Battered Tourism Sector Seeks Urgent Government Help

[sibeymai]

The TAT could ask any foreigner in Thailand for constructive ways to increase the number of tourists. This would appear to be the start of a gradual decline in Thailand's popularity as a tourist destination. In this region alone Vietnam, Malaysia, even Indonesia are becoming more and more attractive. Add to that the number of expats leaving Thailand for countries who make them feel welcome and thailand has big problems ahead.

Those responsible don't seem to understand the dynamics of the tourism industry. More detrimental in the long term are the problems in Thailand itself: corruption, scamming, xenophobia, dual pricing, pollution, violent crime, extortion, visa regulations, nightlife, political unrest, personal safety, Thais mai pen rai attitude. The list goes on and all of these have been raised repeatedly in the media for years without any attempt to improve matters by officials supposedly responsible.

It wil be far harder and costlier to lure back tourists than it would have been to keep those coming here happy. Land Of Smiles ? Not for much longer. BTW, has that former TAT governor had her day in court yet ?

[KCM]

It looks like they have added random police checks of tourists now too. A friend was visiting last week and on Saturday night as our taxi was turning onto Sukhumvit at the Asoke junction two policemen standing at the corner stopped our taxi and instructed us to get out of the car. They asked for our passports but were ok with our U.S. driver's licenses. We were both patted down and when they didn't find anything we were free to go. It was very strange to be stopped and frisked by the police on our way to dinner.

[huskerpr]

I am a American Farang who's been coming to Thailand for 3-4 years 3 times a year and what I see are rising prices in air travel (thai air specifically) rising hotel room charges, lower excahnge rates, rising food and entertainment prices. WHen you have to pay 90-120 baht for a beer, you might as well stay home and pay 2-3 dollars. Thailand is not a cheap place to visit anymore. Then you throw in the new visa regulations, and the new laws concerning owning property and not allowing us to buy land or homes for our wives and children, what makes Thailand attractive to come there. Golf green fees are very high, its just not a bargain to go to Thailand.....I hope many hotel operators, bar owners, and government officials read this and heeed my warning, there are any places to vacation where prices are cheaper, try vietnam, try the Philippines, even staying in the U.S. and seeing all it has to offer. Please pass this along.

[SabaiBKK]

some good news. anyone thinking of getting a work permit should do it ASAP! my lawyer called me this morning to say they are being very lenient at the moment and not blocking us as they usually would for one reason or another.

yeah , getting a work permit is a piece of cake , but then check all the hoops they make you jump through to get your visa extended for 1 year...

personally i almost gave up and was ready to go send my business to Malaysia .... i work in the movie industry and 1 day of shooting is 1 million baht entering the Thai economy ( PER DAY OF SHOOTING, average shooting for a foreign TVC is 7 days) my work involves bringing foreign productions to shoot in thailand so i'm directly contributing in bringing this money to thailand..... but they don't give a sh*t and still gave me a hard time ..... so if its like that for all the other people having businesses injecting $$$ into the Thai economy i can forsee a real collapse ....

[gtm2k]

not to be funny but they must have seen this coming? and i'd imagine that swine 'flu has sod all to do with it.

I entirely agree, its like their vision is limited to the next meal,.

Ya Haaa Haa !! I agree .. .not that i'd like to start thai bashing, but professionaly this is what i experience every single day.. trying to expand my customers vision beyong the next meal of "koi-tio" !

[kevc]

How does 165000 to 27000 equate to a 33.45% drop? Even if this statistic was meant to be a drop "OF" 27000, it does not add up. This is wildly wrong or else I an misinterpreting "year on year".......

Anyone?

I think they missed a 1 out, 127,000 + 33%=168,910 nearer the mark.

[maxbentley]

'They charged that although the government had announced tourism as a national priority, to date no concrete measures have been implemented by concerned-agencies to boost the country’s tourism industry.'

Yes,there have been plenty-concrete NEGATIVE measures enacted.

National priority,my ***.

Mandatory visas,no visa runs,rules,new rules,what are the rules?????-skip,hop,jump.

