Thailand Focuses On High Spending Tourists, Not Numbers

[jackinbkk]

Yeah in a country where GNI per capita was under $6000 in 2008 what do they mean high spenders?

When tourists come here they pay:

around 1000 baht a night for a hotel

over 1000 baht on a Tuk tuk if in phuket. Journey 100m up road and back.

at least 1000 baht on a thai friend wink, wink.

a few thousand in bars drinking each night

500 baht per meal per person on farang priced restaurants

extras on cheap fake tat, jet ski's, more beer and tourist trips. Not to mention flowers, blind singers etc

I think of the volume x expenditure equation the Thai's have gone for the wrong end of the issue?

Want to try and guess again? 50/50

p.s. I dont think Thailand can claim to be cheap any more unless you stay out in the sticks and speak/look like a Thai

[moetownblues]

Hi,

Well have read above with great interest. Yes Thailand has changed very much since I first went there back in the 80's (I am sure there are peps out there that have been going longer!)

Anyway, back then you felt safe, you hardly every got ripped off and Thai people went out of their way to help. Now that has changed, you almost everyday have to watch what you do etc etc.

Now has this been caused by the Thai's themselves? No I don't think so, it (in my opinion ) appears to be down to a certain level of Farang that you see shouting and causing trouble through to much to drink and not being respectful to locals. They over tip throw money around as if no tomorrow.

Sure spend money, enjoy yourself. But come on. Who wants to see LOUD DRUNKEN farangs acting as though they were back in there own country. I think that if they concentrated on providing attractions (lol as well as the present ones, which are very very good ) and provided a "idiots guide" to being sensible to these "lager" louts. then things should improve. Tourism in Thailand will pick up this year and you will probably find that it will be a record year for Tourism in LOS.

Last thing you want is high prices. Which is what you will get if they concentrate on "high rollers" Do you want to see you chang/Singa become 140 upwards a bottle in your normal bar? Bhat Bus/tuk tuk charging 3 times the price? NO things that attracts a lot of people to Thailand is the SUN, the Friendliness(fun) and good place to relax. So chill out and enjoy Thailand as it is or even was back years ago!

Yes I agree the richer farangs will drive up prices and possibably in the end destroy the tourist industry

[korkenzieher]

You've all missed the point...

Tourist arrivals have been decreasing steadily and Thailand can't (or won't) do anything constructive about it.

So instead announce a plan that you will concentrate not on numbers but on quality visitors and presto the problem of declining numbers ceases to be a problem but instead becomes reflective of your new strategy and if anyone cites the decreasing numbers you've already devised a face-saving way of getting out of it. And if someone challenges TAT as to whether they've succeeded with their new plan to attract quality visitors they will probably find it far easier to manipulate (or outright invent) statistics on tourist spending habits than the arrival figures.

Overall, it is a classic Thai approach to a problem they can't (or won't) fix. Everybody will save face and look good and nothing will improve except their image which is all that matters, anyway.

I think you have it in one here!

No doubt this is the same Juthaporn that claimed only 3 weeks ago in a national newspaper that numbers this year would be circa 14m, and increasing to 16m+ next year, in spite of the fact that Swampy's figures for arrivals are through the floor.

The simple fact is, that the 'quality' part of the sector - ie, resort bound package tourists - are not coming because of the impression given by the Airport take-over last year, and the ensuing insurance implications for all (in the UK = ABTA) registered holiday resellers & travel agencies. Nothing is going to change that in the short term - even some inspired and badly needed policy changes here by central government and the immigration department aren't going to change that.

[bkkjames]

Hi,

Well have read above with great interest. Yes Thailand has changed very much since I first went there back in the 80's (I am sure there are peps out there that have been going longer!)

Anyway, back then you felt safe, you hardly every got ripped off and Thai people went out of their way to help. Now that has changed, you almost everyday have to watch what you do etc etc.

Now has this been caused by the Thai's themselves? No I don't think so, it (in my opinion ) appears to be down to a certain level of Farang that you see shouting and causing trouble through to much to drink and not being respectful to locals. They over tip throw money around as if no tomorrow.

