38 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

But not everyone lives full time in Issan. Some people work full time in Bangkok, get a couple of weekends away at the beach every month and don't want to spend that time killing bugs in a 24 square metre room that uses a table cloth for curtains.

 

In Issan a room with free nibbles (bugs) is an extra 50 baht a night.

12 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The export- and tourism-driven economy may shrink 5% to 6% this year, the worst since the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis due to the outbreak, the agency has said.

20% you might be closer... good luck with domestic tourism, you won't rip off Thais so easily. 

the elite, the one's with too much money, will be scared the lower classes will infect them on the plane and hopefully they will

 

all this panic over a fart in a bottle

 

more experts come out this is not worse, the infection rate, as the flu ... it kills yes, but the common flu does not kill less and there was never a lockdown of HEALTHY PEOPLE, EVER, in the world history

Edited May 26, 20206 yr by Bender Rodriguez

55 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

But not everyone lives full time in Issan. Some people work full time in Bangkok, get a couple of weekends away at the beach every month and don't want to spend that time killing bugs in a 24 square metre room that uses a table cloth for curtains.

 

Table cloths? Restaurants up here sweep the wooden tables free of food after every customer. Curtains; who needs them? You are having a jest.

 

Pay 4k a night for a fancy room in a third-world country?! With everyone sneering at you 'cause you can afford to pay the inflated prices. Rather sleep under a park bench; C-19 permitting naturally. Better to help the people rather than the big hoteliers.

 

And, while we are about it; a world without bugs is a world without humanity!

Edited May 26, 20206 yr by owl sees all

Lots of Thais on holiday in the pool villas where I'm staying at the moment,talking to one of the owners he said the past 2 days he has has 12 bookings for next month. 

12 hours ago, PingRoundTheWorld said:

You're not the target market. They're thinking about Thais, which is even funnier considering a good chunk of the younger population is now unemployed. Who's going to take those domestic trips exactly and with what money? I think even the hiso Thais will be more careful with their spending this year so even that market will shrink, let alone "regular" Thais.

PING  

 

That is easy all the unemployed will take the trips.  Remember when the government made the incentive for people to buy new cars.  They told people that they could have 200,000 in tax savings everyone went out and bought a new car no matter if the could afford it or needed it.

Every year the government gives that end year save receipts and get tax rebates or savings on what you buy or if you travel.

Thais love it but the people that really love it are

 

VISA, AEON and the banks

 

The bigger question though is where will Thais go for their holidays.  Can not see them helping Phuket or Pattaya a lot.

 

2 hours ago, bkk_bwana said:

Don't discount the value of domestic tourism. If the article is true, locals spend is almost half of that spent by foreigners. Fact 76% of tourists in Hua Hin in 2019 were Thai.  Average hotel rate 4k a night. Domestic tourism also puts more cash right back into the economy.

Average hotel rate 4K per night, I very  much doubt this. 2K would be nearer the Mark.

Just saw where Spain is allowing travelers without quarantine on July 1.  I would be surprised if Thailand doesn't announce the same thing at some point, with perhaps limited countries at first, for July, as well.  

2 minutes ago, newnative said:

Just saw where Spain is allowing travelers without quarantine on July 1.  I would be surprised if Thailand doesn't announce the same thing at some point, with perhaps limited countries at first, for July, as well.  

Latest travel update

 

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2020/05/25/new-normal-access-to-thailand-even-after-flights-resume-if-virus-persists/

2 hours ago, bkk_bwana said:

Don't discount the value of domestic tourism. If the article is true, locals spend is almost half of that spent by foreigners. Fact 76% of tourists in Hua Hin in 2019 were Thai.  Average hotel rate 4k a night. Domestic tourism also puts more cash right back into the economy.

That is true ... look at the domestic tourism around SongKran and the Music Festival in Pattaya.  That is substantially Thai.

2 hours ago, bkk_bwana said:

Don't discount the value of domestic tourism. If the article is true, locals spend is almost half of that spent by foreigners. Fact 76% of tourists in Hua Hin in 2019 were Thai.  Average hotel rate 4k a night. Domestic tourism also puts more cash right back into the economy.