The average guy that wants to find a low cost living somewhere just got fed up and left.

Hello???????

Cambodia and Indo-can buy long term visas.

Malaysia-three months upon arrival.

Thailand-nobody can even figure it out except you get the overall feeling 'nobody wants you'.

Lost the plot,folks.

Thailand,great people,great country.

Utter silly nonesense when it comes to implementing conditions to allow foreigners to boost your economic stature.

Get it together Thailand and protect tourists.

Start with ATM fees and close with implementing the old visa rules and plenty of tourists-short and long term-will come back.

[StevieH]

A 'state' in a state of absolute and complete denial. Try addressing the rampant and unrepentant racism, the insidious corruption, and the continual legal uncertainty which is buttressed with enforcement on a whim.

Swine flu? A closed airport?? What a complete and utter joke!

those aren't reasons that tourism is down, they're just things that piss you off because you live here.

the closed airport, the riots in bangkok, the ongoing political instability and thailand's inability to market its tourist industry effectively to foreigners, especially at a time of global credit crunch, are.

the world is on its financial arse, people still need holidays. thailand's government should be making it easier and more attractive to come here rather than more difficult, expensive and prohibitive.

[BigBikeBKK]

Red Shirts did not target tourist specically -Yellow and Kasit did.

Right... the Red Shirt Terrorists did great things for Thai Tourism... NOT!!!

[yeeowww]

I don't know how you come up with your conclusions Capealava... I just returned from a visit to Los Angeles where countless friends asked me what was up over there. They stated that based on what they'd seen in the news the last couple of months, they wouldn't want to come here with the threat of insane red mobs roaming the streets, pillaging and burning. A few did they mention the airport closure but when I questioned them further, most said that it seemed a major inconvenience & something to certainly avoid, but hardly a life threatening danger which is what the brainless red shirt morons accomplished. They instilled the fear of coming here based on bodily harm. All of these pea-brain protesters, red and yellow should be prohibited from gathering at all costs. As George Carlin once said, "Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups". Nice going all you Hillbillies!

Xenophobic Yellow shirts caused the biggest damage when they shut down Suvarnabhumi. 300,000 travelers stranded- uncountable problems caused to those stranded. Foreign Minister Kasit thought is was 'FUN". They brought it on themselves. Kasit should be dumped to show the real change in Thailand's thinking. Red Shirts did not target tourist specically -Yellow and Kasit did.

[hangusthemonkey]

What a load of rubbish ! Swine flu !

come on Thailand survived SARS , BIRD FLU, TSUNAMI, BOMBS in SOUTH and BANGKOK, RED SHIRTS YELLOW SHIRTS !!!

the truth is that Thailand is getting a bad name and the world is also a nervous place economically.

The foreign press report all the silly stories of farangs like the aussie barmat woman but far more important is the word of mouth reputation. This normally stems from people who live and work here. In recent months their has been a lot more complaining and bitching over such things as uncertainty with land ownerships and nominees , visa requirements , etc add thsi in to the horror stories of taxi drivers on Samui or shootings of developers in Phuket then it shoudlnt really coem as a suprise that people are voting with their feet when money is a little bit tighter.

[GungaDin]

not to be funny but they must have seen this coming? and i'd imagine that swine 'flu has sod all to do with it.

I entirely agree, its like their vision is limited to the next meal,.

having lived in LOS for more than a year now i'm still struggling to get used to the short-termist thinking of the government.

Nothing new there, "the 1000bt in one hand and 10,000bt in the other" story, was the first thing I learnt about Thai logic & thinking nearly 10 years ago.

Short term mentality is in the Thai genes. Not an overt criticism, just a fact.

[webfact]

Except for swine flu, all these problems are self-inflicted.

I'll second that!!!

The pitcher goes often to the well, but is broken at last.

[freddyv7]

.

I entirely agree, its like their vision is limited to the next meal,.

Oh so very, very true.

