Fewer tourists entered Thailand in the last six months than would normally enter in a single day pre COVID-19

[Odisan]

Probably down to the response to Covid-19.

From what I see of the crowds protesting in Myanmar, there won't be anyone left after C-19 hits... oh, wait...!

[josephbloggs]

2 hours ago, henry213 said:

What's the problem? they don't like us anyway.

They don't like you, maybe.  I'm pretty popular.

[Pilotman]

2 hours ago, 10baht said:

This is true, as I and my farang wife fit this description. What is really worse is only 2 plane landed ( 1/2 full or less ) when we came in late Nov. and if 10 full planes had landed we'd have been there for hours and hours the way the current process for screening arrivals works. They will never be able to handle mass amounts of people under the current system. I know a lot of you expats only want to live here and not travel outside Thailand. One of the reasons I retired here was to have easy access to other interesting countries. But if I cannot get back home (in Thailand ) with out meeting the COE requirements and I have a 15 day quarantine, then the appeal of living here drops way down.

Since covid hit, the motivation to live and stay here in Thailand has never been higher for me and Mrs P.  It seems to be one of the safest places to hang out that I can think of and with all the advantages of a tropical holiday destination,.  Win all round. We too had plans to travel around Asia and the Pacific in retirement, but if we have to be 'stuck' anywhere, this is the place to be. 

[JEAN MARC DECROP]

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Fewer tourists entered Thailand in the last six months than would normally enter in a single day pre COVID-19

 

Image: Reuters file photo

 

Stats on the number of foreigners who have entered Thailand since July last year reveal the devastating impact the pandemic is having on the county’s tourism industry and economy as a whole. 

 

According to data released earlier this week by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Deputy Permanent Secretary, Chutintorn Sam Gongsakdi, just 78,328 foreigners with Certificates of Entry (COE) have entered Thailand between 9 July 2020 and 6 February  2021.

 

Of those, 1,157 were Elite Card holders & 2,457 were Special Tourist Visa holders.

 

The stats are in stark contrast to the number of foreign arrivals Thailand would have typically welcomed pre-COVID-19.

 

In 2019, almost 40 million foreigners visited Thailand, which was more than in any other  year.

 

On average, that equates to around 110,000 foreigners entering the country every single day.

 

Despite Thailand launching its Special Tourist Visa scheme and allowing foreigners to enter the country on 60 day tourist visas and visa exempt entries, it hasn’t been enough to tempt foreigners to visit the country in any significant numbers.

 

The vast majority of the foreigners with Certificates of Entry who have entered the country since July are likely those who work in Thailand, are married to a Thai national, a parent to a Thai child or foreign retirees. 

 

The news comes as leading figures in the tourism industry have called on the Thai  government to cancel the requirement for mandatory 14 day quarantine for foreigners who have already been vaccinated against COVID-19.

 

However, the proposal for the so-called ‘vaccine passports’ appeared to have been shelved, at least for now.

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2021-02-09

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

how strange ... people who work and have typically only 3 weeks holiday per year are not tempted to spend 2 weeks in quarantine  within those 3 weeks holidays ... I think it was obviously predictable ...

[Pilotman]

Just now, JEAN MARC DECROP said:

how strange ... people who work and have typically only 3 weeks holiday per year are not tempted to spend 2 weeks in quarantine  within those 3 weeks holidays ... I think it was obviously predictable ...

Not to TAT apparently 

[cracker1]

I believe one possible unmentioned problem depressing arrival numbers is the requirement to have 800,000 TB in a Thai bank for six months before arrival ?
Someone coming for a 2-6 month stay may find this very difficult to manage especially if they had no banking history in the country before.

[Terryisme]

We cant even leave Australia without meeting very stringent criteria which I dont. So no way to visit right now. Really bloody annoying.

[herwin1234]

what a mess! if other mostly western countries just would have acted more resposible and swift, and would have controlled this pandemic from the start, the world would be pretty normal by now.

instead, western countries its leaders make weak decisions based on politics and a little bit science, and its citizens have confused individualism with stupidity; violent protests and encounters, and a massive online wave of the most dumb anti vaccin and conspiracy theories.

facts are, countries like Thailand and China, act resposible, other many western countries, not so, and thanks to them  responsible countries like Thailand have to suffer economically.

[herwin1234]

33 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

Since covid hit, the motivation to live and stay here in Thailand has never been higher for me and Mrs P.  It seems to be one of the safest places to hang out that I can think of and with all the advantages of a tropical holiday destination,.  Win all round. We too had plans to travel around Asia and the Pacific in retirement, but if we have to be 'stuck' anywhere, this is the place to be. 

isnt it true. its safe and no covid deniers lol.

