Thai tourism won't recover without the Chinese, says top bank analyst

[webfact]

Reuters file photo for reference only

 

A report by the BBC's Thai team suggested that Thailand's tourism would not recover without the return of Chinese tourists. 

 

With the Chinese government still banning most foreign travel very few visitors to Thailand have come from the Asian giant.

 

The BBC were commenting on a report from the HSBC bank and their analyst in Hong Kong, Yun Lew. 

 

In a report entitled "Thailand Tourism: Bangkok Beckons" published Thursday the analyst called Thailand's reopening plans "ambitious".

 

But the November reopening to 63 nations without quarantine, despite being a good first step,  had led to no substantial change in the tourism landscape in Thailand. 

 

The bank noted that pre-pandemic Thailand's 40 million a year foreign tourist figure was made up of perhaps 30% Chinese nationals. 

 

They assessed that foreign tourism provided a huge chunk of GDP and the Chinese contribution was equally substantial.

 

They felt that Thailand's short term tourism recovery would not succeed as there were no Chinese coming. 

 

Only when the Chinese were permitted to travel again might the Thai tourism sector see realistic growth.  

 

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[Karma80]

20 minutes ago, webfact said:

They felt that Thailand's short term tourism recovery would not succeed as there were no Chinese coming. 

 

Only when the Chinese were permitted to travel again might the Thai tourism sector see realistic growth.  

Can I have this guys job? I too have a penchant for the obvious ????

[mokwit]

That's the kind of insight they pay the big bucks for.

[kevin612]

I don’t want Chinese tourists visit Thailand, they make everything more expensive.

[Geoffggi]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

They felt that Thailand's short term tourism recovery would not succeed as there were no Chinese coming. 

But I thought the government wanted quality & not quantity .....................LOL

[John Drake]

54 minutes ago, kevin612 said:

I don’t want Chinese tourists visit Thailand, they make everything more expensive.

Actually, they stand up to being cheated and make their demands known. Remember this from two years ago? I still get a kick out of it.  

Quote

Chinese tourists have taken to their social media to say that a Thai company ripped them off to the tune of thousands of baht for a Loy Krathong/Yi Peng celebration that left them completely unimpressed. 

 

So bad was the rip off that Chinese tourists were seen in clips chanting their dissatisfaction before a crowd surged forward and one man stormed a stage where a cultural event was taking place. 

 

The angry crowd were furious they had been charged 6,000 baht for VIP tickets - and got virtually nothing. 

 

[mr_lob]

I have just checked, and it's confirmed - i won't be losing any sleep over this.

[RichardColeman]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

The bank noted that pre-pandemic Thailand's 40 million a year foreign tourist figure was made up of perhaps 30% Chinese nationals. 

OK, so Chinese make up 30% of Thailand's tourists, but that means that 70% do not come from China and Thailand is making it difficult to get the vast majority of their tourists in.

 

That 70% could revitalise the thai economy and tourist industry in the meanwhile if they dropped the nonsense today and you just flashed your vaccine card at the airport. The fact they are picking up so few positive people is proof vaccinated tourists are really not an issue with infections.

 

The fact Thailand is not more easier to get in indicates to me a deliberate destruction of tourism and the people involved in it. 

[AseanLao]

This idea that Chinese tourists spend so much more money than Westerners is just silly.

 

Most Chinese spending is easily tracked - hotel stays, spending at big shopping malls with special discount cards and VAT refunds, and all their block-booking activities with tour groups etc.

 

I can spend large amounts of money in a day - visiting local bars, restaurants and shops, getting tuk tuks or renting transport. I pay for eveything in cash, and not a single baht is trackable by the "Thai Tourism Statiticians". Try asking local businesses if they get more trade from Chinese or Westerners and see what their response is ...

 

[wombat]

zero dollar bubble tours

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

But the November reopening to 63 nations without quarantine, despite being a good first step,  had led to no substantial change in the tourism landscape in Thailand.

Still trying to pedal this lie.