[StevieH]

land ownerships don't affect tourism. they're expat issues. tourists only see the top level of a country, and for most that means closed airport, fighting on the streets of bangkok, uncertain political climate and the odd muppet-thrown-in-jail story. and unfair as it might be to the real state of the country, it's enough to make them stay in europe or the US for their holiday.

Edited June 17, 2009 by StevieH

[Lancelot]

They just double the prices for tthe remaining falang buffalo......same same......but different!!!

Why not go to the root of the problem? Send Somchai and a few of his motocy buddies to The USA, UK, Germany and "promote" Thailand like they do back home: "Sister me open bar in Pattaya!!! You, you no come Pattaya, sister me no have money!!! You can not do like this in Thai, er Enn-land!!!"

Administer a few beatings (10 on one of course) send the miscreants back to Thailand to serve out their sentence for their nasty "Not do like this" crime and then extort them for cash to be set free.

Great business model and good income potential. Gotta change with the times

[marsteele]

Xenophobic Yellow shirts caused the biggest damage when they shut down Suvarnabhumi. 300,000 travelers stranded- uncountable problems caused to those stranded. Foreign Minister Kasit thought is was 'FUN". They brought it on themselves. Kasit should be dumped to show the real change in Thailand's thinking. Red Shirts did not target tourist specically -Yellow and Kasit did.

yes I agree from a farang point of view. but if you ask the yellow shirts then by thier actions they helped the country. As an outsider looking in I think the current government is destroying thailand

[hereata]

The people that run this country are just plain idiots. IQ the size of a nano-poop. I laugh at your economical down turn. Funny thing is that their stock market is doing better.

[henryalleman]

I live in Nonthaburi in a non tourist area, a few weeks ago I visited What Prha Keaw, it was like I was visiting a different country, its was a complete rip off, very aggressive people like to push me to rent a boat, a tuk tuk driver asked 80 baht to take us from the pier to the temple.(distance about 100 m) and more of such things. The same things I saw in all other popular tourist places or places with a large foreigner population.

This is not the Thailand I know. And I understand completely why tourist get fed up whit this kind of attitude. You will expect this kind of behaviour in the Souks of Northern Africa but not in a country like Thailand.

BTW when I arrived last April at Swampy it took me about 10 minutes from the moment I left the plane to meet my family in the lobby, also the first and business class in the plane was completely empty. I thinks this shows enough.

Furthermore Thailand lost the battle with countries like Turkey, Egypt and other Dominican republics who attract tourist with all inclusive packages at unbelievable low prices, not yet to mention Vietnam.

Lets call a spade a spade tourism in Thailand is in a decline and their is no hope for recovery. Because too long the Thai tourist industry thought they just sit on their ar..s and the money tree will bare fruits without nursing.

This decline has nothing to do with political instability or swine flue, they are just cheap excuses to avoid the own responsibility. And its very easy for the tourist industry to blame the government, they better should take some introspective to their own failures and misconducts.

[meelousee]

I am a American Farang who's been coming to Thailand for 3-4 years 3 times a year and what I see are rising prices in air travel (thai air specifically) rising hotel room charges, lower excahnge rates, rising food and entertainment prices. WHen you have to pay 90-120 baht for a beer, you might as well stay home and pay 2-3 dollars. Thailand is not a cheap place to visit anymore. Then you throw in the new visa regulations, and the new laws concerning owning property and not allowing us to buy land or homes for our wives and children, what makes Thailand attractive to come there. Golf green fees are very high, its just not a bargain to go to Thailand.....I hope many hotel operators, bar owners, and government officials read this and heeed my warning, there are any places to vacation where prices are cheaper, try vietnam, try the Philippines, even staying in the U.S. and seeing all it has to offer. Please pass this along.

Perfect answer! A non resident observer. Sometimes it takes an outsiders observation

The prices, regulations, visa restrictions, bad press of cops ripping off tourist for non events forceing a guilty plea or face jail. The abuse of porwer by the BiB and the outrigageous events of the past week in the island spots and the no tourist police police

But what the heck they point out H1N1 scape goat rather than take responsibility and make needed changes. Pretty soon N. Korea will have more tourists than Thailand, given the rates they quote.

