Thai tourism: 40 million tourists won't happen this year - strong baht, trade war to blame

[jeff270476]

4 hours ago, overherebc said:

Not only me but a couple of friends would really like to know how the figure are decided.

What factors are used to determine a tourist arrival.

Total count of non Thai passports going through airports and border posts?

Total number of hotel registrations of non Thai passports or just all passports.?

Total of passports in airports plus total of hotel registrations?

Total of overstay also ????

[Almer]

Well well well , to meet friends in Pattaya the second week of October i booked a Room in 3 star and without asking i received 70% discount and 10 % service charged waive, don't tell me Pattaya is busy because we all know it  isn't, further more if it wasn't for friends there we would not go, lady boy gangs , shooting, TM 30 to do, i would rather stay home. Tourism officials take note when your hotels start to close there will be a mass exodus to  far more friendly resorts, probably not found in LOS, you have  been warned but take little advise due to this face saving cr@p

[morrobay]

45 minutes ago, Globe Trotter said:

I've been saying it for months, but the naysayers wouldn't listen. I've been here a decade and know various business owners, trust me it's sinking 

Ok but what are the various businesses and what are the numbers your referring to ?

[alzack]

5 hours ago, trainman34014 said:

No worries; TAT will inform us that next year there will be 80 million visitors to make up the deficit !

I am sure its 39,0000342 exactly

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Chairat Trairattanajarasporn told INN that the strong baht and the trade war between the US and China is to blame,

But he forgot to mention the polluted beaches, the taxi wars, street wars, rip-off vendors, corrupt police and the never ending immigration woes..

[Deli]

4 hours ago, SidJames said:

2.76% from India.

The whole lot must go to Pattaya & no where else

Some to Patong and Soi4 Suk.

They don't wanna see anything else.

 

[bkk6060]

3 hours ago, Pilotman said:

Many more cleaner and cheaper places in the World to holiday. 

Well please, educate us.

Where are these places?

 

[bkk6060]

58 minutes ago, adammike said:

Where can I go in Jan/Feb to get winter sun? I live in the Netherlands.

California.

[Derek B]

I arrived at Swampy at 1:30pm on 20th September - immigration line non existent - flight from Doha empty about 30 pax only - excellent news.

[BestB]

What I do not get with all the figures released by TAT is that according to them numbers are up and up yet every year it’s more quite than the previous , more hotels, restaurants and shops closing down .

 

surely 5-10 years ago 20 million tourists filled all the shops but now with 40 million all empty.

 

how does that work?

[pedro01]

1 minute ago, BestB said:

What I do not get with all the figures released by TAT is that according to them numbers are up and up yet every year it’s more quite than the previous , more hotels, restaurants and shops closing down .

 

surely 5-10 years ago 20 million tourists filled all the shops but now with 40 million all empty.

 

how does that work?

More shops.

[BestB]

2 minutes ago, Derek B said:

I arrived at Swampy at 1:30pm on 20th September - immigration line non existent - flight from Doha empty about 30 pax only - excellent news.

Waiting for light change at an intersection , airport bus arriving in Pattaya had only 2 people . This was last week . 

[BestB]

Just now, pedro01 said:

More shops.

Understood, but also double the numbers 

[eddie61]

5 hours ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

 

Correct (Total count of non Thai passports going through airports and border posts?), that is what TAT is using.

 

In other words, they don't differentiate between different type of tourist. Any non-Thai that enter Thailand = 1 tourist. Flawed accounting of course. 

 

https://www.airportthai.co.th/en/airports-of-thailand-plc/about-aot/air-transport-statistic/

 

By which count my travels abroad and returns over the last 28 years would would have registered as over 100 tourist arrivals.

 

 

[fuzzie]

Vietnam

Sent from my SM-G935F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[sunnyboy2018]

5 hours ago, cyril sneer said:

has nothing to do with the Baht

Yes it most certainly does. Exchange rates are determining factor when people are choosing holiday destinations. Also holiday duration. 

[Shiver]

When they say Tourists, are they Intl flight numbers, or does it include expats?

[sunnyboy2018]

55 minutes ago, Almer said:

Well well well , to meet friends in Pattaya the second week of October i booked a Room in 3 star and without asking i received 70% discount and 10 % service charged waive, don't tell me Pattaya is busy because we all know it  isn't, further more if it wasn't for friends there we would not go, lady boy gangs , shooting, TM 30 to do, i would rather stay home. Tourism officials take note when your hotels start to close there will be a mass exodus to  far more friendly resorts, probably not found in LOS, you have  been warned but take little advise due to this face saving cr@p

Hysterical nonsense.  You seem to know Pattaya only through the lense of this TVF where jaundiced cynics both Thai haters and Pattaya bashers seize on negative headlines. You read about TM 30s on this forum. You have never seen one, will never see one and will not be required to deal with one. Shootings: again headline grabbing sensationalism.  Such events are few and far between compared to many countries. London is far more dangerous,  a 100 murders this year. Ladyboy gangs? There are none. However,  when a group of ladyboys see a friend being cheated or insulted,  usually by an Arab or Iranian they will most assuredly help their friend. You have nothing to fear here but your own gullibility. However,  please find a more friendly place to visit as  I doubt you will be missed here. Good luck.

