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Posted

Twice within a week I have noticed a massive leap in Russian tourism ( I do not have an axe to grind and have no bias towards our Russian friends, this is an observation).

On one of my rare trips along Chaweng after visiting a friend at the Samui inter Hospital, I popped into a Bar that also has rooms for rent, it's now under Russian ownership,

although the Bar is at the far end of Chaweng they had a good number of patrons enjoying a beer or 2, after striking up a conversation with a chap in there, over a few beers told me that

they had purchased the business less than 2 years ago and the Bar and room rental was going great, in fact the room occupancy was at 100% for the next 2 months and had been for the previous 2 months, his business had grown so fast he had taken on another hotel about 250 meters away and that to was at 100%, good luck to him I say.

The second occasion that I was a little suprised with, on Thursday evening I went to a Bar in Bangrak to watch Liverpool play in the Europa League, now with this game not kicking off until

midnight I was not really expecting to many folk watching the game, I watch the football here regular and normally Liverpool have a small following with half of them being Thai, only this week

I counted about 17 of our Russian friends, both ladies and gents, it was only when I realised that Liverpool were playing Zenit of St Petersburgh the penny dropped.

As I said earlier, this is only an observation and in no way am I trying to offend anyone.

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Posted

noticed that too e.g. at the 7/11/Familys, most other Farang customers now are Russians. Even at the most remote 7/11s on the island Russian Ladys with baby buggies.

Posted

Actually I have seen here in KPG and much more in Samui, several car with Malayan plates. Maybe just some local holiday or a new trend?

Posted

Actually I have seen here in KPG and much more in Samui, several car with Malayan plates. Maybe just some local holiday or a new trend?

That would be the local holiday called chinese new year wink.png .

Forgot to say most of the women in the cars and buses were wearing the hijab, so I'm not so sure the connection was the Chinese new year.

Posted

I was going to post my similar observations from my recent stay in Samui, it's was really noticeable to me as well, the change in the usual ages and nationalities of people I used to bump into seems to of changed considerably in under a year. Also the fact that Samui seems to be the new Ibiza with Club Resorts springing up catering for the younger market.

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Posted

Actually I have seen here in KPG and much more in Samui, several car with Malayan plates. Maybe just some local holiday or a new trend?

That would be the local holiday called chinese new year wink.png .

Forgot to say most of the women in the cars and buses were wearing the hijab, so I'm not so sure the connection was the Chinese new year.

Then I understand your confusion, escpecially in KPG I wouldn't expect many muslim tourists. But most of the malaysian tourist last week on Samui were ethnic chinese, many busloads full.

Posted

And the Koreans?

I came back from a border bounce last week and the ferry was CRAMMED with Koreans.

My work takes me round quite a number of resorts here and everywhere I go, there they are again.

Russians have been here in quantity for quite a few years now, but this huge upsurge in Koreans is something new.

R

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Posted (edited)

Actually I have seen here in KPG and much more in Samui, several car with Malayan plates. Maybe just some local holiday or a new trend?

That would be the local holiday called chinese new year wink.png .

Forgot to say most of the women in the cars and buses were wearing the hijab, so I'm not so sure the connection was the Chinese new year.

Then I understand your confusion, escpecially in KPG I wouldn't expect many muslim tourists. But most of the malaysian tourist last week on Samui were ethnic chinese, many busloads full.

Chinese New Year for certain

R

Edited by robsamui
Posted

Actually I have seen here in KPG and much more in Samui, several car with Malayan plates. Maybe just some local holiday or a new trend?

That would be the local holiday called chinese new year wink.png .

Forgot to say most of the women in the cars and buses were wearing the hijab, so I'm not so sure the connection was the Chinese new year.

Then I understand your confusion, escpecially in KPG I wouldn't expect many muslim tourists. But most of the malaysian tourist last week on Samui were ethnic chinese, many busloads full.

I've only ever stayed for one night in KPG last year, but was amazed at how many restaurants catered for Muslims.

It appeared to me that the farang population at that time (resident and tourist) was predominantly Muslim in comparison to KS where there are only small enclaves dotted around the island like the fishing families living between the market and the BBC in Bangrak.

As said before, the number of eastern Europeans visiting KS has increased considerably over the last couple of years or so, evident with the restaurants offering their menus in Russian(?) and shop signs now also in the same language.

Posted

Mass tourism sucks.

Restrict yourself to Thailand's industrial and agricultural hinterlands and you'll never meet a Russian with a baby buggie or a busload of Chinese or Koreans.

Really, this is Thailand's hidden secret. Try Phanom Sarakham, Chachoengsao. No Russians there. Also rents probably under half of what they are on Samui.

Posted

Chachoengsao? why stay there, if you can stay next to a tropical sea under palm trees and fantastic sunsets, fresh seafood, lush forests and waterfalls, fresh air the whole year round etc etc etc? I don't care at all about Russians and many tourists, they stick with themselves and don't bother others.....and Samui is not only Chaweng......don't care about the prices too, but if you want, you can live on Samui for little money too....

