Picture: Thai Rath

 

Thai Rath posed the question to their readership: "How has the end of Test and Go affected international tourism?"

 

For their answer they said there was no better person to ask than Marisa Sukosol Nunphakdee, the chief of the Thai Hoteliers' Association.

 

She said that since the onerous and expensive Test and Go program had ended on May 1st the country had seen arrivals at Suvarnabhumi go from about 10-12,000 daily to 15-16,000.

 

This was not "a great leap forward but represented an improvement. 

 

"If we can get 400,000 a month during the low season months that will indicate we can get a million a month for the next high season from October," she said.

 

She expected 2022 to see 6-8 million foreign tourists.

 

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But she said that 2023 would be the big recovery year when she expected Bank of Thailand expectations of 19 million tourists to be met. 

 

She thought that abolishing Thailand Pass was not pivotal. 2.5 million have already registered.

 

At the moment she pointed to the emergence once again of the Indian tourism sector especially people from the sub-continent coming for short trips, seminars and weddings in Thailand.

 

She said that the kind of tourist Thailand is trying to get from India have not been hit economically by the pandemic and Thailand is the most popular destination for Indians. 

 

And, she pointed out, there are plenty of them. 

 

By and large 2022 so far has seen mostly Asians come to Thailand with Malaysians, Singaporeans and South Koreans bolstering the numbers.

 

In 2019 4 million Malaysians came, many crossing the southern land border, and now this is open again this will hopefully provide a much needed boost. 

 

Especially as Chinese tourists - the previous bedrock of Thai tourism - are still not coming at all. 

 

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6 minutes ago, webfact said:

Especially as Chinese tourists - the previous bedrock of Thai tourism - are still not coming at all

What about trillions of Baht projection of Chinese?? Papa Xi didnt agree?

If you want to invite Indians, add gold chain Insurance to the requirements, they are losing more gold chains than the hugs they are getting from ladyboyz!

as per the headline : but more Indians expected in 2022

 

Kinda perfect for the Cowboys that are running this country. ????

40 minutes ago, webfact said:

She expected 2022 to see 6-8 million foreign tourists.

Optimism and hope springs eternal for the reinvigoration of tourism.  Looking at the prices of condos and homes this past week and I have noticed some have gone down in price while others have increased the price of not only the monthly rental but the house and condo price as well.  Some folks still believe that they can raise prices as tourists will come and buy them while others seem to be more realistic....

And next year they will predict 2024 will be 'The Year' !

5 hours ago, hughrection said:

as per the headline : but more Indians expected in 2022

 

Kinda perfect for the Cowboys that are running this country. ????

what does that mean?

5 hours ago, webfact said:

She thought that abolishing Thailand Pass was not pivotal.

Yes, it is.

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Indians

Tell the restauranters to stock up on extra bottles of water and double the amount of chairs at each table. 

More than one hotel employee at hotels in Sukhumvit told me years ago some of them bring cookers to cook in the rooms, stink the place out and damage the carpets. Hopefully things have improved!

5 minutes ago, JeffersLos said:

Tell the restauranters to stock up on extra bottles of water and double the amount of chairs at each table. 

Just got back from Tops this morning. The Tex-Mex section, which used to be stocked with packaged spices, tortillas, tacos, taco kits, jalapenos, salsa, and wraps was down to just a few packets of burrito spices. Everything had been replaced with Indian food. At least Foodland is still reliably international, instead of south Asian.

Which Indians , the redskins or red dots ? Hehe ..

It’s the insurance scam, stupid.

"If we can get 400,000 a month during the low season months that will indicate we can get a million a month for the next high season from October," she said."

Most certainly it doesn't work like that... first of all the high season does not begin in October...????????..... May be for her!..... Raining season is on the way in a couple of months....the only way forward and I write this part is because I worked many years in Tourism industry is to drop the rates by say 40-50%(One cannot make a loss out of a vacant room!!!) just to fill the occupancies...We did this in Greece when we were in recession, literally reduced the rates by up to 50% Mon-Thurs... weekends saw a few increases....and we had 6 months season... here we have year-round season in partial fulfillment of beds..Why they have offered incentives to Digital Nomads I will never understand??.... Spanish Islands like Lanzarote,Las Palmas

Tenerife have extremely high apartment, hotel beds occupancy,the recreational facilities are unparalleled ... conferences, meetings, gyms etc... seminars,all funded by corporate employers.......I enjoyed writing this... hope it is interesting for readers here!????????

 

LBs can’t wait

 

Great Expectations.. Charles Dickens circa 1800"s

Thailand is further backwards than I thought.

1 hour ago, JeffersLos said:

Tell the restauranters to stock up on extra bottles of water and double the amount of chairs at each table. 

The straws - don't forget the extra straws. 4 to each bottle.  ????

I am not buying the "funny numbers" or 16,000 a day. They are no doubt fudging that nunber in a dozen different ways. Likely closer to 4,000 a day. And perhaps as many as 10,000 a day by 2023. Maybe. 