[Clarkey611]

11 hours ago, Blumpie said:

I can't believe that airport is so dead.  Just look at the picture - you can arrive at 3am and it's packed there.  

How very sad.

The airport is dead and you can get through the passport control desk in 2 minutes. Excellent work! No more passport controllers moaning about another A380 landing and when are they going to get a break. Long may this improvement continue!

[stigar]

2 hours ago, 10baht said:

Even with a vaccine passport, families cannot come as the vaccine is not being given to the children.

Just wait until the chinese start to ake vaccine passports.THEN everything is ok.

[ChakaKhan]

13 hours ago, Catkiwi said:

I would be happy if I came 4 times Ryan!!

Sounds like my Ex Gf..... ????

[ChakaKhan]

49 minutes ago, josephbloggs said:

They don't like you, maybe.  I'm pretty popular.

Instant VIP

[Mike Galley]

I clearly understand that one of the world leading tourism countries wants to protect its own people. I have hardly seen any country which is so conscious about health and hygiene like Thailand during this crucial period....and I think they do well and therefore will be able to control this virus which I wish nobody to get due to my own experience.

A quarantine-reduction to 10 days, maybe also a certified and approved pre-quarantine before departure and tests,tests,tests....

Whereelse could be the solution ?

As long as there is no medical prove that vaccinated people cannot transmit this virus to others any idea with special allowances for vaccinated people remain a high risk . Besides that you start discriminating people who will not be vaccinated for any special reasons. I hope that Thailand will find its way out of this crisis even though this country will be much different than before now. Some frequent visitors will not recognise it anymore.

[Bangkok Barry]

12 hours ago, internationalism said:

This 40mln is an inflated figure, because all visa runs, as well as tourists travelling to neighbouring countries. Also malaysians coming every few weekends for shopping and gogo bars. 

Those travelling to neighbouring countries, in transit, do not fill in anything for immigration so they are not included in the figures.

[SPREX]

11 hours ago, Natai Beach said:

Ils n'ont jamais prétendu que les près de 40 millions d'arrivées étaient toutes des personnes différentes. Ils le savent. Il est évident.
 

Bien sûr, ils savent que certaines personnes viennent plus d'une fois. Beaucoup de gens l'adorent en Thaïlande et viennent quelques fois par an. 
 

S'ils comptaient tous les habitants des pays limitrophes, le nombre serait beaucoup plus élevé. Certains du Laos, du Cambodge, de la Birmanie traversent presque tous les jours pour le travail, n'ont pas besoin de passeport, juste pour porter une carte d'identité. Ils ne sont pas comptés comme des arrivées de touristes. 
 

Je suis très heureux qu'ils empêchent les gens d'entrer à moins qu'ils ne se mettent en quarantaine. Il y a actuellement une terrible pandémie de virus mortel très contagieux.
Moins il y a de touristes, mieux c'est. 

 

For your information 

https://www.mots.go.th/more_news_new.php?cid=599   

 

Note 1) P represents preliminary data. That may be improved later
2) Expenses incurred by foreign tourists stranded in Thailand in April - September 2020 were not included in this report.
3) Expenses incurred by foreign tourists from October to December 2020 are in the process of collecting and processing.
4) * where current COVID-19 outbreak Still not the end And international travel is subject to easing measures for certain travel groups and  all travelers are required to be quarantined for a period of 14 days, resulting in a significantly lower number of tourists.

 

 

[Narratio]

For me, the main problem is in how the figures are presented.  Everybody is referred to as a Tourist, even on retirement, trade visit, one day stopovers, buying trips, teaching etc. Forgetting the border crossings by Laos, Kampuchean etc, they have the passport information to give real enter/exit figures. Given that hotels have to give that info to the police, they can even, with some number crunching, figure out who are real, real tourists and people like me who work a month somewhere awful and then spend a month in Thailand. I'm pretty sure that, after 30 years of this I don't count as a tourist.

[ExpatOilWorker]

3 hours ago, soi3eddie said:

 

No mention from what I could see about breakdown of numbers of visa holders such as; business, marriage, retirement etc. Why not? Maybe the government doesn't want to make the "tourist" figures look even worse? Very few typical tourists are going to travel here anytime soon whilst they still have quarantine and the government and TAT know it.

 

 

August 2020 was last time immigration published arrival statistics. Kind of sad, as it was interesting reading.