Not to discount domestic travelers but according to the report domestic would have to triple from its current level to make up for all of the international spend. As some international tourists will still come, Thai tourism will have to double.

Hua Hin may be an exception attracting an affluent BKK crowd... Samui, Phuket and Bangkok won't get that many Thai tourists. BKK high so is already in the city... They won't spend that much in their city.

Also, let's keep in mind that some domestic travel is business related and may decline as companies are cutting back. Another question is how Thai "holiday GFs " are being counted in spending. That segment will decline, if international visitation goes down

20 minutes ago, kingstonkid said:

PING  

 

That is easy all the unemployed will take the trips.  Remember when the government made the incentive for people to buy new cars.  They told people that they could have 200,000 in tax savings everyone went out and bought a new car no matter if the could afford it or needed it.

Every year the government gives that end year save receipts and get tax rebates or savings on what you buy or if you travel.

Thais love it but the people that really love it are

 

VISA, AEON and the banks

 

The bigger question though is where will Thais go for their holidays.  Can not see them helping Phuket or Pattaya a lot.

 

Don't you need income to get a tax rebate / savings?

It is very easy to break an egg, but EXTREMELY difficult to repair ????

And where would the money for this domestic tourism come from when the country is heading to a very heavy recession?

 

Tourism is dead. Evolve and get higher into the value chain. Education and democracy are the drivers.

Will the discounted hotel rates that the government is pondering apply to aliens too, or only Thais I wonder.

4 minutes ago, Miami007 said:

Don't you need income to get a tax rebate / savings?

Aww Miami but you forget you are in Thailand.  Yes you need income but if you are already up to your assets in debt it does not matter.  Also think about how many people in the US and Canada do the same thing.  I will buy it on my credit card and once I get the money back from taxes i will pay off the credit card 

5 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

And where would the money for this domestic tourism come from when the country is heading to a very heavy recession?

 

Tourism is dead. Evolve and get higher into the value chain. Education and democracy are the drivers.

CHARGE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Will the discounted hotel rates that the government is pondering apply to aliens too, or only Thais I wonder.

If not then just add the price of the hotel room to the long time fee she charges you and let her get the room LOL

I hope it's permanent, Thailand would be a nicer place to live by far..

Expats have the money, the time and the desire to travel domestically.  Plus we travel with attractive local ladies for translations.  Let us freely spend on the open highways, hotels and beaches.  Please don’t quarantine us...

2 hours ago, Dukeleto said:

...aaaand good luck with that! That really is grasping at straws! Its going to take a while but a failing economy will eventually bring aboit the realisation that COVID-19 is here to stay regardless of a vaccine etc etc. People need this fact to sink in and become the norm just as the seasonal flu and dengue and other mirad of potentially lethal pathogens are accepted as part of the risk of living on planet earth. You simply cant put 7.something billion human beings on lockdown or quarantine or the threat of it indefinately. The economic damage is going to indirectly kill and harm far far more than this virus ever could have even if it was left unchecked. Mark my words there will be documentaries in the coming years showing the devastating fallout from our reaction to this pandemic. Who knows the next one from a different virus could already be simmering on the camp fire waiting for some oaf to stick it in their mouth because it might get his dick to stand up five times a day rather than four!

Nobody will talk about the fallout from the rush to close economies without evaluating data. Which politician will admit that they overreacted?. Especially,  as the original goal was to prevent a surge in infections which would overwhelm ICU capacity in hospitals. That goal to have enough medical capacity was reached quite some time ago - but the goal changed to preventing every single infection and death. The media sensationalized the topic and spread fear - in some countries because they don't like the present leader, in some because the government can look good by "saving" people. For authoritarian governments this situation was the proverbial wet dream... now they know how to ensure that the population stays home, is quiet and can be convinced to allow tracking and other surveillance.

