March Thailand Tourists Figures Tumble

[ozzieman05]

Now the Red shirts want to show the world that soldiers are on their side.

Telling the soldiers to return to the Barracks

behave like little children (take my hand and I will take you home)

The problem is if you do any thing for for the red shirts to keep the peace, they see the Governmennt as weak

and just want more and more

somewhere sometime

Someone has to say

NO MORE

Edited March 27, 2010 by ozzieman05

[BWPattaya]

Farang are just a niche market!

Come on! You can't mean that! Foreign tourists, not just Farangs, but Koreans, Japanese etc etc bring money into the country to boost the economy. Thai tourists do not improve the economy at all. They have their money and spend it in Thailand, it makes no difference to the econimy if they spend it in hotels in Bangkok, bars in Nana, or on the beach in Samui, it is Thai money spent in Thailand. It brings nothing into the country.

The mediacl tourism industry alone brings in many many billions of Bt. Expats, those who are not working bring in a fortine every year. Just one expat pensioner spending one million Bt per year is a valuable asset, think how many Thai shopkeepers, etc, make a living because of just one pensioner.

Plus, the expat with a Thai wife, who builds a business, catering for foreigners helps tourists spend their money, in Thailand and adds to the economy.

Fortunately the government don't think like that. Free visas, the establishment of TAT etc shows that at least they know tourists are valuable.

[Phatcharanan]

well if you are stupid enough to start a businesses in this Country its your loss.

The best thing is to have money in the bank and spend it.

And if you cant do that well come back when you have.

Then you do not have to care about who was and who is.

Not exactly a well thought out post.

[timi2546]

... ricefield for ...

btw,

does anyone know how many RAIś they have lost so far,

doing this great redshi®t , they cause more taxation,

what ever more expenses just mention it

´'mai pen rai, smile , we will get songkran สงกรานต์

but hopefully not songkram สงคราม´´

sounds almost same...

cheers

[thaibeachlovers]

<quote>

However, the number of foreign tourists in the first quarter of this year is estimated to be 700,859, a substantial increase over the figure of 431,020 in the same period last year, when visitors stayed away due to the closure of Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports in late 2008.

</quote>

seems the reds have a long way to go before they do the damage that the yellows did...

Something does not compute!

I have always understood the number of tourists to be between 10 and 15 million a year. However a figure of nearly 800,000 in the first QUARTER ( high season too ), adds up to less than 4 million a year.

Even if only taking into account travellers through SB something does not add up

[britadders28]

Farang are just a niche market!

Come on! You can't mean that! Foreign tourists, not just Farangs, but Koreans, Japanese etc etc bring money into the country to boost the economy. Thai tourists do not improve the economy at all. They have their money and spend it in Thailand, it makes no difference to the econimy if they spend it in hotels in Bangkok, bars in Nana, or on the beach in Samui, it is Thai money spent in Thailand. It brings nothing into the country.

The mediacl tourism industry alone brings in many many billions of Bt. Expats, those who are not working bring in a fortine every year. Just one expat pensioner spending one million Bt per year is a valuable asset, think how many Thai shopkeepers, etc, make a living because of just one pensioner.

Plus, the expat with a Thai wife, who builds a business, catering for foreigners helps tourists spend their money, in Thailand and adds to the economy.

Fortunately the government don't think like that. Free visas, the establishment of TAT etc shows that at least they know tourists are valuable.

They even blamed the drop in beer sales on red shirts, this is how stupid they really are, drop in tourism, drop in beer sales!!! doesnt take an economic genious or sherlock to work that out , fools

[geriatrickid]

I believe that the stats are being taken out of context. The change in visa run rules are only now showing up,(year to year numbers) the decline in cross border day visits is down with Cambodia for obvious reasons. The commercial traffic across the Burma and Malaysian border is down as well. Now add in a brutal tax year for Canada and the USA which is March-April filing time, and toss in a weak EU economy and what do you expect? The state of the UK pound and $US is hardly conducive for a holiday is it?

I had to laugh at the Korea comment. In the meantime a south Korean naval corvette sunk off of North Korea. premier MA flew back to Taiwan and the region wonders &lt;deleted&gt; is going on. I doubt the redshirt hijinks compare. I flew in from China yesterday and BKK was packed. Took me 20 minutes to clear customs. Lots of russians and Europeans on their tour packages.My shuttle to HKT was sold out on TG where the airport was a zoo.

I think what we are seeing is a change in tourist destinations in Thailand. The tour groups are using different itineraries and hotels than in the past and these visitors are more cost/quality sensitive than ever before. The marginal hotels are finally getting pushed out. The tourists are being sent to quiet areas and to specific middle market chains like Ibis, Central etc.

Considering the violence and death threats that followed the US healthcare debate, the possibility of a war in Korea, the daily murders in Mexico including the recent execution of US diplomats and rape& murders of Canadian tourists, and the anarchy of Greece, the current political protests of Thailand are a yawn. Welcome to our current world economy.

[aras]

Who knows if these figures are correct or not?

Could be just government spin yet again.

In any case, why the fuss?

The same happened when the yellows took over the airport, and nothing was said.

A large pinch of salt is required when reading these figures.

True, and the yellows occupation of the airport impacted a lot more on the tourist industry than these latest demonstrations. The fact that many European currencies are also having a rough time is another factor in the decline in tourism. With exchange rates being what they are, some of the shine of a holiday in Thailand has been rubbed off.

There is also the uncertainty of many european and i suppose even more so of usa tourist who are going on cheaper holidays to save money.........

I know dutch tourist broke records this year by not leaving the country

[ozzydom]

The original planned rally was supposed to put 1million red shirt supporters on the Bangkok streets or 1 in 60 of the population , the true turnout was originally 80,000 or 1 in 775 of the population which to my mind is not an outstanding demonstration of national support for the red shirts and/or the grand master Toxin.

Good Lord Melbourne ,with a population of 4 million puts 70-80,000 people in one footy match each week.

In rural Isaan where I live ,the demonstration is not even a topic of conversation any more.