Thailand tourist arrivals in February fall 44.3% due to coronavirus

[Artisi]

15 minutes ago, sandyf said:

Glad to hear that, I am booked with Emirates to go to the UK in May. What is more of a headache is I have booked a package holiday to Morocco during the visit. The way things are going. Morocco could ban arrivals from the UK.

Or even worse, ban travel back from Morocco.... 

[thaibeachlovers]

On 3/9/2020 at 9:54 PM, saengd said:

"In the worst-case scenario, the number of foreign tourists may fall to 30 million this year from last year's 39.8 million, with spending down 22%,".

 

Just read that a few times and let it sink in, 30 million tourists is a worst case scenario, does 30 million tourists sound like Armageddon to you! 30 million is 2017 levels.

 

https://tradingeconomics.com/thailand/tourist-arrivals

It'd be great to see numbers of tourists at 1990 levels. Sort out the rotten hotel/ guest house owners and make Thailand a much more pleasant place to visit.

[thaibeachlovers]

2 hours ago, possum1931 said:

Yes, but the strong Baht and immigration issues play a part also.

Immigration issues do not affect the vast majority of arrivals with visa exempt entry and no intention of visiting multiple times.

[saengd]

4 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

It'd be great to see numbers of tourists at 1990 levels. Sort out the rotten hotel/ guest house owners and make Thailand a much more pleasant place to visit.

+1, the market players need to culled, hotels, tours etc.

[NoshowJones]

26 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

When I opened the Emirates site this morning, a pop-up appeared that if you book before 30th of March that no charges would be applied when having to change.

And indeed I opted for the cheapest return flight (17.600 THB Bangkok-Brussels) and my confirmed ticket indicates NO charges for changes.

That's good, but maybe what you say only applies to the Coroner Virus, and even at that they might want proof from a hospital. I booked before the virus got serious.

[Peter Denis]

19 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

That's good, but maybe what you say only applies to the Coroner Virus, and even at that they might want proof from a hospital. I booked before the virus got serious.

Initially I wanted to book through a travel agent in order to be able change dates at no or little cost.  But since Emirates offered the NO CHARGES when changing, I booked myself.  It's probably a promotional offer to boost sales. 

My ticket clearly indicates that no charges will be applicable when I decide to make changes.

And the price was a bargain (17.600 THB for a return flight BKK - Brussels - BKK).

[NoshowJones]

4 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

Initially I wanted to book through a travel agent in order to be able change dates at no or little cost.  But since Emirates offered the NO CHARGES when changing, I booked myself.  It's probably a promotional offer to boost sales. 

My ticket clearly indicates that no charges will be applicable when I decide to make changes.

And the price was a bargain (17.600 THB for a return flight BKK - Brussels - BKK).

I did book mine through a travel agent and asked about what would happen if I had to change my flight. Do you think it was the travel agency and not emirates that wanted to charge 10.000 Bt for the change?

[dieter1]

"11% of gross domestic product (GDP). "

these are just the direct effects. (revenues etc.) the indirect effects (spending of the people, earning their money in that industry, house building, supplier ...) are much  bigger( more like 20 %). And you never know where it will end, if a big regression starts- no part of the economy will be not effected. And it is not just tourism. Thailand as a big export nation will be hidden extreme severe.

[humbug]

On 3/9/2020 at 5:59 PM, Airalee said:

I was at Central World two weeks ago and I didn’t see what you allude to.  I don’t have a photo of it as I do of Emquartier (which was a veritable ghost town at 4:30 in the afternoon). but I have a hard time believing the wealthy Chinese are saying “Let’s escape to Thailand!”