Now the economy is ruined everywhere, regular people will suffer, countries are isolating themselves by closing borders etc. All because Mr. Ferguson created a model predicting 2 million dead people in the USA and 500,000 in the UK. His idea to mitigate the spread (although he admitted that he was not looking at feasibility and economic impact) was picked up by some politicians who promoted it and mostly everyone followed. Oh well...

30 minutes ago, kingstonkid said:

If not then just add the price of the hotel room to the long time fee she charges you and let her get the room LOL

Ah, those were the days.... ????

 

Edited May 26, 20206 yr by Bangkok Barry

"Drop in foreign tourists"! What a wonderful spin on the fact that there aren't any because "we locked them out"!

2 hours ago, BobbyL said:

Interested to see if this actually does anything. I definitely can't imagine a lot of Thais will be desperate to go on holiday in Thailand over the coming months. A few reasons might be children returning to school, loss of income / job, rainy season, health concerns etc.

 

Having a look on websites like Agoda and Booking recently I also noticed that there seems to be very little price drops. I would happily go away somewhere in Thailand for my summer holiday now but I definitely would be expecting a price reduction. 

You are right!

 

A lot of cons: back to school, rain season and the rest of your list, AND hotels not offering any incentives.

 

On the contrary, they offer to give you less for the same price as usual!

 

Less because of the restrictions linked to the pandemic, meaning no buffet breakfast, no spa, limited access to the gym and the pool...

 

They should discount by at least 50%, but instead of that they pretend that nothing has changed and keep the same rates.

 

3 hours ago, cracker1 said:

I am surprised to note Thai Airways web - page is closed so it's not possible to make a booking for later this year or next year or any other time ?

I know the Company is in financial strife but surely they should be promoting a product somewhere ?

B,S, https://www.thaiairways.com/   is not down.

13 hours ago, YetAnother said:

drop in the bucket; with the mall restrictions, 7/11s, soon-to-be-all large stores, banks; i and all my friends wont be going out; proxy thais to shop for us, much online; private parties in backyards' friends; i and , very many, wont play this game

5 to 6%. What a pile of tosh

First - how many Thais can afford to go holiday in Thailand.

Second - The question is PRICE. Whether Thai will deem the prices reasonable or rip off. Whilst a Thai maybe prepared and can afford to pay the price for a foreign hotel, they may not be prepared to pay the same price for hotels in Pattaya or Hua Hin or Phuket.

 

The local Thai market is already overpriced for shrewd Foreigners (not the easy spending pre-Covid Chinese), so how do they expect local to spend ? Local and longer term expats are now too shrewd to know a ''bad'' price.

Average Thai salary is about 16 000 Baht, $520. That is heavily skewed by the hi-so earning a lot so the mean number is more like 12000. That kind of meager buying power is not going to cut it.

 

There were almost 5 million departures and arrivals combined in Thai airports in January but this month looking like 50 000 with less than 25 000 arrivals at best, 99 percent collapse!

19 minutes ago, Miami007 said:

All because Mr. Ferguson created a model predicting 2 million dead people in the USA and 500,000 in the UK. His idea to mitigate the spread (although he admitted that he was not looking at feasibility and economic impact) was picked up by some politicians who promoted it and mostly everyone followed. Oh well...

They listened to this guy because his ramblings presented an opportunity to mimic China's strong handed policies, and see if it would work.

 

Well, it did, more or less, depending on the countries.

 

Western European countries, notably the Southern ones, showed that their populations had reached perfect sheep status.

 

In the US, it didn't go so well, with a lot of rebellion...they really need to take these pesky guns from the populace's hands if they ever want to match China.

 

 

11 minutes ago, Brunolem said:

You are right!

 

A lot of cons: back to school, rain season and the rest of your list, AND hotels not offering any incentives.

 

On the contrary, they offer to give you less for the same price as usual!

 

Less because of the restrictions linked to the pandemic, meaning no buffet breakfast, no spa, limited access to the gym and the pool...

 

They should discount by at least 50%, but instead of that they pretend that nothing has changed and keep the same rates.

 

fat hope.. Thai never ever discount.. the same seller will advertise the same price +10% every year and still no Buyer.. LOL