 

 

 

August 2020 Arrivals.xlsx

[Natai Beach]

8 minutes ago, SPREX said:

 

For your information 

https://www.mots.go.th/more_news_new.php?cid=599   

 

Note 1) P represents preliminary data. That may be improved later
2) Expenses incurred by foreign tourists stranded in Thailand in April - September 2020 were not included in this report.
3) Expenses incurred by foreign tourists from October to December 2020 are in the process of collecting and processing.
4) * where current COVID-19 outbreak Still not the end And international travel is subject to easing measures for certain travel groups and  all travelers are required to be quarantined for a period of 14 days, resulting in a significantly lower number of tourists.

 

 

That is not my quote.

[Caldera]

Finally, a comparison that really brings home the magnitude of the decline in foreign arrivals, without the usual attempt at sugarcoating things.

 

[ThailandRyan]

35 minutes ago, herwin1234 said:

facts are, countries like Thailand and China, act resposible, other many western countries, not so, and thanks to them  responsible countries like Thailand have to suffer economically.

Thailand has no one to blame but themselves, and don't make me start laughing with your comment about China acting responsibly.  They let the virus escape and caused this whole bloody mess, then lied in an attempt to cover it up.  Ok no more on that subject, Covid just needs to be put back in the box.  Thailand needs to get the vaccines and stop playing monetary games if they want tourism to open back up.

[Skallywag]

Been the same every day since March 18, 2020.   No news to report here

[SPREX]

14 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

So basically around 11,190 per month, or 373 per day, so basically 1 plane a day.  Airport is ripping with activity isn't it.  However, there are a few that have come back, returned whence they came, then returned again.  So in reality how many true people.  If I went and came 4 times they would count me as 4 foreign arrivals, even though I am the same person, going to the same house I have. True I did leave and arrive, but then it is different for a true tourist who comes just once during the year.  Kind of skews the stats in my view.

 

 

[Chernsarmkhuat]

14 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

So basically around 11,190 per month, or 373 per day, so basically 1 plane a day.  Airport is ripping with activity isn't it.  However, there are a few that have come back, returned whence they came, then returned again.  So in reality how many true people.  If I went and came 4 times they would count me as 4 foreign arrivals, even though I am the same person, going to the same house I have. True I did leave and arrive, but then it is different for a true tourist who comes just once during the year.  Kind of skews the stats in my view.

Seems about right 1 plane a day, maybe 2 ever other day. I came in last Friday only saw passengers from my plane in the 2 hours I was there. The board that tells you where to collect your luggage wasn't on, wasn't difficult to find, the only belt running was just after passport control at the far end of the airport.

 

[soi3eddie]

20 minutes ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

 

August 2020 was last time immigration published arrival statistics. Kind of sad, as it was interesting reading.

August 2020 Arrivals.xlsx 514.74 kB · 0 downloads

 

Clearly they do actually collect detailed info for their own records and analysis. They almost certainly know how many repeat trips per individual in one year too. Shame they don't publish more detail in their frequent press releases but guess that won't make them look any better.

 

[SPREX]

2 minutes ago, soi3eddie said:

 

Clearly they do actually collect detailed info for their own records and analysis. They almost certainly know how many repeat trips per individual in one year too. Shame they don't publish more detail in their frequent press releases but guess that won't make them look any better.

 

report is IN-OUT fron PIBCIS Data  base You must extract visa Tourist .....

[SPREX]

Check data provided by  MOT Source: Tourism and Sports Economy Division 

Exemple  each month report is provided 

 

[ExpatOilWorker]

19 minutes ago, SPREX said:

 

 

The Ministry of laziness have hit a new low.

December, November and October have been updated, but if you go further back starting from September, then there are no more 2020 data.

 

https://www.mots.go.th/more_news_new.php?cid=593

 

 

Edited February 10, 2021 by ExpatOilWorker

[soi3eddie]

So the year on year comparison for 19/20 maybe -83% (the first 2-3 months were open as usual). The December comparison 19/20 is -99%  Carry that forward and it's clear that until borders properly reopen, "tourism" in Thailand will be down 99% to about 78,000 per year! Quite different to the often touted figure of 39 Million or predictions of 10 Million, 5 Million and their next number will be...  

Edited February 10, 2021 by soi3eddie

[ExpatOilWorker]

 

12 minutes ago, soi3eddie said:

 

Clearly they do actually collect detailed info for their own records and analysis. They almost certainly know how many repeat trips per individual in one year too. Shame they don't publish more detail in their frequent press releases but guess that won't make them look any better.

 

10 years raw data from immigration use to be updated and published every month, but then suddenly they when all dark.

 

http://www.hkt.immigration.go.th/immigration_stats

Edited February 10, 2021 by ExpatOilWorker