​​​​​​​Thai tourism industry will never be allowed to recover to pre-COVID levels

[Expat Tom]

This is perhaps the most intelligent thing that has come out of the "Bangkok Brain Trust". The minister is certainly a very intelligent man. Without taking anything away from him...he is right on with his comments...Thailand is a country where stating the obvious can be considered "brilliance".

[ronaldo0]

So this guy is saying the country depended on tourism to much . Odd as over last few months I have read loads on here stating tourism is nothing really of importance to the country . ????

[bluesea]

Not only is Thailand Suffering with Tourisim & slow growing economy ,the whole bloody world is the same and yes may never recover and will never be what it used to be.

Look for greener pastures like other countries maybe offer perminate residence to foreigners so they can legally immigrate here have thai Citizenship and bring there Millions of Baht with them..

[Dukeleto]

9 hours ago, NorthernRyland said:

What does this really mean in practice? Implement a quota on the maximum number of tourist visas issued? Turn away tourists that want to come and tell them to go to another country? I've never heard of  any place intentionally killing their tourism industry.

Thailand is world famous for shooting itself in the foot. The problem is they never learn and as such are doomed to repeat this for the foreseeable future. I am 100% sure tourism will be back exactly the same as it was before despite their efforts to undermine it. I’ll go as far as to forecast it will probably be their undoing if they try.

[newnative]

      Bad TVF headline.   I don't see anywhere in the article that I read where it says Thai tourism will never be allowed to recover to its former levels.  Nonsense.  Thailand will always want every tourist it can attract once travel is safe again.  Instead, the article says that the economy relies too much on tourism, and puts the figure at 20%.  Other industries and sources of income need to be developed so the economy is more diverse and does not suffer as much when one segment falters.  Basically, have more eggs in the basket.  It doesn't mean they want a smaller tourism egg in the basket.

   

[josephbloggs]

Just now, newnative said:

      Bad TVF headline.   I don't see anywhere in the article that I read where it says Thai tourism will never be allowed to recover to its former levels.  Nonsense.  Thailand will always want every tourist it can attract once travel is safe again.  Instead, the article says that the economy relies too much on tourism, and puts the figure at 20%.  Other industries and sources of income need to be developed so the economy is more diverse and does not suffer as much when one segment falters.  Basically, have more eggs in the basket.  It doesn't mean they want a smaller tourism egg in the basket.

   

Finally someone else who can actually read the article and hasn't replied purely based on the headline (unlike 90% of posters).

[Parsve]

Unless Thailand's politicians are completely crazy and maybe they are, there must be something wrong with this article.

Everyone knows that the only tourism that gives a country a higher GDP is tourism from other countries. Domestic tourism only moves money within the country.

[Chongalulu]

41 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

I could but you wouldn't understand it.

Coulda,woulda,shouda. To paraphrase your comment - no you can’t.

[JP canada]

Thailands neighbors are ecstatic over this announcement I bet. 

[hotchilli]

10 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Wow what a scathing written report. Thailand has just been fried at the Altar and more cracks exposed.  I guess tourism really will die at the hands of this government.

Where will this come from and why here. Who would invest here with this government in power as corrupt as they are.

Chinese investors, they will move-in, mop up and eventually run the economy as they will own most of it.

Even Prayut if he hasn't bailed out by then will be just another puppet.

[tonysilly]

I guess they want to really control the country and have many 9,00bht a month jobs so people will always be poor.  Bye bye Farangs 

[DrPhibes]

4 hours ago, Barnabe said:

 

Or maybe they can look at Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Australia, etc - your point being?

You think these clowns in the current government (and the general population for that matter) are even close in intellect/education to be able to be any of the above mentioned countries?

[Jack Cook]

Ah the daily dose of delusional humour. ????????????????????????????????

[jvs]

9 hours ago, ezzra said:

Accurately  what is going to be this time next week,

This time next week will be exactly the same as now.

I will pm you my bank account number.

[Artisi]

47 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Major changes need to be made, if Thailand wants to continue to enjoy the cash cow of tourism. Travelers these days simply have too many choices. Creativity is required. Progress needs to be made. Thailand cannot continue to be one of the least progressive nations on earth, and expect foreigners to tolerate that degree of ignorance. These seeds were planted over a decade ago. The hapless army has accelerated the process dramatically. If Thailand had a qualified health minister, and a slightly intelligent tourism minister, they would stop this nonsense, and realize no tourism program requiring quarantine will ever work. Period. 

 

The Thai army. Moving Thailand backwards, and inflicting untold pain on it's people. Time to go, guys. The people need competency, and they are speaking loudly now. 

