Thailand to target wealthy Indians to make up for absent Chinese tourists

[webfact]

Picture: Bangkok Business News

 

The deputy director of the Tourism Council of Thailand and deputy at the Thai-India Chamber of Commerce said that Thailand should make every effort to attract Indian tourists.

 

They could fill the gap left by the Chinese, said Somsong Sajjaphimuk.

 

Somsong said that travel restrictions meant that Chinese people were unlikely to come to Thailand before next February.

 

In the meantime and thereafter Thailand should go after Indians particularly the young and well heeled variety.

 

Somsong said that pre-pandemic Indian tourists were in third place for visiting Thailand. There were 1.96 million Indian visitors in 2019 that was 25.48% up on 2018.

 

Indian tourism represented 4.91% of the total tourism market.

 

Chinese tourism was 11 million people or 27.91% of the total and Malaysians were in second with 4.27 million people or 10.71% of the market.

 

The potential for Indians is particularly important in the under 29 age group that has 600-700 million people.

 

Many are in the country's fast developing IT sector and are millionaires, noted Somsong in comments reported by Bangkok Business News.

 

The meeting and seminar market for Indians is also a good target to spur the tourism sector.

 

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[kingstonkid]

Hey this makes real sense let's open up to India.  get more variations of covid.  Do people not read.  The only country with more active covid cases is the U.S.

 

Why would you open up to a country that is black likested by many other countries due to the virus.

 

OH I AM SORRY 

 

forgot logic? 

[MRToMRT]

9 minutes ago, webfact said:

Many are in the country's fast developing IT sector and are millionaires

Thats should sort everything out then.

[khunpa]

Here we go again…

 

 

[ThailandRyan]

They have apparently been flying into the Sandbox for the past few days. Must need those marriages to commence with the big spenders and the partying now that Alcohol can be served again.

[RubbaJohnny]

Many are in the country's fast developing IT sector and are millionaires 

 

Whoosh

[jonclark]

Thailand is my home and has been for many, many years, and it will continue to be my home until I die. But every year without fail these old ' lures and campaigns' get trundled out with the same minimal impact. 

 

If Thailand wants to be taken seriously as a world class resort - Think Bora, Bora, Monaco etc  - The playgrounds of the rich and wealthy. It needs to urgently and seriously upgrade its infrastructure and architecture. Move back from the piqueresque beaches and mountains and all too soon you will find a plathora of ugly cheap houses, shopfronts and cement buildings all constructed at the cheapest possible price (and the roads!!) . Yes, there are some truely amazing hotels, but step outside of them and you just find trash, litter and unsightly electrical cables, nestled up close to the 5 star resorts. And this is Thailand problem there has never been and planned development and enforcement of devlopment plans. The place looks an utter mess, but because Thai people are okay with it, they expect the rest of the world to be okay too. And they ain't. The customer is always right...and I hate to say this Thailand but your customers are foreigners...so listen to them. 

[Boarn]

India is a destination for, not a source of tourists.

[herfiehandbag]

11 minutes ago, jonclark said:

Thailand is my home and has been for many, many years, and it will continue to be my home until I die. But every year without fail these old ' lures and campaigns' get trundled out with the same minimal impact. 

 

If Thailand wants to be taken seriously as a world class resort - Think Bora, Bora, Monaco etc  - The playgrounds of the rich and wealthy. It needs to urgently and seriously upgrade its infrastructure and architecture. Move back from the piqueresque beaches and mountains and all too soon you will find a plathora of ugly cheap houses, shopfronts and cement buildings all constructed at the cheapest possible price (and the roads!!) . Yes, there are some truely amazing hotels, but step outside of them and you just find trash, litter and unsightly electrical cables, nestled up close to the 5 star resorts. And this is Thailand problem there has never been and planned development and enforcement of devlopment plans. The place looks an utter mess, but because Thai people are okay with it, they expect the rest of the world to be okay too. And they ain't. The customer is always right...and I hate to say this Thailand but your customers are foreigners...so listen to them. 

You are absolutely correct.

 

Mind you, have you ever been to India?

[BobinBKK]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Many are in the country's fast developing IT sector and are millionaires

That's hilarious!!! I love how these people here speak with so little to no intelligence what-so-ever. So many countries including the US use these offshore resources to reduced labor costs. Speaking from my own personal experience in the US and working in the IT industry for over 40 years, we could hire 4 to 5 offshore resources for the same salary as we paid 1 onshore resource.   

[Edwin Cameron]

Why do they have to be rich..? I dare say there middle class is bigger than most countries in this world, Indian people rich or poor are wonderful people.

[bangkokbonecollector]

1 hour ago, Boarn said:

India is a destination for, not a source of tourists.

I spend nothing compared to western tourists, same with the Chinese. Western tourists are the ones they want to be targeting again.

[Why Me]

As far as I know there are no commercial flights currently between Thailand and India directly. The only way to get from one to the other is via Dubai or such. Stand to be corrected.

[dunroaming]

I have been going to India and China on business for years.  For the first twenty years very little changed but now both countries are absolutely flying!  Totally understand why Thailand will look to India to push it's tourism.  Different world now whether you like it or not.

[Rimmer]

Some unattributed posts have been removed

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

The deputy director of the Tourism Council of Thailand and deputy at the Thai-India Chamber of Commerce said that Thailand should make every effort to attract Indian tourists.

They'll love the floods.... great idea.

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, RubbaJohnny said:

Many are in the country's fast developing IT sector and are millionaires 

 

Whoosh

Millionaires aren't interested in Bangla Road or Soi Buakhao.

