TAT forced to face reality: more than a third of the Thai tourist industry has gone bust

[natway09]

With all due respect to the fact that we are right in the fanciful figures spread around last week,

but before you Knock, knock too much, have a look at the other players on the world tourism stage

They are hurting just as much if not more as Thailand just seems to be more resiliant & has

the unbelievable habit of rising out of the ashes 

[Muhendis]

4 hours ago, ezzra said:

Well. allow tourists to come in following a proper PCR test, and if some have got the vaccine go easy on them and not this draconian 14 days incarceration costing lot of money, show flexibility and willingness to accommodate the above mentioned and oh yeah, stop silly tax on non existing tourist and things will get better...

And don't forget to give the holiday visitors plenty of funds to cover quarantine and loss of earnings when they get back to their own countries.......... 

[SomchaiCNX]

21 minutes ago, Dialemco said:

The reality is there is unlikely to be any international tourism until last quarter of 2021 earliest. Meanwhile it is time to restructure to a more greener/leaner  tourism giving good value for money. Extend the visa waiver to 60 days and encourage return to land of smiles and welcome like it used to be.

Some of us did that many years ago already but we can not survive without customers with the country closed.

 

[stigar]

I have tickets to bangkok 21st march..return 17 june back to norway..Thai airways gave me a voucher for my tickets after 3rd cancelation.So now im going with SAS and SWISS air instead.I just talked with my wife and we agree that i just stay 1 month and then we go back together to norway.We both sick and tired of thailand.

We will settle down here in norway.She get a workingpermit and 600 hours FREE learning to speak norwegian.

We agree to just go to thailand again when pick up her daugther.Here she can take her quarantine in my home,dont forced to pay an expencive hotel same thailand,dont need an extra covid incurance..Thailand will never ever be the first choise for tourism anymore.Expencive too..They said they will do something about the strong bath..<deleted>..nothing happends.

 

[Ahinkel1]

I was hoping to travel to Thailand from u.k., had no problem with the 14 day incarceration or the pcr test. But the fit to fly letter from my doctor with blood tests. Come on we are in the middle of a pandemic, can you imagine a doctors reaction asking him to provide a letter just for me with blood test because I would like to travel to Thailand. Yip, that's gonna work

[ozz1]

all my friends that come to Thailand because its value for money and they are all wealthy( not cheap charlies )and with the baht the way it is and the regulations for entry they have chosen Vietnam  the world didn't  Thailand 

Thailand needs  the world no matter what the Thais think 

[spidermike007]

33 minutes ago, Cake Monster said:

Whilst many will be crying into their Beer over the demise of the Thai  Tourist  Industry, I personally think  its no bad thing.

The Tourism Industry in Thailand was a Monster out of control, with little or no regulation, and was rife with all kinds of Scams and dare I say corruption.

Now is the perfect time to have a reset on the Industry and bring it back with a World standard in Customer care and Value for Money.

But ! , unfortunately this is Thailand, and when the Tourists return, so will the all the poor quality Business,s that service them, when really they should never be allowed to Operate in the sector.

 

 

Well, since the reset is unlikely, and the learning curve (as it relates to the officials, at least) does not exactly seem omnipresent here, what we are stuck with is millions of Thai out of work, and much suffering on the part of the masses. Only someone with a nice pension, and a cushy retirement account would describe the local catastrophic drop in tourism as no bad thing.

 

I do understand your sentiment. However, as much as I was hoping for some humility, progress and evolution on the part of the tourism, immigration and administration officials go, I have not seen one iota of that yet. Not even a hint. 

[stigar]

3 minutes ago, Ahinkel1 said:

I was hoping to travel to Thailand from u.k., had no problem with the 14 day incarceration or the pcr test. But the fit to fly letter from my doctor with blood tests. Come on we are in the middle of a pandemic, can you imagine a doctors reaction asking him to provide a letter just for me with blood test because I would like to travel to Thailand. Yip, that's gonna work

I have to stay in a hotel 2 nigths because of covidtest and a fit to fly..cost me about 400 pounds all together..and then quaratine hotel 39.000 bath..incurance 11.000 bath..and more and more..the hotel i choosed want me to pay in advance..no way..i said 10% and they agreed to that

[Paul Henry]

Never fear when the tourist industry opens up watch out. Price will go through the roof. Thai mentality is when business is down put up the price. we have seen it before with small hiccups but rest assured after this prolonged quiet period they  will gouge prices like we have never seen. TAT needs to start educating all business go stupid with your pricing and risk driving tourists away. 

