Foreign Tourists Visiting Thailand Rise 14%

[webfact]

Foreign tourists visiting Thailand rise 14%

By Digital Media

BANGKOK, Dec 24 – Inbound tourists to Thailand reached 21.8 million persons this year, representing a 14 per cent increase from last year and generating a total revenue of Bt 930 billion (US$31 billion), a senior official of the Tourism and Sports Ministry said today.

Anuparp Kesornsuwan, acting director general of the Tourism Department, said the number of foreign tourists to Thailand rose by 60 per cent in November alone while the December figure is predictably high thanks to the holiday season.

Hotel reservations between the end of this year and early next year are higher than the same period in the previous year, he said, adding that global economic recovery will possibly stimulate tourism growth and the number foreign tourists visiting Thailand next year should be 10 per cent greater than this year, or a total of 24 million people.

He said the government’s economic stimulus and successive tourism-related activities have attracted Thai people to travel in the country as well, making it a blessing to the domestic tourism business.

It is estimated that 112 million people in Thailand travelled in the country this year, generating a circulating revenue of Bt500 billion (US$17 billion) while next year should see a 6 per cent growth, said Mr Anuparp.

He added that the Tourism Department has sought cooperation from agencies concerned in cracking down on bogus tour guides and ensuring that illegal tour operators do not cash in on Thai and foreign tourists during the festive season.

According to the five-year National Tourism Development Plan (2012-2016), the government will spend at least Bt6.65 billion (US$221 million) in three years (2012-2014) to develop tourist attractions nationwide and launch activities to boost tourism such as development of tourism/scenic routes and promoting filming locations. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2012-12-24

[bigbamboo]

That should make everyone feel a lot better........ as Kittirat would say.

[Pib]

Of course it's much higher this year because many tourists didn't come last year due to the flooding. And of course November figures are 60% higher than November of last year as Nov 11 was the peak flooding month. For me I had to evacuate my western Bangkok home for almost the entire month of November due to the flooding. Typical tourism news release--slanted and missing a lot of details & facts.

[lemoncake]

Last week it was 23 million and a "few" were sure the figures are correct , now it seems they lost over a million somewhere.

Then perhaps over calculated by a few, rounded off a few, while in reality the quietest year in the past about 3 years

[sirchai]

"It is estimated that 112 million people in Thailand travelled in the country this year, generating a circulating revenue of Bt500 billion (US$17 billion) while next year should see a 6 per cent growth, said Mr Anuparp"

I'm just wondering what Thailand would look like without tourists. Many of us spend much more money by building a house, buying cars, motorbikes and buffaloes. Some even marry a two legged karabao. I wish I had 5% what expats spent a day. No more morning anthem..... .

[firestar]

Of course it's much higher this year because many tourists didn't come last year due to the flooding. And of course November figures are 60% higher than November of last year as Nov 11 was the peak flooding month. For me I had to evacuate my western Bangkok home for almost the entire month of November due to the flooding. Typical tourism news release--slanted and missing a lot of details & facts.

Last year (despite the floods) was a record year. Phuket, Samui, Pattaya and most very popular destinations weren't flooded. A lot of headlines but a single month of floods hardly moves the needle when it comes to arriavls.

Anyway, we will have the usual people saying figures are fake, it's all because of last year's, floods, yellow shirts, red shirts.. But the fact is Pattaya doubled in size over the last few years, Hua Hin even more, Samui is being built like crazy. Thousands upon thousands of new hotel rooms and personnally I've never seen a single hotel close, it just keeps growing.

Edited December 24, 2012 by firestar

[lemoncake]

Of course it's much higher this year because many tourists didn't come last year due to the flooding. And of course November figures are 60% higher than November of last year as Nov 11 was the peak flooding month. For me I had to evacuate my western Bangkok home for almost the entire month of November due to the flooding. Typical tourism news release--slanted and missing a lot of details & facts.

Last year (despite the floods) was a record year. Phuket, Samui, Pattaya and most very popular destinations weren't flooded. A lot of headlines but a single month of floods hardly moves the needle when it comes to arriavls.

Anyway, we will have the usual people saying figures are fake, it's all because of last year's, floods, yellow shirts, red shirts.. But the fact is Pattaya doubled in size over the last few years, Hua Hin even more, Samui is being built like crazy. Thousands upon thousands of new hotel rooms and personnally I've never seen a single hotel close, it just keeps growing.

