Foreign Arrivals Drop Sharply Due To Political Turmoil

[h90]

Not every Thai benefits from tourism and the increase in farang. Prices rise dramatically, rents rise, services go down, water shortages occur, etc. The drop in tourism caused by the recent political turmoil may end up doing more good than harm to Thai people, excluding filthy rich hotel and airline owners.

to add the environmental problem....If a lot is free tourists will prefer cleaner places and maybe there is a thinking about it.

dirty water=less tourists.

[h90]

cheaper flights and good deals to be had soon then

Would be good but they will probably just drop flights off the list and charge the same ! It' hard enough to get a good (priced) fare out of Phuket now especially after the shut down of Nok Air. Only leaves Thai, Bangkok and Air Asia. Company is flying me out through Hong Kong now and I have a 6 hr wait to get out to Heathrow. Via Bangkok it was almost straight through.

Actually they already did both the above - Around 2 weeks ago too!. I have a provisional booking to fly Malta - Bangkok on december 22nd with emirates. At time of booking it was 1480 Euro.

Last week Emirates was selling the same flight on the same date for 1260 Euro.

Today its 1340 Euro but what is interesting is that a section is now operated by Thai Airways (i.e. the airlines are so empty they have to combine flights)

I check VIE-BKK-VIE for a while and there is no change so far. Looking middle November to middle Dec for my parents.

[ding]

The man has been found guilty of a conflict of interest. In most civilized places this would be enough for the powers that be to dump him. Now he wants to make a Lazarath like come back.

Where is the shaking the head smilie when you need one.

LOL, true -and helicopter rolling eyes as well!

What the hay, democrocies are messy. I still believe it's the best sytem available after reviewing all others actually tried. Thais are doing an excellent job of it, IMHO. <snip>

The rabble is easily fooled. So a free press (4th estate) is requisite to a real democracy. When the powers in control of government posses that, it's over. Stick a fork in it. That's why the court has done a very valuable check on power vis-a-vis the "dangerous cooking show". I know, poli-sci 101... but I had to get it off my chest! So many silly comments go unanswered.

[FUNSEEKER]

Notthing to Say just Wait to see this political Fix

One thing i have seen over the years no matter how far Thailand go's down a few good positive news reports in the papers and everybody starts running to the airport to get back before you know it all is forgotten.

[grahamhc]

cheaper flights and good deals to be had soon then

Would be good but they will probably just drop flights off the list and charge the same !

I was told by a friend in the airline industry tht it is more expensive to mothball a plane than fly it over a short period. Once mothballed need REALLY GOOD economic reasons to bring it back into service.

Post on another "social" forum from a guy who just flew out on THai. He said there were only about 70 passengers and they all had a row each to streatch out on to sleep.

Where is the shaking the head smilie when you need one.

Here it is

[nickh]

Notthing to Say just Wait to see this political Fix

One thing i have seen over the years no matter how far Thailand go's down a few good positive news reports in the papers and everybody starts running to the airport to get back before you know it all is forgotten.

True - But not during a near worldwide recession

http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffa...-europe-economy

[TAWP]

A government led by arrogant, stupid thieves and idiots. (and their relatives)

A government that the majority of the Thai people want, proved by them being voted in at the last two elections. It's just the "money men" in Bangkok who don't like them and therefore the normal up country Thais won't ever have a voice in their own country!

Dictatorship anyone..??

Ignorant to claim PPP had a majority of votes, if that was your intent?

[dumball]

Again shot itself in the foot,god help us all if Samak is voted back as pm tommorrow.ime off to Cambodge on Monday lock stock and barrell.. More user freindly to Barang over there "

Not as rocking and rolling as Thailand , but wwwaaayyy freindlier to tourists and xpats , that goes from government ease of visas all the way down to the common working man , smiles are given as a true smile , not one to be interpreted in 6 different ways . Sure there are many things one misses when first coming from Thailand , but as one peruses the news or scans TV postings , putting aside the 'I wanna be a Thai types' it is a relief to have gotten away from all that has declined in Thailand , from disenchantment to lack of appreciation for what tourists/expats have done to improve the life style of many a poor Thai .

