Despite Floods, Thailand Poised For Tourism Record

[ginjag]

Nothing like a good flood, rotting garbage, poluuted waters, desease, food shortages and inflation going through the roof to wet the appitite of tourists. Record numbers I'd like to see that.,

Malaysia-Cambodia--and Laos............How many Laos TOURIST -visitors do you see on the streets-at bars..on the beach coming to look at the temples ?? so boarder shoppers are tourists--well yes-sure but TAT wants us to believe they are on holiday 55555555555 Ha Ha, visa runs everything gets swallowed up in their figures.

Didn't Thai International say they had grounded or postponed 500 flights due to the downturn of visitors ???............these TAT people must think we all have fell off a No 9 bus A 3 billion bht loss just announced for Thai Airways.

2 pages of posters are wrong-and geriatrikd is right

Edited December 6, 2011 by ginjag

[hellodolly]

Nope, it is not fiction. Don't forget that Phuket is Thailand's 2nd biggest tourist destination and in comparison to last year, the number of visitors is way up. Occupancies at the mid to upper end hotels were robust. This is due in large part to the increased number of direct flights from Australia, Asia and Russia that brought in additional package groups. Indian visitors also surged this year. Toss in the Koh Samui and surrounding regions and the tourist trade had a vibrant lifeline. Nor should one lose sight of Chiang Mai another pillar of the tourist trade. It has a loyal and steady tourist base that appreciates the region. As for Pattaya, well the city would have to be under a massive zombie attack before its visitors paid attention.

Yes the Bangkok floods hurt, but tourists don't want to hang around Bangkok for more than a couple days. Many of the betterorganized tour operators changed their itineraries around and moved the tourists to other venues. In any case, BKK operated, and aside from a few weeks, the popular tourist areas of BKK were ok.

I know that many will disagree, but the only real historical dent to the tourist trade came when the airports were occupied. Even at the height of the Bangkok Redshirt protests, key tourist areas in Chiang Mai and Phuket were humming along. Yes, many people were hit hard by the floods, but those areas doon't hold the big tourist draws, which remain, beaches, sun and golf courses. I predict that the December 2011 tourist numbers are going to surge.

Don't believe me? Check out the room availabilities on Phuket and Samui.

Got to agree with you on this one. Here in Chiang Mai there is a lot of tourists. I can't remember seeing this many.

The manager of the hotel I am in told me that in December they had a few days where they were booked up completely. As it is now there is a lot more people than usual here.

Of course part of them are people fleeing Bangkok. But not the ones booked for later in the month are fleeing Bangkok.

Actually a lot of people here talking to hear them selves talk. They have absolutely not one bit of information other than there own observations and what they see is through eyes that want to see negativity.

Does no good to give them information they have a cousin who has a friend that has a cousin that said there are no tourists coming and he knows because one of the offices he cleans is a travel agent.

We will never have the whole story but we can be assured that the Government is overstating the figures and the TV posters are clueless and content to be that way.

[Ulysses G.]

There are few tourist people here, and that's the facts Jack.

Not the kind who spend money freely and that is for sure.

Edited December 6, 2011 by Ulysses G.

[Ricardo]

I checked with 3 local Koh Samui hotel/resort owners about the "vibrant" tourist numbers - their answers were unprintable under forum rules.

Please discount the Aussie numbers a bit. My mate and I are both on type Os, so 10 of the count are we 2.

Any guess on how many of the Malaysians are shaggers hitting Sadao and Sungai Kolok for a piss-up and a bit of the nasty? Not that I mind either, but the hypocrisy is a bit much.

Hat Yai also sees many Malaysian & Singaporean week-end tourists, arriving for a week-end's shopping & frolics, by bus. All these would count towards these spurious figures, correctly as they do spend a couple of days and a bit of money here.

[silsburyhill]

Nope, it is not fiction. Don't forget that Phuket is Thailand's 2nd biggest tourist destination and in comparison to last year, the number of visitors is way up. Occupancies at the mid to upper end hotels were robust. This is due in large part to the increased number of direct flights from Australia, Asia and Russia that brought in additional package groups. Indian visitors also surged this year. Toss in the Koh Samui and surrounding regions and the tourist trade had a vibrant lifeline. Nor should one lose sight of Chiang Mai another pillar of the tourist trade. It has a loyal and steady tourist base that appreciates the region. As for Pattaya, well the city would have to be under a massive zombie attack before its visitors paid attention.