[stigar]

2 minutes ago, Paul Henry said:

Never fear when the tourist industry opens up watch out. Price will go through the roof. Thai mentality is when business is down put up the price. we have seen it before with small hiccups but rest assured after this prolonged quiet period they  will gouge prices like we have never seen. TAT needs to start educating all business go stupid with your pricing and risk driving tourists away. 

Ur sooo rigth..i used to go to beer garden in sukumvit soi 7 before..after business went down their prices went up so i bougth my beer in 7/11 instead.

[ChipButty]

From what I can see there is no help from the government many business's have survived up to now and people have been subsidizing themselves so far hoping things would have got better, but they are not now the next wave of people are going under.

I know quite a few people in the tourist business and things are not looking good.

Right now as we speak I know somebody who is having to borrow 30 Million Baht to keep the bank away, 

 

[pookondee]

4 hours ago, Skallywag said:

I would say more than 80% or 4/5 here in Pattaya.   

Government and police need to layoff at least half their staff and give that tax money back to those who have shut down and need sustenance.  

 

That will only serve to leave the mia-nois of those government and police guys destitute..

 

Another large group that will be in the doo-doo..

 

In Thailand, it doesnt matter if and where you shut down the gravy train..

 

Somewhere, someone is gonna miss out..

 

umm..on the gravy

 

[ukrules]

4 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Thailand cannot continue to be one of the least progressive nations on earth, and expect foreigners to tolerate that degree of ignorance.

That's exactly what they will do.

 

It will cost them a lot over the next few years.

[stigar]

2 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

From what I can see there is no help from the government many business's have survived up to now and people have been subsidizing themselves so far hoping things would have got better, but they are not now the next wave of people are going under.

I know quite a few people in the tourist business and things are not looking good.

Right now as we speak I know somebody who is having to borrow 30 Million Baht to keep the bank away, 

 

Ur rigth.My wife is a cardealer..she have 4 shops in thailand.She never influated about the covid she says.The only thing is that more and more carbuyers cant get credit.But her sale is stable.Her last year profit was 128 million bath.Anyway she will move to norway with me.Her family will run her business in thailand.

[RichardColeman]

If the TAT, banks, police and officials were held responsible for their claims and forecasts, the turnover of staff would be more than a short time hotel 'guests'

[ChipButty]

13 minutes ago, Paul Henry said:

Never fear when the tourist industry opens up watch out. Price will go through the roof. Thai mentality is when business is down put up the price. 

already happening as far back as the first lockdown one bar I go in put the price of a glass of beer up 15 Baht, they had new menu's printed and up the prices.

Mackro put the price of beer up the other week.

Last week I've been looking for a cleaner for a 2 bedroom villa 2000 Baht they quoted me,

[stigar]

4 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

already happening as far back as the first lockdown one bar I go in put the price of a glass of beer up 15 Baht, they had new menu's printed and up the prices.

Mackro put the price of beer up the other week.

Last week I've been looking for a cleaner for a 2 bedroom villa 2000 Baht they quoted me,

Omg..u ncan get a bargirl for half the price incluted "cleaning"

[tomyami]

Thailand went about locking out thousands of expats thinking they could screw them on return

som nun na

[KhaoNiaw]

2 minutes ago, stigar said:

Ur rigth.My wife is a cardealer..she have 4 shops in thailand.She never influated about the covid she says.The only thing is that more and more carbuyers cant get credit.But her sale is stable.Her last year profit was 128 million bath.Anyway she will move to norway with me.Her family will run her business in thailand.

Car dealerships is an interesting one. I have an ex-girlfriend that's been in car sales for about 3 years. She had one of her best ever months in December, which surprised me. Also in my area, the main craft beer place with a big Thai clientele, was doing OK until the last round of restrictions. Not as good as before but busy weekends. My own daughter got laid off just after just starting a new job last year. She managed to find a couple of different temporary jobs in the food and hospitality business and has now ended up in a much better job than she was in before with a big company. I also know people in the tourism industry who are hurting but it seems quite localized and, outside of the tourism industry, a lot of businesses are coping for the moment. 

[ChipButty]

1 minute ago, stigar said:

Omg..u ncan get a bargirl for half the price incluted "cleaning"

Thats what I was hoping for and do the ironing

[KarenBravo]

Let's look at some numbers.

 

Covid puts 100% of the Thai population at risk. No one has immunity.

Tourism makes up 12.9% of Thailand's GDP.

 

Should the government drop the restrictions for 12.9% of the economy and put all the other business sectors at risk? Or, should they keep the restrictions, sacrifice some of that 12.9% and try to protect the entire population?

 

I live in Phuket and one thing I have noticed is that there is a clear divide on the question of these restrictions (from both Thais and Westerners). Those that have a vested interest in the tourism industry call the government stupid and want the restrictions lifted. Those not reliant on the tourist trade are happy to keep the restrictions and think the government has done a good job.