7 hours ago, webfact said:

Especially as Chinese tourists - the previous bedrock of Thai tourism - are still not coming at all. 

my advise???  shouldn't count them nor the Indians on your 2023 expectations/wishes

3 hours ago, proton said:

More than one hotel employee at hotels in Sukhumvit told me years ago some of them bring cookers to cook in the rooms, stink the place out and damage the carpets. Hopefully things have improved!

Saw one of our former cleaning ladies near centre Jomtien ( 3 years ago) who told me she was working at a hotel now, and that they had to re decorate the  hotel rooms as they’d had a Chinese contract . I stayed in a 5 star hotel center Penang around that time, and the management moved me to a private members room for breakfast as the Chinese group were behaving so disgustingly !! Think I prefer Indians, at least they are polite.,

The FTI expects a brighter economic outlook in the second half of this year, depending on how many foreign tourists come to the country following the easing of mandatory entry rules.

 

Well, temper your expectations, Thailand. Until you learn to live with Covid and bin all your Covid red-tape, the majority of the travellers will be staying away in their droves.

In my country you can't say Indians anymore or refer to a sports team in that way. ????

The Saudis are coming! That is the big tourist news. After a 30 year ban over the blue  diamond affair Saudis  are now allowed to visit Thailand.

Indian wedding parties are mega business.  Massive entourages of Indians come over for weddings with a hundred  guests block  booking villas and partying for days. As well as the economy travellers Indians also have incredibly wealthy  people, educated, cultured and rich.  Despite what the cargo pants and singha vest brigade  on this forum think Indians are  popular  here. They are more fun  and polite than many tourists and their Bangra music including the EDM re- mixes are famous and played at many non Indian clubs.

As for the Saudis- watch out !

15 minutes ago, The Hammer2021 said:

The Saudis are coming! That is the big tourist news. After a 30 year ban over the blue  diamond affair Saudis  are now allowed to visit Thailand.

Indian wedding parties are mega business.  Massive entourages of Indians come over for weddings with a hundred  guests block  booking villas and partying for days. As well as the economy travellers Indians also have incredibly wealthy  people, educated, cultured and rich.  Despite what the cargo pants and singha vest brigade  on this forum think Indians are  popular  here. They are more fun  and polite than many tourists and their Bangra music including the EDM re- mixes are famous and played at many non Indian clubs.

As for the Saudis- watch out !

Cargo Pants are not appropriate in your view? Really?  You better do some research as they are back in style

https://wear-next.com/trends/are-cargo-pants-in-style-in-2021/

Cargo pants have evolved from being traditionally masculine, with their history rooted in the British military, to becoming a fashion piece you just get to have fun with. 

 

Your dad’s favorite type of trousers was also spotted at Copenhagen and Paris Fashion Week. This utilitarian piece has been elevated into a new style staple, thanks to new ways of styling. Show goers paired the piece with more streamlined items like tweed jackets.

Edited May 9, 20224 yr by ThailandRyan

13 hours ago, hughrection said:

as per the headline : but more Indians expected in 2022

 

Kinda perfect for the Cowboys that are running this country. ????

 

4 hours ago, geisha said:

Saw one of our former cleaning ladies near centre Jomtien ( 3 years ago) who told me she was working at a hotel now, and that they had to re decorate the  hotel rooms as they’d had a Chinese contract . I stayed in a 5 star hotel center Penang around that time, and the management moved me to a private members room for breakfast as the Chinese group were behaving so disgustingly !! Think I prefer Indians, at least they are polite.,

I will not take sides. There are good and bad people, nationality doesn't  matter

2 hours ago, alex8912 said:

In my country you can't say Indians anymore or refer to a sports team in that way. ????

Where is that?

1 hour ago, ThailandRyan said:

Cargo Pants are not appropriate in your view? Really?  You better do some research as they are back in style

https://wear-next.com/trends/are-cargo-pants-in-style-in-2021/

Cargo pants have evolved from being traditionally masculine, with their history rooted in the British military, to becoming a fashion piece you just get to have fun with. 

 

Your dad’s favorite type of trousers was also spotted at Copenhagen and Paris Fashion Week. This utilitarian piece has been elevated into a new style staple, thanks to new ways of styling. Show goers paired the piece with more streamlined items like tweed jackets.

It's 2022 and  I was referring  to shorts as worn in Pattaya and no they are not paired with tweed jackets  here usually stained Singha vests - but the issue is less the fashion  sense of the  anti indians but their lack of experience of wealthy Indian tourists

I winder why wedding are popular in Thailand? Is it because only the rich members of

a family show up to attend?  I do hope that the High tourist season in October or later this year

is a big improvement to last high season. Maybe the Thailand pass will be gone by then, but if it is a money maker,

well i guess it will be something else that I will have to fill out for my next trip.

  I would not mind helping the year of recover, and hope that 2024 is not the next time I will be in Thailand.

Darn spell check was off. Should have been,  I wonder why Weddings are so popular in Thailand.

15 hours ago, hughrection said:

The straws - don't forget the extra straws. 4 to each bottle.  ????

The Indians will love that