Reaching tourism targets may depend on Beijing as much as Bangkok decisions

[hotchilli]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

According to a report by Reuters, government spokesperson Anucha Burapachaisri said that the government expects to earn 2.38 trillion baht in tourism revenue next year.

Next year the world will be in  recession.. only the rich will be traveling.

[hansnl]

59 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

If the soldiers got a personal bonus for the amount of tourists they attracted to Thailand, well I don't think anyone needs me to explain.

Thaksin, both, would do better, you think?

Last time I looked both got filthy rich during their tenure.

[hotchilli]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand’s economy, the second largest among the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), is unusually dependent on tourism.

The nations youth working on their backs for the GDP

[hotchilli]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

Despite the recovery so far, the Thai government’s target of 30 million-plus visitors next year is optimistic.

Desperation.

[kevin612]

Chinese people make everything more expensive, but Thailand wants more tourists.

[damo1967]

5 hours ago, Nicholas Paul KNIGHT said:

I will continue to bang this particylar drum, instead of trumpeting all the often flawed ideas, why not pocncentrae on ridding the Tourism Industry of Scams and Corruption this includes the many over-priced and often poorly serviced Tourism venues, where a single foreigner has to pay ion some cases 300 baht to visit a place.

If WESTERN countries did that for example it would cost you nearly 3000 baht just to visit Windsor castle. Hust how greedy are Thais ....apparently VERY GREEDY. 

Dont go to those places if you do not want to pay the entrance fee...

You come across as wanting to change a country's culture just because you live in a country where it is cheap!

[spidermike007]

1 hour ago, hotandsticky said:

 

 

For selfish reasons I hope you are right.

I think many ex-pats are quietly hoping tourism does not rebound like before. Cheaper hotels, less crowds, less nonsense. It is mostly upside for us.

 

However, it means continued hardship for millions. And the decimation of the industry was not just due to covid, as the officials keep harping on. Of course, they need a scapegoat and will never take responsibility for anything. Part of it was due to the extreme cowardice showed, the draconian restrictions kept in place for far too long, and the utter refusal to address any of the dozen major problems plaguing the industry long before covid. 

[NoshowJones]

2 hours ago, hansnl said:

Thaksin, both, would do better, you think?

Last time I looked both got filthy rich during their tenure.

Don't all PM's and their cabinet get filthy rich in any country? Take any western country, their top politicians have the brains to hide their corruption where top Thai politicians do not.

There is a reason why Thailand and other third world countries have much lower IQ's than western countries.

[BarraMarra]

7 hours ago, Nicholas Paul KNIGHT said:

I will continue to bang this particylar drum, instead of trumpeting all the often flawed ideas, why not pocncentrae on ridding the Tourism Industry of Scams and Corruption this includes the many over-priced and often poorly serviced Tourism venues, where a single foreigner has to pay ion some cases 300 baht to visit a place.

If WESTERN countries did that for example it would cost you nearly 3000 baht just to visit Windsor castle. Hust how greedy are Thais ....apparently VERY GREEDY. 

Not correct im sorry the Entrance fee to walk around Westminster Abbey is £25 that's 1,052 TBT. Haven't looked at the prices of other Tourist places like the Tower of London and other historic tourist attractions.

[BritScot]

9 hours ago, Iamfalang said:

Are you saying the tourists have a say in tourism?

 

Force falangs to speak Chinese to welcome these super hi-so guests!!!  11 million in a year versus 73 poor backpackers!!  

Actually they do have a major say by not going to Thailand. I would never go back if I didn't have family there. There are far more safe and interesting countries out there.

From 2006 it's gone down hill...

[mickj88]

300 baht to get in somewhere of interest in Thailand not bad - 3 years ago I went to Whitby Abbey ( owned by the National trust) - cost me £8 to park and they wanted £45 for me and the wife ontop to go and have a look around so in total £53- not exactly the £7.40 it costs in LOS and also in LOS the wifey goes in for less being a Thai national.

Is was said thatthe majority of money from the chinese never reached the Thai economy as was paid up front on package tours in China  and surely a westerner paying 4.500 baht over an average of 17 days 76.500 baht is better that 7 days average of 7.500 baht spent by the chinese visitors = 52. 500 baht , Maybe soldiers cant add up or maybe certain mps in Thailand just hate westerners ( but not their cash it seems).

[cheapcanuck]

Without Chinese tourists the tourists numbers will remain flat.