Yes the Bangkok floods hurt, but tourists don't want to hang around Bangkok for more than a couple days. Many of the betterorganized tour operators changed their itineraries around and moved the tourists to other venues. In any case, BKK operated, and aside from a few weeks, the popular tourist areas of BKK were ok.

I know that many will disagree, but the only real historical dent to the tourist trade came when the airports were occupied. Even at the height of the Bangkok Redshirt protests, key tourist areas in Chiang Mai and Phuket were humming along. Yes, many people were hit hard by the floods, but those areas doon't hold the big tourist draws, which remain, beaches, sun and golf courses. I predict that the December 2011 tourist numbers are going to surge.

Don't believe me? Check out the room availabilities on Phuket and Samui.

What an earth are you on? THERE'S NO ONE HERE. Everyone's complaining re the 'Ghost Town' atmosphere and lack of customers from Thais to farang businesses. And of course, once again prices soaring 'to compensate' as is Thai stupidity, er, custom, willingly taken up bar all but my local Muslim grocery store and Thai run wine shop, already the cheapest anywhere and nothing on the shelves as he (Thai owner) doesn't want a reputation for gouging. Unlike most who don't give a toss. And that includes the farang run businesses 100%.

You must be talking about the 'high end' (how I hate that term), overpriced 'resorts' who's customers barely venture a toe outside the armed gates, preferring to pay through the nose for these prisons er, hotels' crap food and tailored tours and not spend a penny in the local economy, ergo, never visible.

As an aside, after a necessary trip into Chalong today I wouldn't come here for my hard earned rip off holiday now either. I understand British Airways has just started a direct flight to Vietnam.

You in the tourist trade by any chance?

Edited December 6, 2011 by silsburyhill

[hellodolly]

I checked with 3 local Koh Samui hotel/resort owners about the "vibrant" tourist numbers - their answers were unprintable under forum rules.

Please discount the Aussie numbers a bit. My mate and I are both on type Os, so 10 of the count are we 2.

Any guess on how many of the Malaysians are shaggers hitting Sadao and Sungai Kolok for a piss-up and a bit of the nasty? Not that I mind either, but the hypocrisy is a bit much.

Hat Yai also sees many Malaysian & Singaporean week-end tourists, arriving for a week-end's shopping & frolics, by bus. All these would count towards these spurious figures, correctly as they do spend a couple of days and a bit of money here.

What all these sages forget is that all the statistics that TAT puts out are based on the same criteria that they used last year and the year before.

Indeed the number of tourists may well be up. We will never know the truth of the mater.

[Orac]

I checked with 3 local Koh Samui hotel/resort owners about the "vibrant" tourist numbers - their answers were unprintable under forum rules.

Please discount the Aussie numbers a bit. My mate and I are both on type Os, so 10 of the count are we 2.

Any guess on how many of the Malaysians are shaggers hitting Sadao and Sungai Kolok for a piss-up and a bit of the nasty? Not that I mind either, but the hypocrisy is a bit much.

Hat Yai also sees many Malaysian & Singaporean week-end tourists, arriving for a week-end's shopping & frolics, by bus. All these would count towards these spurious figures, correctly as they do spend a couple of days and a bit of money here.

What all these sages forget is that all the statistics that TAT puts out are based on the same criteria that they used last year and the year before.

Indeed the number of tourists may well be up. We will never know the truth of the mater.

Since we have limited information on how the figures are calculated how can you be sure that the same criteria are being used.

TAT have a vested interest in reporting increasing numbers to justify an increase in budget and any potential rewards in meeting targets.

[Chang_paarp]

I have a question;

Why does this topic seem to conflict with this one?

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/517180-flood-crisis-causes-a-3-billion-baht-loss-for-thai-airways-in-q4-thai-president/

Someone seems to be on a different page.

[melvinmelvin]

I have re-entered the country 36 times so far this year, and will be up to 38 or 39 by the year end due to business trips. If they are counting everyone of these entries as 1 tourist then I can understand where they get the figures from.

Do I still get classed as a tourist if on a business visa? Are they just simplistically counting all arrivals at airports and borders?

Thats what I think they do. Every non-Thai crossing a border into LoS count as 1 tourist.