Problem is from the top down to the other incompetents, the politicians / military, they aren't listening due to a very narrow vision based solely on their own flawed thinking. Therefore everything is under control - in their own minds. 

[newnative]

10 hours ago, exparte said:

Thailand’s tourist industry was suffering before COVID. 

No, it wasn't.  

[terryofcrete]

10 hours ago, internationalism said:

yes, workers are underpaid, but it's everywhere in the world)

well I can only speak for my own country , Ireland , and when I look at wages 360 baht an hour is the legal minimum wage ,whereas most shop workers , hair salon , etc employees barely get that in a day in Thailand... and yet if I go to 7/11 or Lotus etc. I can pay more for a lot of stuff than it costs in Ireland. in fact most of my daily requirements cost more than at home . 

[tomauasia]

This guy's just another racist Thai. Ignore thus rubbish 

[Caldera]

Well the real question is this, can they resist the temptation to grab as much EASY MONEY as possible from as many tourists as possible, post-Covid?

 

And it will definitely be up for grabs, the infrastructure is already in place and people will desperately want to travel again after months or years of lockdowns. Either Thailand will rake in that money or other countries will.

 

I think they can't and they won't let it go! The very same greed that has led to Thailand's super sized tourist industry in the first place will ensure that.

 

Sure, they can dream up grand schemes for becoming the hub of this and the hub of that, but ultimately, not much will materialize - as per usual.

 

[Mavideol]

11 hours ago, RotBenz8888 said:

That question should have been asked a long time ago. Rebuild the hotels to condominiums,,,,,,, eeeeh wait a minute! 

I did asked that same question last year while visiting Krabi/Ao Nang and I saw 5-6 new big hotels being built and the already existing ones were empty or barely/merely a 20-30% occupation rate, something sounded/looked wrong but they kept going, recently as 2 weeks ago was there and this NEW 5-6 hotels were showing some occupancy (don't know how much %) but only Thais there and under government subvention. Spoke with a manager and he said that usually a room price there, on this period,  goes for around 12-14 K baht but the government deal is to lower price to t-8 K baht per room and from that some HiSo ask for a 20-25% discount and all meals included, he said they barely cover their expenses, he also said  doesn't expect to stay open for too much longer

[herfiehandbag]

11 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

This gentleman sounds like an intellectual.

Yes, sadly I am reminded of the saying:

"An intellectual is someone who can listen to the William Tell Overture without thinking of the Lone Ranger..."

[Scott Tracy]

So, everything else is supposed to make up the shortfall?

All tourism, including domestic, accounts for 20% GNP. 10% of jobs....if, as someone has said, foreign tourism is only 11.8% GNP, then if things stay as they are, domestic tourism makes 1.298 trillion. Just 1 trillion down if all foreign tourism stops. So a shortfall for everyone else to make up. Oh, and reduce exports too, as they depend too much on those too. Another thing that makes money from outside. Hard currency, to pay for the imports.....to cover the remittances of foreign workers.

Baht going out, no dollars or Yuan or pounds coming in.

[Marcel woods]

Electric vehicles in Thailand lol lol with the price cars are in Thailand compared to other countries lol ye can't see many people buying them.  The country needs a coup to wake them up from the dream they are living in. Pattaya for sure is finished but fun will be to have in Samui and Phuket just at a much higher price

[Mywayboy]

11 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Wow what a scathing written report. Thailand has just been fried at the Altar and more cracks exposed.  I guess tourism really will die at the hands of this government.

Where will this come from and why here. Who would invest here with this government in power as corrupt as they are.

They dont know their <deleted> from their elbow sadly

[Samui Fan]

INSANE. The numbers speak for themselves. Tourism is the goose that laid the golden egg. The government has lost the plot - AGAIN. This will harm so very many locals who know only tourism after all these years.... i feel so sad.....

[Magenta408]

That narrative seems to shift depending on the mood and the haboob. When the flow of money starts whirling over the Big Mango, who knows. There is competition now and the currency is very strong.

[kentrot]

Maybe Thai schools can forget about teaching English (which was never very good anyway) and start concentrating on learning Chinese ....  since it appears that the next wave of investment will be coming from that direction !

[ChesneyHawkes]

11 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

This gentleman sounds like an intellectual.

Unfortunately, Thailand does not seem to have the overall intellect to pull any of this off.

They will figure out making big money off tourism is actually easy and will revert back to that concept if and when the opportunity arises.

Khun Pong was actually my ex boss at PTT a few years ago. Not a big fan of him personally, but he certainly isn’t an idiot, unlike many of his peers in government.

 

But as you have said, it’s the limitation of those running the country both in terms of desire and capability that mean all these dreams of bigger things will just fall apart when they realise that it’s just too much work for them to even bother with.

