Phuket facing worst tourism crisis in three decades - half of hotel rooms empty in 2020

[murraynz]

5 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

Yes, mate of mine had a long black and a frappe juice at Coffee club for 352 baht, I said that's more expensive than in Double Bay Sydney, an affluent suburb in Sydney's eastern suburbs, he said, yep, this place has done it's dash for all the years he had been coming.

 

He did say that Bangla Road was busy in the evening though, but most people were on the street and not in the bars, hmmmm, could be that the drinks are it's too expensive....lol

I  used to likegoing to Phuket, but last visit, even bought complaints from my Thai friend.. She said the restaurants are very expensive and food not good Thai food. 

I haven't returned for about 4 years. 

[stevenl]

Just now, ian007 said:

Worst tourism crisis in 3 decades? What about 15 years ago the tsunami... there were almost no tourists in Phuket for a good 2 years. Has this been forgotten?

It affected tourism in the aftermath, but the next low and high season were close to normal again.

[madmen]

8 hours ago, nausea said:

Yeah, karma kicks in, 10 years ago it was still pretty good, then something went wrong, <deleted>ty attitudes from the locals turned me off. The strength of the baht means little, you can always lower your prices, it's an excuse disguising a bigger underlying problem. I did meet my SO there though, so I can't complain too much, like a lot of the "locals" she came from another province, running away from problems at home, like shooting a guy who beat her up. Ha! But there you have it in a nutshell, Phuket is full of guys and gals like her.

Whats a SO? is that supposed to be a H ?

Edited January 3, 2020 by blackcab
Bold font removed. Please do not modify someone else's post in your quoted reply, either with font or color changes or wording

[FritsSikkink]

5 hours ago, madmitch said:

I've been saying for years that hotel nights are a much better indicator of tourism health rather than the arrival figures upon which TAT and the Tourism Ministry are always quoting.

 

 

They are not as AIRbnb has become very big now.

Edited January 3, 2020 by FritsSikkink

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, chrisandsu said:

As I said on another thread my brother is a first time visitor to Thailand and Phuket and he is shocked at how expensive the place is .

And the Thai bar/restaurant owners keep jacking up the prices to milk the last tourist.... they just don't know how to be competitive in a free market.

The high baht is the final straw in driving away a tired, worn-out theme.

Punters are finding better deals elsewhere and voting with their feet.

[racket]

If the baht is too strong then why don’t they lower prices to accommodate for the strength? For the consumers perspective, lower prices is always satisfactory. Besides, is there any other reason why hotels are unoccupied, could it be that consumers for some reason don’t like their services? Or simply oversupply? 
 

Yes I know the baht has its issues but every downturn means the market needs to phase out the bad and let the good survive. I kept reading the article but couldn’t find any solution they wanted from government intervention, are they hinting a bailout? This ain’t Lehman brothers..

 

Lastly, Phuket isn’t a popular destination anymore - live with it!

Edited January 3, 2020 by racket

[alzack]

5 hours ago, rembody said:

Would help if they could get rid of the taxi mafia, and make it more affordable to get around

Dont worry UNCLE will sort it out  These army guys just about pucket up Thailand

[peter14]

Visa is a big issue.. more thai embassy make it difficult  less people.  Am happy I  malysia amd feel welcome

[Dap]

5 hours ago, darksidedog said:

The cure is going to be very painful and largely needs to come at grass roots level. The whole basis of a market economy is about supply and demand. When demand is low you need to reduce prices, especially when the local currency is strong. Of course, lowering prices is anathema to Thais, who normally just keep putting them up, thus further driving away customers. Then of course we get into the realms of the rip offs and treating your customers like dirt, none of which leads to repeat business, but a fast few baht now has always been more appealing here than taking a long term view.

Well said mate!

[mike787]

2 hours ago, SteveK said:

I spent an hour today trying to do my 90 day report online. Downloaded and installed various browsers, tried the android app - all to no avail. So frustrating. Now it's a 3 hour round trip to the office.

It’s painful reasons such as your experiences and worse than that, in addition to all the other hell like immigration antics that make water boarding better than immigration...many expats are fed up.  So sorry to hear what you had to endure, I’m seriously looking at a path of less resistance by considering other Asian countries.

[Dap]

3 minutes ago, madmen said:

Whats a SO? is that supposed to be a H ?

"Significant Other"

[Dario]

5 hours ago, chrisandsu said:

As I said on another thread my brother is a first time visitor to Thailand and Phuket and he is shocked at how expensive the place is .

Already around the year 2000 at the turn of the century, everything in Phuket was already very expensive, especially food at the food stalls. Thais don't know how to adapt. If their income dwindles with fewer and fewer tourist arrivals, they increase their prices. What a logic!

[from the home of CC]

getting rid of the  illegal short term renters in condo buildings would throw them some business..

[Janner1]

4 hours ago, rembody said:

Would help if they could get rid of the taxi mafia, and make it more affordable to get around

Nobody has to use the taxi mafia, you only use them if you are stupid.

ALWAYS ask for taxi meter and if they will not use it, go to the next one.