Last year was a record ? According to whom?

Last year it was busy in pattaya because bkk and Phuket and samui was flooded.

This year April through to September pattaya was virtually empty, some hotels had only 1 rented rooms on many days.

City growth and development has nothing to do with tourist numbers,

Perhaps you were not aware but it's not the tourists alone who are buying property.

51% of any condo must be Thai owned .

How many new hotels opened up this year comparing to how many closed down? I can tell you for a fact that in the area of my hotel- 3 closed down this year after trading for almost a decade, not to mention 5 restaurants and that's just in 200 meter radius.

Yes numbers are fake, because every time they release them it never matches the previous statement as recent as last week

[NamKangMan]

I've always wondered if these "tourist" statistics take into account the thousands and thousands of foreigners, all over Thailand, that have to do visa runs, and I admit, I am one of them. Do I/we get counted as tourists four times a year? If so, that puts a big hole in their statistics.

[lemoncake]

I've always wondered if these "tourist" statistics take into account the thousands and thousands of foreigners, all over Thailand, that have to do visa runs, and I admit, I am one of them. Do I/we get counted as tourists four times a year? If so, that puts a big hole in their statistics.

Yep, every time you do a visa run you are a new tourist, just as Laotians crossing to Thai markets daily are tourists.

[firestar]

Last year was a record ? According to whom?

Last year it was busy in pattaya because bkk and Phuket and samui was flooded.

This year April through to September pattaya was virtually empty, some hotels had only 1 rented rooms on many days.

City growth and development has nothing to do with tourist numbers,

Perhaps you were not aware but it's not the tourists alone who are buying property.

51% of any condo must be Thai owned .

How many new hotels opened up this year comparing to how many closed down? I can tell you for a fact that in the area of my hotel- 3 closed down this year after trading for almost a decade, not to mention 5 restaurants and that's just in 200 meter radius.

Yes numbers are fake, because every time they release them it never matches the previous statement as recent as last week

Riiiiight....

Let me ask you a simple question, do you think Don Mueng could absorb all air traffic into Thailand?

Stupid question I know but TV experts have been saying tourist numbers are down for the past 5 years and Suvarnabhumi is only 5 years old, by their logic Don Mueng should be able to do it no problem then. Oddly Suvarnabhumi who was seen as a megalomaniac project only a few years ago is running at almost full capacity...must be all fake tourist planted there to make us believe it is busy.

Anyway, if you want to go the anecdotal evidence route, not so long ago you hardly saw a tourist past second road, not a women or child in sight, now all the way up to sattahip baht buses full of russians and families. I am not even going to go into the tourist numbers in Samui and Phuket but when the hotel association tells you it is running at full capacity it should tell you something...

[Pib]

Of course it's much higher this year because many tourists didn't come last year due to the flooding. And of course November figures are 60% higher than November of last year as Nov 11 was the peak flooding month. For me I had to evacuate my western Bangkok home for almost the entire month of November due to the flooding. Typical tourism news release--slanted and missing a lot of details & facts.

Last year (despite the floods) was a record year. Phuket, Samui, Pattaya and most very popular destinations weren't flooded. A lot of headlines but a single month of floods hardly moves the needle when it comes to arriavls.

Anyway, we will have the usual people saying figures are fake, it's all because of last year's, floods, yellow shirts, red shirts.. But the fact is Pattaya doubled in size over the last few years, Hua Hin even more, Samui is being built like crazy. Thousands upon thousands of new hotel rooms and personnally I've never seen a single hotel close, it just keeps growing.

A single month of floods hardly moves the needle...????!!!! You work in real estate or tourism industry? You might want to review the press releases from the Tourism and Sports Ministry this time last year...of course their press releases this year are singing a different tune since they know most people have short memories...just go to this Link (a ThaiVisa thread from last year this time).

Just a partial quote from the Dec 11 link you will go to:

However, the number of foreign visitors between the end of October and November dropped 80 percent due to the flood crisis, particularly in Bangkok and other central provinces.

[rubl]

At least the tourists seem to get more intelligent, or better prepared. I didn't really see that many in Bangkok :-)

BTW 2011:

Thailand recorded 19 million tourist arrivals in 2011, an increase of 19.84 per cent year-on-year, said Department of Tourism Director-General Supol Sripan.

The country realised income of Bt734.59 billion, an increase of 23.92 per cent, compared to last year.

http://thailand-busi...arrival-in-2011

ADD: 2012: 14% increase in number of tourists, 26.7% increase in revenue.