Looking from the outside in gives one a far different perpective than living and accepting what the Thais hand out to their 'Guests' , people in general are far more honest and actualy care somewhat when help is given . Walk a mile in the shoes-------

A slight over reaction given the circumstances don't you think? What did you expect to hear ? tourism up? Nice try but not the real reason you failed here and yes your post is very transparent in that regard

Who was talking about tourism ? Failure at what ? You sure you responded to the correct post ? Maybe English happens to be just your second language , judging by the apparent lack of understanding you have displayed .

[LaoPo]

Foreign arrivals drop sharply due to political turmoil

BANGKOK: -- Current political turmoil has already affected tourism both in the short- and medium-term, with the number of international arrivals having fallen by 70 per cent, according to the Thai Tourism Services Association.

Charoen Wang-ananont, association president, conceded the political standoff had directly impacted the tourism business. Earlier, the association had projected the tourism boom in the fourth quarter of this year, which is the high season of every year.

In particular, a large number of Chinese tourists are likely to make overseas trip in that season since most had stayed at home in their own country in the third quarter when the 2008 Olympic Games took place. However, almost all Chinese tourists had cancelled trips to Thailand upon concern over the ongoing political unrest.

He said the number of foreign tourists had so far fallen by 70 per cent and that of local tourists by 60 per cent with the hotel room occupancy dropping by 30-40 per cent.

Mr Charoen said what operators in the tourism sector want the new government to do urgently to ease the repercussion is to lift the imposition of the State of Emergency Decree immediately and unconditionally, and administer the country in a way that helps reduce national divisiveness.

He projected the number of foreign tourists visiting Thailand would drop by 300,000 in the fourth quarter of the year.

Meanwhile, Thai Airways International president Apinant Sumanaseni said that the ongoing political unrest and the recent rallies by anti-government protesters to besiege several local airports had prompted many countries to warn their people not to visit Thailand.

It caused the number of THAI passengers, particularly from Asian countries such as China, Korea, and Japan, to drop by around 20 per cent, and that of passengers from Europe by 5-10 per cent in August.

Should the political unrest continued unabated, he said, it would definitely affect revenue and profits of the national flag carrier although global oil prices had dropped.

-- TNA 2008-09-11

I am completely puzzled where they get those percentages and numbers from.

TAT doesn't supply any numbers anymore since the beginning of 2008 (just 2007 numbers are available) so WHERE do these numbers come from ?

http://www2.tat.or.th/stat/web/static_download_notfound.php

LaoPo

[nicksal37]

Maybe if the Thai banks stopped supporting the baht it may make Thailand more attractive for tourists to come here and spend their money.

[IAMSOBAD]

None of this means squat to the average Thai person. in fact, if the powers that be cared about farang coming wouldnt they care more about the farang already here? We spend fortunes here on food... travel...rent...shopping...business...etc.. lf they really cared about us or our money they would cut us some slack with all the silly rules and changes in the rules at immigration. They would work with us on being here legal instead of playing mind games every visit to their offeces. They will never have visitors or travellers if all the long stay people here are writing home about all the hoops we must jump through so often. They need to come into modern times of world wide news stations and the internet and see what their BAD NEWS does to their weak economy. PEACE TO ALL FELLOW FARANGS.

[Jingthing]

The stronger baht keeps oil and food from going even higher here. They have good reasons. You don't want food riots here, do you?

[zorro1]

Again shot itself in the foot,god help us all if Samak is voted back as pm tommorrow.ime off to Cambodge on Monday lock stock and barrell.. More user freindly to Barang over there "

Not as rocking and rolling as Thailand , but wwwaaayyy freindlier to tourists and xpats , that goes from government ease of visas all the way down to the common working man , smiles are given as a true smile , not one to be interpreted in 6 different ways . Sure there are many things one misses when first coming from Thailand , but as one peruses the news or scans TV postings , putting aside the 'I wanna be a Thai types' it is a relief to have gotten away from all that has declined in Thailand , from disenchantment to lack of appreciation for what tourists/expats have done to improve the life style of many a poor Thai .

