No Tourists?!

[kjhbigv]

No Tourists?!

Went down Walking Street tonight, first time in months....NEVER seen it that busy in over 4 years, absolutely packed to the rafters and all the bars and restaurants were busy!

If tonight was anything to go by, I don't think the tourist machine in CM is anywhere near dead!

[hellodolly]

The only people who think it is dead are the uninformed blind people.

Difference being there is not as many of the sex tourists and a lot more Asians. Also I have notices a lot of women now traveling in groups of two and more.

[3stan]

the weekend market ( if its anything to go by) gets so busy after around 6pm that one Can bearly get through. Its been like that for the past 3-4 weeks.

[chiang mai]

The only people who think it is dead are the uninformed blind people.

Difference being there is not as many of the sex tourists and a lot more Asians. Also I have notices a lot of women now traveling in groups of two and more.

+1

[Semper]

....NEVER seen it that busy in over 4 years, absolutely packed to the rafters

Thanks for the warning.

[femi fan]

Difference being there is not as many of the sex tourists

i wonder how this is determined?

And do we also get beer tourists? Temple tourists? Good tourists? Proper tourists?

[uptheos]

Difference being there is not as many of the sex tourists

i wonder how this is determined?

And do we also get beer tourists? Temple tourists? Good tourists? Proper tourists?

It's only business people that care about how many tourists are here.

I've never heard a restaurant owner asking (or caring) what kind of tourist orders food and drink.

Sex tourists? Is Chiang Mai fast taking over from Pattaya.

The majority of sex tourists in CM are foreigners, that live here and know where to go outside of Loi Kroh!!

[bhatmasterson]

Difference being there is not as many of the sex tourists

i wonder how this is determined?

And do we also get beer tourists? Temple tourists? Good tourists? Proper tourists?

Very good question!

[muchogra]

The majority of sex tourists in CM are foreigners, that live here and know where to go outside of Loi Kroh!!

Ah hah..I gather those foreigners in the know don't post in TV then!!

[uptheos]

The majority of sex tourists in CM are foreigners, that live here and know where to go outside of Loi Kroh!!

Ah hah..I gather those foreigners in the know don't post in TV then!!

Lot's of posters are in the know, the Loi Kroh scene is actually quite tame and very amusing.

I'm surprised how many people seem to think a few bars in Loi Kroh make it the equivalent to Amsterdam's Red Light District or Germany's Reeperbahn........they haven't been around much.

[Sparkles]

The doomsday merchants have recently been telling us Chiang Mai is a ghost town which is laughable.It will not be long before the Chinese tourists will be coming here in ever increasing numbers. I do have some sympathy for business owners who find themselves in locations that are no longer popular but in any business you have to be pro active and either move location or just walk away.

If you speak to tourists ,especially from Europe,they have a continuing love affair with Thailand for a variety of reasons , weather ,prices of food and accom. It's also a jumping off point for going to Laos, Golden Triangle etc etc. Looks pretty positive to me.I doubt CM will ever become a Pattaya for which we should be eternally grateful.

[elektrified]

The doomsday merchants have recently been telling us Chiang Mai is a ghost town which is laughable.It will not be long before the Chinese tourists will be coming here in ever increasing numbers. I do have some sympathy for business owners who find themselves in locations that are no longer popular but in any business you have to be pro active and either move location or just walk away.

If you speak to tourists ,especially from Europe,they have a continuing love affair with Thailand for a variety of reasons , weather ,prices of food and accom. It's also a jumping off point for going to Laos, Golden Triangle etc etc. Looks pretty positive to me.I doubt CM will ever become a Pattaya for which we should be eternally grateful.

Agreed 100%. But the Chinese are already here. They have been for a while now. Sometimes they travel around Chiang Mai in a caravan of 4 completely full charted buses or in large groups of tuk tuk's with police escorts.

I might add that it appears from what I have observed that they are spending money like there is no tomorrow.

[uptheos]

I might add that it appears from what I have observed that they are spending money like there is no tomorrow.

They are the Chinese followers of Harold Camping.

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

my guess is that tourists are avoiding other parts of Thailand because of the flooding and just diverted their plans to CM.

Overall the reports that tourism numbers are way down for Thailand.

[colinm]

If you think the Sunday market was busy now, wait till 2013!

The Chiang Mai Tourism Business Association visitor predictions

2011 2.3m

2012 4.2m

2013 6.1m

[E1717007]

this is high season, dont be shocked to see tourists!

chinese will continue to flood in however, overall inbound will remain flat for Oct-Dec2011.

[muchogra]

"But the Chinese are already here."

The Chinese are everywhere. It's hard to find a place in the world that doesn't have Chinese.

A couple of months ago, the wife of the Chinese couple who rented one of my FIL's houses a few years ago came with a tour company. Her husband was the military attache at the Chinese Embassy in Thailand about a decade ago. My wife and I went to meet her up in the hotel. Cases of French wine were being consumed. All together probably about 30 people there. She bought a bottle of snake pills, said to cure diabetes, for her husband. It has a label of the snake farm on Rama IV. B2,500 for the bottle, about 50 tablets I think. Her friend spent close to 300k on various things, one of which was a Buddha amulet. What did she know about amulet, I wonder?

They came to our house for a chat. Her friend gave my wife a bottle of moisturizing spray said to cost RMB2,000 (about USD300). My wife refused to accept the gift but our friend said it actually cost only USD20 bought from the States but she sells in her beauty salon for RMB2,000. Her friend told me that if it's too cheap nobody would want to buy it. She urged me to go do business in China saying that the days to make money from farangs are over, it's now time to make moola from the Chinese.....Hmmm...something to ponder about?

[richard10365]

I think the flood has something to do with the increase of Thai tourist in Chiang Mai.

[SomchaiCNX]

O.P. I keep figures from the last 10 years only and they tell a different story.

If you look at them you see clearly when we had the Tsunami, bird flu, coup, floral show, yellow shirt problem, red shirt problem, floods.

More Thai= less Farrang, less High so Farrang more backpackers etc.

If you are in the American market you see the problems after 9/ 11 or even the wars in the middle east.

For most people the closure of the airport, together with the recession is the point where things changed a lot.

[wellred]

Ill be there in just over 2 weeks. Happy days.

[koosdeboer]

I think the flood has something to do with the increase of Thai tourist in Chiang Mai.

correct. Many cars with Bangkok license plates.

[lazeeboy]

well i haveonly had my business open in chiang mai6 months so i dont know what other years are like ,but this november is far far better than the 17 novembers i spent in samui with the exact same business ,i know samui in november is rain season but here i almost doubled what was taken in any november in samui,so if its quiet here all i can say is roll on the busy season (**)

[limegreenpatato]

high season + floods in bangkok. Chiang mai is always busy during high season...that's why it's called high season.

[elektrified]

I think the flood has something to do with the increase of Thai tourist in Chiang Mai.

correct. Many cars with Bangkok license plates.

I agree and Thai friends who are in business here tell me that business has really been great with all the Bangkok Thais staying here.

[moe666]

Many Thai people staying here because of floods. My girl friend spoke to a family a few days ago and they have been here for a month. A friend who has a massage parlor and hair salon and husband has a travel shop. They are both singing the blues about tourist traffic compared to 2001 thru 2006. They are in a weird location and are dependant on tourist staying at the Chiang Mai Gate Hotel for a lot of their business. The european, american, and Australian tourist staying there is down from years past.