[Nabby]

I will say it again: there will be no "targeting" or "selecting" any tourists. Thailand will be begging even the lowliest backpackers to come soon, as it will soon be clear that pre-Covid travel is years away. 

[Cake Monster]

3 hours ago, BobinBKK said:

That's hilarious!!! I love how these people here speak with so little to no intelligence what-so-ever. So many countries including the US use these offshore resources to reduced labor costs. Speaking from my own personal experience in the US and working in the IT industry for over 40 years, we could hire 4 to 5 offshore resources for the same salary as we paid 1 onshore resource.   

Very true.

If you are a Business owner in the UK, the chances are that the Accountant you pay Mega Bucks to for his expert advice Etc is just having a quick once over your Financial Records, and the all the work is sent to India for actual processing.

The Accountant then has a quick look over them again when the work is complete, before submission them to the Client.

[RafPinto]

I'm sure hundreds of new massage shops will open soon, after reading this fantastic news.

 

7/11 will order 500 Trillion deodorants for each shop.

 

Money to be made.

[Ramdas]

Jeez ????????‍♂️ How desperate can you get ?! Always looking in the wrong places and needless to say thinking backwards ????????‍♂️

[NikmediaBkk]

I am a Singaporean Indian who was raised and educated in UK and US and have become a Thai citizen 25 years ago and as far as I am aware, Indians from India are the worse kinds of tourists any country could ever hope for! If you were to check some of the India indians in Thailand or Bangkok facebook groups or blogs, you can see many of these India Indians are coming here on tourist visas to find jobs in Thailand or overstay their visas! The so called rich Indians are the worse misers! They can wear diamond rings worth millions but would bargain with a poor Thai vegetable seller by the roadside for even 5 baht. They do not tip, are rude and expect a lot of  freebies. They do not contribute much and as far as events like weddings, movie filming or once a film awards event, the hotels told me that they usually disappear with lots of unpaid bills! Also a lot have a problem with hygiene and and are misers when it comes to their own health. Hence be prepared for more new type of Indian SARS-CoV-2 variants coming. (The PCR tests or ATK are not the least accurate! and in India, vaccination certs are easily forged!) The Chinese tourists might be noisy rude and abnoxious, but they do spend money, do tip and some are even at thousand times better behaved and do have class (esp the younger educated ones). Please no Indians from India for Gawds sake! More than ever, the Thai govt should banned these Indians from the country!

[kevc]

Do they not realise how unwelcome this makes the ordinary run of the mill tourist feel, come back if we can't get enough rich people. A good majority of the Khao San Road backpackers would probably be tomorrows professionals as well, looking to remember where they spent gap years in times to come.

 

[StayinThailand2much]

6 hours ago, kingstonkid said:

Hey this makes real sense let's open up to India.  get more variations of covid.  Do people not read.  The only country with more active covid cases is the U.S.

 

Why would you open up to a country that is black likested by many other countries due to the virus (...)

Thai authorities like Chinese, Indians, and ..., oh, yes, more Chinese. So in their eyes it makes perfect sense.

[StayinThailand2much]

1 hour ago, RafPinto said:

I'm sure hundreds of new massage shops will open soon, after reading this fantastic news.

 

7/11 will order 500 Trillion deodorants for each shop.

 

Money to be made.

Nightlife spots will have to adjust; water instead of beer and spirits...

[StayinThailand2much]

2 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Millionaires aren't interested in Bangla Road or Soi Buakhao.

And not in turds and sewage in the sea either...

[Neeranam]

6 hours ago, kingstonkid said:

Hey this makes real sense let's open up to India.  get more variations of covid.  Do people not read.  The only country with more active covid cases is the U.S.

 

Why would you open up to a country that is black likested by many other countries due to the virus.

 

OH I AM SORRY 

 

forgot logic? 

India has done very well due to Invermectin. 

 

They must be desperate as Thais generally dislike Indians, apart from Lord Buddha, but they don't know he was Indian due to their lack of geographical/historical knowledge. Lumpini park used to be India, before the border moved. 

[Neeranam]

1 hour ago, NikmediaBkk said:

I am a Singaporean Indian who was raised and educated in UK and US and have become a Thai citizen 25 years ago and as far as I am aware, Indians from India are the worse kinds of tourists any country could ever hope for! If you were to check some of the India indians in Thailand or Bangkok facebook groups or blogs, you can see many of these India Indians are coming here on tourist visas to find jobs in Thailand or overstay their visas! The so called rich Indians are the worse misers! They can wear diamond rings worth millions but would bargain with a poor Thai vegetable seller by the roadside for even 5 baht. They do not tip, are rude and expect a lot of  freebies. They do not contribute much and as far as events like weddings, movie filming or once a film awards event, the hotels told me that they usually disappear with lots of unpaid bills! Also a lot have a problem with hygiene and and are misers when it comes to their own health. Hence be prepared for more new type of Indian SARS-CoV-2 variants coming. (The PCR tests or ATK are not the least accurate! and in India, vaccination certs are easily forged!) The Chinese tourists might be noisy rude and abnoxious, but they do spend money, do tip and some are even at thousand times better behaved and do have class (esp the younger educated ones). Please no Indians from India for Gawds sake! More than ever, the Thai govt should banned these Indians from the country!

You have certainly assimilated well, you'll be saying that old question about the stick, the snake and the Indian next. 

[mfd101]

I expect the rich and the wanna-be rich of Bangalore go to California for their annual hols ...

[Albert Zweistein]

Better to target wealthy Inuits to make up for the absent Indians.