Tourism in northern Thailand decimated: Worst in ten years say hoteliers

[wwest5829]

The Chiang Mai Expats have a breakfast at the Rivermarket Restaurant on the 1st and 3rd Fridays of every month, open to the public. Attendance has been noticeably down for some time. Have to wait until high season starts in November to see if the numbers rebound. Many speculative reasons but nothing definitive based on established evidence.

[Genericnic]

"Some 30% less Chinese people are showing up in Chiang Mai, she said."

 

So, not all bad news.

 

David

 

[miamiman123]

What about all those vacant condos with the lights turned on at night??

whooops! 

[bitterbatter]

They finally left?  Is it safe to come back to Chiang Mai now?

[bluesofa]

24 minutes ago, connda said:

Vietnam or Nepal is my next vacation destination.  

I'd love to visit Nepal. It would be interesting to visit Lumbini to see the birthplace of Buddha (even though I am an atheist).

[Guderian]

4 hours ago, Just1Voice said:

I live in Chiang Mai. You uses to see caravans of tour busses on the streets daily. Now you rarely see 3 - 4 in a month. 

They've probably all come to Pattaya instead, the place is packed with them every day.

[Docno]

Just came back from Chiang Mai. Still more than enough Chinese tourists jostling for food at the breakfast buffet... 

[hobz]

Time to legalize recreational drugs ????

[soalbundy]

3 hours ago, Netease said:

I arrived CM Friday night very healthy Sunday morning coughing badly and very painful when I cough, the nights are impossible with the cough and phlegm, this is the second time its happened to me I'm so sick I can't even advise the builder what to do or drive the wife to get building supplies, I'm out near San Kamphaeng all night I can smell smoke while trying to sleep i got medication yesterday,

But I dont think Tourists getting sick and nearly dying from the smoke will stop them comming

They might smoke less though

[thescot]

SKY News UK doesn't do many ads but lots of 'Amazing Thailand' holiday ads all of a sudden. They unfortunately don't mention the dual pricing, immigration queue's, lack of safety reg's on tours, no smoking on any beach and even vaping illegal etc etc etc for the tourists.

[koolkarl]

Maybe get more tourists if they gave away free gas masks and oxygen tank strapped to your back.

Who in their right mind wants to visit the most polluted area on this planet?

BBC news told it as it is and tourists who watched this and other media , never forget.

The government does nothing and I assure you tourism will never recover.

[bluesofa]

2 minutes ago, thescot said:

SKY News UK doesn't do many ads but lots of 'Amazing Thailand' holiday ads all of a sudden. They unfortunately don't mention the dual pricing, immigration queue's, no smoking on any beach etc etc etc for the tourists.

Isn't there some associated forum where you could put the victims right?

[Colabamumbai]

Thailand needs a good slap in the face sometimes. 

[Justgrazing]

33 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

I'd love to visit Nepal. It would be interesting to visit Lumbini to see the birthplace of Buddha (even though I am an atheist).

Same 'ere .. I thank God for making me one .. 

[mac1970]

5 hours ago, ezzra said:

The OP doesn't take into account the staggering numbers of both legal and many illegals hotels, moteles, guesthouses and airbnb that exist now everywhere in Thailand, the latter of course not reporting on their booking numbers, having said that, the high baht and the fact that Thailand stopped being the darling of the tourism world doesn't help either...

Sukhumvit soi12 seems to have one busy airbnb as apartment building has continuous flow of Chinese with travelling bags in and out every single day. Maybe owned by Chinese and accommodation for mainlanders, legal? 

[bluesea]

Tourism Down in the media for only a short time now everyone's on the band wagon on how the sky's going to fall in ,how bad the economy is GOD SPARE ME PLEASE.

Come up with some nice Believable Stories i was coming into the country 2 days ago and it took 40 Min to get through Immigration the place was packed!! Tourism down i dont think so!!

[moe666]

5 hours ago, emptypockets said:

 

Why would someone stay so far from the action

[Traubert]

6 minutes ago, bluesea said:

Tourism Down in the media for only a short time now everyone's on the band wagon on how the sky's going to fall in ,how bad the economy is GOD SPARE ME PLEASE.

Come up with some nice Believable Stories i was coming into the country 2 days ago and it took 40 Min to get through Immigration the place was packed!! Tourism down i dont think so!!

Truth is no-one ever said it was down. The growth in tourism is down, the incoming numbers are still higher.

[reargunnerph3]

Don't worry aren't the rich Indians coming soon? Overvalued Baht, Immigration treating people like criminals for having more holidays than they do, crooked cops on the take. It must be the bad farangs that are causing the problems.

[paahlman]

5 hours ago, Mikisteel said:

Vietnam for the family holiday this year. Suggestions welcome. Family friendly.

Hanoi or Nathrang.

[MickeyDelux]

Sorry Thailand, I've booked 8 days in Tokyo and Osaka. Last time I went to a hotel in Thailand the staff was deceptive and overcharged me. I wrote and sent a compliant to TAT and have never heard back from them.  My only hope is that the tourist drought is long enough for that hotel to have to lay off their staff before going outta business.

Cheers!

[CNXexpat]

4 hours ago, kellersphuket said:

maybe this has something to do with the TM30 and foreigners being monitored and treated like criminals whilst on holiday??

Nothing has changed for a tourist. They only show the passport at the reception like many years ago and what they have to do in most other countries too.

[mehrdad]

Mai bai Rai ???? jaa

[bluesofa]

27 minutes ago, Justgrazing said:

1 hour ago, bluesofa said:

I'd love to visit Nepal. It would be interesting to visit Lumbini to see the birthplace of Buddha (even though I am an atheist).

Same 'ere .. I thank God for making me one .. 

Are you sure you're not thinking about the Zen Buddhist who ordered a pizza. When asked what he wanted on it he said, "Make me one with everything."

[Paul Henry]

The accuracy in Thai forecasts are mind blowing. I see now they are going to the second decimal point.Most countries allow a plus or minus 2% in budgeting and this is generaly still not in the ball park.

[Netease]

3 hours ago, WinnieTheKhwai said:

 

Air is among the best in the world currently.  If you have health issues then these need investigating, but air quality isn't the problem.  (Unless there is something out of the ordinary going on in the place you live, either indoors or the immediate area.)

 

do you live in Chiang Mai? Wife went SCG CM

smell of smoke was in the store

[CNXexpat]

18 minutes ago, reargunnerph3 said:

Immigration treating people like criminals

With what? What has changed for a European, Chinese, Australian, US tourist? Nothing. Only for expats.

[RtotheC]

I thought about going to Chiang Mai last December, but having the world's worst air quality for a brief time made me choose elsewhere instead. Not sure what the air quality is now, but it certainly didn't help their tourism industry. 

[bipper]

All reds up there who cares. Well that could be the thinking.

[sahibji]

6 hours ago, emptypockets said:

 

looks like the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing.