More High Income Tourists Wanted

[Jai Dee]

TAT TO STEP UP ITS CAMPAIGN TO ATTRACT MORE EUROPEAN AND ASIAN TOURISTS

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) stated that the number of Asian and European tourists have been continually increasing. The TAT has come up with campaigns to attract high income tourists.

TAT Governor JUTHAMAS SIRIWAN (จุฑามาศ ศิริวรรณ) revealed the latest number of tourists in Thailand during 1st-25th November 2005 which totaled 684,604 tourists, an increase rate of 5.34 percent.

A majority of 355,000 tourists were from Japan, China and Korea. European tourists ranked the second with approximate 200,000. Most of the Europeans comprise British, German and French while 60,000 tourists were from the Americas.

Mrs.JUTHAMAS said that TAT is working to draw attention fron the Americans. The TAT based in New York is in collaboration with Air Canada Vacation Co.Ltd., to kick off its campaign by offering 13 travel agencies to travel to Thailand starting from the beginning of November.

Moreover, TAT Los Angeles has been promoting Thailand by publishing an article entitled “Thailand by Riverboat’ in Cruise Magazines, targeting on cruise travelers as most of the tourists were classified as high-income earners with an income of 100,000 dollar per year.

She said that TAT is expecting more tourists from United States and Canada. She added that recently TAT participated in the World Travel Mart in London, United Kingdom in which she saw reservations for Thailand trip fully booked until next year. She estimated that approximately 3,000,000 European tourists will visit Thailand next year.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 06 December 2005

[opothai]

i want more high income customers, but it does not mean they will spend more.

[GuestHouse]

Makes me laugh...

A guy is being quizzed at arrivals in BKK by a pretty Thai girl doing a TAT sponsored survey on 'The Kind of People Coming to Thailand'. She's really cute, the guy is over weight, over drawn and over here. The Survey Form Reads:-

Answer the following Questions with a tick in the right box and then hand to the very pretty 19 year old Thai girl who is helping us do this survey:

1. What is Your Proffesion

Which best describes your profession?

A. Unskilled

B. Semi Skilled

C. Skilled

D. Very Senior Manager in Highly Respected Multinational Corporation

2. How Old Are You

Which age group are you in?

A. Under 20

B. 21 - 45 (but nearer to 21 than you look)

C. 45 - Really Old

3. About where do you live

Which best describes your home?

A. Run Down Trailer Park

B. Not So Run Down Trailer Park

C. Architect Designed Executive Home in Gated Community

4. About Your Marital Status

Which best describes your marrital status

A. Divorced and Broke

B. Not yet Divorced, On the Run

C. Married, On the Run

D. Single (and the white ring mark is not where I just took my ring off)

5. About Your Income

Which best describes your income bracket

A. On Welfare

B. Not a Pot to Pee in or a Window to throw it out of

C. Just Lost Your Job and Maxed Out Credit Cards

D. Highly Paid Consultant Executive, Paid in Bearer Bonds and Bullion to Avoid Taxes

Edited December 6, 2005 by GuestHouse

[Ricardo]

GuestHouse

and offer those high-rollers a Free Thailand-Elite card, upon arrival ?

[sonthaya]

GuestHouse that was a good one, but TIT it could happen

[WISteve]

On the new, more inquisitive entry cards I've always wanted to list:

Khao San Rd flophouse

-0- income

Purpose of visit: Working illegally as an english instructor.

But who really needs the hassle at the airport!

-----------------------------------

Somehow Fearless Leader has got it in his head that high income equates to big spender. It ain't always so.

If they want big spenders they have to offer them something to pass their time. Throwing everyone out on the streets in bars and night clubs at midnight or 1 am is not the way to do it. All that the tourist has left at that point is street bars and freelancers.

If they want Las Vegas type spenders, they will have to offer them: gambling, 24/7 party time with entertainment and an infrastructure that supports it, i.e. transportation and utilities that are reasonably priced and dependable.