Just an observation with no personal opinion expressed.

 

 

[stigar]

5 minutes ago, KhaoNiaw said:

Car dealerships is an interesting one. I have an ex-girlfriend that's been in car sales for about 3 years. She had one of her best ever months in December, which surprised me. Also in my area, the main craft beer place with a big Thai clientele, was doing OK until the last round of restrictions. Not as good as before but busy weekends. My own daughter got laid off just after just starting a new job last year. She managed to find a couple of different temporary jobs in the food and hospitality business and has now ended up in a much better job than she was in before with a big company. I also know people in the tourism industry who are hurting but it seems quite localized and, outside of the tourism industry, a lot of businesses are coping for the moment. 

I understand what u wrote.My wifes workingdays is sometimes 20 hours..shes a workaholic..Last nigth i send her alone to the riverside to a nice hotel where she can rest.Anyway she brougth her laptop so she can take care her business.She admit shes wery tired..but cant stop.

[KarenBravo]

19 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

already happening as far back as the first lockdown one bar I go in put the price of a glass of beer up 15 Baht, they had new menu's printed and up the prices.

Mackro put the price of beer up the other week.

Last week I've been looking for a cleaner for a 2 bedroom villa 2000 Baht they quoted me,

 

Anything with only two bedrooms cannot be call a "villa".

Just sayin' like......

[chang1]

 

32 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

This is certainly the first time in history (first wave excluded) that most of the worlds economies were deliberately shut down.

While I agree with most of what you say in this thread, you cannot compare to what happened previously. The world is far more connected now. Economies have not been shut down. Here in the UK even during a so called lockdown, relatively little has changed. Sport, tourism and socialising have almost all stopped but are mostly being subsidised in some way. Most other businesses are operating - some more successfully than others. Thailand has escaped the worst of covids effects although at a high cost due to the lack of support from the government. This has made many complacent and think covid19 is just like a bad flue. Covid19,  especially the new strains are killing faster than ever - we are about to hit 100000 deaths. That's 4 times the outrageous Thai annual road death toll and include many young fit people. Long covid is also a big problem. Most ICUs are at capacity now and likely to stay that way for some time to come. We are putting in place more restrictions on tourism not reducing them. Enjoy your low levels of covid19 as once it gets a hold it only gets worse. You just end up with all the restrictions AND people dying. 

Tourism will bounce back when vaccines are more widely used but not the way we will like. The Chinese will snap up many of the failed businesses and rebuild for the Chinese Market. 

Lamai was my destination of choice throughout the norties. Cheap, seedy, full of every strain of farang and most of all fun. It had already lost it's charm (unless you like Spain) and unless the Chinese onslaught is stopped I doubt I will ever return. After a visit to the in-laws, Thailand will just be a stopover on the way to our real holiday destination - this had already been happening before covid19. 

[ronaldo0]

Second third will be joining them over the next few months !

[stigar]

4 minutes ago, KarenBravo said:

 

Anything with only two bedrooms cannot be call a "villa".

Just sayin' like......

Ha-ha..ur rigth..maybe he mean village in somewhereburi/thani..

[GeorgeCross]

25 minutes ago, KarenBravo said:

 

Anything with only two bedrooms cannot be call a "villa".

Just sayin' like......

 

round here a shed with a bucket outside would be classed as a luxury villa 

 

 

[MasterBaker]

i think it should be clear to everyone now, that this country just obsessed with tourism. yes TAT questioned their venues which have TAT license. how about the rest: bars, restaurants, taxi and transport services, food shops....? everyone is suffering, stop pointing your policies to tourist oriented businesses, that's not the only businesses in Thailand in need of support

[TKDfella]

Me thinks someone/some team at TAT is also going to 'go bust' too. I mean ¹/₃ shut down, what nonsense is this?

Seriously though, if TAT knew the meaning of reality at all they would never have made ridiculous claims before.

[CapeTown]

TAT forced to admit reality? Yes, they didn't think things through.

Covid shuts the tourist industry.
What do you do with the workers? The assets (shops, boats, coaches, hotels etc)?

Being out of work for a long time means you lose the discipline of work and get into criminal activities.
How do you get 1.5 million people back into work next year 2022, or retrained into new jobs?

All those assets. Rotting away. Who's got the money to replace them when the tourists return? 
And if money goes to restoring old assets, it doesn't go into new industries, like factories to build the electric car.

The priorities need government money to keep things ticking over.

And Thailand will re-open and tourists will return when 70% of Thais are protected through vaccination to herd immunity.

I hope for all our sakes that the army is organising this. Focus on reality, real needs.