Thailand Overwhelmed By Influx Of Foreign Tourists

[webfact]

Thailand overwhelmed by influx of foreign tourists
By English News



BANGKOK, April 11 – The Thai travel industry has called on the government to urgently increase the number of personnel in the tourism business to cope with surging numbers of foreign visitors to Thailand.

Thongyoo Suphavittayakorn, an executive board member of the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA), reported a record number of foreign tourists from late last year until next week’s Songkran or traditional Thai New Year festival.

If foreign tourists keep on visiting Thailand at a steady rate, the country should see an increase by 15-20 per cent this year, he said.

He is concerned about insufficient facilities and personnel including coaches and tour guides to service foreign tourists.

Bangkok, Pattaya, Krabi, Hua Hin, Samui and Chiang Mai are most popular destinations among tourists.

Mr Thongyoo said the Thai travel industry is short of the necessary labour force and agencies concerned should speed up producing human resources in this field.

The highest number of foreign visitors is from China, followed by Russia, Japan, South Korea, India, Vietnam and Indonesia.

He said Suvarnabhumi Airport served more than 51 million people last year and the number will likely increase to 55 million this year, while it is technically capable of servicing 45 million passengers annually. (MCOT online news)


-- TNA 2013-04-11

[Thai at Heart]

Maybe hire some foreign tour guides?

Where else to magically find people with language skills at short notice?

[Bluespunk]

stopping the harassment of legal russian tour operators in Phuket at the instigation of the local taxi mafia would be a good start.

[thaibutty]

stopping the harassment of legal russian tour operators in Phuket at the instigation of the local taxi mafia would be a good start.

The report didn´t mention Phuket as one of the most popular destination. So any change there is probably not on the agenda for the time being...

[waza]

Thailand has a labour shortage, zero unemployment and too many tourists lol

[technologybytes]

Everything is a drama in Thailand..

Too may tourists, not enough tourists, etc etc

[Pomthai]

Everything is a drama in Thailand..

Too may tourists, not enough tourists, etc etc

Its just a case of everybody else is fault, not Thailand. Responsibility for ones actions is just not part of the program here, its demonstrated by nearly everyone and everything here. Just this morning there's an article siting the "bus driving too slow" as the cause of an accident, the fact she was undertaking it seemed irrelevant. Busses fault.

Edited April 11, 2013 by Pomthai

[Guest]

So much for the dire predictions by the experts on TV as to how the strong Baht would result in no tourists. 29 Baht to the USD, and record setting tourism!

Next TV theory? "Rugby fans stop drinking beer due to tiny little price increase."

[mrtoad]

Certainly on Koh Chang over the past few weeks - it's noticeable that the greatest numbers are either Thais, Chinese and Russian. However, to say that the place is overwhelmed is not exactly accurate, and may of the local restaurants and bars are still struggling, as a lot of these tourists are not spending much when they get here - witness the amount of Eskies etc being carried onto the beach. Tesco and 7/11 though seem to be doing a roaring trade. I went out for dinner last night, in Lonely Beach and most of it was like a ghost town.

[yourauntbob]

Too many tourists in a touristic country, how are we ever going to survive...

[Buchholz]

Maybe hire some foreign tour guides?

Where else to magically find people with language skills at short notice?

.

Hire? No way.

Add them to foreigner groups that TAT want to work illegally for free as per the voluntourism nonsense from the other tourism thread today.

,

Edited April 11, 2013 by Buchholz

[DocN]

So much for the dire predictions by the experts on TV as to how the strong Baht would result in no tourists. 29 Baht to the USD, and record setting tourism!

Next TV theory? "Rugby fans stop drinking beer due to tiny little price increase."

Believe the TAT, huh?!

There doesn't need to be a new theory, because there has been a shift in numbers: from Westerners to Russians, Chinese...

You may figure out yourself, while this is still a huge problem for Thailand's tourism industry...but to do that, of course you would need a little more insight.

Sometimes it is just not enough to sit in your moo baan and simply love and believe everything that is being shoved down your throat!

[ZhouZhou]

The highest number of foreign visitors is from China, followed by Russia, Japan, South Korea, India, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Interesting to see that the tourists mostly come from China and other parts of Asia. and someone told me they are all from the west.

lets hope they get some staff that speaks Chinese.

[waza]

The highest number of foreign visitors is from China, followed by Russia, Japan, South Korea, India, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Interesting to see that the tourists mostly come from China and other parts of Asia. and someone told me they are all from the west.

lets hope they get some staff that speaks Chinese.

Top 20 Most visiting nationalities............

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Thailand#Annual_statistics

[Buchholz]

The highest number of foreign visitors is from China, followed by Russia, Japan, South Korea, India, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Interesting to see that the tourists mostly come from China and other parts of Asia

lets hope they get some staff that speaks Chinese.