I'm not sure I want those things for Thailand. On second thought I'm SURE I don't want those things in Thailand. But if they want Las Vegas/Monte Carlo high rollers and spenders it's probably what it will take.

~WISteve

[britmaveric]

Relaxing the visa requirements for Russians should help!!!!

[cgigate]

Relaxing the visa requirements for Russians should help!!!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Let more HIV on Russians! it could be help! LOL too!

[thailien8]

The few high-income jet-setters might come here once. The many working stiffs who fall in love with the Thai people will come again and again. Who do you think will end up forking over more money to Thailand's economy?

[jrincon17]

The few high-income jet-setters might come here once.  The many working stiffs who fall in love with the Thai people will come again and again.  Who do you think will end up forking over more money to Thailand's economy?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What they need to do is allow a certain amount of property to bought from residential areas !

Edited December 7, 2005 by jrincon17

[The Skipper]

Big spendors welcome!

Just be willing to ride around in the back of a truck when visiting the resort areas.

[astral]

Big spenders stay and eat in big hotels owned by foreign operators.

Where is the real benefit to Thailand?

[Khun ?]

You could see it coming. To be honest Thailand has some what turned into farang

ghetto types. I would estimate that 7 out of 10 westerners that stay in thailand

are the ones that have small amounts of cash to live on per month basis $1500

or less.

They will compete more directly with the major thai housing markets under 2 mil house and condo under 1.5 mil. They don't want long term low income foreign residents in the thai markets. They want long term average income people from the west who will spend the same as they would back home. Just an estimate but

I would say $30K a year base income maybe down to $25K minimum.

How many $50K income retiree's back home are going to move to lower class

neighborhoods back home. The trend that is happening now is that Thailand is attracting to many lower income westerners. So when is the breaking point that

the middle to upper middle class retiree that has plenty of disposable income

become turned off by this trend.

Face it Thailand is getting to a point where it can pick and choose long term residents. The same with Asian foreign residents, what society of foreign residents to you want long term.

They could always make the rules to be if you want to buy a condo and such and your foreign income is below $25K a year you will only be allowed to stay 6 months a year and no renting out of property. They could also put a limit to those that marry locals at 30% less than the normal minimum for full year visas.

This would also help cut down on all these little shops springing up all over the place that are foreign owned and directly compete with local small business.

Most foreigners who really love thailand will still visit and spend almost the same annual amount so the income lost will be minimal.

[llewynx]

The big spenders will continue going to Maldives, Seychelles, Caribbeans etc until Thailand can compete in infrastructure, beauty (yes, Thailand is beautiful but unfortunately not very clean-looking...). Just not up to the mark at the moment... Sad but true. Until then I'm afraid we have to contend with less picky tourists.

[Khun ?]

they can save a plane ticket just go to the otherside of town back home.

they'll have the same hoards of foreigners they are trying to vacation away from.

[sierra01]

You could see it coming. To be honest Thailand has some what turned into farang

ghetto types. I would estimate that 7 out of 10 westerners that stay in thailand

are the ones that have small amounts of cash to live on per month basis $1500

or less.

They will compete more directly with the major thai housing markets under 2 mil  house and condo under 1.5 mil. They don't want long term low income foreign residents in the thai markets. They want long term average income people from the west who will spend the same as they would back home. Just an estimate but

I would say $30K a year base income maybe down to $25K minimum.

How many $50K income retiree's back home are going to move to lower class

neighborhoods back home. The trend that is happening now is that Thailand is attracting to many lower income westerners. So when is the breaking point that

the middle to upper middle class retiree that has plenty of disposable income

become turned off by this trend.

Face it Thailand is getting to a point where it can pick and choose long term residents. The same with Asian foreign residents, what society of foreign residents to you want long term.

They could always make the rules to be if you want to buy a condo and such and your foreign income is below $25K a year you will only be allowed to stay 6 months a year and no renting out of property. They could also put a limit to those that marry locals at 30% less than the normal minimum for full year visas.

