COVID: Will European tourists return to Southeast Asia?

[Blumpie]

8 minutes ago, Albert Zweistein said:

I remember pre-Covid official sources were mentioning foreign tourism was only counting for 6 - 8 % of GDP, now once of a sudden it's one fifth.

The narrative changes with what they want.  ????  

Will Europeans return?  Well sure they will.  The real question is how many?  I bet it will be extremely disappointing.  

[Martin Brit]

13 hours ago, overherebc said:

Because the usual package tour Chinese don't care about quality of accom' or services.

They stay for a week and then leave.

Note I said package tours.

Yes they are probably where the British were in the seventies, herded on to package tours. They will improve in time like I hope we did. Same - look at the Russians sat on Kata Beach, going rock lobster red because they won't buy a sunbed and shade, they pop over to 7-11 for food and beer. The poor Thai beach vendors just look glum as they spend no money with them. Families walk around  the streets drinking bottles of beer, looks dreadful. Again give them a couple of decades to get cultured!!!! Remember where these people have come from, freedom is novel and they are probably very suspicious.

[GazR]

14 hours ago, Cake Monster said:

All the Nations in S E Asia will be looking at the Tourism Industry.

Many will be picking up the pieces from Thailand,s demise in the Sector.

Nations such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Malaysia are going to have increased Tourist numbers because Thailand has played a greed game, that now will bite them in the A55.

All the other Nations can offer more bang for the buck than Thailand, and also a better Vacation Experience.

As with Business,s, Covid has given many an opportunity, and time to stand back and do a reality check, and the results are going to surprise many for sure in the Tourism sectors of SE Asia.

Based on it's size, Thailand would still offer a far better commercial sex experience for tourists.

 

[Zack61]

17 hours ago, BadSpottedDog said:

Wow. Thanks for sharing. I knew that was the case. Why does Thailand have China envy? It's bizarre!

I think perhaps because the Chinese are short time stayers and if one was to calculate $$$/day spent they may be closer to the top of the list. Scandinavians seem to top the list in terms of total spend but I suspect they are likely to stay on much much longer and their daily spend would be lower than our Chinese brothers and sisters. Seems Thailand enjoys ST not LT.

[BadSpottedDog]

1 hour ago, Zack61 said:

I think perhaps because the Chinese are short time stayers and if one was to calculate $$$/day spent they may be closer to the top of the list. Scandinavians seem to top the list in terms of total spend but I suspect they are likely to stay on much much longer and their daily spend would be lower than our Chinese brothers and sisters. Seems Thailand enjoys ST not LT.

Another weird thing is that Thailand is still vying for chinese tourists, while China is isolating itself right now. No more traveling (not covid related). No more foreign teachers (even online), because they want to prevent foreign influence.
I don't think Thai govt got the memo.

[jacko45k]

11 hours ago, tomyami said:

going back to lanszarote next week all open aside from mask in shops, taxi and airport/plane

I have a relative going from UK to Greece in a couple of days...some paperwork but no big problem.

[NoshowJones]

21 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

When will that begin ?

Not as long as the money keeps flowing into the offshore bank accounts of the unelected PM and the rest of his generals. Think ASQ, yes even after the 1st Nov, PCRs, insurance scams etc

[morrobay]

22 hours ago, ThomasThBKK said:

 

 

 

If you look at Tourism receipt numbers in USD or THB you can clearly see that Europeans plus Americans spend more than even China in Thailand, and way way more than the whole of ASEAN combined. 

That is with FAR LESS people and thus causing far less infrastructure problems for Thailand. They also stay the most amount of time here with over 16 days on average. 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes Europeans + Americas are less in number than China. But they stay longer. The accurate figure here is tourist days: arrivals x length of stay. Example. 10 arrivals x 3 days = 30 tourist days and is less than 4 arrivals x 20 days = 80 tourist days. Then if you divide total recipes by tourist days: For China, $196/TD . For Europeans+Americas , $133/TD

[NoshowJones]

17 hours ago, Uroller said:

European tourists will not flock back to Thailand, especially the “New Thailand”! They have too many better options much closer at hand and much easier to travel to! There are many great countries that will welcome tourists without ridiculous entry requirements and limited drinking laws! Thailand seems to have put themselves on a pedestal thinking that tourists will jump through any and all hoops to go there! Wake up Thailand????