Sure spend money, enjoy yourself. But come on. Who wants to see LOUD DRUNKEN farangs acting as though they were back in there own country. I think that if they concentrated on providing attractions (lol as well as the present ones, which are very very good ) and provided a "idiots guide" to being sensible to these "lager" louts. then things should improve. Tourism in Thailand will pick up this year and you will probably find that it will be a record year for Tourism in LOS.

Last thing you want is high prices. Which is what you will get if they concentrate on "high rollers" Do you want to see you chang/Singa become 140 upwards a bottle in your normal bar? Bhat Bus/tuk tuk charging 3 times the price? NO things that attracts a lot of people to Thailand is the SUN, the Friendliness(fun) and good place to relax. So chill out and enjoy Thailand as it is or even was back years ago!

Yes I agree the richer farangs will drive up prices and possibably in the end destroy the tourist industry

Blaming the customer for destroying the industry - novel idea.

[SabaiBKK]

I spend over 1.2 million baht a year in Thailand, who spends more, a tourist or me, TAT should focus on taking care of me and people like me, people who live here!

m

My annual expenditure is a little more than that, around 1.5 million baht. On top of that My wife and I provide support to an orphan foundation in the North and a country school in Buriram, and we are involved in various other activities which benefit the community financially.

So by only two TV members, there is more than 3 million baht being brought in to the Kingdom each year. Several people in my circle of acquaintances spend much more!!

What would the total amount being brought in to Thailand be by people in our situation? It would have to be in the tens of billions.

Can I join your club? I think I spend around also.

been spending around 1.2M baht a year since 6 years NOT counting the taxes i pay ... and the people who come visit me , and the money i bring from overseas for my work etc etc ....

[junkofdavid2]

But on the other hand high rollers are probably using helicopters.

Police soon arrested the pilot, Mr Sombat Nomoralswhatsoever, who was found

After a violent tongue lashing by the court's no-nonsense judge famous for his toughness, the pilot was whopped with a 1,000 baht fine and sharply warned not to do it again, or the fine may be doubled or even tripled for repeat offenses.

[johncat1]

If TAT want to encourage money people here will the be looking at closing Pattaya and all the bars in Bangkok , Phuket, Samui etc ?

Because these are aimed at the lower money people or will they tell the bar girls to raise their prices so they get a better class of pimp here

[lensta]

I don't know why they don't tell the truth--they want to attract money. Unfortunately it comes attached to foreigners.

So true! They would be quite happy for us to throw our wallets out the window of the plane and just keep flying

[siggie2]

Excuse me please but I have lived in Pattaya for almost eight years and have watched crime committed against foreigners esculate at an alarming rate. Many older retirees nolonger feel safe in their own homes here. The " suicide " rate amongst foreign residents is also very high. Hardly an athosphere conducive to attracting the rich.

I have lived 6 years and not seen violence escalate with foreigners at an alarming rate.The suicide rate with mainly older expats is due to no money or ill health,but its not high as i do not know anybody who has commited suicide or got attacked by thais.I have friends who have been attacked by russians,and foreigners,does that count ??????

I have never been attacked,or robbed at house or jewelry in my 6 years stay,but i have read about many thais been atatcked/robbed/murdered by thais,does this count too.

Your statement,is quite frankly unbelievable and with no backing of stats.Pattaya is a very safe place to be unless you are very stupid,showing gold or very drunk every night,same same most places in the world

[crusty]

But a statement from your bank showing $20000 in your account 3 months before arrival

And zero in your account upon departure.

Same old TAT song and dance: "quality tourists, not quantity, blah, blah, blah..."

It appears that the people in charge of TAT do not have the ability to learn from their past and current mistakes.

Emphasizing a policy that has already proven (with clarity) to be economically and socially destructive will cause more damage to Thailand's tourist industry.

Are the same people who run the Immigration Department in charge of TAT?

The good news is that Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines and even Lao will gain from this.

In fact, if you travel to those countries and ask the locals what they think about Thailand, the reply is simple: NUTS!

