Thailand: International Arrivals Drop By 12.54 Percent

[george]

International arrivals drop by 12.54 percent

By John Le Fevre

BANGKOK (thaivisa.com): -- The global economic situation, pandemic A(H1N1) and the closure by the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protesters last year, have all been blamed for a 12.54 percent decrease in international aircraft arrivals at Bangkok International Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Airports of Thailand (AOT) managing director Serirat Prasutanond said that during the first nine months of the financial year 131,554 international flights had used the airport, a decrease of 12.54 per cent over the same period of last year.

During the same period there were 46,790 domestic flights, representing an increase of 3.16 percent over the same period in 2008.

Serirat said the increase in domestic passengers was due to Thai Airways International (THAI) transferring all of it’s domestic flights from Don Muang Airport to Suvarnabhumi Airport on March 29.

As a result, more than 2.44 million domestic passengers and 18,693 domestic flights had used Suvarnabhumi Airport, an increase 52.13 percent over the same period in 2008.

Senior executive vice president of the Secretariat Office and acting president of Thai, Air Chief Marshal Narongsak Sangkhapong, said that since the move to Suvarnabhumi Airport an additional 4.4 percent of passengers had used the new airport, while passengers with connecting flights had increased by 21 percent.

Air Chief Marshal Narongsak said the consolidation of THAIs operation at Suvarnabhumi Airport had allowed the national flag carrier to reduce operating costs by more than Bt106 million (about $US3.12 million) over the same period last year.

-- thaivisa.com 2009-07-28

[givenall]

As a economic teacher i have a new supply and demand theory, tourists down by more than 12% so Bath is up by the same amount

[Robert44]

They only saved $US3.12 Million by consolidating its operation out of one site???

Sounds way too small compared to their daily operating costs.

[maithai99]

"They only saved $US3.12 Million by consolidating its operation out of one site"

"Thai Airways International (THAI) transferring all of it’s domestic flights from Don Muang Airport to Suvarnabhumi Airport on March 29"

Thats $3 million in 3 months

[injomtien]

Bangkok International Airport, King Power Duty free shop scams, our friend Tony, corrupt police-man splitting money with Tony...

No wonder...

Edited July 28, 2009 by injomtien

[Chunkton]

Was watching, I think Bloomberg, Asian tourist numbers are down about 6%. So blame the recession all you want, but Thailand is doing worse than most. And I think we all know why.

Stickman actually had a good article on tourism:

Messing Up the Tourism Indiustry

[manuchaomk]

They only saved $US3.12 Million by consolidating its operation out of one site???

Sounds way too small compared to their daily operating costs.

...it would be interesting to know how much are the yearly op.costs in the Suv.Int.Airport and how much were the yearly costs in Dong Muaeng Airport. Obviously the consolidated figure too.

...this just to know if this benchmark/Businees reeng. has been enough smart to fight the drop of turists arrivals...in this case....

...but there is no statistic that can justify the bad reputation that Thailand actually have around the world.

[JR Texas]

Was watching, I think Bloomberg, Asian tourist numbers are down about 6%. So blame the recession all you want, but Thailand is doing worse than most. And I think we all know why.

Stickman actually had a good article on tourism:

Messing Up the Tourism Indiustry

The Stickman article was interesting............also, according to UN data, Malaysia is doing fine now in terms of tourism and it is right next door to Thailand. Bali is also doing fine.

As was said in the Stickman article, Thailand has become the model for how to screw up a tourism industry. And the problems go far deeper than Swine Flu, airport closures, and then global economic downturn.

It is interesting that the Thai media and govt. spokespersons continue to disregard anything other than Swine Flu, airport closure and global economic downturn as part of the tourism problem.

I can think of many other things that have hurt tourism in Thailand (e.g., social engineering visa program....the we only want rich people to come here attitude; soaring violent crime rates; cheating farangs as a national sport; serious pollution; raising prices without raising quality of services, etc).

[hansnl]

Was watching, I think Bloomberg, Asian tourist numbers are down about 6%. So blame the recession all you want, but Thailand is doing worse than most. And I think we all know why.

Stickman actually had a good article on tourism:

Messing Up the Tourism Indiustry

The Stickman article was interesting............also, according to UN data, Malaysia is doing fine now in terms of tourism and it is right next door to Thailand. Bali is also doing fine.

As was said in the Stickman article, Thailand has become the model for how to screw up a tourism industry. And the problems go far deeper than Swine Flu, airport closures, and then global economic downturn.

