Malaysians top the list of over 23 million foreign visitors to Thailand

[snoop1130]

 

The government says the number of international visitors to Thailand this year stands at over 23 million. Total tourism revenue is over 980 billion baht and arrivals from Malaysia topped the list.

 

Tourism minister Sudawan Wangsuphakijkosol says Thailand has welcomed a total of 23,241,338 foreign arrivals between January 1 and November 12. Between them, they have generated 981.69 billion baht in tourism revenue.

 

She adds that between November 6 and 12, there were 611,121 foreign arrivals to Thailand, or an average of 87,303 a day. Sudawan says this is a 9.61% increase on the week before, which had an average of 53,567 a day.

 

By Peter Roche

Caption: Flickr/Rui

 

Full story: Phuket GO 2023-11-15

 

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[MrPancake]

That's an average of 40000THB per person per stay.

Not too great.

 

Tourism is kind of a dumb thing when you think about it.

 

Edited November 15, 2023 by MrPancake

[SpaceKadet]

So maybe the government should ask Malaysian police to help patrol the tourist spots... 

[Thailand]

So not from China or Kazakhstan?

[ChipButty]

Most of them Malaysians just cross the boarder towns, like Sadao and Hat Yai

[Mike Lister]

2 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Most of them Malaysians just cross the boarder towns, like Sadao and Hat Yai

I used to believe that and I'm pretty sure that used to be the case. But I read recently that Malaysians now travel much further afield in Thailand, to Bangkok and beyond. If that's true, the tourism money is being spread around the country but I confess to not seeing any in Chiang Mai, maybe too far.

[newbee2022]

20 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Most of them Malaysians just cross the boarder towns, like Sadao and Hat Yai

Is there a proof for that? Or just hearsay?😶

[Mike Lister]

3 minutes ago, newbee2022 said:

Is there a proof for that? Or just hearsay?😶

It used to be the case, most would drive over the border, others would fly to Had Yai but not many ventured much further North than Phuket or Surat Thani. The next tourist step further North is Hua Hin and then Bangkok which is a healthy 10/12 hour drive. Somebody recently posted the stats from land border crossing by Malaysians and they are substantial. The link below from the gov press office in 2022.

 

https://thainews.prd.go.th/en/news/detail/TCATG221026093739999#:~:text=Unlike in the past%2C Malaysian,Chiang Mai%2C and Chiang Rai.

 

A news article in the Bangkok Post entitled, "The South Eyes More Malaysian Visitors", explains more.

 

[ChipButty]

29 minutes ago, newbee2022 said:

Is there a proof for that? Or just hearsay?😶

Su-ngai Kolok is another boarder town many Malaysians visit 

[spidermike007]

Thailand is no longer attracting very many Western tourists for a dozen very good reasons. Right now it is predominantly Malaysian, Indian, Arab, Chinese, and Russian. One could argue that these are relatively low quality tourists, in terms of the amounts of money that they spend. Sure you have a few wealthy Russians and some  wealthy Chinese, but most are lower to middle income and don't spend alot. 

 

This process will not be reversed until the authorities wake up and make some sacrifices such as lowering luxury taxes, lowering wine taxes, cleaning up the air, making the highways safer, allowing more private air travel, helicopter travel, high-speed trains and alternatives to the totally choked and extremely hazardous highways. 

 

[ChipButty]

40 minutes ago, Mike Lister said:

It used to be the case, most would drive over the border, others would fly to Had Yai but not many ventured much further North than Phuket or Surat Thani. The next tourist step further North is Hua Hin and then Bangkok which is a healthy 10/12 hour drive. Somebody recently posted the stats from land border crossing by Malaysians and they are substantial. The link below from the gov press office in 2022.

 

https://thainews.prd.go.th/en/news/detail/TCATG221026093739999#:~:text=Unlike in the past%2C Malaysian,Chiang Mai%2C and Chiang Rai.

 

A news article in the Bangkok Post entitled, "The South Eyes More Malaysian Visitors", explains more.

 

According to booking.com here in Phuket, Russia tops the list, 

[Mike Lister]

5 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

According to booking.com here in Phuket, Russia tops the list, 

Sure, but that's just a single province, not an entire country.

[newbee2022]

33 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Su-ngai Kolok is another boarder town many Malaysians visit 

So, you don't have any proof, just filling this blog with Blabla? You are lonely?😂

[newbee2022]

56 minutes ago, Mike Lister said:

It used to be the case, most would drive over the border, others would fly to Had Yai but not many ventured much further North than Phuket or Surat Thani. The next tourist step further North is Hua Hin and then Bangkok which is a healthy 10/12 hour drive. Somebody recently posted the stats from land border crossing by Malaysians and they are substantial. The link below from the gov press office in 2022.

 

https://thainews.prd.go.th/en/news/detail/TCATG221026093739999#:~:text=Unlike in the past%2C Malaysian,Chiang Mai%2C and Chiang Rai.

 

A news article in the Bangkok Post entitled, "The South Eyes More Malaysian Visitors", explains more.

 

So, what I understand Malaysians are not just crossing the border but go for sightseeing and spending money in Thailand. That's on the article.