For example all the punters from Malaysia during the week ends in the south of LoS.

Alle the day workers from Laos and Cambodia doing their daily business in LoS, for example in Aranyaprathet.

All these makes up for a lot of tourists.

[lee68]

Well i flew up to chiang mai last Friday and the flight up was full of Thais,only 2 falangs on it.I drove around the city today and not many tourists for this time of year lots of empty bars and restaurants ,even for the kings birthday its usually full of Thais up here racing around the highways and it was really quiet this weekend.

[rubl]

For those interested in statistics and other lies, check out this page

http://www.thaiwebsites.com/tourism.asp

Figures seem to have been taken from

- Department of Tourism http://123.242.133.66/tourism/th/home/index.php#

- NESDB http://www.nesdb.go.th/Default.aspx

[blackthorn2005]

The minority of tourists are coming from the west.

1 Malaysia 2,058,956 persons

2 China 1,122,219 persons

3 Japan. 993,674 persons

4 England 810,727 persons

5 Korean 805,445 persons

6 India 760,371 persons

7 Laos 715,345 persons

8 Australia. 698,046 persons

9 Russia. 644,678 persons

10 America. 611,792 persons

11 Germany. 606,874 persons

12 Singapore. 603,538 persons

13 Frans. 461,670 persons

14 Vietnam. 380,368 persons

15 Taiwan 369,220 persons

16 Sweden. 355,214 persons

17 Hong Kong 316,476 persons

18 Indonesia. 286,072 persons

19 Philippines. 246,430 persons

20 Netherlands 196,994 per

These figures are from 2010

Old figures, which still reflect a decrease in the big spenders and an increase in window shoppers and criminals.

[ThaiSold]

I have it on good authority (local police who check the books at chiang Mai hotels) that all the major hotels in Chiang Mai are fully booked and have been for the past month but then this was the same as last year.

[drdoom6996]

Just more numbers being manipulated. And a headline to be used.

[geriatrickid]

Who makes up these figures?

thai airways loses money because nobody is coming to thailand, the tourist areas of chiang mai are like ghost towns, massage ladies are practically kidnapping passers by and we are supposed to believe huge increases in tourism. what a load of crap!

TG PAX loads are down in large part because of increased competition on its most profitable routes. TG 's also getting pounded by the LCC players. A more revealing picture comes from the PAX loads on Air Asia, Jet Star, and the multiple charters flying on to hot destinations. Those loads are holding steady. In the good old days those flights landed at BKK and everyone had to take TG connections. Not so today.

You claim the tourist areas of CM are a ghost town. Ok. Historically, aren't the tourist areas often ghost towns at certain times of the year? Watch what happens come Christmas. It will be packed.

[Headgame]

Just an observation from a Patong Beach resident - much quieter this season as compared to last - based on watching the traffic on Sainamyen Rd. from my balcony, daily walking around town, once a week beach days, weekend visits to Bangla and local clubs.

[KeyserSoze01]

There are lies and there are dam_n lies. I believe this one fits into the damned lies category.

A twist on an old joke; How do you tell if a Thai is lying? Their lips are moving.

[Crushdepth]

I just don't believe it. This is bullshit.

[julemanden]

Lies, dam_n Lies & Government Statistics !

Agree.... Big time BS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[pisico]

I always get a laugh out of the fact the largest group of tourists to Thailand are devout Muslims from Malaysia coming up to Sadao to boink Thai girls...... Would be nice to see some actual tourist numbers instead of the cr*p TAT puts out. I think if you take out the Malaysian sex tourists, the Lao and Cambodia border shoppers, the people who are only transiting Bangkok, and the endless visa border run people, that what is left is not even near the numbers that TAT is touting. Maybe start with raw airline arrivals, and then subtract the transit people I think would leave a pretty good number.

I have never been really sure of why TAT always puts out such high numbers for expected tourist arrivals. Possible tourists will see these high numbers, and decide they will not come because the country will be too crowded and every hotel full. What they SHOULD do is put out low numbers, which will encourage people to come.

Thais prefer to have an empty apartment for months rather than to lower the rent.

Thais rise prices during depressed times and sell even less because they do not want any one to think they need the money.

If they make offerings to the deity of the waters the flood will stop.

If TAT publishes an upbeat prediction it will happen.

It is a combination of animism and obsession with saving face.