[klauskunkel]

Quote

Thai tourism won't recover without the Chinese, says top bank analyst

But the Chinese have been replaced by Indian Billionaires. Even I got the memo!

Edited November 19, 2021 by klauskunkel

[relax33]

1 hour ago, AseanLao said:

This idea that Chinese tourists spend so much more money than Westerners is just silly.

 

Most Chinese spending is easily tracked - hotel stays, spending at big shopping malls with special discount cards and VAT refunds, and all their block-booking activities with tour groups etc.

Chinese investors spent $2.3 bln in Thai property in 2018 - Thailand Business News (thailand-business-news.com)

Thailand property: Chinese buying interest has surged in recent years (cnbc.com)

problem is that they like to spend $ buying tangible stuff like property rather than on petty cash items like beer  ..

although the amount spent on Thai prop is relatively small at  2.3 bil usd  compared to the 30 bil  spent on US prop, the 16 bil spent on HK prop n the 14 bill spent on aussie prop.
N that is for 2018 with the figures for 2019 being supposedly higher 

 

Edited November 19, 2021 by relax33

[248900_1469958220]

...and there was me thinking it was all about the Lithuanians 

[Burma Bill]

47 minutes ago, 248900_1469958220 said:

...and there was me thinking it was all about the Lithuanians 

with the Taiwanese in mind???

[Isaan sailor]

Crocodile tears here….

[jcmj]

If they wouldn’t keep treating the US and UK like they are <deleted> and worthless maybe they would see the numbers rise to pre Chinese era. Now the Foreigners are treated poorly and always the blame when <deleted> happens. 

[RafPinto]

2 hours ago, relax33 said:

Chinese investors spent $2.3 bln in Thai property in 2018 - Thailand Business News (thailand-business-news.com)

Thailand property: Chinese buying interest has surged in recent years (cnbc.com)

problem is that they like to spend $ buying tangible stuff like property rather than on petty cash items like beer  ..

although the amount spent on Thai prop is relatively small at  2.3 bil usd  compared to the 30 bil  spent on US prop, the 16 bil spent on HK prop n the 14 bill spent on aussie prop.
N that is for 2018 with the figures for 2019 being supposedly higher 

 

That's over now.

China will now heavily control all money leaving the country.

They have their own struggles and a few big companies close to go under.

[dunroaming]

This website is really for ex-pats rather than tourists and ex-pats have a different view as to what is good for them.  Much of the time, tourists are more of an irritant than an asset from the viewpoint of the ex-pat.  Obviously the TAT are only interested in tourists and the deepness of their pockets and couldn't give a monkeys about the whims and wishes of the ex-pat community.

[peter zwart]

You recon they had a chat with tat?

[RafPinto]

Now "Bayern" in Germany in full lockdown.

 

Does it count for everyone? Also for people, recently travelled from Thailand?

 

Asking for my mate.

[AseanLao]

6 hours ago, relax33 said:

Chinese investors spent $2.3 bln in Thai property in 2018 - Thailand Business News (thailand-business-news.com)

Thailand property: Chinese buying interest has surged in recent years (cnbc.com)

problem is that they like to spend $ buying tangible stuff like property rather than on petty cash items like beer  ..

although the amount spent on Thai prop is relatively small at  2.3 bil usd  compared to the 30 bil  spent on US prop, the 16 bil spent on HK prop n the 14 bill spent on aussie prop.
N that is for 2018 with the figures for 2019 being supposedly higher 

 

 

Well, you said it. $2.3B dollars is a tiny fraction of the $62B that Thailand received in 2019 from tourism.

 

I may only spend x00,000 baht a month on "petty cash items like beer", but it all adds up. Let's see how much Chinese investors are willing to blow on Thai condos in the current economic climate. One article that I can't quote said Chinese transactions were down 31% from 2019 to 2020.

 

[AseanLao]

3 hours ago, dunroaming said:

This website is really for ex-pats rather than tourists and ex-pats have a different view as to what is good for them.  Much of the time, tourists are more of an irritant than an asset from the viewpoint of the ex-pat.  Obviously the TAT are only interested in tourists and the deepness of their pockets and couldn't give a monkeys about the whims and wishes of the ex-pat community.