This would also help cut down on all these little shops springing up all over the place that are foreign owned and directly compete with local small business.

Most foreigners who really love thailand will still visit and spend almost the same annual amount so the income lost will be minimal.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What the Thai want and what they can realisitcally expect are two different things. Anyway, the topic is about high income tourists, not retiree's, that's a different kettle of fish.

[lomatopo]

Big spenders stay and eat in big hotels owned by foreign operators.

Where is the real benefit to Thailand?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I thought that all businesses in Thailand are majority-owned by Thais, even if they have a Marriott/Hilton(Conrad)/Starwood et. al. franchise?

Don't a lot of Thai people work at these "big hotels"?

Don't a lot of Thai businesses sell goods (eg. food, beverage and furnishings) to these "big hotels"?

I’ve got to believe these “big spenders” leave their “big hotels” once in a while?

Surely these are real benefits?

Targeting specific markets, and specific groups within those markets, seems like a reasonable thing to do? If you get someone to visit Thailand even just one time then that can't be all bad, can it? How can you get repeat customers if you don't bring them in the door the first time?

This is older information, but still possibly of interest. (There is a 2004 edition, published a few weeks ago, but I threw it out, and cannot find it on-line. It was publsihed by/in the Bangkok Post and was produced by Diethelm Travel (Thailand) Limited.)

http://www.bangkokpost.com/tourism2003/markets.html

Avg. daily spend in USD (2002)

Jap $99

RSA $97

USA $96

Sin $94

MiE $87

Rus $85

UK $84

Aus $81

Ita $79

Swi $78

Can $76

Fra $76

Sca $67 ~ $75

Ger $66

[seville]

I agree with Astral and the like. Big spenders aren't going to venture out to far out of their comfort zone. 90% of Americans don't have passports. If they want the tropics there is Florida and Disney World. The high rollers are going to keep going to Vegas.

There may be an increase in tourists over all in Thailand, but where I live there seems to be a dramatic drop in tourist.

[lomatopo]

90% of Americans don't have passports.

All figures I've seen indicate that 34% of Americans over the age of 18 have passports, and that ~ 60,000,000 Americans currently hold passports (this is nearly the equivalent to the entire population of Thailand). Of course holding a passport alone is not indicative of of "worldliness" if that was the point you were trying to make.

Acording to figures published for 2002, the U.S.A. is the second largest 'market' for tourists to Thailand:

Arrivals (2002)

U.K. 569,812

U.S.A. 509,841

which is actually quite amazing given that it is a much longer trip (2 ~ 3 flight segments, 8,500= miles, 20+ hour total travel time) from the U.S.A. to Thailand.

There may be an increase in tourists over all in Thailand, but where I live there seems to be a dramatic drop in tourist.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There has been an increase on tourism in Thailand:

"In 2003, Thailand attracted 10 million international tourists with higher growth from Indochina and the Middle East. The country was on course to register 12 million international arrivals as 2004 drew to a close.

International tourist arrivals during the first 10 months of 2004 at Don Muang International Airport were 6.59 million, up 22% from the same period last year. From Nov 1 to Nov 20, the number of international tourists at the airport was up 16% year-on-year to 540,000."

Source

What are the comparative figures for your region? If you live in one of the southern provinces then I could understand a dramatic drop in tourism.

Honestly, it's hard to figure why the majority of comments on this effort by Thais to increase the revenue generate from tourism by targeting high yield customers are universally negative? Why is that? Do you have better ideas? Or do you doubt their capabilities?

[zzap]

Honestly, it's hard to figure why the majority of comments on this effort by Thais to increase the revenue generate from tourism by targeting high yield customers are universally negative? Why is that? Do you have better ideas? Or do you doubt their capabilities?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well, the Elite Card disaster was part of the effort of attracting more affluent visitors...

The other point is, that low-income (by Western standars) 'residents' like myself feel increasingly unwanted, not by the people in our environment, but the present administration. Kuhn ?'s comment explains the reasoning quite well.

Edited December 9, 2005 by zzap