Free visa will woo Chinese/Indians as Yuan fall creates more tourism woes

 

Image: Thai Rath

 

A leading Thai travel agent has put his weight behind moves by the tourism minister to continue free visa on arrival for Chinese and Indian visitors when the special period ends later in the year. 

 

Chief of ATTA - the Association of Thai Travel Agents - Wichit Prakopkoson was responding to questions regarding the weakness of the Yuan and the strength of the Thai baht.

 

Wichit said that the money markets were directly affecting tourism in Thailand and that earlier targets of visitors from China would not be met. 

 

Visitors from China would not be the anticipated 11.5 to 12 million of previous forecasts for this year. 

 

Thailand would be lucky to see 11 million visitors from China this year meaning a shortfall of 20 to 40 billion baht in revenues. 

 

He cautioned further that if the baht continues to appreciate then there might be only 10.5 million visitors from China, a step back to 2018 levels. 

 

He said that Thailand was learning lessons and that the government should set up a low interest fund to help small and middle sized operators who are really feeling the pinch. 

 

He felt that Tourism and Sports' minister Pipat Ratchakitprakarn's move to continue to give Chinese and Indian tourists free visas on arrival would be a good way forward in these sluggish tourism times.

 

Source: Thai Rath

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2019-08-10

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Absolutely agree, keep attracting quality tourists, at least 7-11 and mama noodles will do well????

6 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

He felt that Tourism and Sports' minister Pipat Ratchakitprakarn's move to continue to give Chinese and Indian tourists free visas on arrival would be a good way forward in these sluggish tourism times.

 

With such unfavorable exchange rate, who cares about free visa?

Another friend of ours has just cancelled his 3 weeks here ,due to the baht strength ,and my daughter has just said that if it stays so high against the pound ,they wont come next year .

i wonder how many others are not going to come?

India and China population is like 2.5 billions combined, the local thinking and reasoning are that no matter how the currencies fluctuates, and with such huge markets, there will always be enough of them to to come visit and they're not wrong... 

2 hours ago, bert bloggs said:

Another friend of ours has just cancelled his 3 weeks here ,due to the baht strength ,and my daughter has just said that if it stays so high against the pound ,they wont come next year .

i wonder how many others are not going to come?

Yup; i have family from England who are not now coming and they will go elsewhere until the Baht gets a lot weaker....if ever !

free visa woo Chinese & Indians: wanna bet? Lot of woo woo I think

Teflon Thailand is at last facing the woes of the real world economy.  Its responses are unlikely to have any effect whatsoever, which is good because it is unlikely to do anything meaningful anyway; When has it ever?  Thailand is additionally burdened by the strength of the Baht.  I don't know whether the currency is being manipulated, however.  Thailand's misfortune could simply be strong economic fundamentals, as opposed to most other countries which are mired in debt.

 

If the Government really cared (it doesn't for one minute), then it would embark on grand public projects which would stimulate the domestic economy whilst reducing the value of the baht because of increased public debt.  I'm afraid for Thailand the only way out is to join the rest of the loonies.  But as mentioned this will not happen.  I feel Thailand will simply consign itself to stagnation.  This doesn't present much of a problem to the Government, since it is largely unaccountable to the people, well the poor anyway.

 

 

4 hours ago, RotBenz8888 said:

With such unfavorable exchange rate, who cares about free visa?

Somebody believing free visas will make a huge difference in luring tourists from China and India will probably find out later there are many other things that need betterment to lure tourists and expats.

I am afraid Thailand shot itself it both feet with one shot.

1 hour ago, trainman34014 said:

Yup; i have family from England who are not now coming and they will go elsewhere until the Baht gets a lot weaker....if ever !

What are you talking about? It's not the strength of the baht it's the pound that's on it's arse. Brits have BJ, Farage and their pals to blame for that. Once the UK is out of the EU with no deal come Halloween then it's only getting worse. 

1 hour ago, trainman34014 said:

Yup; i have family from England who are not now coming and they will go elsewhere until the Baht gets a lot weaker....if ever !

Or maybe it might be better if the £ and the € went up.

But with the EU idiots doing what they do best, little chance that will happen.

4 hours ago, ezzra said:

India and China population is like 2.5 billions combined, the local thinking and reasoning are that no matter how the currencies fluctuates, and with such huge markets, there will always be enough of them to to come visit and they're not wrong... 

Thing Is, tourism is only profitable If tourists are returning.

I am afraid Chinese and Indians don't really fall in that class.

9 minutes ago, ZeVonderBearz said:

What are you talking about? It's not the strength of the baht it's the pound that's on it's arse. Brits have BJ, Farage and their pals to blame for that. Once the UK is out of the EU with no deal come Halloween then it's only getting worse. 

It’s actually a bit of both. The Thai Baht is up substantially vs most major currencies in the world. I believe it is the strongest currency in Asia. The Brits will find holidays in most countries more expensive, but particularly in Thailand.

Indian unemployment is highest in the past 45 years

 

Luckily they aim for the Indian millionaires, uff

4 hours ago, ezzra said:

India and China population is like 2.5 billions combined, the local thinking and reasoning are that no matter how the currencies fluctuates, and with such huge markets, there will always be enough of them to to come visit and they're not wrong... 

Invite all Africa, and another 1.3 billion will come!

