Tourist Numbers In Koh Samui

[mssabai]

Don't want to create a doom and gloom post but for personal and professional reasons I am interested in how businesses in the area have felt the knock on from events in BKK. There was a recent poting on the news section that tourists figures are down 70%. Is this what it feels like or is it less dramatic than this?

[Treborz]

It was pretty dead when i was there last week. Both Lamai and Chaweng.

[southwest19]

Don't want to create a doom and gloom post but for personal and professional reasons I am interested in how businesses in the area have felt the knock on from events in BKK. There was a recent poting on the news section that tourists figures are down 70%. Is this what it feels like or is it less dramatic than this?

It is less dramatic. I believe there have been some cancellations but we are in low season now and it is always quiet and it will be until the middle of December. I don't think it is particularly quieter than this time last year.

[Aries74]

Don't want to create a doom and gloom post but for personal and professional reasons I am interested in how businesses in the area have felt the knock on from events in BKK. There was a recent poting on the news section that tourists figures are down 70%. Is this what it feels like or is it less dramatic than this?

It is less dramatic. I believe there have been some cancellations but we are in low season now and it is always quiet and it will be until the middle of December. I don't think it is particularly quieter than this time last year.

When Thailand get better the figures should be up. Will be there in November.

[womble]

does seem quiet at the mo....

Edited September 17, 2008 by womble

[ham]

Don't want to create a doom and gloom post but for personal and professional reasons I am interested in how businesses in the area have felt the knock on from events in BKK. There was a recent poting on the news section that tourists figures are down 70%. Is this what it feels like or is it less dramatic than this?

This numbers are regarding asian tourist (from which the chinese people is the biggest group) and sure they scare much more then westernes (because they know what can happen here) and also the Japanese are very scary tourists, you must know! Then there was the olympic games too, which had also an inpact to the whole counting!

Here local (Phangan), it seems to be just normal, as every year after the last peak in August, when there are holidays in EU. September until x-mas usually very quiet here in the south. Bangkok is a different scene!! Chinese an Asian in general do not coming for beach holiday's!! Very few as fa as I know

[pammy123]

I have been in Samui 5 years and this is the quietest i have seen it

[BigC]

about 30 per cent of people have cancelled there trips to thailand becuase of this PAD yellow banned thing but i went to bangkok i did not see nothiong. no trouble no nothing. the press have told people in the u.k not to travel around Thailand becuase it is not save. what a load of rubbish.

the press need to applogies to Thailand becuase people have cancelled there trips becuase of it. yet there is no threat to forang what so ever,.

personally i like it a little quite. less cars on the road not have to book resterants hotels. everything cheaper but will soon get bored of that

[mssabai]

Don't want to create a doom and gloom post but for personal and professional reasons I am interested in how businesses in the area have felt the knock on from events in BKK. There was a recent poting on the news section that tourists figures are down 70%. Is this what it feels like or is it less dramatic than this?

This numbers are regarding asian tourist (from which the chinese people is the biggest group) and sure they scare much more then westernes (because they know what can happen here) and also the Japanese are very scary tourists, you must know! Then there was the olympic games too, which had also an inpact to the whole counting!

Here local (Phangan), it seems to be just normal, as every year after the last peak in August, when there are holidays in EU. September until x-mas usually very quiet here in the south. Bangkok is a different scene!! Chinese an Asian in general do not coming for beach holiday's!! Very few as fa as I know

Personally I think Phangan is way down this September than last - and a lot of this year too.

[Boo]

My BIL is a driver for a tour company specialising in Chinese tourists (takign between BKK & PTYA thoguh) & he is at present out of work for the forseeable future. All the tours they had booked for the up coming months have been cancelled. Not good.

[BigC]

CHICKEN !!!!

[ham]

Personally I think Phangan is way down this September than last - and a lot of this year too.

