Thai tourism faces strain from sluggish Chinese, Japanese economies

[Jumbo1968]

High season will be interesting to see if all the people who watch the YouTube blogs by various bar owners in Pattaya  actually turn up.

[NemoH]

It’s a cycle but the 5 star hotels in Pattaya n Bangkok have all up their prices in anticipation of Christmas n New year ???????????? wonder who gets the last laugh 

[Zack61]

Last week on arriving at Swampy there was hardly anyone let alone Chinese tourists. No more than twenty people queuing at the dozen or so immigration booths. Took less than 2 minutes to go through 

[sammieuk1]

Some massaging of the figures is urgently required but who could possibly get 40m visitors by November? ????

[Jiggo]

3 hours ago, smedly said:

maybe they have realised there are better options than Thailand and pattaya to spend their vacation

Apparently Vietnam has eased there visa process, which is one option.

[paul1804]

Well its only a couple of weeks ago TAT were bragging that LOS had already received 15M arrivals this year which is absolute BS! 

When will these clowns stop wishful thinking and start implementing changes that attracts more tourists. They know the issues but dont want to face up to the truth because they may loose face or their cut of the ripoffs that exist in Thailand. The current political debacle is a perfect example!

 

[Trip Hop]

14 minutes ago, Jumbo1968 said:

For some reason B.A. said they won’t reinstate the direct flight from Heathrow, could be it’s not profitable only 1 flight a day and having to use 2 flight crews. When used the flight pre Covid it was more or less full.

Used it once myself and would never again.  Terrible service/attitude considering the way they try to portray themselves and received far better service elsewhere.  Would welcome it to return though, if only to relieve the demand on the competition?

[charmonman]

1 hour ago, Jumbo1968 said:

If airfares drop it might encourage more tourists but on my recent trip to the U.K. the flights were more or less full  both ways in economy therefore fares are not going be reduced by airlines.

I travelled Business Class from Dubai to BKK, A380 handful of passengers in Business Class, 2 in First Class no idea how Emirates make money on that flight. On a side note the food was disgusting, economy meal served on plates but it appeared to have been reheated several times over. I have sent a complaint to Emirates but no reply as yet.

Flights from North America are 2 to 2.5 times as expensive as they used to be and the flights are full. Pre-Covid I used to come three times a year but am seriously rethinking that a reducing to only once or twice.

[kinyara]

To put the article in context based on the 7 months to July 2023 compared to 7 months average monthly arrivals in 2019 :

 

Tourist arrivals excluding China and Japan - 84%

China - 28%

Japan - 37%

 

Clearly China and Japan are the 2 markets that standout as having failed to recover so far, whereas all other major markets have recovered to a great degree with the long-haul non-Asian markets I would say being impacted by reduced flight capacity and the resulting higher flight costs.

 

 UK arrivals are actually 92% of 2019 over the same time period.

 

 

[newnative]

1 hour ago, pookett said:

Only TCT, TAT and THA dared to  dream up predictions different to the blatantly obvious.

Chinese group-tour-hordes only put money into Chinese owned businesses, no real gains for Thailand.

The independent travellers market is where the money is, sanity NOT vanity.

Poor recent publicity for Thailand with tourism incidents and political wobbles only add to the misery.

All that before you factor in the world wide problems effecting long-haul tourism in particular.

   Totally incorrect regarding tour groups--regardless of country--not contributing to the Thai economy.  But, you will be happy to know that in 2019, independent travelers from China were the majority of the Chinese travelers to Thailand, not tour groups.   I believe that is also the case so far this year.

[adrin]

1 hour ago, skorp13 said:

Whoever is saying there's no Chinese tourists should come hang out around my place LOL

exactly.

all condos are full of chinese. same as shopping malls or nightmarkets in bangkok.

90% chinese there

[adrin]

1 hour ago, kinyara said:

To put the article in context based on the 7 months to July 2023 compared to 7 months average monthly arrivals in 2019 :

 

Tourist arrivals excluding China and Japan - 84%

China - 28%

Japan - 37%

 

Clearly China and Japan are the 2 markets that standout as having failed to recover so far, whereas all other major markets have recovered to a great degree with the long-haul non-Asian markets I would say being impacted by reduced flight capacity and the resulting higher flight costs.

 

 UK arrivals are actually 92% of 2019 over the same time period.

 

 

where have you got these numbers from

[kinyara]

6 hours ago, retarius said:

'Hope is not a strategy' as is widely quoted. TAT, TCT and THA are filled with hopers, not strategists. In business one should always anticipate bad things and plan so that it does not kill off your business, because bad things do happen from time to time. 

 

Demand is clearly not what it was for Thai tourism. The causes for this need to be researched and understood, not simply pulled out your <deleted> or imagined by the elite. Saying I want more Indians to come, or like Thaksin (everybody's favourite politician) used to say, he wants wealthy tourists. You have to do more than 'want' something to happen. You have to make it happen.

 

Now I'm no expert at all in tourism, but I have been to many tourist hot spots and wouldn't dream of going back because of reasons we are all familiar with, like getting ripped off, dirty hotel rooms, poor local transport, dirty sea water, hawkers on the beach etc etc. but do some research and see if staff training, for example, could improve the tourists' experience of Thailand for is it really 'they would love to come but don't have the money'?