Looking from the outside in gives one a far different perpective than living and accepting what the Thais hand out to their 'Guests' , people in general are far more honest and actualy care somewhat when help is given . Walk a mile in the shoes-------

A slight over reaction given the circumstances don't you think? What did you expect to hear ? tourism up? Nice try but not the real reason you failed here and yes your post is very transparent in that regard

Who was talking about tourism ? Failure at what ? You sure you responded to the correct post ? Maybe English happens to be just your second language , judging by the apparent lack of understanding you have displayed .

Foreign Arrivals Drop Sharply Due To Political Turmoil.

[morejunk]

It seems that Tawp missed the point again.

The PPP has proven themselves to be an inept disaster. Continuing on will cause a huge amount of damage to the country. Definately financial problems and possibly a lot of blood will flow. So what if they were elected by about 50% of the votes. Would they get as many votes today? Unlikely! Hitler was elected. Would you use the elected argument to support him?

PPP should consult Toxin's fortune teller to see what is about to happen to the political chaos. I would describe what PPP is doing, not as shooting themselves in the foot, but more like pulling the pin on a hand grenade and then falling on it.

[midas]

Again shot itself in the foot,god help us all if Samak is voted back as pm tommorrow.ime off to Cambodge on Monday lock stock and barrell.. More user freindly to Barang over there "

Tourism down, understandable. It is good to see the conflict has not escalated into any serious violence.

By the by, when did Thailand become Barang unfriendly?

Are you serious ?

What is so friendly about the 49/ 51 percent rule regarding condo ownership, business

ownership, making you employ 4 Thai people, not giving you the means to even stay in the country

if your business fails to generate a minimum amount of money, people refering to you as

" farang " when they talk amongst themselves in Thai even when they know your Christian name,

I could go on and on.............................

[Trichiliocosm]

None of this means squat to the average Thai person. in fact, if the powers that be cared about farang coming wouldnt they care more about the farang already here? We spend fortunes here on food... travel...rent...shopping...business...etc.. lf they really cared about us or our money they would cut us some slack with all the silly rules and changes in the rules at immigration. They would work with us on being here legal instead of playing mind games every visit to their offices. They will never have visitors or travelers if all the long stay people here are writing home about all the hoops we must jump through so often. They need to come into modern times of world wide news stations and the internet and see what their BAD NEWS does to their weak economy. PEACE TO ALL FELLOW FARANGS.

This post should speak for all of us over here.

[pammy123]

WELL DONE PAD, YOU ARE MAKING THE THAI PEOPLE SUFFER FOR YOUR OWN IDEALISTIC VIEWPOINTS, WE KNOW THE PAD LEADERS ARE ALL EXREMELY WEALTHY PEOPLE, BUT WHAT ABOUT EVERYDAY THAIS THAT RELY ON TOURISM

[TAWP]

It seems that Tawp missed the point again.

The PPP has proven themselves to be an inept disaster. Continuing on will cause a huge amount of damage to the country. Definately financial problems and possibly a lot of blood will flow. So what if they were elected by about 50% of the votes. Would they get as many votes today? Unlikely! Hitler was elected. Would you use the elected argument to support him?

PPP should consult Toxin's fortune teller to see what is about to happen to the political chaos. I would describe what PPP is doing, not as shooting themselves in the foot, but more like pulling the pin on a hand grenade and then falling on it.

I think you should try to read my post again.

I clearly pointed out to ANOTHER poster that PPP wasn't voted in by the majority [and therefor isn't a party supported by the majority].

I do appreciate your support for the cause tho'.

[morejunk]

Edited September 11, 2008 by morejunk

[Denim]

Fewer tourist arrivals will mean better deals for those that do come, especially in places like Pattaya or Phuket where competition is already cut throat. Hotel rates will become ' negotiable ' and other services will also feel the pinch. The real bad news for Thailand is that many tourists who opt to go somewhere else this year might find that they have just as good a time elsewhere and be lost to Thailand for a couple of years. Investment in Thailand will also probably suffer and it seems very likely that Thailand will suffer a major recession next year regardless of who is running the show. Sadly, the damage to Thailand is already done and the healing process could take longer than people think.