Reminds me of the years I spent in Nigeria and Benin where things were not very different regarding Thai animism.

[tukkytuktuk]

It's true, I was in Future Park Rangsit Shopping over the weekend and I was the only minority white, caucasian westerner tourist there. Anyone been down koh sarn road recently thats always a good indicator for whether its busy for tourism or not.

[notime]

I'm at Koh Samui. Every year for the past 5 years I see a decline in the number of tourists here. I see empty resorts, closed shops and bars, deserted beaches and villas falling into ruin. The "official figure" supposed to be about 1 million of visitors to the island per year. I have counted how many I see in the prime area of Chaweng at prime "shopping/dining" time. It is about 100 people. Perhaps the other 100 are glued to their beds so let's make it 200. Given that the island has other areas the tourists my be at I estimate there are about 500 tourists in here now. Ok, this is Low season, monsoon time at Samui (but good weather this year). At other times the number of tourists may perhaps be 2-3,000. That would make it about 1,500 people at any given time, on average. From my own experience as a person working in the hospitality industry here, I estimate the average duration of stay on the island at about 5 nights. 365/5 x 1,500 = 109,500 visitors per year. Okie, maybe I'm underestimating somehow so let's almost double it to 200,000. But the "official" count stands at 1,000,000 and rising :-)

Oh, one more thing. I have never seen a tourist from Lao here. Or had any booking enquiry from that country. Maybe I should better "target" those 700,000 plus tourists to get a piece of action?

[IsaanUSA]

I think most of the Lao people (it's safe to say "the majority") are busy jet setting to Hong Kong for shopping. I don't think they come to Thailand in large numbers like they do for the HK shopping.

[edwinchester]

I have it on good authority (local police who check the books at chiang Mai hotels) that all the major hotels in Chiang Mai are fully booked and have been for the past month but then this was the same as last year.

Strange as I stayed in a couple of the major hotels last week and they both had many rooms available. Talking to the staff there confirmed business was slow.

[Buchholz]

715,000 'tourists' from Laos.

The fact they have 'England' and not the 'UK' is enough to disregard those statistics posted above as nonsense IMO.

More than 10% of that entire wealthy nation known as the Lao People's Democratic Republic's population travelled "abroad" as tourists to Thailand.

.

Edited December 6, 2011 by Buchholz

[lounger]

I know that many will disagree, but the only real historical dent to the tourist trade came when the airports were occupied. Even at the height of the Bangkok Redshirt protests, key tourist areas in Chiang Mai and Phuket were humming along.

You are a waste of space.

Phuket airpiort has been occupied and hotel owners wondered why trade was down. As a general observation Phuket has not escaped intact. You are manipulating the truth...

I guess you own a hotel in Phuket and are sh1tting yourself as you cannot pay your staff.

[lounger]

715,000 'tourists' from Laos.

The fact they have 'England' and not the 'UK' is enough to disregard those statistics posted above as nonsense IMO.

More than 10% of that entire wealthy nation known as the Lao People's Democratic Republic's population travelled "abroad" as tourists to Thailand.

.

yes and how much is the average daily expenditure? Western tourists spend 5,000baht per day ( I dont know how they get away with so little) and Asians spend 3,000baht per day. Statistics dam_n statistics. Its like saying USA has a relatively low population, maybe but they spend per head way over Asian people..........

[Buchholz]

715,000 'tourists' from Laos.

The fact they have 'England' and not the 'UK' is enough to disregard those statistics posted above as nonsense IMO.

More than 10% of that entire wealthy nation known as the Lao People's Democratic Republic's population travelled "abroad" as tourists to Thailand.

yes and how much is the average daily expenditure? Western tourists spend 5,000baht per day ( I dont know how they get away with so little) and Asians spend 3,000baht per day. Statistics dam_n statistics. Its like saying USA has a relatively low population, maybe but they spend per head way over Asian people..........

I wouldn't be surprised if these well-to-do Lao jet-setters spend upwards of 5,000 Kip per day.

.

[CraigSchuler]

That's strange.....The post before this was reporting that Thai airlines is losing 3 million baht this quarter!

Guess everybody is flying China air now days.

Wonder which one is stretching the facts?

[elcent]

this whole thing would be an El Dorado for 'anti money laundering agencies' - Empty rooms but fully booked kinda stuff.