So 2 weeks ago is the same as 2 days ago? Are you saying 2 days ago on Sunday in Paragon and central world it was a ghost town? That’s what you are alluding too, 2 days ago on Sunday was very busy at Paragon, especially full of Thais,  especially the  2 bottom floors,

 

World Trade Center was more busy than  I expected with more wealthy tourists especially Chinese, but a lot less thais, So shops more empty,  many of the eateries near the cinema section far more empty than paragon’s food section, Thais are a large reason for successful shopping centers not Chinese,  

 

and if you are wealthy, just like you saw in Italy, you would rather escape a quarantine for a month, than live through it, I find it easy to see escape routes for people to visit friendly countries, that are not under total lockdowns, not exactly caring for others granted, but selfish people will do anything to escape drastic living conditions for a month, and the Chinese are not exactly barred from many countries, which is shameful because of the Wuhan virus, but that’s the power of blackmail by gangster regimes

Edited March 10, 2020 by humbug

[mal2018]

On 3/9/2020 at 8:54 AM, saengd said:

"In the worst-case scenario, the number of foreign tourists may fall to 30 million this year from last year's 39.8 million, with spending down 22%,".

 

Just read that a few times and let it sink in, 30 million tourists is a worst case scenario, does 30 million tourists sound like Armageddon to you! 30 million is 2017 levels.

 

https://tradingeconomics.com/thailand/tourist-arrivals

The quality of the tourists was still slightly better in 2017 and they spent more money. 30 million who spend very little are not a great prospect. Quality is better than quantity, somebody should tell TAT that.

[saengd]

14 minutes ago, dieter1 said:

"11% of gross domestic product (GDP). "

these are just the direct effects. (revenues etc.) the indirect effects (spending of the people, earning their money in that industry, house building, supplier ...) are much  bigger( more like 20 %). And you never know where it will end, if a big regression starts- no part of the economy will be not effected. And it is not just tourism. Thailand as a big export nation will be hidden extreme severe.

Yes Dieter, 20% of GDP is the figure that is typically used. But not all of that 20% is going to disappear, it's more likely that amount will reduce but at the same time GDP will shrink.

[saengd]

1 minute ago, mal2018 said:

The quality of the tourists was still slightly better in 2017 and they spent more money. 30 million who spend very little are not a great prospect. Quality is better than quantity, somebody should tell TAT that.

You have a business that sells stuff, you can either sell your stuff at 10 baht each to 100 nice people wearing suits or to 1,000 people wearing cutoffs and wife beaters for 5 baht each, which will you choose! A rhetorical question of course.

[EricTh]

On 3/9/2020 at 4:04 PM, saengd said:

All of it, like zero tourists, really?

There will be 'tourists' like farang retirees who are already in Thailand taking advantage of the cheap hotel rates.

[metisdead]

A post using off topic trolling images has been removed. 

[saengd]

1 minute ago, EricTh said:

There will be 'tourists' like farang retirees who are already in Thailand taking advantage of the cheap hotel rates.

Yes, and younger people taking advantage of discounts, and other nationalities who think it's all over hyped.

[Artisi]

3 minutes ago, EricTh said:

There will be 'tourists' like farang retirees who are already in Thailand taking advantage of the cheap hotel rates.

Yep, last of the big spenders.... 

[Peter Denis]

37 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

I did book mine through a travel agent and asked about what would happen if I had to change my flight. Do you think it was the travel agency and not emirates that wanted to charge 10.000 Bt for the change?

No, it is most probably a promotional offer that has just been launched by Emirates because of the present slump in flights being booked, and the offer is valid till end of March.  So you are probably unlucky having booked earlier and thus not being able to benefit from the present low-price return flight tickets and the attractive no change fee for booking these.

To be sure just open your ticket on-line and look for the charges that will be applicable when changing your ticket-dates.

[Airalee]

25 minutes ago, humbug said:

So 2 weeks ago is the same as 2 days ago? Are you saying 2 days ago on Sunday in Paragon and central world it was a ghost town? That’s what you are alluding too, 2 days ago on Sunday was very busy at Paragon, especially full of Thais,  especially the  2 bottom floors,

 

World Trade Center was more busy than  I expected with more wealthy tourists especially Chinese, but a lot less thais, So shops more empty,  many of the eateries near the cinema section far more empty than paragon’s food section, Thais are a large reason for successful shopping centers not Chinese,  

 

and if you are wealthy, just like you saw in Italy, you would rather escape a quarantine for a month, than live through it, I find it easy to see escape routes for people to visit friendly countries, that are not under total lockdowns, not exactly caring for others granted, but selfish people will do anything to escape drastic living conditions for a month, and the Chinese are not exactly barred from many countries, which is shameful because of the Wuhan virus, but that’s the power of blackmail by gangster regimes

Show me a picture.  You said that there were tons of wealthy Chinese...just not queues of them outside LV etc.  I showed you mine...now you show me yours.