It is interesting that the Thai media and govt. spokespersons continue to disregard anything other than Swine Flu, airport closure and global economic downturn as part of the tourism problem.

I can think of many other things that have hurt tourism in Thailand (e.g., social engineering visa program....the we only want rich people to come here attitude; soaring violent crime rates; cheating farangs as a national sport; serious pollution; raising prices without raising quality of services, etc).

You know it......I know it.....most farang know it.......many Thai people know it (and are ashamed).........the government must know it.

Who will unleash the change?

I fear nobody will.

That would be a colossal loss of face.

[hughben]

I noticed last September there were less people at the airport.

Whenever I flew in at around 10pm, the airport would have a fair few people with touts everywhere. That changed last year.

Ever since then the airport has been sparse.

I was a shock at first.

[mca]

When my folks visit me and the wife always take them to Hua Hin. In my experience it seems to have avoided the slimier side of Thai tourism. Possibly to do with a certain person spending quite a bit of time there.

[thaibeachlovers]

When my folks visit me and the wife always take them to Hua Hin. In my experience it seems to have avoided the slimier side of Thai tourism. Possibly to do with a certain person spending quite a bit of time there.

??? On my last visit there seemed to be no shortage of bars and bar girls ( assuming that is what you are referring to ).

While the bar scene may be subdued compared to Patong or Pattaya, the destruction of the beach due to encroachment by all the big hotels and condos has been immense. I never saw such blatent encroachment anywhere else.

If you doubt what I say, try walking along the beach south of the ghastly hilton monstrocity at high tide- it's not possible from about half way along. Absolutely disgusting.

[thaibeachlovers]

While overall statistics indicate a decline in international arrivals, I have recently flown several times from and back to Heathrow, and the planes have been full, whereas back in the days when tourism was booming I rarely flew on a full to capacity flight, often only 2 thirds or less seats occupied.

Something does not compute- in a recession surely the last place one would holiday would be Thailand, which is no bargain anymore, and flights on Thai are anything but cheap.

[Jdietz]

While overall statistics indicate a decline in international arrivals, I have recently flown several times from and back to Heathrow, and the planes have been full, whereas back in the days when tourism was booming I rarely flew on a full to capacity flight, often only 2 thirds or less seats occupied.

Something does not compute- in a recession surely the last place one would holiday would be Thailand, which is no bargain anymore, and flights on Thai are anything but cheap.

Two words...

Less Flights

[brahmburgers]

I have a suggestion for TAT, though because I'm not a big shot or VIP, they'd never listen to someone like me.

LOOK AT WHAT WORKS, AND EMULATE IT.

Example: In my town of Chiang Rai, there are about 3 dozen guest houses. I haven't seen them all in their day to day operations lately, but there is one that I frequent.

Here we are, so-called slow season, which is also the middle of the monsoon season. The place has an open air eating spot, AND EVERY CHAIR AND BENCH WAS OCCUPIED BY TOURISTS. In other words, it was full up. It was not a tour group, and there were all ages and nationalities. Why were all its 40 or so seats occupied on a sleepy Monday morning? It's not a good location, being a mile from the bus station and downtown. The restaurant is so-so, and the ambiance is late 70's hippie.

Here's why it was full, and here's why TAT should sit up and take notice:

>>> the food and lodging are low priced (good value)

>>> the food is large portions, healthy, not-overcooked, not overspiced, and contains no MSG

>>> the place is quiet or, if there's music, it's western style at low volume.

>>> The service personal have real smiles, are casual and not put-on.

>>> excursions offerings are reasonably priced and involve nature and/or non-glitzy culture tours.

In contrast, here are the types of places that TAT puts billions of baht towards boosting:

>>> places that are large, dark, often little fresh air, heavily air conditioned,

>>> places that have Thai music, but never acoustic, always run thru a sound system, often too loud, and often high end (treble) which can be painful for people with tinnitus.

>>> food is Thai, overly spicy incl. MSG, nothing fresh except maybe a few little slices of cucumber or a slice of tomato that tastes like wax.

>>> everything is overpriced. Drinking water is not gratis.

>>> service personnel are adept at fake smiles and are overly formal.

>>> there's usually a Thai radio station or TV program crackling away nearby - even at fancy pants resorts.

>>> tips are expected and sometimes also included in the final bill tally (yuk)

>>> If there are any excursions offered, they probably revolve around vendors and glitzy pseudo culture.