[CrunchWrapSupreme]

18 hours ago, Blumpie said:

This is their form of control.  And no, I am not a conspiracy nut.  It's just a convenience that's all.

Yup, I'm not one of the nuts either, and refused to believe that Covid was a hoax from the start.

 

But now that it's over in most countries, with China's current mortgage and loan crisis, and banks teetering on collapse, it appears to be an awfully convenient tool to prevent runs on the banks and rioting in the streets.

Edited October 11, 2022 by CrunchWrapSupreme

[CrunchWrapSupreme]

How about making things easier on us teachers? Arguably we're some of the best "tourists" they got now.

 

We've been long term, obedient guests, most of us got here before Covid, then decided to stay with all the extensions, with what I've heard online and from colleagues. During this time our salaries have been pumped back into the economy, those of us now married with families moreso. In addition to the often measly sums we're paid we also work online to supplement this, and this too goes back into the economy, when father-in-law's saleng needs fixing, and it's time for fertilizer for planting time.

 

But if you've noticed from recent posts, they have yet to do anything about the teaching license debacle, with many teachers now on their last "waiver" having taught for about 6 years, which usually is the limit. The teaching council has been incredibly vague about what to do after that point, maybe you need a Master's degree, but it has to be some some specific uni, and you need to take an exam that's sometimes offered, sometimes not, and is poorly translated from Thai into English and practically unpassable. Heh. We're some quality "tourists". Just give us the licenses.

Edited October 11, 2022 by CrunchWrapSupreme

[newnative]

7 hours ago, mickj88 said:

300 baht to get in somewhere of interest in Thailand not bad - 3 years ago I went to Whitby Abbey ( owned by the National trust) - cost me £8 to park and they wanted £45 for me and the wife ontop to go and have a look around so in total £53- not exactly the £7.40 it costs in LOS and also in LOS the wifey goes in for less being a Thai national.

Is was said thatthe majority of money from the chinese never reached the Thai economy as was paid up front on package tours in China  and surely a westerner paying 4.500 baht over an average of 17 days 76.500 baht is better that 7 days average of 7.500 baht spent by the chinese visitors = 52. 500 baht , Maybe soldiers cant add up or maybe certain mps in Thailand just hate westerners ( but not their cash it seems).

    Visitors from western countries were about 9.2 million in 2019.  Visitors from East Asia countries, ASEAN countries, and South Asia countries were 29.3 million.   9,200,000 X your 76,500 baht western spending = 703,800,000,000 baht in western spending.  I don't have an average Asian spend but if we're conservative and use your China figure we have: 29,300,000 x 52,500 baht = 1,538,250,000,000 baht in Asian spending.  Both big numbers, but Asian spending was over twice as much.   

    If not a single Chinese visited Thailand in 2019, we still have 18.3 million other Asian visitors that year. 18,300,000 X 52,500 baht  = 960,750,000,000 in non-Chinese Asian spending.   So, even without the 11 million Chinese, still more than the western spending.  Seems the 'soldiers' can 'add up' ok. 

  

 

   

[mickj88]

On 10/12/2022 at 12:04 PM, newnative said:

    Visitors from western countries were about 9.2 million in 2019.  Visitors from East Asia countries, ASEAN countries, and South Asia countries were 29.3 million.   9,200,000 X your 76,500 baht western spending = 703,800,000,000 baht in western spending.  I don't have an average Asian spend but if we're conservative and use your China figure we have: 29,300,000 x 52,500 baht = 1,538,250,000,000 baht in Asian spending.  Both big numbers, but Asian spending was over twice as much.   

    If not a single Chinese visited Thailand in 2019, we still have 18.3 million other Asian visitors that year. 18,300,000 X 52,500 baht  = 960,750,000,000 in non-Chinese Asian spending.   So, even without the 11 million Chinese, still more than the western spending.  Seems the 'soldiers' can 'add up' ok. 

  

 

   

I didnt say Asian visitors - read my post -I said Chinese- where thhe money is all pre paid in China and very little hits Thailand. Do you own  a business in tourism ? just ask the hoteliers and small business owners who get the prices screwed down by the chinese. Nowhere in my post did I mention SE asian visitors . Perhaps you shuld read pposts properly before trying to make otherss look stupid !

 

[newnative]

3 hours ago, mickj88 said:

I didnt say Asian visitors - read my post -I said Chinese- where thhe money is all pre paid in China and very little hits Thailand. Do you own  a business in tourism ? just ask the hoteliers and small business owners who get the prices screwed down by the chinese. Nowhere in my post did I mention SE asian visitors . Perhaps you shuld read pposts properly before trying to make otherss look stupid !