 

(Unrelated to the topic, but, always when I travel to Vietnam or Laos, I feel very 'rich', just because of all the zeros on the banknotes...)

I thought they want the big spending tourists. Would people who spend 5k+ per day really decide to not come just because they have to pay 2k for the visa?

5 hours ago, BestB said:

Absolutely agree, keep attracting quality tourists, at least 7-11 and mama noodles will do well????

this morning long waiting line of Chinese people in front of 7-11, as a curious person usual do and I did, went in to see what was happening, maybe give away freebee's or something like that, much to my surprise all waiting for their noddles to be warmed up

5 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Visitors from China would not be the anticipated 11.5 to 12 million of previous forecasts for this year. 

 

Thailand would be lucky to see 11 million visitors from China this year meaning a shortfall of 20 to 40 billion baht in revenues. 

they are starting to come down to the reality, TAT and it's forecast expectations wanting us to believe the country tourism was doing ok..... expect more bad news sooner than later

2 minutes ago, Mavideol said:

much to my surprise all waiting for their noddles to be warmed up

Ah, warming ones noddles up in a 7/11 could be all the rage!!!!

Just now, Mavideol said:

this morning long waiting line of Chinese people in front of 7-11, as a curious person usual do and I did, went in to see what was happening, maybe give away freebee's or something like that, much to my surprise all waiting for their noddles to be warmed up

That's what rich quality tourists do: waiting patiently for their 10-baht noodle breakfast...

4 hours ago, ezzra said:

India and China population is like 2.5 billions combined, the local thinking and reasoning are that no matter how the currencies fluctuates, and with such huge markets, there will always be enough of them to to come visit and they're not wrong... 

thus bad reasoning I presume....

1 hour ago, trainman34014 said:

Yup; i have family from England who are not now coming and they will go elsewhere until the Baht gets a lot weaker....if ever !

 this morning heard my foreign neighbor speaking on the phone (he's a manager at some big hotel chain) it appears their reservations for the high season is very low, thought to heard the number around 25-30% less than last year

5 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Free visa will woo Chinese/Indians as Yuan fall creates more tourism woes

Woo flung dung indeed ..

I note the buzzword is " Woo " now as opposed to " Lure " ...

I think there is a lot more things that could be sorted here that the tourist would appreciate I see with my own eyes the other day a taxi dropped of a Chinese family on the main road in Rawai with their luggage still 1km from where they wanted to be they asked me for help I asked them what happened with the taxi and they said the taxi couldn't find where they wanted to be, OK show me where you want to go one of the girls had it on her phone the location they were at the end of the soi they wanted to be, so now we are outside 7/11 at 1pm blazing sunshine with all the luggage they have now got to walk, I thought thats the general idea getting a taxi to get to your destination not dropped of 1km away I think when they get back to China will not have good things to say about Phukets taxi drivers this one was from Patong bye the way.

Why Chinese and Indians keep coming inspite of the Thai Baht strength and Brits are cancelling their trips ? Aren't the Brits supposed to be the rich one ? Chinese and Indians are poor compared to them. Even a weak pound is still very very strong compared to the Chinese RMB or Indian Rupee. So with a weak pound the Brits will travel where ?? Are they going to cancel their trip to Thailand and travel to America or Europe ?? Or Singapore, Hongkong or Korea ? All these places are more expnsive than Thailand. Maybe Loas or Vietnam could be an option but the experience is not the same. People will go where they enjoy and feel happy no matter the cost. If price was the problem people will never travel to Europe or America but only to the cheapest countries in the world. 

5 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Thailand would be lucky to see 11 million visitors from China this year meaning a shortfall of 20 to 40 billion baht in revenues. 

The one thing that is certain to motivate them is the loss of money. In reality they couldn't care less about the numbers or even if anyone came so long as they didn't lose any money. 

 

1 hour ago, ZeVonderBearz said:

What are you talking about? It's not the strength of the baht it's the pound that's on it's arse. Brits have BJ, Farage and their pals to blame for that. Once the UK is out of the EU with no deal come Halloween then it's only getting worse. 

And nothing to do with the appreciating baht? Everyone knows the pound is oversold (and for good reason, uncertainty*), but the baht is up against EVERYTHING.

1 hour ago, ZeVonderBearz said:

What are you talking about? It's not the strength of the baht it's the pound that's on it's arse. Brits have BJ, Farage and their pals to blame for that. Once the UK is out of the EU with no deal come Halloween then it's only getting worse. 

Really ,please check all currencies against the baht ,while Brexit uncertainty is harming the pound ,the main problem at the moment is most currencies are way down against the baht just check it on google ,its easy when you know how.

What are you talking about? It's not the strength of the baht it's the pound that's on it's arse. Brits have BJ, Farage and their pals to blame for that. Once the UK is out of the EU with no deal come Halloween then it's only getting worse. 

I take it you are a remainer trying to add to project fear. If you bothered to look at the currency charts like normal people not fearmongers do you will see that all currencies are way down on the baht,i do agree that the uncertainty at the moment over Brexit is a further factor ,but wait and see what happens ,no deal it seems has already been factored in by the money markets.

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All you have to do is look at what is going on politically.

Thailand got greedy when times were booming, now they are paying the price. And will continue to pay the price for years to come. Thailand is influenced heavily by China. You can see that in the politics.

Personally I have no sympathy for Thailand what so ever.