Thailand tourist arrivals may drop six million this year due to coronavirus - tourism authority

[ozz1]

 Unfortunately Thailand is becoming old hat to a lot of  western tourists and the baht being so strong they don't get much Bang  for their buck if you know what I mean and bad news travels fast about low exchange rates and being ripped off

[emptypockets]

50 minutes ago, Torrens54 said:

With TOURIST Numbers DOWN, maybe, just maybe they’ll decide to 
improve their attitude towards EXPATS who live here and keep pouring money into the local economy on a daily basis.

Pouring money in?

We often see threads where people claim they spend very little to live here. Some claim to live on 15,000 baht a month or less. 500 baht a day!!

When will people realise the expat contribution is insignificant in the big picture?

Jeez, some expats on a pension even have car loans and mortgages!!

Tourist income dwarfs expat expenditure by orders of magnitude. The authorities are correct in expressing concern about lower numbers.

Edited March 3, 2020 by emptypockets

[Mac98]

Drop of 6mn if numbers get back to normal in 4 months. Too many people will be hurt financially in the meantime and it will be a slow climb back to normal. Look for 30% drop for 2020.

[emptypockets]

4 minutes ago, ozz1 said:

 Unfortunately Thailand is becoming old hat to a lot of  western tourists and the baht being so strong they don't get much Bang  for their buck if you know what I mean and bad news travels fast about low exchange rates and being ripped off

Low exchange rates doesn't equate to being ripped off. Low exchange rates are a function of your countries currency value as I know only to well. Just withdrew 800 AUD equivalent for 15,000 baht. Seven years ago I would have got 25,000 baht.

[emptypockets]

2 minutes ago, Mac98 said:

Drop of 6mn if numbers get back to normal in 4 months. Too many people will be hurt financially in the meantime and it will be a slow climb back to normal. Look for 30% drop for 2020.

At least, likely more.

[Cake Monster]

4 hours ago, Mattd said:

Indeed, certainly doesn't help................

Both were on different airlines, both planes were virtually empty, admittedly both were leaving and not arriving though.

Hard times ahead for all businesses, especially airlines and those related to.

It isn't just Thailand, the whole world is going to suffer economically.

You are correct in stating that the whole World will suffer Economically.

I fear Thailand is going to suffer more than most due to the large percentage of GDP generated from Tourism ( 20 % quoted ), and the other poor performance sectors ( Manufacturing , Agri Etc ).

The fall out from this Virus will carry on well into 2021 IMO.

Sars was 18 Months of world wide problems.

[spidermike007]

Many three to five star resorts are reporting forward bookings to be at zero percent. That is 0! I predict real arrivals in 2020 to drop by 50-60%. Down from 40 million to 16 million. People just are not traveling at this time, and it will get worse. And after all of this is under control, the ramp up period is going to be 4-12 months. So, Thailand will be devastated this year, and it represents a golden opportunity for the people to oust the hapless and stunningly incompetent army, once and for all. 

[Mbaki]

5 hours ago, legend49 said:

Amazing this country is all think about is tourism and how much money they can milk from them.

That is what the tourism industry is all about in every country, why should Thailand be any different.

[richiejom]

5 hours ago, Mattd said:

 

 

Out of the tourists left all farrang, good old faithful....  Next announcement 'All Farrangs free 90 day single entries on arrival'

Edited March 3, 2020 by richiejom

[Tony125]

Maybe they will relax their present habit of limiting back to back SETV/Visa exempt and telling travelers you been here to many times or too long

[Captor]

4 hours ago, Jimbo2014 said:

Lets focus on the Covid19 which has killed 1 person and not the pollution Apocalypse killing 10s of 1000s and scaring away tourists for good.

And not forget the road kill with 60+ persons dying each day!

[emptypockets]

29 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Many three to five star resorts are reporting forward bookings to be at zero percent. That is 0! I predict real arrivals in 2020 to drop by 50-60%. Down from 40 million to 16 million. People just are not traveling at this time, and it will get worse. And after all of this is under control, the ramp up period is going to be 4-12 months. So, Thailand will be devastated this year, and it represents a golden opportunity for the people to oust the hapless and stunningly incompetent army, once and for all. 

The only people capable of ousting the current government are......the Army!!

[Gregg62]

I went back yesterday to uk ???? and had empty seat next to me , and Burger King looked like it was closed, hip hip  

[tomauasia]

Correction

Tourism stops because army degenerates still let Chinese in LOL.

[christophe75]

Typical.

 

Instead of focusing on serious issues (close the borders, stop the influx of tourists, why the governement doesn't tests for the virus etc) Thais loose their mind on stupid fake news, with sex (as usual), prostitutes, little ghosts whatever, and big loss of face...

 

If thai prostitutes (and of course they exist) are coming back from South Korea, and people are afraid... then why do they focus only on those individuals ? 

 

Why not the tourists, chinese, italian, korean (french, german etc.) ?

 

Just because they are thai.

Edited March 3, 2020 by christophe75

[trainman34014]

3 hours ago, Miami007 said:

33.8 million is still more than in 2016. Yes, below 2017 (35 million) but maybe the infrastructure wasn't there to handle that many people in the first place.  

 

 

Unless you counted that 35 million personally and discounted all the 'non tourist' arrivals then you can't rely on their distorted figures, normally plucked out of the sky !