Edited December 24, 2012 by rubl

[NamKangMan]

I've always wondered if these "tourist" statistics take into account the thousands and thousands of foreigners, all over Thailand, that have to do visa runs, and I admit, I am one of them. Do I/we get counted as tourists four times a year? If so, that puts a big hole in their statistics.

Yep, every time you do a visa run you are a new tourist, just as Laotians crossing to Thai markets daily are tourists.

I suppose they count all the Burmese labourers as well.

Probably also count everyone on a stop over at the airport too.

Ahhh - LOS - Land Of Statistics. :)

Edited December 24, 2012 by NamKangMan

[firestar]

Of course it's much higher this year because many tourists didn't come last year due to the flooding. And of course November figures are 60% higher than November of last year as Nov 11 was the peak flooding month. For me I had to evacuate my western Bangkok home for almost the entire month of November due to the flooding. Typical tourism news release--slanted and missing a lot of details & facts.

Last year (despite the floods) was a record year. Phuket, Samui, Pattaya and most very popular destinations weren't flooded. A lot of headlines but a single month of floods hardly moves the needle when it comes to arriavls.

Anyway, we will have the usual people saying figures are fake, it's all because of last year's, floods, yellow shirts, red shirts.. But the fact is Pattaya doubled in size over the last few years, Hua Hin even more, Samui is being built like crazy. Thousands upon thousands of new hotel rooms and personnally I've never seen a single hotel close, it just keeps growing.

A single month of floods hardly moves the needle...????!!!! You work in real estate or tourism industry? You might want to review the press releases from the Tourism and Sports Ministry this time last year...of course their press releases this year are singing a different tune since they know most people have short memories...just go to this Link (a ThaiVisa thread from last year this time).

Just a partial quote from the Dec 11 link you will go to:

However, the number of foreign visitors between the end of October and November dropped 80 percent due to the flood crisis, particularly in Bangkok and other central provinces.

There was a big drop in "visitors" to Chiang Mai and BKK not arrivals in Thailand, they just went elsewhere. There was still a 20% increase overall year on year, in the big scheme of things floods accounted for less than 3% "loss of arrivals" in 2011. We can argue It's a big number but considering the size of the devastation I believe it's a tiny number that shows how eager people are to visit Thailand and the resiliance of Thai tourism.

[DocN]

Of course it's much higher this year because many tourists didn't come last year due to the flooding. And of course November figures are 60% higher than November of last year as Nov 11 was the peak flooding month. For me I had to evacuate my western Bangkok home for almost the entire month of November due to the flooding. Typical tourism news release--slanted and missing a lot of details & facts.

Wait for Nisa, to come and explain everything!

But your points are correct, by the way!

[firestar]

Of course it's much higher this year because many tourists didn't come last year due to the flooding. And of course November figures are 60% higher than November of last year as Nov 11 was the peak flooding month. For me I had to evacuate my western Bangkok home for almost the entire month of November due to the flooding. Typical tourism news release--slanted and missing a lot of details & facts.

Wait for Nisa, to come and explain everything!

But your points are correct, by the way!

Haha..the most bias one dimensional TV poster calling out another poster.

What points are correct btw he only made one, that what accounted for a less than a 3% drop year on year in 2011 is the reason for the increase this year?

Nobody is even saying it is thanks to the government, policies or anything of the sort, but if you think despite the massive influx of Chinese and Russian tourists and the political and economical implosion of other markets like Egypt, Greece, Spain, etc. there is not a higher number of tourist coming to Thailand you have serious SERIOUS blinkers on.

[Bluespunk]

Of course it's much higher this year because many tourists didn't come last year due to the flooding. And of course November figures are 60% higher than November of last year as Nov 11 was the peak flooding month. For me I had to evacuate my western Bangkok home for almost the entire month of November due to the flooding. Typical tourism news release--slanted and missing a lot of details & facts.

Last year (despite the floods) was a record year. Phuket, Samui, Pattaya and most very popular destinations weren't flooded. A lot of headlines but a single month of floods hardly moves the needle when it comes to

Anyway, we will have the usual people saying figures are fake, it's all because of last year's, floods, yellow shirts, red shirts.. But the fact is Pattaya doubled in size over the last few years, Hua Hin even more, Samui is being built like crazy. Thousands upon thousands of new hotel rooms and personnally I've never seen a single hotel close, it just keeps growing.

