Thailand’s Tourism Council reports ZERO bookings following coronavirus outbreak

[DrTuner]

Zero Chinese? Music to my ears.

 

Where are tho advertised hordes of FITs then, eh? Hiding under a rock?

[Ramen087]

It’s the simple fallout of placing one group of people above the rest, while neglecting in large part, the benefits of treating the rest well despite the fact they’re no longer your number one tourism group.  The mantra of every day is a new day with zero regard for the actions of all previous days doesn’t work well in the hospitality industry.  

[DrTuner]

4 hours ago, Yadon Toploy said:

 

 

I reckon an economic crash is now inevitable here. 

 

Save your cash as there will be loads of vehicles, apartments and houses up for sale in the near future.

 

Not to mention higher crime rates.

 

It's going to get messy.

Brilliant time to have cash. Buy cheap and when the Chinese hordes return, and oh return they will, sell it all to the illegal Chinese hotel runners and get the hell out of dodge with a nice pile of profit.

[yogi100]

1 hour ago, spermwhale said:

I have lived here a long time and I don't recall an tour operator, hotel or other people in the industry treating me poorly here. Once I signed up for a boat trip in Phuket and unfortunately they catered primarily to Chinese and the dock was full of them. However, the staff and even the owners who I met all treated me really well. 

I'm curious what your experience has been to think that they are treating Chinese well but not westerners.

 

The scowls and frowns and sometimes the interrogations us falangs receive on arrival at BKK Airport tell us all we need to know.

 

Just like a picture a scowl or a frown and sometimes a gesture can be worth a thousand words.

[yogi100]

1 hour ago, Gweiloman said:

Everyone is treated the same. It’s just entitled farangs showing their poor education. 

How does a person's level of education enter the equation?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SoilSpoil]

16 minutes ago, crabbie2020 said:

Hope the Thai economy really suffers. Servers them right for turning their backs on us falanag!!

Yeah, hate how they (?) treated the Falanag people. Pure racism. 

[SoilSpoil]

5 minutes ago, Ramen087 said:

It’s the simple fallout of placing one group of people above the rest, while neglecting in large part, the benefits of treating the rest well despite the fact they’re no longer your number one tourism group.  The mantra of every day is a new day with zero regard for the actions of all previous days doesn’t work well in the hospitality industry.  

I've read this probably a hundred times here,  but could you tell me where Chinese visitors are treated better, or different, than other nationalities?

 

I doubt you can.

[outsider]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

The problems began when China banned all outbound tours in a bid to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Mr Chairat said.

 

No Khun Chairat. The problems began when you all got greedy, started chasing after just the money with scant regards to what is being offered in return. Then you focussed mainly on one group of tourists to the exclusion of others. Then there were the scams, cheats and basically unscrupulous treatment of tourists - basically everything that is counter to what real Thai-ness is. You think tourists don't see the fake 'wais' and that all-famous Thai 'smile'? To top it all, your dear Esteemed Leader decreed that the borders should remain open to your Chinese paymasters.

 

You guys basically gave yet another reason to tourists to NOT come to Thailand. So now, nobody wants to come. Don't blame the Chinese travel ban.

 

What is truly amazing is, how many feet do you all have left to shoot at. At the rate things are going, I presume you have a lot left. Might as well make 'Shoot Own Foot' a national past-time.

 

[Gweiloman]

6 minutes ago, SoilSpoil said:

I've read this probably a hundred times here,  but could you tell me where Chinese visitors are treated better, or different, than other nationalities?

 

I doubt you can.

He can’t. Just another TVF myth. 

[Pinot]

Might be a good time to start building some sewer treatment plants? Especially in Phuket?

[CLW]

Even this isn't directly connected with tourists, I hope they overthink this ridiculous 90 day reporting and the even more stupid re-entry permit. The latter is just a measure to make money and doesn't serve any other purpose.

[smudger1951]

I would normally be spending the UK winter months in Thailand. But the stricter criteria and internet application process has killed O visa & off farangs in large numbers. Registering your address and movements are a fine laden nightmare. LOS has shot itself in the foot. Any regrets ? ?

[Dannybigboy]

I feel sorry for Thailand , I really do, but this is just a final blow to an already affected touristindustry. I have lived here for many years and I have friends running hotels and restaurangs all over LOS. They are now very worried ...very worried !! They give me a different picture of the number of Tourists compared to what TAT are saying in the press / media. Also, they say that you can not compare western / european Tourists with Chinese / Indians because the pattern of spending is so ...so different . Restaurants, bars and discos are suffering, Chinese and Indians go in Groups and eat cheaply. Many factors over the years are now adding up. And the Corona Virus is the final Nail in the coffin for Thai Tourism. Sad to say.  

[natway09]

Look after the tourists that we do have ???????

30 years too late for that.

[cyril sneer]

I had a few hotels shortlisted for a week's holiday in Phuket, they've all gone up on price considerably over the past couple of weeks

[Mavideol]

1 minute ago, cyril sneer said:

I had a few hotels shortlisted for a week's holiday in Phuket, they've all gone up on price considerably over the past couple of weeks

for Thailand that's normal behavior,....less customers, want same profit, solution? increase prices

[A Los for words]

1 hour ago, rocket3rider said:

Stating that tourism is down to zero is a great move.

 

When one tourist comes in they will announce that tourism numbers are up 100%.

Even better, the percentage increase of one more from zero is infinity. Kah boom! Got to be worth a pay rise to TAT.

[30la]

Wake up, the next train is already leaving ....

[sambum]

"the Tourism Council of Thailand", and "the Ministry of Tourism and Sports" need to consult their bosses TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand) and they will surely be able to show an upward trend - they always have up to now, and are experts in manipulating statistics!