I think TAT did recognise the potential slow recovery of the Chinese market due to China's internal economic problems, that's why they only forecast 5 million in 2023 compared to the 11 million in 2019. The fact as it stands it looks like they won't achieve even 5 million, rather than just hoping it is clearly why it is the focus of the new govt's immediate attention.  

[sambum]

I was very disappointed not to see "according to TAT" somewhere shortly after the headline!

Edited August 30, 2023 by sambum

[kinyara]

1 minute ago, adrin said:

 

The Ministry of Tourism and Sports, they have published the tourist statistics by the just under 100 countries entering Thailand monthly for years. The data is compiled by the National Office of Statistics, similar to the gathering of economic data all countries in the world use.

[jaideedave]

2 hours ago, malibukid said:

Thailand needs to clean up its act

Agreed, but not too much because that,s why it's so much fun.

[sambum]

"..........a K-shaped recovery has been apparent as the rich got richer,..........."

 

Now isn't that always the case?

[Sigmund]

6 hours ago, jaideedave said:

My step daughter works at King Power and she tells me sales are way way down. Previously busloads of Chinese would arrive and some were good spenders. Not any more. These times they are juggling staff and inventory . It appears they bet everything to remain the same. She is now looking for another job and she's been there a while.

I stopped buying  small knick knacks  in Thailand. Ex some belts I used to buy in major Bangkok stores like MBK or Market Village in Hua Hin were 300 THB (the belts) or those slip on Baoji shoes were 600 THB . Found them online on AliExpresse for 60 THB (same model) belt and the baoji shoes  for half price. Definately not worth buying in any store now in Thailand. Food, climate, booze, the girls ok fine. Nothing else.

[Pinot]

We're spending September in Samui with the better weather here in the Gulf than Phuket. We took a week to get here through Koh Lanta, Nakon Si Tamarak and Khanom Beach. We were the only ones in two of the hotels. Restaurants are empty. I get it's low season but Ko Samui is less than half full. Last year no one was here but I'm surprised that there are so few tourists around. How they going to reach their 30 million tourists goals?  

Edited August 30, 2023 by Pinot

[Tom H]

Do Thai people want more Chinese come to spend their money to Chinese hotel owners and running behind a flag at walking street?

 

I am happy to see less pyamas at airports shouting around.

[BarraMarra]

2 hours ago, Toby1947 said:

Good, keep the monsters where they belong 

And Covid out.

[kinyara]

5 minutes ago, Pinot said:

We're spending September in Samui with the better weather here in the Gulf than Phuket. We took a week to get here through Koh Lanta, Nakon Si Tamarak and Khanom Beach. We were the only ones in two of the hotels. Restaurants are empty. I get it's low season but Ko Samui is less than half full. Last year no one was here but I'm surprised that there are so few tourists around. How they going to reach their 30 million tourists goals?  

I doubt they will, but 30 million was the top of their 2023 forecast range which was 24m to 30m. It would seem more likely at this stage that mainly due to the shortfall in Chinese they end up around the middle of their forecast circa 27 million.

[Mavideol]

not a surprise, have been posting about it for some time as wife's relatives in China keep complaining about sluggish economy and unemployment rising.... however TAT keeps posting higher estimates/hopes/rebounds and so forth about Chinese arrivals, it's time for them to change their vocabulary and use the "reality" words like "fast recovery it's not going to happen" we shoot ourselves in our foot  555

[Mavideol]

mostly see Malaysians and Indians and some westerners (not including the run away/escaping Orcs)

Edited August 30, 2023 by Mavideol

[kinyara]

17 minutes ago, Mavideol said:

not a surprise, have been posting about it for some time as wife's relatives in China keep complaining about sluggish economy and unemployment rising.... however TAT keeps posting higher estimates/hopes/rebounds and so forth about Chinese arrivals, it's time for them to change their vocabulary and use the "reality" words like "fast recovery it's not going to happen" we shoot ourselves in our foot  555

Not seen any evidence of them increasing their estimate of 5 million Chinese this year, they have however admitted they are likely to fall short of that target.

[Taboo2]

Remember America in 2008 when Real Estate crashed...well, it is China's turn and it will get ugly.

 

On the positive side, less Buses here in Patts and less flags to worry about.

 

Next year will be rough if Country Garden implodes in China.

[Finspin]

I was looking to book a flight from UK in December this morning for travel to Thailand.

the cheapest flights I found were from China airlines with a layover in Beijing. Having travelled to China a few years ago I found the authorities in Chengdu to be overbearing. So I’ve opted for slightly more expensive flight with BA/Qatar. 
so it appears that Chinese flight operators are also looking to fill their seats in relation to Thailand 

Edited August 30, 2023 by Finspin

[Blumpie]

The chinese are not coming back anytime soon.  I'd revisit it in five years.  

[Jumbo1968]

1 minute ago, Blumpie said:

The chinese are not coming back anytime soon.  I'd revisit it in five years.  

I agree TAT need to start following the Chinese economy and realise it’s not booming like it was pre Covid.

[Elkski]

This thread prompted me to check airfare and cimpare to last year.  

Last year we go RT fare of 780$ lax-bkk dec 6- jan 20th which was actually a bery low price compared to 2016-2019.  These dates, for years,   have seemed to be just in front and back of high sesson rates.  Currently on same korean air these flights are 1370$    a hefty chunk of change for 2.  Luckily we dont have plans for Thailand this high season.  Im rhink a clean beach relaxed area in Mexico to show my Thai wife how <deleted>ty Thailand is