[morejunk]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_general_election,_2007

From wikipedia Thai General election 2007

PPP got 36%

Democrates 30%

Pretty far from a majority.

[duceahearts]

I'm doing my bit for the Thai economy just booked a flight with EVA LHR-BKK for mid October, less money than April this year but couldn't find a good deal online had to use the phone and go thru Dial-a-flight, maybe the price will come down more in November thru December?

[grtaylor]

Who was talking about tourism ? Failure at what ? You sure you responded to the correct post ? Maybe English happens to be just your second language , judging by the apparent lack of understanding you have displayed .

Actually the whole thread is supposed to be about tourism . . . . . . . . .

[gbswales]

cheaper flights and good deals to be had soon then

In my in box today an offer for £399 return heathrow bangkok on etihad - these were around £500 a few weeks ago - pity I dont have time for a trip right now!

[dumball]

Who was talking about tourism ? Failure at what ? You sure you responded to the correct post ? Maybe English happens to be just your second language , judging by the apparent lack of understanding you have displayed .

Actually the whole thread is supposed to be about tourism . . . . . . . . .

My post was in response to why tourists and some expats feel the way they do because of the way they are treated here in the land of not so many smiles anymore , the gyrations of a considerable number to Cambodia is partialy due to this laksadaisacle treatment they recieve from far too many Thais and have done so for quite some time . I merely tried to mention a few reasons people are no longer tourists or expats here in Thailand , which in itself is a direct corelation of Thai tourism dropping in numbers , when better treatment can be obtained by simply crossing a border common to both countries .

[snuggzzz]

As an admirer of the People and Culture in the LOS, I feel I must write my twopennyworth....I live in the UK and visit as often as possible (2-3 times per year), I agree that the Political situation is a factor that may put a tourist off of visiting Thailand, but the main reason is the vast increase in the cost of flights to Asia from the UK.

Another, and more importantly, the economy in the UK is in recession with an inflation rate currently at 10%, this is the most influencial factor; holidays are the first thing to go when budgets are squeezed, and we are definitely being squeezed now in the UK. Electricity and Gas prices up by a third, Rail fares etc.....10% Job cuts are an inevitability. It's the same throughout the western economies.

I left the LOS in July after a month and noticed the decline then in tourism, not due to the Political situation but to world economics.

[micky44]

hope this means that land and house prices will fall as they are in the uk at the moment, surely with the drop in tourrists and he credit crunch in europe an the usa we are bound to see some more realisist prop prices, but what about the £ bhat, terrible, what say you

[lazeeboy]

cheaper flights and good deals to be had soon then

In my in box today an offer for £399 return heathrow bangkok on etihad - these were around £500 a few weeks ago - pity I dont have time for a trip right now!

if the prices are down to that imay take a trip home..

[Pescator]

Another, and more importantly, the economy in the UK is in recession with an inflation rate currently at 10%, this is the most influencial factor; holidays are the first thing to go when budgets are squeezed, and we are definitely being squeezed now in the UK. Electricity and Gas prices up by a third, Rail fares etc.....10% Job cuts are an inevitability. It's the same throughout the western economies.

Not so. The lack of work force in my country combined with zero uninployment (except for the usual suspects who are unimployable for reason I will not dwell upon) means that we are still granting work permits on a large scale to particularly people from the former eastern block and India. This development is not going to stop any time soon.

Back to Foreign Arrivals Drop to Thailand. There is no such thing here, on the contrary. I am an airline employee and have as such access to accurate informations on the direct carriers. The occupancy on flights in december is up to a level I haven`t seen in a decade.

There is ALWAYS something going on in Thailand. Sars, bird flu, tsunami, flooding, rebellion in the south, bombs, political turmoil you name it.

Still the tourists keep pouring in.

[snuggzzz]

Hi Pescator, what Country do you come from....??