 

 

[Ketyo]

No-one has any sympathy at all for the Thai authorities. In fact most people think they deserve everything they get. The Thai authorities probably don't know how despised they really are.

[SteveK]

26 minutes ago, cyril sneer said:

I had a few hotels shortlisted for a week's holiday in Phuket, they've all gone up on price considerably over the past couple of weeks

Of course, that is Thai logic. Increase price to make up for the lack of customers. Hilarious.

[Andycoops]

5 hours ago, neeray said:

Should have been actively doing this all along instead of depending on the Chinese and Indians.

Too lazy to think about it.

[BobbyL]

As I posted in a similar thread a day or so ago - 

 

Thailand was a haven for western tourists in the 90s and early 00s. Every Tom, Dick and Harry wanted to come here for something different - backpackers, couples, sex pests, retirees, beach goers, adventure seekers etc. Nowadays, relying on one or two (e.g - Chinese) tourist markets was never ever going to end well. 

 

What the TAT and the boys in charge failed to realise was to keep this tourist momentum up you need to improve, be innovative and develop the industry so it continues to grow. What I believe Thailand did in their partly ingrained arrogance, is basically nothing. They believed their own hype and thought we will always be able to attract tourists no matter what. 

 

[madmitch]

11 minutes ago, cyril sneer said:

I had a few hotels shortlisted for a week's holiday in Phuket, they've all gone up on price considerably over the past couple of weeks

Look around and you'll probably find a number that have reduced prices.

 

Despite popular belief, the hotel industry rarely follows the "normal" Thai practice of increasing prices when things get difficult. Savvy hotel owners and managers know exactly what the competition is doing and, believe me, if prices haven't reduced now they will soon; but not in all hotels. Some are still doing quite nicely from the Russian/Eastern European trade.

 

I've just had a quick look at Karon hotels and it's easy enough to see which hotels are holding rates and which are discounting.

[SteveK]

3 minutes ago, BobbyL said:

 What I believe Thailand did in their partly ingrained arrogance, is basically nothing. 

That's what they do about everything - nothing ever changes or improves here. Look at road deaths in Thailand, nothing being done about that and the numbers are shocking. Head in the sand about everything here. Nobody wants to take responsibility for anything, nobody seems to have powers of critical thinking or problem solving, and nobody ever acts proactively.

[Straight8]

5 hours ago, colinneil said:

What a crock of s++t, problems began when China banned all outbound tours.

Do these people actually believe that?

Problems have been slowly mounting over the last few years.

T.A.T.  have been that busy forging tourist arrival numbers, they believe this.

Um...yeah they actually do Col !!!!

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

He added that the industry as a whole must take good care of the other tourists who remain in Thailand, while also exploring new markets to compensate for the absence of Chinese tourists. 

 

Until the Chinese come back to Thailand, and that presumably will happen at some point in the future...

 

An then everything can go back to the way it was.... with the industry and government in large part happily ignoring or disregarding the other tourists who remain in Thailand (except perhaps for the Indians,,,).

 

[yogi100]

24 minutes ago, smudger1951 said:

I would normally be spending the UK winter months in Thailand. But the stricter criteria and internet application process has killed O visa & off farangs in large numbers. Registering your address and movements are a fine laden nightmare. LOS has shot itself in the foot. Any regrets ? ?

I used to get the ME O visa and visit Pattaya 2 or 3 times a year for 80 - 90 days each time and spend around 200,000 baht each time.

 

I can't get that visa any more and I'm not prepared to get a retirement or an Elite Visa so I'll be spending a lot less time in Pattaya in future and of course a lot less money. A couple of my friends who used the same visa process as myself will be doing likewise.

 

There must be tens of thousands of retired and semi retired falangs who work as taxi drivers, building workers or in seasonal occupations not to mention the North American, Scandinavian and Russian snowbirds who'll look elsewhere for their winter getaways because of these new visa regulations.

 

That's without those who may not want to risk being turned away at the airport because they are told they "come too much" by some IO on a power trip who got out of the wrong side of the bed that morning.

 

I don't think this virus scare will last all that long but it definitely won't help matters as far as the Thais who get their living from tourism are concerned.

[ftpjtm]

2 minutes ago, BobbyL said:

As I posted in a similar thread a day or so ago - 

 

Thailand was a haven for western tourists in the 90s and early 00s. Every Tom, Dick and Harry wanted to come here for something different - backpackers, couples, sex pests, retirees, beach goers, adventure seekers etc. Nowadays, relying on one or two (e.g - Chinese) tourist markets was never ever going to end well. 

 

What the TAT and the boys in charge failed to realise was to keep this tourist momentum up you need to improve, be innovative and develop the industry so it continues to grow. What I believe Thailand did in their partly ingrained arrogance, is basically nothing. They believed their own hype and thought we will always be able to attract tourists no matter what. 

 

IMO it's worse than that. In the '90's and early '00's there was a very active Amazing Thailand campaign to draw tourists into the country from the US.

 

It was effective, many, many American friends expressed interest in visiting Thailand.

 

As that was replaced by news of coups, bombings, police crack downs on night clubs and card playing, unsolved murders etc etc there is MUCH less interest in Americans visiting Thailand. 

 

Government tourism campaigns are helpful, but when is the last time you heard of one aimed at Westerners?

[Gweiloman]

3 minutes ago, SteveK said:

That's what they do about everything - nothing ever changes or improves here. Look at road deaths in Thailand, nothing being done about that and the numbers are shocking. Head in the sand about everything here. Nobody wants to take responsibility for anything, nobody seems to have powers of critical thinking or problem solving, and nobody ever acts proactively.

Very true. That’s why there are so many expat retirees and more wanting to come. If Thailand had exhibited the traits you mentioned, she would be like Singapore. Hkg, South Korea, Taiwan. Guess how many expats can afford to retire there