 

You make an excellent point. However, the pandemic and the lack of foreign currency now coming into Thailand has put the contributions of expats into sharp perspective.

 

With almost no tourists at all, the Bank of Thailand can see exactly how much foreign currency expats annually bring into Thailand. The BOT has a lot more influence with the Thai Government than the TAT, you can be sure.

 

[ross163103]

What about years ago when there weren't droves of Chinese coming(?); Thailand seemed to be doing alright then. Guess the govt has gotten addicted to the Chinese yuan since then.

[AseanLao]

3 minutes ago, ross163103 said:

What about years ago when there weren't droves of Chinese coming(?); Thailand seemed to be doing alright then. Guess the govt has gotten addicted to the Chinese yuan since then.

 

Most of the Chinese money goes directly to big business, since they don't frequent any local establishments. Also, when you have 12M Chinese coming a year (for a week), it makes their contribution look hugely important.

 

Perhaps it's time for Thailand to start calculating the number of days each nationality spends in Thailand.

[Dont confuse me]

A few years ago I was speaking to a couple of Chinese birds in Chaingmai, they were not impressed.

Firstly they were led to believe that Thailand was a lot cheaper than China, apparently this is not the case, it seems the microwave meals in 7-11 are within the budget but not much else.

They also said that the main reason for visiting was (a) The very cheap flights which they were led to believe the Thai government subsidised, (b) They have never left their homeland before and this offer seemed to good to be true!

Let's not forget the viral Chinese  buffet videos on YouTube, quality high rollers ....lol 

[BusyB]

10 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

OK, so Chinese make up 30% of Thailand's tourists, but that means that 70% do not come from China and Thailand is making it difficult to get the vast majority of their tourists in.

 

That 70% could revitalise the thai economy and tourist industry in the meanwhile if they dropped the nonsense today and you just flashed your vaccine card at the airport. The fact they are picking up so few positive people is proof vaccinated tourists are really not an issue with infections.

 

The fact Thailand is not more easier to get in indicates to me a deliberate destruction of tourism and the people involved in it. 

My thoughts exactly on reading OP.

 

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

PROBLEM is that when the chinese will come - we will leave...

[dunroaming]

15 hours ago, Dont confuse me said:

A few years ago I was speaking to a couple of Chinese birds in Chaingmai, they were not impressed.

Firstly they were led to believe that Thailand was a lot cheaper than China, apparently this is not the case, it seems the microwave meals in 7-11 are within the budget but not much else.

They also said that the main reason for visiting was (a) The very cheap flights which they were led to believe the Thai government subsidised, (b) They have never left their homeland before and this offer seemed to good to be true!

Let's not forget the viral Chinese  buffet videos on YouTube, quality high rollers ....lol 

I lived in China (albeit for relatively short periods of time)  for over twenty five years and it can certainly be cheaper than Thailand in recent years.  Depending of course, just where in China you live.  If you were talking to a couple of "birds" in Chiang Mai and they spoke English then I suspect they were from a large city like Hong Kong or Shanghai.  Those cities are definitely more expensive than Thailand if comparing restaurant prices.  I am quite surprised that you were able to find English speaking Chinese girls if they were on a budget Chinese package tour. The level of English they would have needed to have a conversation like you describe would mean they were very well educated.  Maybe they were actually tour guides? 

[CartagenaWarlock]

On 11/19/2021 at 1:05 AM, RichardColeman said:

The fact Thailand is not more easier to get in indicates to me a deliberate destruction of tourism and the people involved in it. 

They are scared and doing a slow reintroduction of tourism. Thailand never had a great tourism industry and 40 millions tourists is also too much for Thailand's tourists infrastructure. Opening up brothels all over the country fronting as bars to get bride and orgy finders is not tourism.  Unless they introduce a new measures for social safety nets for bar girls, it's better they keep it closed.

Edited November 20, 2021 by CartagenaWarlock