because on the ground the people are not there.

 

[ezzra]

22 minutes ago, GeorgeCross said:

wait a minute..

 

if visitors from china, europe, oceania and the middle east are down but tourism is still up where are the new tourists coming from?

 

russia, india? they dont have the numbers to offset europe never mind china, so are they counting surrounding countries too?

 

this cannot be good either way (well for thailand, good for me :D)

 

 

I have stopped trying to make sense of those government official who bobs up every now and then with 'good news and good numbers' just so their bosses can see that they work and just warm up a seat in the office, so everything they say, believe only half and that's will be closer to the truth...

[Bullie]

Tourists are opportunistic and go where they get the biggest bang  for their money. This, due to a bad exchange rate and inflated prices (not in the least by the ladies of the night) for practically everything tourists enjoy has not been the case in Thailand for several years now. Practically all surrounding countries now offer more or less the same, but often still more authentic and cheaper experience.

We've seen the same ting happening in Europe: first Italy, then Spain, Greece and Turkey respectively.

Nothing new under the sun.

[Matzzon]

37 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

Poor you mean

No

[Justgrazing]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

 

He said there were few Europeans. Yes, the Russians had returned in some numbers but it was not a great deal. 

 

The Chinese tourism market was "rather quiet". Chinese New Year back in February had been a mere shadow of previous years and by April and May there were less and less Chinese - far fewer than could be expected on previous year's results

Just hang in there Pattaya the Indians are coming .. 

[AGareth2]

1 minute ago, Justgrazing said:

Just hang in there Pattaya the Indians are coming .. 

Custer's last stand

[RotBenz8888]

They're still delusional and believe it's just a bump in curve. Will they ever sober up and devalue the baht, ease the visa rules and abolish the TM 30 rubbish? Frankly, I seriously doubt it, coz loosing face is the scariest of all for them

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

43 minutes ago, nev said:

What next they will be offering fre tourist visas to those they have been trying their hardest to make it hard to stay here, You may laugh but it happened before.

 

I think their more common/frequent approach, at least in the past, has been to reduce or waive visa on arrival fees, which is a benefit to the Chinese and various other non farang countries. But of course they were primarily aiming at the Chinese market.

 

On the other hand, I can think of at least one past instance where they announced they were going to discount the fees for actual tourist visas, which would benefit farang countries, and then they didn't actually implement what they had promised to do.

 

[DavCurtis]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Pattaya business and tourism leader Ekkasit Ngamphichet - who two weeks ago said that tourism in Pattaya was going down the pan - has not changed his mind in a new interview with the Thai media. 

 

If anything he is even more pessimistic than before. 

Well, I felt there was something fishy about those numbers from the officials. 

[Phuketshrew]

This highlights how false and grossly over-inflated the TAT "tourist" numbers are in Thailand.

Are they just counting all the arrivals regardless of whether they are genuine tourists, people living here on tourist visas or any other visa types?

I "arrive" at least 4-6 times a year - am I being counted in these figures each time?

Are the many living here on tourist visas also being counted in these numbers?

Given the recent clampdown on these it would be hardly surprising that there has been a decline in numbers.

It's a bit like the road death numbers in reverse - A lot more people die on the roads than the "official" numbers released.

TIT - Nothing is as it seems.

[GeorgeCross]

57 minutes ago, BestB said:

did not want to keep quit, told him who I was, and he was not interested at all, not even a sorry.

 

shocked he didn't know you were the infamous BestB from thaivisa forum.. 

 

i'd have been on my knees wai'ing 

 

 

[StayinThailand2much]

1 hour ago, PingRoundTheWorld said:

They must be counting day laborers and layovers in the "arrivals" figures because on the ground the people are not there.

 

Of course they do. All the laborers from Laos or Myanmar, who enter Thailand, to later have their work permits sorted out (or not) are (initially, at least) tourists. And so are the sex workers from Vietnam or the Philippines, who come for short or long (productive) stays. Not to mention the Cambodian beggars, bused accross the border by Thai mafia...

 

On the other hand, the wealthy Swiss, French, American, German, British, Japanese, etc., tourists are notably absent, who used to spend half the year in Thailand until a few years ago. And even the Chinese are not coming in such large numbers anymore.

[GeorgeCross]

53 minutes ago, Bullie said:

Tourists are opportunistic and go where they get the biggest bang  for their money. This, due to a bad exchange rate and inflated prices (not in the least by the ladies of the night) for practically everything tourists enjoy has not been the case in Thailand for several years now. Practically all surrounding countries now offer more or less the same, but often still more authentic and cheaper experience.

We've seen the same ting happening in Europe: first Italy, then Spain, Greece and Turkey respectively.

Nothing new under the sun.

 

i must have read 10 articles this year in the mainstream media (guardian, new york times, etc) singing the virtues of vietnam for the young, backpackers, nomads, the adventurous. before it was all thailand, thailand, thailand.. now they don't mention here at all or if they do (rare) its as a not friendly country.

 

so i'm not surprised, its not only the young that read these articles, thailand is just not "cool" anymore.

 

they've lost their mojo and this is echoed by the reports i've had this year from my friends in and visiting vietnam

 

one final word they will be toast when the islands along myanmmars west coast open up

 

[Chelseafan]

1 hour ago, Bullie said:

Tourists are opportunistic and go where they get the biggest bang  for their money. This, due to a bad exchange rate and inflated prices (not in the least by the ladies of the night) for practically everything tourists enjoy has not been the case in Thailand for several years now. Practically all surrounding countries now offer more or less the same, but often still more authentic and cheaper experience.

We've seen the same ting happening in Europe: first Italy, then Spain, Greece and Turkey respectively.

Nothing new under the sun.

Yes but there are a couple of points

 

1) I think Thailand's allure has somewhat diminished over the years. Tourists want to try something new.

 

2) Most family holidays are booked well in advance so what we're seeing is a delayed effect and I suspect that figures in 6-12 months are going to even more brutal

 

[shy coconut]

19 minutes ago, GeorgeCross said:

 

shocked he didn't know you were the infamous BestB from thaivisa forum.. 

 

i'd have been on my knees wai'ing 

 

 

And he needs some Botox for that loose face!

[Garybaldy]

Not only are the tourists down but the ones that are coming are not spending as much because it’s too expensive. If you can go to Vietnam for less then most people have no loyalty they will go. As for us who live here full time then we are feeling the pain of the strong Baht and ever increasing hoops to jump through at immigration etc so we have 2 choices, tighten our belts and hope for a better exchange and dance to the Thai tune or leave Thailand for pastures new.

[khunano]

You Reap What You Sow

[Geoffggi]

2 hours ago, Metapod said:

Exchange rate is bad, costs are going up, visas are getting a lot harder to get, and more competitive alternatives are arising.

 

it isn't really surprising stuff. Thailand ain't that cheap anymore. Aussie dollar is like 21.7 thb these days. A lot of things are cheaper back in Aus now,

Well the people who are in charge cannot say they have not been warned, enough comments have been made and repeated several times but it seems to no avail, are they waiting for the final horse to find the exit before closing the gate and making some sensible adjustments to the current policy....????