Correct. High quality tourists just love being blasted on the hour by boom boxes at sea AND on land after shelling out B10K per day. Just more clap trap from unqualified personnel at T.A.T. who is still allowing costruction of thousands of more hotel rooms (e.g. Koh Samui) and they still cannot get their coveted "Travel Agent" licence to hold water as agent after agent continues to disappear with resort pre payments and on and on and on........

[bellste]

Maybe this won't be such bad idea, it mght be refreshing to have young people, rather than

these old fat cheap charlies that only whine all the time about how bad things are in Thailand

the Land of Smiles...

How much money do you spend in Thailand each year? How many houses have you built here? How many businesses have you started in Thailand? How many children have you paid the ecucation for? How many cars, tractors and motorbikes have you bought?

What is "refreshing" with back-packers? I would rather not see them. Drugs and booze-buddies, are not refreshing. They always ask "do you know a cheap hotell"? "Do you know a cheap restaurant"? They are pathetic! They are the cheap Charlies.

I hope  that you answer my questions, but people like you normally go quited. You are "cheap Charlies" with the answers.

Edited January 18, 2010 by bellste

[siggie2]

I love Thailand but the people in charge of the country and it's scams are NUTS. Do these people have brains or just imagine up ridiculous new schemes thinking that no one else has tried them before.

Sigh...

Thailand can be a great country if not for the corruption and often not ridiculous policies.

The people in charge are relations/friends of the last bunch in charge and buy their way into politics/army/navy/police.HI-SO at its worst unfortunately.Many of these even buy their education degrees so how can Thailand ever get better,but keep your head down and enjoy everything else,as most things only effect the poor here

[manjara]

Thailand has natural beauty, its culture and the brand image going for it.

- Natural beauty is equal in other places, such as Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia & Malaysia - the key is how it is preserved in future!

- Thai culture is interesting but again, is there really a big advantage over other SE nations? Nothing/little has been done to show Thai culture to visitors, e.g. a network of B&Bs

- The Thai 'brand' is still strong. People think that they will have a more luxurious, more friendly/tastier(!), higher quality holiday in Thailand than the other SE countries, but that is changing. One thing that's keeping it high in Europe is the increase in Thai food awareness (though usually Malaysian or other SE owners), but try finding Thai in the US or middle east!

A lot of my friends who have returned to Thailand on holiday, have not been pleased with the developments. More expensive, less quality, less friendly are the opinions I have heard.

I certainly don't feel that Thailand is improving it's levels of service. The prices have gone up, but with no real justification.

TAT should enforce the quality to protect the brand and that should cover all areas of Thai 'attractions'. People are prepared to spend money if they get value

An example of a good idea that failed was the sticker with 'We speak English'. Every Taxi had the sticker but virtually none spoke English.

A simple Gold, Silver & Bronze scheme which enabled businesses to register with TAT and be given higher status based on recommendation & meeting quality guidelines, would go a long way to maintaining/re-establishing the Thai brand. Of course, the Thais would stick up Gold stickers in every business, but if there was a call center that allowed you to check 'instantly' if it was a valid gold business, then it would quickly die out.

The Thai paradox is places like Pattaya, which they don't want to accept, because it is against Thai values, but in the end it makes a lot of money. It might be worth them considering turning it into a special zone, where foreigners are allowed to buy land, own businesses, and laws are different, e.g. legalise gambling/prostitution/late night drinking etc.

[pavlik]

I am personally willing to pay for tourist visa, if it will become easier to get multiple-entry.

[whistleblower]

It doesnt matter what they do, at the end of the year the campaign will be a roaring success, tourist figures will be up and pats on the back all round. as a face saving measure of course. They lack the inability to say 'well we ballsed that up again". true figures of tourist arrivals will never be published.

[JayBangkok]

The simple answer is to get more income from tourists by extending the double pricing system to have 3 or 4 sets of prices depending on nationality.

[siggie2]

I can see where the Thais are coming from. They see all the expats sat there in bars worrying about the price of beer and the real tourists flying in every year for a good 1 month blowout costing $4000. An expat doesn't throw much money around at the thai hotels, bars, restaurants, and other tourist attractions but spending their money at other expat establishments.