I have never had to ask more than 3 drivers no matter where I am.

If you ask for a taxi at your hotel tell them you want taxi meter not taxi mafia, they all know what you mean.

If you get a taxi at the airport go up to the departure level and get a meter cab across the road, that way you avoid the rip off mafia quoted price and additional charge heaped on you downstairs. ( talking about swampy )

And before the idiot brigade jump in and say I am a cheap Charlie, I am not, I simply do not take kindly to being ripped off so I take as much action as possible against it.

Example > taxi meter,swampy to Soi 11 Sukhumvit 253 baht plus 75baht highway.

same journey quoted by the mafia 600 Baht minimum plus what ever they can get away with for the highway.

Downstairs 450baht plus 50 baht loading plus highway. And they try to charge more for extra suitcases.

These prices were quoted to me as of October 2019

[CH1961]

Observed since last year in my neighborhood ... 

One <deleted>/Rusky/Quality-Tourist get the room in condo opposite hotel. Five others follow after dark.

So condo is much cheaper than hotel ... isn't it ????

That is the problem of/for the hotels now. 

For residents in condo too ☹️

Edited January 3, 2020 by CH1961
censored, had to change name of quality tourist

[alzack]

3 minutes ago, racket said:

If the baht is too strong then why don’t they lower prices to accolade for the strength? For the consumers perspective, lower prices is always satisfactory. Besides, is there any other reason why hotels are unoccupied, could it be that consumers for some reason don’t like their services? Or simply oversupply? 
 

Yes I know the baht has its issues but every downturn means the market needs to phase out the bad and let the good survive. I kept reading the article but couldn’t find any solution they wanted from government intervention, are they hinting a bailout? This ain’t Lehman brothers..

They should devalue the baht by say 10--15% Vietnam did it it worked well China has done it, Even England did it under Harold wilson, is not an Einstein thing

[Destiny1990]

The Interrogation of frequently visiting tourists at airports and the TM30 headache for long term stayers surely aren’t helping...The departure of expats is another sign on the wall that elsewhere its better.

I don’t believe it’s related to some Brexit !

[DrPhibes]

We were just in Phuket at the nosebleed time period between Xmas and New Years for a dive trip (when kids out of Int'l school).  About 3 weeks before leaving CM there was hardly a room for rent for Phuket on Agoda and those that were at crazy prices.  We snagged a place in Kata (never stayed in Kata before) about 1.5 weeks before our trip for a very reasonable price (and was not full the whole time we were there).  As it got about 1 week before leaving, we were seeing a sudden explosion of places available all over Phuket on Agoda, many at under 1/2 price from what they were just a week or so earlier.  Some restaurants in Kata were VERY dead and some very busy but not completely packed.

[madmen]

4 minutes ago, peter14 said:

Visa is a big issue.. more thai embassy make it difficult  less people.  Am happy I  malysia amd feel welcome

No its not. They nearly all visa exempt however your an expat in the land of the muzzies. Try to keep up !

[tlandtday]

2 minutes ago, DrPhibes said:

We were just in Phuket at the nosebleed time period between Xmas and New Years for a dive trip (when kids out of Int'l school).  About 3 weeks before leaving CM there was hardly a room for rent for Phuket on Agoda and those that were at crazy prices.  We snagged a place in Kata (never stayed in Kata before) about 1.5 weeks before our trip for a very reasonable price (and was not full the whole time we were there).  As it got about 1 week before leaving, we were seeing a sudden explosion of places available all over Phuket on Agoda, many at under 1/2 price from what they were just a week or so earlier.  Some restaurants in Kata were VERY dead and some very busy but not completely packed.

Never believe Agoda there pricing and occupancy is often manipulated.  Since they were bought by Priceline they have been very unscrupulous. 

[Destiny1990]

5 minutes ago, Janner1 said:

Nobody has to use the taxi mafia, you only use them if you are stupid.

ALWAYS ask for taxi meter and if they will not use it, go to the next one.

I have never had to ask more than 3 drivers no matter where I am.

If you ask for a taxi at your hotel tell them you want taxi meter not taxi mafia, they all know what you mean.

If you get a taxi at the airport go up to the departure level and get a meter cab across the road, that way you avoid the rip off mafia quoted price and additional charge heaped on you downstairs. ( talking about swampy )

And before the idiot brigade jump in and say I am a cheap Charlie, I am not, I simply do not take kindly to being ripped off so I take as much action as possible against it.

Example > taxi meter,swampy to Soi 11 Sukhumvit 253 baht plus 75baht highway.

same journey quoted by the mafia 600 Baht minimum plus what ever they can get away with for the highway.

Downstairs 450baht plus 50 baht loading plus highway. And they try to charge more for extra suitcases.

These prices were quoted to me as of October 2019

Which metered taxies in Phuket are you talking about?

[xylophone]

30 minutes ago, TTSIssues said:

Exactly to be expected - you reap what you sow. So here are some suggestions of how to fix the problem:

 

1. stop rampart over development and stop building more hotels ! Pull down and remove any and all illegal structures, so many illegal Buildings in Patong alone.