Last year was a record ? According to whom?

Last year it was busy in pattaya because bkk and Phuket and samui was flooded.

This year April through to September pattaya was virtually empty, some hotels had only 1 rented rooms on many days.

City growth and development has nothing to do with tourist numbers,

Perhaps you were not aware but it's not the tourists alone who are buying property.

51% of any condo must be Thai owned .

How many new hotels opened up this year comparing to how many closed down? I can tell you for a fact that in the area of my hotel- 3 closed down this year after trading for almost a decade, not to mention 5 restaurants and that's just in 200 meter radius.

Yes numbers are fake, because every time they release them it never matches the previous statement as recent as last week

Since when must a condo be 51% Thai owned?

[IrishIvan]

looks like absolutely no-one knows whats going on

[lemoncake]

Last year was a record ? According to whom?

Last year it was busy in pattaya because bkk and Phuket and samui was flooded.

This year April through to September pattaya was virtually empty, some hotels had only 1 rented rooms on many days.

City growth and development has nothing to do with tourist numbers,

Perhaps you were not aware but it's not the tourists alone who are buying property.

51% of any condo must be Thai owned .

How many new hotels opened up this year comparing to how many closed down? I can tell you for a fact that in the area of my hotel- 3 closed down this year after trading for almost a decade, not to mention 5 restaurants and that's just in 200 meter radius.

Yes numbers are fake, because every time they release them it never matches the previous statement as recent as last week

Riiiiight....

Let me ask you a simple question, do you think Don Mueng could absorb all air traffic into Thailand?

Stupid question I know but TV experts have been saying tourist numbers are down for the past 5 years and Suvarnabhumi is only 5 years old, by their logic Don Mueng should be able to do it no problem then. Oddly Suvarnabhumi who was seen as a megalomaniac project only a few years ago is running at almost full capacity...must be all fake tourist planted there to make us believe it is busy.

Anyway, if you want to go the anecdotal evidence route, not so long ago you hardly saw a tourist past second road, not a women or child in sight, now all the way up to sattahip baht buses full of russians and families. I am not even going to go into the tourist numbers in Samui and Phuket but when the hotel association tells you it is running at full capacity it should tell you something...

i do not work for the airports or airlines i have no idea what airports can or can not handle.

what i do know is that BKK is a stop over for a number of airlines, not to mention BKK is one of 3 airports which are used to change over to fly into Cambodia.

Those going to Cambodia,using Air Asia, need to exit Suva airport(count as a tourist) to then go to Don Muang to get to Cambodia, and same on the way back.

So if Cambodian visitor numbers are up, so will Thai stats, though it does not mean those people actually stayed in Thailand.

Coincidentally, Cambodian tourism has picked up by some crazy number in the past years, and Thai authority's wasted no time to post tourist increase stats, only local business owners like myself, see nothing but decline, but i guess government stats are more "sure proof" than the actual accounts of business people

[lemoncake]

Of course it's much higher this year because many tourists didn't come last year due to the flooding. And of course November figures are 60% higher than November of last year as Nov 11 was the peak flooding month. For me I had to evacuate my western Bangkok home for almost the entire month of November due to the flooding. Typical tourism news release--slanted and missing a lot of details & facts.

Last year (despite the floods) was a record year. Phuket, Samui, Pattaya and most very popular destinations weren't flooded. A lot of headlines but a single month of floods hardly moves the needle when it comes to

Anyway, we will have the usual people saying figures are fake, it's all because of last year's, floods, yellow shirts, red shirts.. But the fact is Pattaya doubled in size over the last few years, Hua Hin even more, Samui is being built like crazy. Thousands upon thousands of new hotel rooms and personnally I've never seen a single hotel close, it just keeps growing.

Last year was a record ? According to whom?

Last year it was busy in pattaya because bkk and Phuket and samui was flooded.

This year April through to September pattaya was virtually empty, some hotels had only 1 rented rooms on many days.

City growth and development has nothing to do with tourist numbers,

Perhaps you were not aware but it's not the tourists alone who are buying property.

51% of any condo must be Thai owned .

How many new hotels opened up this year comparing to how many closed down? I can tell you for a fact that in the area of my hotel- 3 closed down this year after trading for almost a decade, not to mention 5 restaurants and that's just in 200 meter radius.