Afraid that's very naive. And it looks as if TAT are just as naive.

Expats may not spluge $4000 in a month. But we steadily spend, spend, spend throughout the year to way more than this.

And where do other "expat establishments" shell out money to get their food, beer, foodstuffs, staff, rent and taxes (not to mention Protection Money) cars, etc? And the expat takes a salary.....and where is that spent?

It all virtually ends up here in the local / national economy.

What a load of twaddle johnswift.So you are the 2 week milliuonaire who thinks you are important over here,paying the girls big money and ringing the bell.get back to reality,that what we dont want here.so you say 800 gbp a week for a moth is spending,wow you are a rich boy arent you,thats 160,000 baht a year.I have friends that spend that sort of money in 1 month so take them tourist sunglases off and get in the real world monger

[siggie2]

btw johnswift,many of these expat bars are owned by thais,bet you didnt know that did you

[Springman]

Quote:Thailand is like no other place in the world

where else get tourists beaten up by tuk-tuk drivers.But on the other hand high rollers are probably using helicopters.

11 million foreigners in the country and one of them gets beaten up by a tuk tuk driver, not so bad! I wonder how many foreigners in the US are shot dead every day

Not relevent that was sited because it was a regular occurance in Puket funny things happen there, maybe if it was you attacked

[bkkjames]

I can see where the Thais are coming from. They see all the expats sat there in bars worrying about the price of beer and the real tourists flying in every year for a good 1 month blowout costing $4000. An expat doesn't throw much money around at the thai hotels, bars, restaurants, and other tourist attractions but spending their money at other expat establishments.

Afraid that's very naive. And it looks as if TAT are just as naive.

Expats may not spluge $4000 in a month. But we steadily spend, spend, spend throughout the year to way more than this.

And where do other "expat establishments" shell out money to get their food, beer, foodstuffs, staff, rent and taxes (not to mention Protection Money) cars, etc? And the expat takes a salary.....and where is that spent?

It all virtually ends up here in the local / national economy.

What a load of twaddle johnswift.So you are the 2 week milliuonaire who thinks you are important over here,paying the girls big money and ringing the bell.get back to reality,that what we dont want here.so you say 800 gbp a week for a moth is spending,wow you are a rich boy arent you,thats 160,000 baht a year.I have friends that spend that sort of money in 1 month so take them tourist sunglases off and get in the real world monger

Well siggie, I know what I spend a month here and it's alot closer to 100k a month than what you suggest. I spend it in places like housing, shopping for food, clothes, my kid, restaurants, phone, internet, cable tv, transportation and so on. In 10 years that equate to more than 10 million baht. I know not as much as one rich tourist at chiva orange for a week, but still adds up.

[moetownblues]

I can see where the Thais are coming from. They see all the expats sat there in bars worrying about the price of beer and the real tourists flying in every year for a good 1 month blowout costing $4000. An expat doesn't throw much money around at the thai hotels, bars, restaurants, and other tourist attractions but spending their money at other expat establishments.

Afraid that's very naive. And it looks as if TAT are just as naive.

Expats may not spluge $4000 in a month. But we steadily spend, spend, spend throughout the year to way more than this.

And where do other "expat establishments" shell out money to get their food, beer, foodstuffs, staff, rent and taxes (not to mention Protection Money) cars, etc? And the expat takes a salary.....and where is that spent?

It all virtually ends up here in the local / national economy.

What a load of twaddle johnswift.So you are the 2 week milliuonaire who thinks you are important over here,paying the girls big money and ringing the bell.get back to reality,that what we dont want here.so you say 800 gbp a week for a moth is spending,wow you are a rich boy arent you,thats 160,000 baht a year.I have friends that spend that sort of money in 1 month so take them tourist sunglases off and get in the real world monger

I agree just twaddle

[simcity]

The downfall of the tourist is due to the new media (internet)

Perhaps they think rich peoples are too busy making money and do not know all the negative posts around regarding Thailand

[leiftheswede]

"This year, the authority will not aim at luring higher numbers of visitors, but will try to encourage visitors to spend more money while staying in the country," she said.

