High hopes for Thai tourism in 2024

[webfact]

Industry leaders are expressing optimism for 2024 even though Thailand’s tourism industry has not fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels either in terms of foreign tourist arrivals or revenues.

 

Indications that support the positive forecast were recently revealed at the Thailand Tourism Forum 2024 (TTF 2024), the respected annual forum focusing on the tourism/hospitality industry.

 

Jesper Palmqvist, Managing Director of CoStar Group’s Asia-Pacific subsidiary, STR Global, revealed that 10,000 new hotel rooms will be added to the Thai market this year, and the majority of these establishments will fall into the upper-midscale category, followed by luxurious accommodations.

 

Jesper Palmqvist, Managing Director of CoStar Group’s Asia-Pacific subsidiary, STR Global

Palmqvist added that planned increases included more than 12,000 rooms for the Phuket hospitality sector within the next 2-3 years, signifying a robust commitment to reinvigorating tourism in a key market.

 

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is also optimistic about this year.

 

Announcing its 2024 target revenue of 3.5 trillion baht – 2.5 trillion from international tourists, and 1 trillion from domestic travellers. Among its plans to achieve this ambitious target are enhancing quality over quantity, promoting sustainable practices, and boosting tourism in “Muang Rong” (secondary cities).

 

TOP picture: A pet-friendly hotel is a prime example of the growing trend in lifestyle hotels, attracting numerous pet parents.

 

Full story: Thai PBS 2024-01-26

 

- Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

 

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[Pique Dard]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Thailand’s tourism industry has not fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels either in terms of foreign tourist arrivals or revenues.

..."to pre-pandemic levels"? maybe, but people tend to forget the profound impact of the "special operatiion" on the global economy

[flyingtlger]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Industry leaders are expressing optimism for 2024

Sounds like a broken recording.

Wishful thinking.  Maybe if they say it enough times, it'll come true.....

[hotchilli]

More predictions...

[StayinThailand2much]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is also optimistic about this year.

 

You don't say!

 

[StayinThailand2much]

2 hours ago, flyingtlger said:

Sounds like a broken recording.

Wishful thinking.  Maybe if they say it enough times, it'll come true.....

 

Yes, they are 'optimistic' about every year, and ever more so every other week...

 

(I'm very optimistic that they will come up with higher number projections for both, tourist numbers, and tourists' spending habits, at least, another two dozen times this year...)

[paulikens]

Is any country getting as many tourists as they were pre-pandemic levels?  I doubt it.   

[Gknrd]

My prediction has come true. I predicted TAT would predict more tourists this year. 

[nausea]

People are tightrning their belts, that translates to less tourists. No amount of magical thinking will change that reality.

[BayArea]

On 1/27/2024 at 5:43 AM, paulikens said:

Is any country getting as many tourists as they were pre-pandemic levels?  I doubt it.   

France has recovered nicely and the summer Olympics will undoubtedly put them over the top. western Europe will be back too and probably exceed expectations this year despite economic uncertainties.  I believe most people if they have some financial means will find a way to travel. The pandemic really put life in perspective for many of us.

[Nigeone]

5 hours ago, BayArea said:

France has recovered nicely and the summer Olympics will undoubtedly put them over the top. western Europe will be back too and probably exceed expectations this year despite economic uncertainties.  I believe most people if they have some financial means will find a way to travel. The pandemic really put life in perspective for many of us.

Those comments are true but reality is it’s now £1200 return plus to fly to Thailand as against £700 tops a year or so and £450 ish pre Covid. Massive rises in most peoples gas/electric/ food etc and big increases across the board. The days are gone but there again never believed TAT forecasts on numbers . It’s too expensive taking in everything involved in holiday in Thailand for most. 

[newnative]

2 hours ago, Nigeone said:

Those comments are true but reality is it’s now £1200 return plus to fly to Thailand as against £700 tops a year or so and £450 ish pre Covid. Massive rises in most peoples gas/electric/ food etc and big increases across the board. The days are gone but there again never believed TAT forecasts on numbers . It’s too expensive taking in everything involved in holiday in Thailand for most. 

      You may not believe TAT forecasts but they're more accurate than not.  They were very close, for example, for last year.  Some posters focus on TAT changing its forecasts as the year goes on but that is the nature of forecasts; as you have more data, you can fine-tune your forecasts.  This is just January; likely the forecast will change a number of times as the year goes on.  Normal.

     Since you have used flight costs in British pounds, it seems you are focused on tourists from Britain.  While certainly important for a diverse Thailand tourist demographic, the UK numbers are not a very big factor in Thailand making large increases in tourism numbers.  For example, from 2015 to 2019, UK numbers were slightly up for those years.  So, not declining but not rising steaply.   If that was the case for all countries, Thailand's tourism numbers would just grow modestly each year.

     Thailand had a record year in 2019 due to large numbers of tourists from nearby Asian countries, including China and India. Nearly 11 milion of the 39 million just from China.  Both of those countries showed large percentage increases from 2015 to 2019.  To reach its 2024 goal, Thailand will mostly need to rely on visitors from Asian countries coming closer to their 2019 numbers.

[BayArea]

22 minutes ago, newnative said:

      You may not believe TAT forecasts but they're more accurate than not.  They were very close, for example, for last year.  Some posters focus on TAT changing its forecasts as the year goes on but that is the nature of forecasts; as you have more data, you can fine-tune your forecasts.  This is just January; likely the forecast will change a number of times as the year goes on.  Normal.

     Since you have used flight costs in British pounds, it seems you are focused on tourists from Britain.  While certainly important for a diverse Thailand tourist demographic, the UK numbers are not a very big factor in Thailand making large increases in tourism numbers.  For example, from 2015 to 2019, UK numbers were slightly up for those years.  So, not declining but not rising steaply.   If that was the case for all countries, Thailand's tourism numbers would just grow modestly each year.

     Thailand had a record year in 2019 due to large numbers of tourists from nearby Asian countries, including China and India. Nearly 11 milion of the 39 million just from China.  Both of those countries showed large percentage increases from 2015 to 2019.  To reach its 2024 goal, Thailand will mostly need to rely on visitors from Asian countries coming closer to their 2019 numbers.

Well said especially regarding Asian tourists making up the bulk of LOS tourism numbers. 

[BayArea]

3 hours ago, Nigeone said:

Those comments are true but reality is it’s now £1200 return plus to fly to Thailand as against £700 tops a year or so and £450 ish pre Covid. Massive rises in most peoples gas/electric/ food etc and big increases across the board. The days are gone but there again never believed TAT forecasts on numbers . It’s too expensive taking in everything involved in holiday in Thailand for most. 

You're  just focusing on British tourists , Thailand has now broadened its targets and most are from nearby Asian countries