[lootarzoon]

Can TAT give us honest figures they can get from immigration with the hotels compulsory checking in foreigners registration??? Take out Thai and residents? They have all necessary docs to clarify real numbers with lowest ratio of mistakes

[DrTuner]

5 hours ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

Correct (Total count of non Thai passports going through airports and border posts?), that is what TAT is using

Not quite, they use this: https://immigration.go.th/immigration_stats

 

It's immigration entries for visa classes they deem as tourist (TR, etc) and voa/exemptions. Any connecting flights that require check-in after clearing immigration are counted as a tourist, regardless if they stay in Thailand for 2h or 90 days. Immigration has not released data of the length of the stays, but BKK being a regional hub and with Air Asia & co flying out of DMK, there must be quite a few that only come to leave for other destinations ASAP.

[DrTuner]

2 hours ago, pedro01 said:

Manning an immigration counter is a crappy job and it's rare to have a happy immigration officer in any country.

Yes, which as much of it as possible should be automated. Robots don't get grumpy.

 

Unfortunately it seems immigration's IT systems are a shamble and need refactoring to enable such systems. Meaning it'll be years, if ever. Or a few months if they'd hire a competent farang company to do it, but that's definitely a never, TiT.

[Destiny1990]

Instead of answering the question for themselves. How about  asking Europeans travelers why they have stopped visiting? . Same for expats  ask them for what reasons so many Of them have left and or are considering to leave.

 

I doubt anyone will say that a US China trade war has anything to do with their decision.  

[Soikhaonoiken]

Has the penny finally dropped, that the strong Baht is killing the Country, not only tourism, but Thai exports, just read another report that rice exports are down by 35% due to the strong Baht... ????

[Chelseafan]

6 hours ago, Suradit69 said:

TOT the phone company didn't know?

 

Many of the potential tourists may have booked on Thomas Cook which just folded stranding 600,000 tourists, allegedly around the world.

I suppose the phone company didn't know that either.

 

 

<deleted> Typo obviously ????

[ExpatOilWorker]

39 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

Not quite, they use this: https://immigration.go.th/immigration_stats

 

It's immigration entries for visa classes they deem as tourist (TR, etc) and voa/exemptions. Any connecting flights that require check-in after clearing immigration are counted as a tourist, regardless if they stay in Thailand for 2h or 90 days. Immigration has not released data of the length of the stays, but BKK being a regional hub and with Air Asia & co flying out of DMK, there must be quite a few that only come to leave for other destinations ASAP.

That is an interesting treasure trove of date. If you add up all the foreigners that have passed through immigration in 2018 you get: 42,459,852.

They do filter a few out, possible diplomat and UN passports, but everybody else get thrown into the TAT "Tourist" pot.

[Misab]

Mostly the strong Thai Bahts is to blame in my view.  A hotel in Phuket put it this way, Europeans tourist are down a lot, and Chinese tourist don’t stay long and do not use so much money as Europeans do, it takes 3 – 4 Chinese tourists to make up for the loss of one Swedish tourist.

[DrTuner]

2 minutes ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

That is an interesting treasure trove of date. If you add up all the foreigners that have passed through immigration in 2018 you get: 42,459,852.

They do filter a few out, possible diplomat and UN passports, but everybody else get thrown into the TAT "Tourist" pot.

They do filter f.ex. non-immigrants out. I took a dive down the rabbit hole here: 

 

[Artisi]

6 hours ago, overherebc said:

Not only me but a couple of friends would really like to know how the figure are decided.

What factors are used to determine a tourist arrival.

Total count of non Thai passports going through airports and border posts?

Total number of hotel registrations of non Thai passports or just all passports.?

Total of passports in airports plus total of hotel registrations?

No, wave a finger in the air and guess a number, not unlike picking a winning lottery number, you can consult a fortune teller, a monk,  look at a dead tree, or a car number plate - anything that's might help - - - it's same same nonsense. 

[Parsve]

5 hours ago, madmen said:

It's the baht , its always always about the money. The rest is just noise

Yours points are affecting mostly expats. A grudge , political climate, justice for the rich? Seriusly what are you talking about, your averge 7 day tourists could care less 

They shurley do. If you feel that a country reduces your freedom, you shurley not go there for a holiday. There are always other countries to go to.

[Burma Bill]

Quote:-

"He said that foreign tourists were going to other countries where they might get more for their money"

 

At long last, someone in authority in tourism has got his act together!