If you look at the numbers of arrivals, it could be probably different, then "our" feeling about the visitors here. I guess it just has more resorts, more bungalows and people stay a shorter time. Years ago you just had to look at the songserm pier and you know how many people came! Now there are boats all the time coming in and going out. When you go to the pier always a lot of people there! ? Maybe there is just a kind of stagnation. And anyway here on Phangan everything follows the moon ;-)) actually very natural here liike the tides

[mssabai]

No it isn't arrivals I was thinking about actually- it's seeing how many people are wandering around Thong Sala and Had Rin in the day (and lying on the beaches), how many people are at the Moon Parties and out on the beaches at night and also reports from friend's businesses across the island. Agreed the way tourists arrive has changed (and who those tourists are) but the actual number of people on the island is definitely down on last year. My friend had her bar open all throughout September last year and made reasonable money. This year she has just closed it, it was too expensive to leave it open. Just one of many examples.

My feeling is the the BKK situation has just been the cherry on top of the knock on from the global economic meltdown. Most people in the UK can now barely afford their energy bills let alone think of an exotic trip abroad so the events in BKK are neither here nor there.

[BusyBee123]

Just got back from samui again. Been going to thailand 3-4 times a year for a long time now and have never seen it so quiet. I have a good set of expat friends whom I go drinking with. It was quite apparent their bars and the bars we went to are seeing an even quieter quiet season but i would put this down to the economy in the uk rather than troubles with the government. Some have had to go home to work for a few months.

Familes will be the first to stop going long haul as the prices have gone up considerably for package holidays and the wealth feel good factor has gone in the uk for sure. Single people may be a bit more care free with holidays but only if they have a job and are secure in it which is diminishing also in the uk, my friends in the construction industry are on their arse at the moment and probably will be for a long time. Many expats I know have only been in thailand and seen the good times with regards to tourists and their money, i doubt they have saved for the real rainy days which will be here for a couple of years at the very least. I'm sure people will still be going but how much they have in their pockets to spend is sure to be reduced or number of holidays may be reduced. Cue more people drinking outside 7-11

I'm sure it is more complicated than this but there are my two pennies worth

[jietjon]

You maybe right there Bee. Construction is pretty well had it here in uk. I am a freelance tree worker , and my workload has halved this year. Im scheduled for my 2 month break to Los at the end of the year, but due the state of affairs at home , i may have to cancel

[Mark Wolfe]

I am a freelance tree worker ...

International tree climbing championships? Sort of taking "go climb a tree" to the absurd...

ISA Certified Tree Worker/ Climber Specialist

These credential holders have a minimum of 18 months experience professionally climbing trees in a safe and efficient manner to perform tree care. They have knowledge in the major aspects involved in tree care including, pruning, removal, cabling and safety. They must pass a knowledge exam and a skills exam conducted by trained evaluators.

If you are getting ready to test for the Certified Tree Worker Exam and have participated in the ISA Chapter or International Tree Climbing Championships, you may waive the work climb portion of the skills exam for the ISA Certified Tree Worker/ Climber Specialist (CTW/CS) certification exam providing you satisfy all of the other requirements.

[BusyBee123]

not sure what your point is mark! maybe you are just a better tree climber than everybody else, my conkers are better than yours though, 50 baht says so

[lamai04]

Agreed the way tourists arrive has changed (and who those tourists are) but the actual number of people on the island is definitely down on last year. My friend had her bar open all throughout September last year and made reasonable money. This year she has just closed it, it was too expensive to leave it open. Just one of many examples.

My feeling is the the BKK situation has just been the cherry on top of the knock on from the global economic meltdown. Most people in the UK can now barely afford their energy bills let alone think of an exotic trip abroad so the events in BKK are neither here nor there.

Italy is closer to UK, no money, but less crash on real estate.

If the germans (the richest euroland) are not in good shape, bye bye tourists.

So low/rainy season is roughly from 15 set to 15 dec, 3 month of no work every year is in any case survivable. Think at the Caribbean that every year gets bit and deadly hurricanes

For now price for december are up in Samui but i'm curious for what will happen just after the peak, in mid january.