To spend more money = giving the taxi drivers and the police more means to take money from tourists, or by more ake products.

[Soutpeel]

Actually thought TAT where on to something until I read the paragraph below....and I realised these people dont have clue.....Have they ever met any of the teams average followers ???....Scousers.....high speading tourists...LOL...the average scouser will give all the thai scammers and thieves a lesson in how to do things properly...

And before any of esteemed scouser members get upset with me for sterotyping, I was born a scouser...LOL

"The agency will also produce more testimonial series to help promote tourism after noticing that English Premier League football team Liverpool's recent visit to the Emerald Temple in Bangkok lured many of the team's followers to the country.

[bkkjames]

Actually thought TAT where on to something until I read the paragraph below....and I realised these people dont have clue.....Have they ever met any of the teams average followers ???....Scousers.....high speading tourists...LOL...the average scouser will give all the thai scammers and thieves a lesson in how to do things properly...

And before any of esteemed scouser members get upset with me for sterotyping, I was born a scouser...LOL

"The agency will also produce more testimonial series to help promote tourism after noticing that English Premier League football team Liverpool's recent visit to the Emerald Temple in Bangkok lured many of the team's followers to the country.

Not exactly the demographic they were aiming for I imagine. jk

[tropo]

Do they promote anti-scam and more safety policies? That would be a big enhancement to promote tourism on the long run.

There's no need to worry about stuff like that.

As Juthaporn said: "What we have found is that the characteristics of Thai people and services attract repeat visitors. Thailand is like no other place in the world,"

The services and Thai people are fine just as they are, Phuket tuk-tuk drivers, jetski operators and all.

[wileycoyote]

I think putting the emphasis on tourists from the Middle East,is another backward step and probably unsound economically:

The Majority of Middle Eastern Tourists are Single,not family orientated and probably involved in the very activities that gives Thailand a bad name

[basjke]

"This year, the authority will not aim at luring higher numbers of visitors, but will try to encourage visitors to spend more money while staying in the country," she said.

I guess srilanka tony had a good attempt at encouraging tourists to spend more.Are they gonna extend his contract.

Oh and to the OP,I suggest you should add the option is "is this a joke" to the poll.

[Soutpeel]

Actually thought TAT where on to something until I read the paragraph below....and I realised these people dont have clue.....Have they ever met any of the teams average followers ???....Scousers.....high speading tourists...LOL...the average scouser will give all the thai scammers and thieves a lesson in how to do things properly...

And before any of esteemed scouser members get upset with me for sterotyping, I was born a scouser...LOL

"The agency will also produce more testimonial series to help promote tourism after noticing that English Premier League football team Liverpool's recent visit to the Emerald Temple in Bangkok lured many of the team's followers to the country.

Not exactly the demographic they were aiming for I imagine. jk

Not unless the definition of a high spending tourist is someone on the DHSS...

[earlbrownuk]

Before TAT scoure in the Tourists, most tourists are aware to Thailands Shopping Scams, and always getting ripped of. I'm talking about your average holiday tourist, not us men who come here.

Families come here to enjoy them selves, and relax, except 82% of them get ripped of, either by a thief, hotel cleaner, or by a tour guide. You guarantee that they always come back less than what they came with. (Excluding Expenditure).

Thailand is getting a name of the Land of Curruption, were theft is the way of life, because nothing ever gets done. In one newspaper, it stated "Why go to Thailand, when there are better places" answers were.

1) Guaranteed to get something stolen.

2) 1 out of every 4 ladies has HIV, surveyed in Pattaya.

3) Get ripped off on 80% of all things you purchase or do.

80% of all shops charge more than 2-3 times it's european counterpart.

Less tourism, has made the shop keepers to put higher pricing on other tourists that live ere.

Example: A toy is made in china only costs £19.99 in the UK. So shipping to Thailand would be cheaper than shipping to the UK. The same Toy in Toy's R Us is 3250 baht. And it's not just toys, this is also happening in clothes shops and food stores.