That's what you call Military Academy educated mentality, resulting in Thailand now being a Banana Republic.

[tomazbodner]

On 10/15/2021 at 10:30 AM, ftpjtm said:

ANSWER - Not until quarantine and insurance restrictions for vaccined tourists are scrapped, curfews are ended, and nightlife is re-opened. 

 

Never, then.

[ThomasThBKK]

1 hour ago, morrobay said:

Yes Europeans + Americas are less in number than China. But they stay longer. The accurate figure here is tourist days: arrivals x length of stay. Example. 10 arrivals x 3 days = 30 tourist days and is less than 4 arrivals x 20 days = 80 tourist days. Then if you divide total recipes by tourist days: For China, $196/TD . For Europeans+Americas , $133/TD

Well then BANGLADESHIS are the next best thing for Thailand.

 

Those numbers are hugely skewed anyway and are coming from VISA and MC and Unionpay.

 

Europeans bring cash and exchange it to THB, especially germans as we don't have credit cards that work here (visapay and maestro EC card <deleted>).

 

And that money is not accounted for at all, but always conveniently left out.

 

also europeans actually venture out and buy street food unlike those tour groups, those transactions aren't accounted anywhere, nor are the red light ones - we are quite good at throwing money at girls and getting scammed by taxi drivers etc.

 
There's also no seperation between business and tourist travellers in their numbers, prolly because no one bothers to get a business visa for thailand anyway.

 

 

 

 

[John Drake]

21 hours ago, dunroaming said:

If you go into any pub in the UK and say "Anyone here been to Thailand?" , at least 50% of the people will raise their hands. 

That is a depressing thought.

[John Drake]

15 hours ago, The Hammer2021 said:

The future of Thailand is like a cross between Burma, Bangladesh and North Korea.

What an image.

[John Drake]

15 hours ago, Rohe60 said:

.... and the (very few) Chinese people I know do the same. They look down on the thais.

When I worked at a certain prominent Thai university, my Thai Chinese students (and that was about 99 percent of the class--a few Thai Japanese were there as well) expressed open contempt for "pure Thais." They claimed that were it not for them, Thailand would look like Laos. Must say that I found much better attitudes from my Chinese Chinese students than my Thai Chinese ones. Usually, when 10 to 15 percent of one ethnic group owns 80 percent or more of a country's wealth, that is a problem. Interesting to see how the Malays dealt with a similar issue in their country.

[WhiteBuffaloATM]

replace “ europeans” with “ westerners” … ? 

”europeans” are not a distinct market segment are they ? Russians inc. ?

possibly “western europeans”,”north americans”,“ aus-nz- sa”,”russians” ?

[dunroaming]

2 hours ago, John Drake said:

When I worked at a certain prominent Thai university, my Thai Chinese students (and that was about 99 percent of the class--a few Thai Japanese were there as well) expressed open contempt for "pure Thais." They claimed that were it not for them, Thailand would look like Laos. Must say that I found much better attitudes from my Chinese Chinese students than my Thai Chinese ones. Usually, when 10 to 15 percent of one ethnic group owns 80 percent or more of a country's wealth, that is a problem. Interesting to see how the Malays dealt with a similar issue in their country.

I have been doing business in China for since the early 90's and I can confidently say (????), that the majority of Chinese citizens consider the Chinese to be superior to most (if not all) other races.  Whilst we are welcomed with open arms for the trade we bring them, that is as far as it goes.  And yes, Thai's also look down on many foreigners, especially the older population.

 

Then again who are we, as westerners to point the finger when it comes to racism. 

[herfiehandbag]

On 10/15/2021 at 4:32 PM, NeoDinosaw said:

What  they mean is that Europeans do not stay in  up-market hotels so much because they are just like any other up-market hotel around the world.  So the super-rich Hi-Sos who own those hotels do not get as much money as they would like form these tourists. Many European travellers like medium rate (or even bucket-rate) hotels because they have more atmosphere and the people are more friendly and genuine.  The same goes for restaurants. I often used to go to the open-air restaurants on Phetburi road to eat Thai/Issan food washed down with Singha beer at 90 Baht for a BIG bottle !  Can't wait to get back to the old days.