Edited September 20, 2008 by lamai04

[jietjon]

I am a freelance tree worker ...

International tree climbing championships? Sort of taking "go climb a tree" to the absurd...

ISA Certified Tree Worker/ Climber Specialist

These credential holders have a minimum of 18 months experience professionally climbing trees in a safe and efficient manner to perform tree care. They have knowledge in the major aspects involved in tree care including, pruning, removal, cabling and safety. They must pass a knowledge exam and a skills exam conducted by trained evaluators.

If you are getting ready to test for the Certified Tree Worker Exam and have participated in the ISA Chapter or International Tree Climbing Championships, you may waive the work climb portion of the skills exam for the ISA Certified Tree Worker/ Climber Specialist (CTW/CS) certification exam providing you satisfy all of the other requirements.

My goodness my sweet friend , you are very good at pulling things from the net, are you not. Try an 80 foot Aleander pine in the Scottish winds , clearing from live wires. And yes , i have relevant tickets , rope access , cross cutting certs etc. Anyway what

is your point sweetheart?

Forestry

[Mark Wolfe]

Anyway what is your point sweetheart?

Remember when Bruce Lee admonishes the student for looking at Lee's finger when he is pointing to the sky to make a point? "Do not concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory."

Are you asking me to explain the finger?

The simple fact is that some people are staying away because of the things they see, occasionally, on TV. "State of emergency" sticks in people's minds, even after it is lifted. What seems like a sea of protesters that the big news services show when they have a slow news day exacerbates the situation. Why "risk" any trouble on a vacation halfway across the globe?

(The easiest way to climb a tree is to cut it down...)

Edit spelling, d'oh!

Edited September 21, 2008 by Mark Wolfe

[Plutarch]

To attribute low numbers to an awareness of the Thai political situation is to overlook the fact that those attracted by mass marketing etc are largely unconcerned by anything very much beyond satisfying their own immediate needs. The British sector is an obvious case in point in that if it were not for football and Manchester City most in this country would have thought that Thaksin Shinawatra was something one would sprinkle on one's pad thai.

A welcome feature of living in Thailand is the realisation that the outside world is somehow irrelevant and perspective soon becomes altered to the degree that ignorance really does become bliss. Unfortunately, comprehension suffers and speculation as to the cause of falling numbers of tourists is a good example of that.

The extent of this recession cannot be imagined in much the same way that a mild trembling underfoot on Boxing Day morning in 2004 gave no inkling of what was to follow. The western banking system has collapsed and the greatest debt fuelled bubble in economic history has burst. The fallout cannot be underestimated but you can be sure that there will be no money to sustain mass tourism for probably the next 2 years at least and Thailand's market share will shrink as much as everyone else's. What you perceive now is just the overture to what will become a depression. As ever, there will be a flight to quality for those who can afford it but for the middle and lower end of the market times can only get very hard indeed.

[Mark Wolfe]

To attribute low numbers to an awareness of the Thai political situation is to overlook the fact that those attracted by mass marketing etc are largely unconcerned by anything very much beyond satisfying their own immediate needs.

I agree that most people don't follow politics, per se, but they do watch TV and see, on those occasions, people camped out protesting the government, hear reports of a state of emergency being declared (maybe even hearing its lifting) and perhaps hear of the change in leadership (such as it is).

People don't have to have a clear sense of the political machinations in Myanmar, for example, to feel that it might be unsafe to go there (whether that feeling is based on fact or not is immaterial).

Having said that, I think the economy is a factor as well, although I think, "The western banking system has collapsed..." must be hyperbole by the poster.

What I wonder is this: Given that the tourist numbers seem to be smaller than last year and the year before, what is going through the minds of all the people who have put a great deal of money into new construction projects that are dependent on tourists for their survival?

I get the sense that as the earlier poster said, this "travel depression" could go on for years.

[lazeeboy]

To attribute low numbers to an awareness of the Thai political situation is to overlook the fact that those attracted by mass marketing etc are largely unconcerned by anything very much beyond satisfying their own immediate needs.