[tjo o tjim]

I imagine Bangkok tourism will continue to take a hit for the full year, but I was surprised just how busy things were on Koh Tao as a single data point.  The (nicer) resort we were staying at for 2 weeks in February was full 4 or 5 of the days, and around 70-80% the rest of the time, and their outlook was still positive through Songkran.  

 

If I had to guess at a number, I would put in 30-32 million arrivals this year.  Economic impact might not be as bad though, since the average number of days stayed seems to be a little higher than normal.  Also, with the Baht in the 31.4-31.8 range, the currency issues aren’t quite as big of a deal compared to trending towards 29.  Global economic impact might have a bigger role to play in 2021, but time will tell on all fronts.

[stewartthailand]

5 hours ago, Kerryd said:

Yeah but how about pics of the Immigration lines ? That would tell the real story ! ???? 

(Of course Immigration could just cut the number of IOs manning the counters so that the lines remain as long as ever, despite having fewer people arriving/departing.) 

I arrived Saturday morning and no zigzag lines at immigration and about 6-8 in front of the immigration boxes. Very few milling around looking for luggage. My DBX - BKK flight half empty.

Up on level 4 only 3 taxis waiting for hire rather than the usual dozen plus.

Definitely fewer incoming travelers. 

[Darkside Gray]

20 minutes ago, tjo o tjim said:

I imagine Bangkok tourism will continue to take a hit for the full year, but I was surprised just how busy things were on Koh Tao as a single data point.  The (nicer) resort we were staying at for 2 weeks in February was full 4 or 5 of the days, and around 70-80% the rest of the time, and their outlook was still positive through Songkran.  

 

If I had to guess at a number, I would put in 30-32 million arrivals this year.  Economic impact might not be as bad though, since the average number of days stayed seems to be a little higher than normal.  Also, with the Baht in the 31.4-31.8 range, the currency issues aren’t quite as big of a deal compared to trending towards 29.  Global economic impact might have a bigger role to play in 2021, but time will tell on all fronts.

Some one else throwing the bones, its witch craft!

[ThailandGuy]

Amazing how they all contribute to corona whereas the strong baht again is completely ignored as being the cause of the drop in tourist at the start

[Jaxxper]

The middle pic on Mattd’s post shows at least you can get a seat at the bar air side. ????

[Partenavia]

I passed through on Sunday night outbound to the UK, I have never seen it so quiet. Most passengers were European. The flight I was on was nearly full, however, the inbound flight was about 35% full, and next week Etihad were planning to reduce flights to BKK because of projected load factors.

[dukeandduke]

I'm guessing that the required 14-day quarantine for visitors from Germany and France, among others, will affect numbers.

[CeeGee]

Most people in Europe book a long distance holiday 3/6 months ahead. Those that are here now,probably booked before this virus was even thought of.It  The numbers that are thinking of booking for the June /July/August period are the ones that will probably alter their plans if they were going to go to Thailand(or anywhere in the area).That is when the numbers will show a real difference.

[Isaan sailor]

7 hours ago, ThaiBunny said:

Your evidence for this? Western tourists don't think about Chinese tourists in Thailand - they think about the tourist scams, the motorcycle accidents and the reports in their hometown newspaper about the number of tourists from their country who die while visiting Thailand

When I returned to USA last month, friends asked me about Corona (Wuhan) virus and Chinese tourists masses.  They had read Chinese were still coming to Thailand—but not to America.

[tomauasia]

6 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Many three to five star resorts are reporting forward bookings to be at zero percent. That is 0! I predict real arrivals in 2020 to drop by 50-60%. Down from 40 million to 16 million. People just are not traveling at this time, and it will get worse. And after all of this is under control, the ramp up period is going to be 4-12 months. So, Thailand will be devastated this year, and it represents a golden opportunity for the people to oust the hapless and stunningly incompetent army, once and for all. 

Army need to go

[thaibeachlovers]

11 hours ago, Mattd said:

I suspect that these figures quoted may well end up being on the low side, I have had two friends send pictures from the airport (air side) over the last couple of days, both saying it is like a ghost town, both at different times on the same day.

That looks like it was back when I started having regular holidays in LOS, though it was in Don Mueang back then.

Am I the only one that thinks 6 or 10 million less "tourists" is a good thing? The infrastructure was adequate in the 90s, but hasn't been upgraded for the increased numbers.

I wish I could be going to LOS now, but sadly not possible at the moment.

[thaibeachlovers]

6 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Many three to five star resorts are reporting forward bookings to be at zero percent. That is 0! I predict real arrivals in 2020 to drop by 50-60%. Down from 40 million to 16 million. People just are not traveling at this time, and it will get worse. And after all of this is under control, the ramp up period is going to be 4-12 months. So, Thailand will be devastated this year, and it represents a golden opportunity for the people to oust the hapless and stunningly incompetent army, once and for all. 

In my experience many 3 to 5 star resorts are not worth what they charge, so self inflicted that no one wants to stay in them.

16 million a year would be nice- like the 90s were.

It represents a golden opportunity for immigration to stop making it difficult for farangs that want to visit more than once a year, and stop bringing in petty and stupid regulations that serve no purpose except annoying farangs.

They could also use the time to sort out the <deleted> infrastructure which is a disgrace to a so called "tourist destination".

This could be looked at as an opportunity, rather than  a crisis.

[Mikeasq60]

Thailand how about easing up on retiree requirements to make up for the shortfall 

[Rimmer]

A slur has been removed