.

As they are often height-challenged and constitute the biggest group of visiting tourists, the TAT should specifically add Chinese volunteers to come to Thailand at their own expense and act as tourism guides for their

"The Little Big Project".

.

Edited April 11, 2013 by Buchholz

[Guest]

So much for the dire predictions by the experts on TV as to how the strong Baht would result in no tourists. 29 Baht to the USD, and record setting tourism!

Next TV theory? "Rugby fans stop drinking beer due to tiny little price increase."

Believe the TAT, huh?!

There doesn't need to be a new theory, because there has been a shift in numbers: from Westerners to Russians, Chinese...

You may figure out yourself, while this is still a huge problem for Thailand's tourism industry...but to do that, of course you would need a little more insight.

Sometimes it is just not enough to sit in your moo baan and simply love and believe everything that is being shoved down your throat!

The last time I checked, a tourist is, a tourist... regardless of passport. Sorry it is not the type you enjoy, and can sit in a pub and :educate" about how rotten Thailand is...despite the fact you choose to live in it. I sit in my lovely downtown Condo, with a view of the entire city, enjoy life with a beautiful Thai wife, who owns two companies in Bangkok and Hong Kong and speaks three languages fluently. Yes, thank you, I am loving life here.

[PinkShirt]

"problem" easily fixed - a/ get some people to put on yellow shirts and block the roads to the airport b/ get some people to wear red shirts and set up camp near the major tourist areas c/ send in army and police d/ get some of the previous group to wear blue shirts and black shirts and burn down a few shopping centres.

[belg]

maybe they can HIRE SOME RUSSIANS loooooooooooool

[Chao Lao Beach]

"tour guides to service foreign tourists".

He said it, not me

[justathought]

Lots of Asian tourists. Good sign for Thailand and Asia as a whole

[Guest]

"problem" easily fixed - a/ get some people to put on yellow shirts and block the roads to the airport b/ get some people to wear red shirts and set up camp near the major tourist areas c/ send in army and police d/ get some of the previous group to wear blue shirts and black shirts and burn down a few shopping centres.

Or...you jump in a taxi, and say "Ja Pai Airport, krup" Problem solved!

[Thai at Heart]

Lots of Asian tourists. Good sign for Thailand and Asia as a whole

Not if you have a pizza restaurant, or plan to sell pie and chips. Many bars and restaurants need to rejig their entire target audience.

[waza]

Around 2 million foreigners visiting Thailand for medical treatment

[fredKroket]

Cutting back on the bargain basement cheap charlie package tours would be a good start. So many Chinese, Russian and Indian visitors being sheparded about in coaches to shopping and leaisure destinations where the tour operators get kick backs and the tour packages are all paid outside of Thailand, so the local economy sees very little revenue and they're not given a chance to explore on their own because the packages are all inclusive. Seeing 4 Indians share one beer and a lady makes you wonder, do they bring any spending money with them? This mass tourism deters the quality tourists, whom Yingluck has recently ordered TAT to target once more. Sorry but you can't have your cake and eat it.

[laobali]

Everything is a drama in Thailand..

Hardly qualifies as drama. Soap opera, comedy, farce, tragedy – yes.

[negreanu]

Enjoy it while it lasts Thailand..

28.85THB/USD = Less exports / Less Tourism = Less Jobs = More Crime = Bad News.

Edited April 11, 2013 by negreanu

[PaulHamon]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Thailand#Annual_statistics

intersting to me: percentage of country population visiting

Singapore - 15.5%

Laos - 14.5%

Malaysia - 8.6%

Hong Kong - 6.6%

Australia - 4.1%

Sweden - 3.7%

Cambodia - 3.2%

South Korea - 2.3%

Taiwan - 1.7%

United Kingdom - 1.4%

Japan - 1.1%

Russia - 0.9%

France - 0.9%

Germany - 0.8%

Vietnam - 0.7%

Philippines - 0.3%

United States - 0.2%

China - 0.2%

Indonesia - 0.2%

India - 0.1%

[Phil Conners]

My daughter would have tagged this #firstworldproblem.

[upena]

Just got back from Koh Lanta (Krabi province) - beaches deserted.

[HUAHIN62]

If you look at the tourism figures you will see that the western toursists (except Sweden) in the top 20 havent decreased. The number of Asian tourist have just increased faster than the western tourists. For all the TAT stats doubters just check the other countries stats and you will see it corresponds with the TAT stats. Asian tourist don't like the beach and the 2 P cities won't get the benefit from the Asian tourists inflows, they will be going up country. If however the Thai government allow a upmarket casinos in the P cities they will attract the Chinese by the millions.