I agree that most people don't follow politics, per se, but they do watch TV and see, on those occasions, people camped out protesting the government, hear reports of a state of emergency being declared (maybe even hearing its lifting) and perhaps hear of the change in leadership (such as it is).

People don't have to have a clear sense of the political machinations in Myanmar, for example, to feel that it might be unsafe to go there (whether that feeling is based on fact or not is immaterial).

Having said that, I think the economy is a factor as well, although I think, "The western banking system has collapsed..." must be hyperbole by the poster.

What I wonder is this: Given that the tourist numbers seem to be smaller than last year and the year before, what is going through the minds of all the people who have put a great deal of money into new construction projects that are dependent on tourists for their survival?

I get the sense that as the earlier poster said, this "travel depression" could go on for years.

as they say nothing lasts for ever..

[thaibeachlovers]

To attribute low numbers to an awareness of the Thai political situation is to overlook the fact that those attracted by mass marketing etc are largely unconcerned by anything very much beyond satisfying their own immediate needs.

I agree that most people don't follow politics, per se, but they do watch TV and see, on those occasions, people camped out protesting the government, hear reports of a state of emergency being declared (maybe even hearing its lifting) and perhaps hear of the change in leadership (such as it is).

People don't have to have a clear sense of the political machinations in Myanmar, for example, to feel that it might be unsafe to go there (whether that feeling is based on fact or not is immaterial).

Having said that, I think the economy is a factor as well, although I think, "The western banking system has collapsed..." must be hyperbole by the poster.

What I wonder is this: Given that the tourist numbers seem to be smaller than last year and the year before, what is going through the minds of all the people who have put a great deal of money into new construction projects that are dependent on tourists for their survival?

I get the sense that as the earlier poster said, this "travel depression" could go on for years.

After watching with despair over the past 10 years the destruction of many once wonderful beaches for pure greed ( none more so than Chaweng ) I hope the "investors" are sh***ing bricks.

[Mark Wolfe]

The building at least here in the environs of Lamai is pretty astounding given, not only the slumping tourist numbers, but more importantly, the short times (in the best scenario) that we have "high seasons." While it is possible that these new resorts and accommodations are thinking of the long term -- five or more from now -- it seems to me to be wildly optimistic to think that there will be sufficient tourist numbers to maintain profitable occupancy rates.

I was having some photo work done at the Kodak shop on the ring road in Lamai and noticed that the area behind had been turned into accommodations. They appear to be not too far from completion and I thought, "Do these people know something I don't? Given the large number of resorts and accommodation on the beach and off, why on earth does anyone think that tourists will want to live behind the photo shop on the ring road?"

Moreover, I can't imagine what Lamai would look like if every resort or accommodation was at 60 percent occupancy (or more). The overcrowding would be counterproductive to "having a good holiday," in my view.

Oh, and by the way, it is dead, dead, dead here in Lamai. I love it.

[PoorSucker]

What's the problem?

If you have bad occupancy rates then just rise the rates and you'll make the same money.

[Gatorade]

I drove down Chaweng about 1300 today and the Islander and Tropical Murphys were heaving!

Seems that the well established watering holes are still doing very nicely.

[Samuian]

there is definitely a drop in tourists - how much for businesses concerned, depends on brand, location, pricing... being "in the trend".

but seems that since the SoE has been lifted, arrivals gone up a bit - my impression!

Edited September 27, 2008 by Samuian

[thaierless]

Don't want to create a doom and gloom post but for personal and professional reasons I am interested in how businesses in the area have felt the knock on from events in BKK. There was a recent poting on the news section that tourists figures are down 70%. Is this what it feels like or is it less dramatic than this?

as dramatic or worse. totally dead here now and getting worse. ...the bubble has burst...here too

[Plutarch]

although I think, "The western banking system has collapsed..." must be hyperbole by the poster.

Mmmm....one wonders where the exaggeration is given the current state of play?