The "statement" they come to Thailand only by just crossing the border and go back is just Blabla. 🎃

[Mike Lister]

1 minute ago, newbee2022 said:

So, what I understand Malaysians are not just crossing the border but go for sightseeing and spending money in Thailand. That's on the article.

The "statement" they come to Thailand only by just crossing the border and go back is just Blabla. 🎃

I don't think anyone knows what the percentages are that travel further afield, almost certainly, the majority stay closer to the border rather than travel further afield.

[Mike Lister]

13 hours ago, MrPancake said:

That's an average of 40000THB per person per stay.

Not too great.

 

"The average spending per foreign tourist per trip will be around THB42,000, up from THB40,000 in 2022, but remains less than the THB47,895 in 2019".

 

https://www.kasikornresearch.com/en/analysis/k-social-media/Pages/NY66-Tourism-FB-26-12-2022.aspx#:~:text=The average spending per foreign,the THB47%2C895 in 2019.

[RichardColeman]

Bit like saying the welsh and the Scots are England's biggest tourism nations - pathetic

 

And exactly where do they rank on hotel bookings - if the no.1 tourism nation is ranked say 75th in hotel bookings THEY ARE NOT TOURISTS !

Edited November 16, 2023 by RichardColeman

[Mike Lister]

1 minute ago, RichardColeman said:

Bit like saying the welsh and the Scots are England's biggest tourism nations - pathetic

Er, Malaysia is not a part of Thailand, it's a different country, Scotland and Wales are part of the United Kingdom. So no, not a bit like saying that whatsoever.

[RichardColeman]

2 minutes ago, Mike Lister said:

Er, Malaysia is not a part of Thailand, it's a different country, Scotland and Wales are part of the United Kingdom. So no, not a bit like saying that whatsoever.

Exactly how many scots and welsh do you think cross the border to work - it would be the same if they had to have passports - that's my point - its nearby work , not tourism

[Mike Lister]

2 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Exactly how many scots and welsh do you think cross the border to work - it would be the same if they had to have passports - that's my point - its nearby work , not tourism

Nonsense! We've had this discussion before, Malaysian workers don't fly to Had Yai or Bangkok. Plus, the Malaysian workforce is 15.8 million, Malaysian tourist arrivals were almost 4 million. Does anyone really think that 25% of the Malaysian workforce works in Thailand, or even a small fraction of that number!

 

https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2023/11/15/malaysians-top-list-of-foreign-tourists-to-thailand-this-year-with-38-million-arrivals-so-far/102143

[hotchilli]

14 hours ago, SpaceKadet said:

So maybe the government should ask Malaysian police to help patrol the tourist spots... 

Just make the southern crossing a bit more inviting.

[BE88]

TAT numbers is very helpful for winning the lottery

[kinyara]

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

Thailand is no longer attracting very many Western tourists for a dozen very good reasons. Right now it is predominantly Malaysian, Indian, Arab, Chinese, and Russian. One could argue that these are relatively low quality tourists, in terms of the amounts of money that they spend. Sure you have a few wealthy Russians and some  wealthy Chinese, but most are lower to middle income and don't spend alot. 

 

This process will not be reversed until the authorities wake up and make some sacrifices such as lowering luxury taxes, lowering wine taxes, cleaning up the air, making the highways safer, allowing more private air travel, helicopter travel, high-speed trains and alternatives to the totally choked and extremely hazardous highways. 

 

 

You missed out the single biggest issue for Western markets which is outside of Thailand's control, and that is the current high cost of long haul travel and the continued lower airline capacity compared to pre-pandemic levels.

 

Just reading in another report that there is currently 25% available airline slots spread across the AOT operated airports, when I last checked Western tourist numbers from the larger markets likes of UK, US & Germany were fairly consistent at 20-25% lower than 2019 numbers.

Edited November 16, 2023 by kinyara

[newnative]

3 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Thailand is no longer attracting very many Western tourists for a dozen very good reasons. Right now it is predominantly Malaysian, Indian, Arab, Chinese, and Russian. One could argue that these are relatively low quality tourists, in terms of the amounts of money that they spend. Sure you have a few wealthy Russians and some  wealthy Chinese, but most are lower to middle income and don't spend alot. 

 

This process will not be reversed until the authorities wake up and make some sacrifices such as lowering luxury taxes, lowering wine taxes, cleaning up the air, making the highways safer, allowing more private air travel, helicopter travel, high-speed trains and alternatives to the totally choked and extremely hazardous highways. 

 

      Covid has messed things up the past few years, of course, but from 2015 to 2019, Western tourists to Thailand did not actually decline.  Only two countries, of those that are tracked, had slightly declining numbers over those years, Australia and Singapore.  The Western countries had mostly modest gains, with some bigger than others, but none declined.  In this same time period, Asian visitor numbers exploded, perhaps giving the impression that Western numbers were declining then.  Not actually the case.  

     Last year, 'Europe' visitors were 2.5 million vs. 6.7 million in 2019.  'Americas', 607,000 vs. 1.6 million in 2019.  All segments were still in decline when compared to 2019, with 'East Asia' having the steepest drop, 16.6 million in 2019, to 1.4 million in 2022.  So, last year, there were actually more 'Europe' visitors than 'East Asia' visitors--which had huge numbers in 2019.  It will be interesting to compare the 2023 numbers to both last year, and 2019, to see how things are improving--or not improving.