[tomauasia]

12 hours ago, webfact said:

Thai tourism industry will never be allowed to recover to pre-COVID levels

by Andrew J Wood

 

 

BANGKOK: Last week the Thai government Minister’s speech shows me that tourism will never be allowed to recover to previous levels. The writing is definitely on the wall, windows and front door, that there has been a major policy shift in government thinking by PM Prayut Chan-o-cha’s cabinet. 

 

In a deeply worrying development for Thailand’s massive Travel & Tourism industry, which last year generated a huge Bt 2.2 trillion of income (US$ 55.2 billion), and accounted for 20 per cent of GNP and 10 per cent of all jobs in Thailand, the deputy PM Supattanapong Punmeechaow said that the country relied too much on tourism and that this was unacceptable. 

 

This must be as worrying for property developers as well as investors. If the 39 million tourists that Thailand received last year in 2019, is never to be repeated, why do we need to continue building and investing in new hotels?

 

According to Thailand’s Nation newspaper, deputy PM Supattanapong Punmeechaow admitted that the Covid-19 outbreak had exposed cracks and faults in the Thai economy. 

 

“The Covid-19 outbreak that hit Thailand since April has exposed the fragility of the economy and shed light on the fact that we rely too much on export and tourism,” the Minister said. 

 

This is certainly a departure from what the Minister was saying back in August. The deputy PM, who also holds the Energy portfolio, announced then the formation of a new economic panel, and boasted that the new economic committee will boost tourism and employment. He said the panel agreed to increase subsidies for local tourists and create 1 million jobs in the near future to combat growing unemployment.

 

Supattanapong Punmeechaow the deputy PM is cleary worried about putting too many eggs in one basket and spreading the risk. However it maybe too early to start walking away from tourism when other industries are simple not ready to take up the slack. Infrastructure improvements; legal reforms, changes in corporate ownership regulations and reduced bureaucracy are just a few of the changes the chambers of commerce have been asking for and must be in place BEFORE we start to cook the goose that lays gold bullion on the floor of the vault in the bank.  

 

The deputy PM who was speaking last week at the “Restart Thailand 2021” dinner talk held at Siam Paragon shopping complex in Bangkok said,  “The outbreak has had an especially heavy impact on small and medium businesses, prompting the government to spend over Bt 800 billion on SME aid measures including postponing debt repayment worth over Bt 6.8 trillion for 12 million SMEs,” he said. “However, from July onwards, economic indicators have been pointing toward an improving trend thanks to cooperation from all parties in outbreak prevention, despite some minor impact from the political situations.

 

“The tourism industry has shown improvement, with about 30 per cent occupation, jumping from just 6 per cent in April, thanks to the government’s economic stimulus campaigns such as the ‘Let’s Go Halves’ shopping subsidy,” he added.

 

“Through the Thai Credit Guarantee Corporation, the government is also planning to provide an additional Bt 150 billion in loans to help small and medium businesses.

 

“The battle against Covid-19 is not over yet. The government still has many projects in the coming year to boost the economy, attract foreign investors and build infrastructure for future expansion,” the minister added.

 

“These projects include the construction of 14 Skytrain lines in Bangkok covering 500 kilometres in the next four to five years, larger than London’s Underground, and the infrastructure projects in the Eastern Economic Corridor to support digital technology, 5G and robotics industry.

 

“It is unacceptable to let Thailand slide back to the period before Covid-19. Since the global economy is changing we must be more proactive in attracting foreign investors, and the agencies responsible for this are the Board of Investment Office and Eastern Economic Corridor Office,” Supattanapong said.

 

“The next step will be to put Thailand on the list of top 10 countries with ease of doing business, which is a goal proposed by five countries who are our major trade partners.”

 

2021 will be the year of investment. 

 

The deputy PM further explained that next year the government will focus on investing in new industries that will help reduce reliance on export and tourism. “Bangkok will be the centre of regional offices of multinational companies, while Thailand’s automotive industry will focus on the manufacturing of electric vehicles (EVs), ” he said. “EVs will create other related industries such as smart equipment manufacturing and electricity generating from renewable energy. This will create a great opportunity for Thailand to further invest in community power plants, as well as biomass and solar power plants in Laos,” he concluded. 

 

-- Andrew J Wood 2020-12-21

Need a new gov. They are delusional and going to send Thais to the streets 

[desert dueller]

8 hours ago, vinny41 said:

I would suggest you pay a visit to your local train station or bus station where you will find the majority of buses are full going to destinations all over the country so you are incorrect with the statement that most thai's don't travel

Recent long weekend Thur - Sun: Bus from Ptya to Korat (direct), midday dep, number of p[assengers: 2  Picked up another 8 after trawling thru the suburbs and Chonburi.