Edited June 17, 2009 by meelousee

[AndersJensenThailand]

Why dont they start with being nice to all the farang, that bring alot of money in to Thailand every month and all of os who create jobs for the Thai people.

We are thinking about moving our companies to Lao.

first start making us all equal to the law, like it is now where it always is the farang who do wrong is making me fuc_king crazy.

[wanderluster]

well so much for cheap thailand,,, prices are going to go through the roof now... you know thai way of thinking.... 5x less customers so have to charge 5x more in order to make same profit...welcome to $100 visas.. $200 hotel rooms... and t-shirt vendors selling their crap for 800 baht...

but i love it,,, love low season - i am hansome man now..go red shirts go..

[SurfRider]

There was a TV interview recently with an influential Expat and businessman who has been in Thailand for over 30 years -- It was primarily about the dire state of affairs of commerce in Pattaya these days.

For the first time in almost 5 years that I've been here, I heard him mildly criticize Thailand's Draconian Immigration laws.

Something to the effect that the law is based on one passed in the 1970s -- I had also heard previously, that the '70s law was based on the original one passed in the 1920s, before jet aircraft, before an airport, and when only a small number of very wealthy people could afford the time and money to travel to a remote place like Siam.

He mentioned how neighboring Asian countries like Cambodia, Vietnam, and Malaysia have modernized their Immigration laws and are attracting many retiree Expats as a result of making it easy for them to stay legal without all the intrusive detailed paperwork and reporting that Thailand requires.

He seemed to indicate that forces may be at work to make an attempt deliver a "wake-up-call" to the Thai Immigration Bureaucracy, in hopes that they might somehow discover a way to come stumbling into the 21st Century ( not holding my breath, but I have my fingers crossed )

I traveled for 17 years to the Philippines, lived there for 1.5 years, and had a business there -- I never stepped foot into their immigration office and don't even know where it's located. Renewing your Visa simply required going to a travel agent once every six months, dropping off your passport, paying a small fee, and your passport would be returned the next day with your 6 month renewal stamp.

As a retiree in "Amazing Thailand", I have to pay 6 visits to the Immigration office each year and cough up tons of intrusive personal data just to stay "legal".

.

[superrod]

Thailand's tourist arrivals sharply drop to a critical level, Mr. Tosaporn said, in June alone, the number of tourist arrivals has dropped from 165,000 in the same period of 2008, to 27,000 in 2009 due to the Influenza A(H1N1) outbreak, or 33.45 per cent year-on-year.

-- TNA 2009-06-17

So, 165,000 down to 27,000. That's a 138,000 less tourists....that's an 83.6% drop from 2008 to 2009. They got bigger tourism problems than they'll report. They better keep that rice exportation industry a float.

[CaptainBluebeard]

My 10p of quick fixes:

60 Day Entry free tourist visa regardless of how you enter the country.

Ability to renew a tourist visa for 30/60 days (for a fee of 2000/4000 baht - the cost of an average visa run) without leaving the country ...

Devaluation of the baht so that the exchange rate against GBP gets back to 65-70 (and similar vs other currencies). This would stimulate tourism and exports.

A positive PR campaign (with TAT using foreign marketing expertise and consultancy) to promote Thailand properly against the ever-increasing global and regional competition. And I don't mean a new national cocktail lol.

Ability for farang to get 30 year lease (renewable by non-revokable law) for 1 rai of land for personal use.

Simplification of the work permit process.

[asiawatcher]

To list the ailing complaints from within from Expats is not what the Deputy commented about - he was all about Tourism.

Agree with al comments beforel, the country has ailing image problems, none of which was helped by the lack of political show of strength (none), multi coloured shirted rogue rioting - acts of terrorism i.e. gas bottles with petrol cans randomly placed whilst police and army stood by - (ever heard of SWAT and a swift bullet as in any other country?) then the negative press of Australian tourist snatching a bar mat and being jailed yet a high member of the former Government has a son who shot dead in front of 200 witnesses, a police officer in a disco, is still walking free - well, in case the deputy has not heard - tourist don't like visiting places where it appears to be unlawful, where the wires cary the news of insurgents beheading rubber tappers, teachers and passive monks. Makes you wonder what rock the Deputy is hiding under?