Yes numbers are fake, because every time they release them it never matches the previous statement as recent as last week

Since when must a condo be 51% Thai owned?

since always. not your individual condo, but the quota in the entire condominium must be 51% Thai owned.

[lemoncake]

There was a big drop in "visitors" to Chiang Mai and BKK not arrivals in Thailand, they just went elsewhere. There was still a 20% increase overall year on year, in the big scheme of things floods accounted for less than 3% "loss of arrivals" in 2011. We can argue It's a big number but considering the size of the devastation I believe it's a tiny number that shows how eager people are to visit Thailand and the resiliance of Thai tourism.

so do tell us where they went? up to Isaan or where?

[lemoncake]

I've always wondered if these "tourist" statistics take into account the thousands and thousands of foreigners, all over Thailand, that have to do visa runs, and I admit, I am one of them. Do I/we get counted as tourists four times a year? If so, that puts a big hole in their statistics.

Yep, every time you do a visa run you are a new tourist, just as Laotians crossing to Thai markets daily are tourists.

I suppose they count all the Burmese labourers as well.

Probably also count everyone on a stop over at the airport too.

Ahhh - LOS - Land Of Statistics.

i am pretty sure they count anyone and everyone going through immigration, though would not be surprised if they just use planes manifests to make the job even easier

[noitom]

" a circulating revenue of Bt500 billion (US$17 billion)"

This for sure is a number pulled out of a hat. And what does this number include? Does it represent only the "legitimate" booked, legal, and countable revenue? Does this number correlate with government fees, tour businesses, hotels, legal restaurants,..etc and taxes paid? Or is this some imaginary number that includes a rolling estimate for everything including sex, counterfeit goods, movies, music sales, security on apartment rentals which is not refunded..etc?

One would have to wonder why the newspaper is not more diligent about digging at the correct number. The newspaper and its "supporters" clearly perceive that they must benefit by represent these ambiguous figures with no fact checking since they do it all the time. We cannot even be sure if there are real people citing these elusive figures or if the story is just a "planted hand off" by those in businesses standing to benefit ie. land owners and realtors seeking to create a "buzz" about how Thailand is booming and their political government appointees.

[DocN]

Of course it's much higher this year because many tourists didn't come last year due to the flooding. And of course November figures are 60% higher than November of last year as Nov 11 was the peak flooding month. For me I had to evacuate my western Bangkok home for almost the entire month of November due to the flooding. Typical tourism news release--slanted and missing a lot of details & facts.

Wait for Nisa, to come and explain everything!

But your points are correct, by the way!

Haha..the most bias one dimensional TV poster calling out another poster.

What points are correct btw he only made one, that what accounted for a less than a 3% drop year on year in 2011 is the reason for the increase this year?

Nobody is even saying it is thanks to the government, policies or anything of the sort, but if you think despite the massive influx of Chinese and Russian tourists and the political and economical implosion of other markets like Egypt, Greece, Spain, etc. there is not a higher number of tourist coming to Thailand you have serious SERIOUS blinkers on.

Yeah, believe what you like. I am not gonna jump on that again! The most biased, one- dimensional, huh? Thanks for that, coming from a real expert!

[moe666]

The massage people at the night market in Chiang Mai say it is slower than last year. Several of the people who own businesses in my neighborhood say it is slower this year as well. Either we have a lot of people visiting and they spend very little money locally ( CHinese ).or they are cooking the books

[zakk9]

If 20 million tourists generate a revenue of 500 billion baht, that's just 25,000 baht per tourist. That's a very low amount. Either the figures are wrong, or tourism in Thailand has become totally dominated by low budget Chinese, all included package tours. Most Europeans I know who come here on holiday spend 5-10 times that amount.

[Banzai99]

There is a Russian explosion in the Wong Amat area, and as long as there are Russian winters with temps of -30c in Russia and +30c in Thailand, it will remain so.

[tomross46]

For whom the books tole. Creative accounting. Burmese, Cambodian and Lao workers are tourist also. Not counting the Malaysian freedom fighter assisting the south.

[upena]

The Thai Government uses the United Nations World Travel Organization (UNWTO) method for counting tourists. A tourist, according to UNWTO, is anyone who visits a country for less than one year. So, figure maybe 1/2 of the reported numbers are really tourists.

[Payboy]

Foreign Tourists Visiting Thailand Rise 14%

Gross underestimation. Certainly more than just 14% foreign tourists get a rise in Thailand.