2. get rid of the taxi mafia and introduce fair priced public transport: buses, songtheaws, proper meter taxis. Existing taxi drivers can be re-employed as bus drivers doing something meaningful instead of standing all day on the streets hassling tourists and making phuket look shabby. This would also return the streets to the public who pay for them. 

3. stop wasting money on reports dreaming of vanity projects such as light rails & cable cars

4. use the budget earmarked for vanity projects to upgrade infrastructure: water supply, waste water management, garbage collection, pavements (sidewalks), electric cables and supply.
5. stop driving for high levels of cheap package tourists who only stay three days (thus boosting tourist numbers and visa fees), and instead market to higher spending people who will stay longer and spend more money in the local economy - recover lost money on visa fees with more efficient tax collection.

6. Produce an overall integrated plan to take phuket into the future in these environmentally focussed days. Stick to it, and deliver against it. 
7. ideally learn from the Philippines & Maya Bay and shut Phuket for 12 months to all domestic and foreign tourists to allow time for these projects to be implemented and allow phuket time to recover.
 

None of this is rocket science - none of it is difficult to Implement - it’s all been done before in other parts or the world.

 

or just carry on with heads in the sand and continue the decline - which is probably the likely choice sadly. 
 

 

You are right, it isn't rocket science, however your points 1 to 4 (and possibly a couple more) do not take into consideration the fact that the wealthy people at the top of the pile here in Phuket and Patong, where I live, will get wealthy on selling land, developing hotels etc on the land, selling hotels to operators, or leasing them, and also skimming off of any other projects which are in the pipeline, or being built.

 

These people will make money no matter what, so why should they bother to change things.

 

They simply lift the rents on any of the shops or land which they currently own, and if one of the renters decides to leave, they find someone else to take the place.

 

It's going on right now and has been for some time, and even though some of these places are not rented out again, the rich are wealthy enough not to have to worry about too much about the small fry.

 

As someone else mentioned in a post, the cycle goes on, one place closes and another one opens, very often in the same place and following the same pattern of key money upfront, monthly rent, renovate/fix up the place, try to make it work for three or four months then leave because they're not making any money, then the cycle starts again.

 

Another instance is the tuk tuks of which there are far too many to service a place like Patong, with many of them unused throughout most of the day, yet more arrived just a few years ago, and they have to pay a yearly fee to someone higher up the chain to be able to operate here, and if they fail, there's always someone else willing to jump in. 

 

The Thai mentality doesn't allow someone who thinks about opening a business to do any ground work or investigation prior to opening, and that's very, very evident in the small shops and establishments which are continually going bust, changing hands, and going bust again – – – and the cycle continues.

 

They think the tourism boom will never end, but unfortunately they are on the receiving end of the start of a slump and the people who will be hurt most are those further down the ladder and those are the ones I feel sorry for.
 

[Somtamnication]

Thais have never reduced room prices to increase sales. After the tsunami and SARS, prices actually went up! 

[nickmondo]

you reap what you sow!

treat people like <deleted>, and this is how you get repaid.

strong baht, rubbish customer service, horrible pollution, wild dogs everywhere, of course people are going somewhere else.

its not rocket science.

it has only ever been popular here because it was cheap.

those days are gone.

[Caine]

Reasons it's down. 1. Thai baht too high. 2. Jumping through visa hoops especially for longer term tourists 3. Filthy streets and strewn stinking garbage. 4. Dangerous ankle breaking sidewalks. 4. The open sewer they call the Ocean. 5. The bent coppers. 6 The rip off vendors. 7. The racist Thai population they're so superior to every other race on the planet, in their eyes anyway. The list is endless but don't worry the tourists numbers are up. And if need be we will double our prices. The place is washed up what goes around comes around hooray.

[ThaiFelix]

If the TAT is saying numbers are healthy but the accommodation sector is complaining of low occupancy rates, where are they all............alien mass abductions??

[rossco1]

I get very confused on minute record highs next world coming too an end 

Next 39 million visitors world record

Next doom gloom blame is on high bht

Nothing to do with the rules that must be followed

People not coming because of rules and regulations too

 

[Elzear]

So ... where do those 39 million visitors go disappear ? Shouldn’t Pattaya and Phuket hotels be chock’o’block full of Indians, Ruskies, Chinese, and whoever else comes in LOSex.. ? I know ..Indians sleep 6 in a room, Russians don’t sleep anywhere else than on the beaches and in the bars. Chinese .. not sure where they stay. 

Oh well, like my Thai gf likes to say « nevermind » ! 

[Olmate]

32 minutes ago, Orton Rd said:

Went once in 1996, absolutely horrible so never went back. Seems to have become a trend, except for certain filthy rich types.

No wonder Yinn thought you were so special!????????‍♀️

[Jack Cook]

Never any mention of the endless rip off of tourists and the filthy water at the beaches that is nothing like the photo shopped tourist brochures. Smart tourists are going to Vietnam. Thai tourism won’t be revived and by the way it looks they won’t even have a national airline soon. 
Thai people are nice enough but the vast majority are devoid of common sense or planning skills