There have been a number of positive things put forward to enhance the image to TAT via the advisers, PR people and ad agencies. The stumbling block is still - payment 120 days, large (LARGE) percentage up front - still, and an arrogant attitude. But in spite of itself, Thailand will always weather the storm due to the insular nature of the people living here and the inability to care about how outsiders perceive their country. You only have to look at the airline - lol we live in hope

[hereata]

That right, typical Thai culture - push the responsibility and never take accountability for any mistakes. The Thai way - When you make mistake - lie, cheat, and BS the hel_l out of it with a smile.

[siamjimi]

Again, their math does not stack up, nor is there much that can be done at this late stage.

It will simply improve with the passing of time.

BR>Jack

Just want to add it would also help to treat us that have been living here for several years

and been spending Millions of Baht to support their economy not to treat us as second or 3rd

class citizens. My wife and family are lovely but really THE BOYS in BKK suck

THIS IS MY POINT AS WELL - WE FARANGS THAT LIVE HERE AND TOURISTS AS WELL - JUST LIKE THE VISA'S AND ATTITUDE FROM ALL SECTORS OF THAI SOCIETY - PLEASE COME HERE AND SPEND YOUR MONEY BUT WE DO NOT WANT YOU TO STAY - SPEND YOUR MONEY AND GO HOME

NOW THAT THE TOURIST SECTOR IS IN THE DUMPS - ALL OF A SUDDEN WE ARE A VALUED COMMODITY AND ALSO A COMMODITY TO EXPLOIT SUCH AS RAISE THE PRICES AND SCAM US

THERE AGAIN - WE HAVE THE SIMPLE MINDED - MEAL TICKET - TODAY ONLY THINKING THAT DRIVES MANY FARANGS AWAY

I KNOW OF MANY MANY FARANGS LEAVING THIS COUNTRY WITH THEIR THAI WIVES DUE TO THE IDIOTS THAT RUN THIS PLACE AND THE IDIOTS THAT INTERACT WITH US ON A DAILY BASIS

YOU WONDER IF THE SMART THAIS WILL TRY TO COMMUNICATE THE WAY TO KEEP US HERE SPENDING OUR MONEY - OOPS I HAVE TO GO - MY 15 DAYS IS ALMOST UP - LOL

[selftaopath]

Theres much more to add than that but nobody want lose face... right? I was thinking about visa policies and the attitude towards foreigners in general...

Now they reap what they sow and cry loud!

LOS(lack of sanctions) never ceases to amaze me. So much deception/falsehoods/ etc. For a country that professes following Buddhism I wonder if a message about Karma was ever learned; not to mention what this wonderful religion suggest i.e. do not lie, steal, cheat, get drunk, or kill etc. LOL ah what would this wonderful country be like if this was the norm???? NOT the exception.

Will anything be learned??? LOLOL ah I "crack myself up" with some of the funny stuff I wonder?

[marsteele]

My 10p of quick fixes:

60 Day Entry free tourist visa regardless of how you enter the country.

Ability to renew a tourist visa for 30/60 days (for a fee of 2000/4000 baht - the cost of an average visa run) without leaving the country ...

Devaluation of the baht so that the exchange rate against GBP gets back to 65-70 (and similar vs other currencies). This would stimulate tourism and exports.

A positive PR campaign (with TAT using foreign marketing expertise and consultancy) to promote Thailand properly against the ever-increasing global and regional competition. And I don't mean a new national cocktail lol.

Ability for farang to get 30 year lease (renewable by non-revokable law) for 1 rai of land for personal use.

Simplification of the work permit process.

The current government does not want tourists, does not want investment. They can go it alone on exports. The whole world eats rice and shrimp 3 times a day. Burma and Nth korea are doing very well without farangs.