The problem is that the "neo-dinosaurs" (see what I did there?) who run things have taken a firm grip on the moribund tourist industry, and are attempting to manipulate it's revival to benefit their super rich hi-so mates. The attractions and hotels which you describe will not be encouraged.

[cncltd1973]

21 hours ago, smedly said:

it has happened it's called revolution but is very messy - it hasn't happened in Thailand so far but I think this is the closest it has ever been 

revolutions need leaders, which happen to go missing/exiled or banned from politics in Thailand for one reason or another. I think an internal military coupe is the likely approach, but let's be real - nothing happens without approval or instruction from the hidden hand. we can agree that Thailand is waiting to be saved and will get worse before it's allowed to get better, whether by force or relent

[Albert Zweistein]

17 hours ago, jacko45k said:

I have a relative going from UK to Greece in a couple of days...some paperwork but no big problem.

Good luck to him, only heavy rain and flood.

[jacko45k]

5 hours ago, Albert Zweistein said:

Good luck to him, only heavy rain and flood.

Actually just found out she is already on Cyprus, and getting a bit stressed over getting locator for return flight. 

[Albert Zweistein]

9 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Actually just found out she is already on Cyprus, and getting a bit stressed over getting locator for return flight. 

Go over and help her, btw Cyprus isn't Greece.

[asiasurfer]

On 10/15/2021 at 2:50 PM, StayinThailand2much said:

At least they bring € and £, not yuan...

Who is yuan?? ????

[zzaa09]

25 minutes ago, asiasurfer said:

Who is yuan?? ????

A traditional boogieman. 

[StayinThailand2much]

42 minutes ago, asiasurfer said:

Who is yuan?? ????

元

[Lancelot01]

On 10/15/2021 at 5:39 AM, WhatsNext said:

It's simple : Go back to normal and everything will go back to normal.

 

There is no longer an emergency, there are no corpses in the street, the daily deaths from c19 approach the daily deaths on the roads in Thailand again. 

Don't forget that the daily c19 deaths include the flu deaths as for some weird reason (hint hint) we don't get that anymore. 

 

Only a few will come with the COE, test, vaccines, 21 kilo paperwork, insurance and o yeah, curfew, no alcohol and no entertainment. 

I agree, too many hoops to the jump through and., on arrival, then what?

Empty bars, restaurants and beaches. 

How much does the Govt expect each tourist to spend? Where?

[jacko45k]

14 hours ago, Albert Zweistein said:

Go over and help her, btw Cyprus isn't Greece.

What a silly thing to say..... why would I want to be there and face all the problems and difficulty of getting back into Thailand. 

[bananafish]

On 10/15/2021 at 7:09 PM, timendres said:

2023 is very optimistic.

In fact, I doubt tourist numbers will return to 2019 levels in my lifetime.

There could be a bit of a boom as soon as normality returns. I have many family and friends who had trips cancelled because of covid who are looking forward to getting away again. 

[Flink]

On 10/16/2021 at 12:27 AM, smedly said:

lol well he has 2 choices 

 

man up and cancel all bar and nightclub licences and bulldoze them all

 

or simpley shut up

 

and the 3rd choice - look for another job because he is obviously not qualified for the one he has - maybe farming or fishing or he could buy a honda wave and take up position at a taxi rank might be the best choice then he can get a taste of how easy it is to make a living in Thailand 

 

This man is so far removed from reality it is shameful

It's akin to the mayor of Aspen, Colorado saying Aspen is open to vaccinated tourists but all the ski slopes have been shut down so they can attract more polar bears!

[Blumpie]

On 10/17/2021 at 12:09 PM, Lancelot01 said:

I agree, too many hoops to the jump through and., on arrival, then what?

Empty bars, restaurants and beaches. 

How much does the Govt expect each tourist to spend? Where?

I don't go to bars and don't get into the bar culture.  Is that an adequate way to describe it?  I hope so....

 

Anyways....

 

I'm a pretty boring person in Thailand, riding around in a motorcycle from village to village sleeping in hotels and making a circuit.  However, I am not tourism.  Tourism needs things.  It needs things open, it needs night life, it needs street vendors, it needs socialization.  

 

Unfortunately none of this really exists now, or the restrictions are too difficult to make it practical.  On top of it all, it's difficult to travel to and from your home country.

 

It's a no brainer.  It's not coming back yet.  Give it time.