 

but just incase you forgot...

 

[saengd]

Looks very early in the morning if the suns shadow is anything to go by, maybe everyone was still asleep.

[MarkyM3]

37 minutes ago, saengd said:

Yes, and younger people taking advantage of discounts, and other nationalities who think it's all over hyped.

All over-hyped unless you get it of course, then these groups will inevitably have no travel insurance and the inevitable go-fund-me's if they can't pay for medical care.

 

I recently from 3 weeks in Bangkok to UK to visit gf. Due to return in May for 3 weeks and already laid out £2000 for my flight a few months ago but got doubts about taking that unless my annual travel insurance covers me. I'm thinking that if Thailand is not covered by a UK government travel advisory at that time (and UK isn't in the grip of a large outbreak itself and thus restricted by Thailand!) then insurance should hopefully cover but there may be an exclusion clause against epidemics. Will be checking that. 

Edited March 10, 2020 by MarkyM3

[metisdead]

An off topic post has been removed. 

[NoshowJones]

47 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

No, it is most probably a promotional offer that has just been launched by Emirates because of the present slump in flights being booked, and the offer is valid till end of March.  So you are probably unlucky having booked earlier and thus not being able to benefit from the present low-price return flight tickets and the attractive no change fee for booking these.

To be sure just open your ticket on-line and look for the charges that will be applicable when changing your ticket-dates.

Yes I will thanks, but 10.000 Baht to change a ticket is just taking the p!ss.

[Millcx]

On 3/10/2020 at 9:15 AM, saengd said:

Thailand could afford to get rid of every western expat tomorrow and the impact on the Thai economy would be close to zero.

Well it’s coming too that point .. My bet is on tears and too late to bring them back ... Outpriced themselves

[sandyf]

On 3/10/2020 at 4:59 PM, Peter Denis said:

Better check your booking.  I think this 'no charge for changes' is actually a promotional offer (valid till end of March) to boost sales in the present fear-of-flying climate.

Yes, I realise now that I did misread your post. However it does look like my misinterpretation may be right, this is what they say.

Terms and conditions

Modification and new issue fees do not apply to tickets issued before or on Thursday, March 31, 2020, regardless of the travel date.

In the event of a difference in ticket prices or applicable taxes when the ticket is reissued or for the new route, the supplement will be invoiced.

Customers can change their reservation to travel on the date of their choice within 11 months of the original purchase date.

The policy concerns all current destinations in the Emirates network.

[sandyf]

On 3/10/2020 at 5:41 PM, possum1931 said:

I did book mine through a travel agent and asked about what would happen if I had to change my flight. Do you think it was the travel agency and not emirates that wanted to charge 10.000 Bt for the change?

Emirates have 4 price tiers and the cost of changing varies on each tier. I am on the 2nd tier and the normal fee to make a change would be 2000 baht. I do not know what it would be at the cheapest level but with Emirates 10K would not be out of the question. A friend of mine travelled once on that level and he was a few Kg over on the luggage and they wanted something like 80 USD /kg.

The fee for changing will be published somewhere, just a question of finding it on the website.

[sandyf]

On 3/10/2020 at 5:02 PM, Artisi said:

Or even worse, ban travel back from Morocco.... 

With 5 cases out of 36 million against nearly 500 out of 66 million,  you have a funny idea of worse.

[Artisi]

31 minutes ago, sandyf said:

With 5 cases out of 36 million against nearly 500 out of 66 million,  you have a funny idea of worse.

Think you might have missed the point, did you bother reading what was being  responsed to. 

[sandyf]

18 hours ago, Artisi said:

 did you bother reading what was being  responsed to. 

No, I only wrote it.