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Posted

don't know swing bar, but the other 3 are here for years, nothing new and all of these 4 are miles away from each other. New Ibiza would be at least 10 Club Resorts at the same area,

Posted
don't know swing bar, but the other 3 are here for years, nothing new and all of these 4 are miles away from each other. New Ibiza would be at least 10 Club Resorts at the same area,

Not really as a lot of the Ibiza places are spread out , more of a concentration of clubs together

What would make samui the Ibiza is cheap flights and a good public transport system ;)

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

Posted

This biggest change I have noticed, is the number of Chineese travelling independently. They used to stick to organised tours, now they are travelling by themselves. Renting bikes, eating in noodle shops and running into trouble wherever there is any water.

The good thing is that they spend money in the local shops, and my hotel has had a massive upturn in f&b and spa, where as before they had prepaid everything and no one got a slice of the pie.

  • Like 1
Posted
This biggest change I have noticed, is the number of Chineese travelling independently. They used to stick to organised tours, now they are travelling by themselves. Renting bikes, eating in noodle shops and running into trouble wherever there is any water.

The good thing is that they spend money in the local shops, and my hotel has had a massive upturn in f&b and spa, where as before they had prepaid everything and no one got a slice of the pie.

I remember a koren agency stating the Koreans would pay around 50 k just to be in a group , maybe the same with the Chinese , so with that , maybe they now realise the guides are needed

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

Posted

Chachoengsao? why stay there, if you can stay next to a tropical sea under palm trees and fantastic sunsets, fresh seafood, lush forests and waterfalls, fresh air the whole year round etc etc etc? I don't care at all about Russians and many tourists, they stick with themselves and don't bother others.....and Samui is not only Chaweng......don't care about the prices too, but if you want, you can live on Samui for little money too....

Chachoengsao

Tropical Sea Check

Palm Trees Check

Fresh Sea Food Check

Lush Forest Check

Waterfalls Check

Fresh Air Check

No Mass Tourism Check

No Mafia Check

No Crazy Tourist Prices Check

Expand your mind.[in Chachoengsao] thumbsup.gif

Posted

The simple fact is that the Western World is bankrupt. The average Brit/European cannot afford to holiday on Samui these days.

The Russians, Chinese, Malaysians and other asian countries have been coming to Samui since a few years ago.

The balance of power is changing to the Middle east and Asia. The future of tourism in Thailand will depend on Russian, Asian, israeli and maybe a few Aussie tourists.

Posted (edited)

what Club Resorts? didn't notice that. Where? which kind of clubs?

KC Bar Resort Chaweng a new one just opened mainly Israelly guests there (not sure that's spellings right) all of the Area around the Ark Beach seems to have developed as well having a non stop Ibiza type feel to it what with surrounding Bars playing music etc. All good for the local economy, just an observation not at criticism. Edited by spacedcowboy
Posted

Mass tourism sucks.

Restrict yourself to Thailand's industrial and agricultural hinterlands and you'll never meet a Russian with a baby buggie or a busload of Chinese or Koreans.

Really, this is Thailand's hidden secret. Try Phanom Sarakham, Chachoengsao. No Russians there. Also rents probably under half of what they are on Samui.

well i just cant wait to go to these places...................can i get a tour guidetongue.png

Posted
The simple fact is that the Western World is bankrupt. The average Brit/European cannot afford to holiday on Samui these days.

Rubbish. Phuket is full of western tourists. Samui is just a pain to get to, because of the airport situation. People are much less likely nowadays to go for a flight with layover time when a direct flight option is available. Since most people probably don't know or care about the differences between Samui and Phuket, they mostly end up in Phuket.

Posted
The simple fact is that the Western World is bankrupt. The average Brit/European cannot afford to holiday on Samui these days.

Rubbish. Phuket is full of western tourists. Samui is just a pain to get to, because of the airport situation. People are much less likely nowadays to go for a flight with layover time when a direct flight option is available. Since most people probably don't know or care about the differences between Samui and Phuket, they mostly end up in Phuket.

well someone must like Samui cos i see many coach tours that originate from phuket,"phuket" i might even go there myself!

Posted (edited)
The simple fact is that the Western World is bankrupt. The average Brit/European cannot afford to holiday on Samui these days.

Rubbish. Phuket is full of western tourists. Samui is just a pain to get to, because of the airport situation. People are much less likely nowadays to go for a flight with layover time when a direct flight option is available. Since most people probably don't know or care about the differences between Samui and Phuket, they mostly end up in Phuket.

As this is the "KOH SAMUI FORUM" we are talking about Koh Samui not Phuket. If you want to talk about Tourists in Thailand then these are the Stats:

Top 20 Most visited nationalities

Data from Department of Tourism, Ministry of Tourism and sports [20]

2012

ASEAN

6,253,480

1

China

2,789,345

2

Malaysia

2,560,963

3

Japan

1,371,253

4

Russia

1,317,387

5

South Korea

1,169,131

6

India

1,015,865

7

Laos

951,090

8

Australia

930,599

9

United Kingdom

870,164

10

Singapore

821,056

11

United States

767,420

12

Germany

681,566

13

Vietnam

617,804

14

France

572,996

15

Hong Kong

472,699

16

Indonesia

448,748

17

Cambodia

424,766

18

Taiwan

394,475

19

Sweden

350,565

20

Philippines

288,889

Edited by TheOggMonster

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