 

     I read your post 'properly'.   Yes, you focused narrowly on the Chinese; I did not.  I said, wait a minute, there were 14 million other Asian visitors in 2019; let's not forget them, as posters often do.  I also discussed the western tourists and compared the spending of all three, which you need to do if you're talking about tourism revenue, as the 3 groups made up the vast majority of the tourists in 2019. 

     But, back to the Chinese.  10.9 million Chinese visitors in 2019 multiplied by the figure you gave for average Chinese spending of 52,500 baht equals about 572 billion baht.   According to you, 'very little hits Thailand.'   572 billion baht isn't 'very little' in my book. 

    Believe what you will but any statistics to back up your claim that, of that figure, 'very little hits Thailand'?   Statista gives us a slightly different figure on Chinese tourist spending in Thailand in 2019:  543.71 billion Thai baht.   So, whether it's 572 billion baht or 543 billion baht, neither amount is, once again, 'very little'.  

     By the way, most posters on the Forum who buy in to the zero dollar nonsense always post that the Chinese tourists only stay in Chinese-owned hotels in Thailand.  But, now you're saying the hoteliers in Thailand are getting 'screwed down' by the Chinese.  So, are the Chinese hotel owners in Thailand being 'screwed down' by their fellow Chinese tour operators?   Or, are the hotels actually owned by Thais, who are being 'screwed down'?   One of those deep mysteries, I guess, 

    Either way, I'm thinking all the Thai workers being employed at the hotels could care less who the owner is.   Ditto for all the other Thai workers in the tourism industry.  They're all happy to have a job, regardless of who owns the hotel or the tourist attraction.  (And, really no different than the French tourism workers at Paris Disneyland, owned by an American company.)   One final thought, can't those hotel owners, whomever they are, say no to the Chinese if they feel they are being 'screwed down'?   Seems it's up to them.  And, hey, with no Chinese tourists at the moment, it's an easy no.  

[mickj88]

The headline reads Beijing not SE Asia - which is why I said China, but you took it upon yourself to assume I meant  S E Asia to make yourself seem somehow superior. You should never assume because it makes an  Ass out of U and me !

Either way it will be a long time before tourism gets anywhere near pre covid levels and Thailand becomes the land of smiles again- if it ever does.

[newnative]

6 hours ago, mickj88 said:

The headline reads Beijing not SE Asia - which is why I said China, but you took it upon yourself to assume I meant  S E Asia to make yourself seem somehow superior. You should never assume because it makes an  Ass out of U and me !

Either way it will be a long time before tourism gets anywhere near pre covid levels and Thailand becomes the land of smiles again- if it ever does.

     Maybe re-read my posts a little more carefully.   I did not 'assume' that you meant 'S E Asia'.  I, of course, knew you were commenting on China, with your main point being that with Chinese tourists, of the money they spend in Thailand, in your words, 'very little hits Thailand'.  Your second point was western tourists, with their higher average spend, were contributing the most to Thailand tourism but that was not being recognized.  Remember your comment, 'maybe soldiers can't add up'.  I disagreed with both of your assumptions and decided to present the facts.

     In order to dispute your assumptions, it was important to get a picture of tourism spending in Thailand in 2019, to see what the three main groups were contributing, these being western tourists, around 9.2 million, Non-Chinese Asian tourists, around 14 million, and Chinese tourists at 10.9 million.   In my posts I compared all three.   Although your first post left the impression that western tourists were contributing the most ('maybe soldiers can't add up'), in reality, that was not the case in 2019.  Asian tourists, both Chinese and non-Chinese, contributed far more.  And, actually, non-Chinese Asian tourists, at 14 million, were likely the biggest contributors to tourism revenue with their higher tourist numbers. 

    In a nutshell, we have, in 2019, 9.2 million western tourists spending your average of 76,500 baht for about 703 billion baht vs. about 25 million Asian tourists spending your average 52,500 baht for over 1.3 trillion baht.  Both groups are, of course, very important but I think it's clear which was more important in 2019.  And, likely going forward as tourism re-opens.

    I also showed with Statista data that it's not true to claim, as you do, that with 543 billion baht in Chinese spending in Thailand in 2019, 'very little hits Thailand', in your own words.  That's simply not true.  And, you, on the other hand, have not provided a shred of hard data in any of your posts to support your claim.  Which leads me to live dangerously and assume you don't have any.