April To See More Foreign Tourists: Thailand

[webfact]

TOURISM
April to see more foreign tourists
The Nation


The annual Songkran festival has been hailed as one of major events that draw a number of foreign visitors to Thailand.

BANGKOK: -- The number of inbound travellers to Thailand is anticipated to increase by 18.6 per cent this month to about 2 million and generate Bt83.7 billion in revenue, up 20 per cent over April 2012, according to Kasikorn Research Centre.

About 700,000 of those inbound visitors, or 35 per cent, intend to enjoy the Songkran Festival running from yesterday to Tuesday, an increase of 16.7 per cent, which will generate revenue of about 29.3 billion, up 18.1 per cent over Songkran last year.

The annual Songkran festival has been the magnet drawing foreign visitors to Thailand in April, with a number of events taking place nationwide. Khon Kaen Mayor Teerasak Teekayuphan expected 300,000 visitors at the province’s "Khao Niew Road", with spending of at least Bt600 million during April 5-15.

Last year, Thailand welcomed over 22 million visitors and it targets a total of 24 million in 2013. The tourism sector has not yet reported severe repercussions from the strong baht. Thai baht has so far this year advanced over 5 per cent against US dollar and over 6 per cent against Japanese yen.

-- The Nation 2013-04-15

[jalansanitwong]

For a country that claims tourism is only a fraction of its GDP they certainly seem to be pre- occupied with tourist numbers.

Every Thai man and his dog seems to have an opinion on numbers. 20 m 22 m 24 million Cant wait for 100 million. There wont be any sand left on Phuket or Krabi in 5 years. Top end of the Gulf is already smelly and poluted.

You want mass tourism? Pay the price.

[davehowden]

Does this "April" lady work a massage shop somewhere then?

[moe666]

In Chiang Mai wwe have a large influx of tourist for Songkram but they will be gone next week, lots of chinese and farangs

[Tomtomtom69]

For a country that claims tourism is only a fraction of its GDP they certainly seem to be pre- occupied with tourist numbers.

Every Thai man and his dog seems to have an opinion on numbers. 20 m 22 m 24 million Cant wait for 100 million. There wont be any sand left on Phuket or Krabi in 5 years. Top end of the Gulf is already smelly and poluted.

You want mass tourism? Pay the price.

Exactly. This is what I've been telling people for years. I've also noticed however that tourism is starting to play an even bigger part of the Thai GDP than previously thought - so maybe tourism IS as important as they claim - but I'm becoming a bit tired of all the numbers they talk about. After all, with Myanmar opening up, much of Thailand's manufacturing capacity could be lost to them over the next few years, particularly in industries that are wage sensitive.

With 100m tourists even Nakorn Sawan may look like Chiang Mai's night bazaar does now.

[Markaew]

For a country that claims tourism is only a fraction of its GDP they certainly seem to be pre- occupied with tourist numbers.

Every Thai man and his dog seems to have an opinion on numbers. 20 m 22 m 24 million Cant wait for 100 million. There wont be any sand left on Phuket or Krabi in 5 years. Top end of the Gulf is already smelly and poluted.

You want mass tourism? Pay the price.

Your statement would be correct if these "estimates" were accurate. We have seen these fantasy numbers many times. I agree they seem to be a little too worked up over tourism when they claim it doesn't really help their economy that much.

[Thai at Heart]

For a country that claims tourism is only a fraction of its GDP they certainly seem to be pre- occupied with tourist numbers.

Every Thai man and his dog seems to have an opinion on numbers. 20 m 22 m 24 million Cant wait for 100 million. There wont be any sand left on Phuket or Krabi in 5 years. Top end of the Gulf is already smelly and poluted.

You want mass tourism? Pay the price.

Exactly. This is what I've been telling people for years. I've also noticed however that tourism is starting to play an even bigger part of the Thai GDP than previously thought - so maybe tourism IS as important as they claim - but I'm becoming a bit tired of all the numbers they talk about. After all, with Myanmar opening up, much of Thailand's manufacturing capacity could be lost to them over the next few years, particularly in industries that are wage sensitive.

With 100m tourists even Nakorn Sawan may look like Chiang Mai's night bazaar does now.

Tourism is probably under calculated and employs millions. I would expect that the very loyal Thai tourism operators will be first in line in Burma to exploit the explosion of tourism there.

[DocN]

For a country that claims tourism is only a fraction of its GDP they certainly seem to be pre- occupied with tourist numbers.

Every Thai man and his dog seems to have an opinion on numbers. 20 m 22 m 24 million Cant wait for 100 million. There wont be any sand left on Phuket or Krabi in 5 years. Top end of the Gulf is already smelly and poluted.

You want mass tourism? Pay the price.

Your statement would be correct if these "estimates" were accurate. We have seen these fantasy numbers many times. I agree they seem to be a little too worked up over tourism when they claim it doesn't really help their economy that much.

...and when they are so crazy about getting "hi- end"- tourism to Thailand....

[rubl]

Someone should tell this KRC that 2m inbound travellers in April can't be the right figure. Why, even less than two weeks ago we had our most reliable source of information, TAT that is, tell us that in only the two holiday weeks this month they already expected 2.69m travelers .

[davejones]

In Chiang Mai wwe have a large influx of tourist for Songkram but they will be gone next week, lots of chinese and farangs

Most will be gone, but I've met quite a few Chinese tourists who are in large groups that are here for a month. And they will definitely be back. All the ones that I met love Thailand. I even met some that want to come to start a business here. Chinese tourism to Thailand will explode over the coming years.

[Locationthailand]

Sure it is a draw card. So why boast numbers of tourism in April will rise? Stating the obvious is so boring...

[muratremix]

For a country that claims tourism is only a fraction of its GDP they certainly seem to be pre- occupied with tourist numbers.

Every Thai man and his dog seems to have an opinion on numbers. 20 m 22 m 24 million Cant wait for 100 million. There wont be any sand left on Phuket or Krabi in 5 years. Top end of the Gulf is already smelly and poluted.

You want mass tourism? Pay the price.

Please don't forget large xxxx holes that are housing xxxxx and pees of locals and tourists in the heart of beaches at kata, surin and kamala beach!

Who in the right mind thinks of making a xxxx hole next to the beach where tourists (Walking ATM $$$ for Thai) go?

Yes, this is in Phuket.

Edited April 15, 2013 by metisdead
Profanity

[kutjebu]

Hopefully the Thai baht is going the same way then the Thai stock market the last couple of weeks.....down.

[Jim walker]

I think we
can safely take these figures as utter gospel in the last 15 years I have never
heard anything but the truth and honesty come from any politician or government
department in Thailand.

[Nisa]

For a country that claims tourism is only a fraction of its GDP they certainly seem to be pre- occupied with tourist numbers.

Every Thai man and his dog seems to have an opinion on numbers. 20 m 22 m 24 million Cant wait for 100 million. There wont be any sand left on Phuket or Krabi in 5 years. Top end of the Gulf is already smelly and poluted.

You want mass tourism? Pay the price.

6% of GDP is not small and that has been the basic number reported for a while. However, if tourism was suddenly to drop in half, Thailand is not going to be crushed and barring any other disaster it would still see positive GDP growth for the year. Although I don't know many Thais whose livelihood depends on knowing the number of tourists TAT puts out, I have never heard Thais discussing, debating and becoming emotional about the number of tourists being reported and doubt the vast majority of them could even come close to guessing the number of tourists being reported by TAT or other officials. On the other hand, it really does seem to get some poster's panties in a bunch here every time a Thaivisa reprints a story about tourism numbers from news sources geared to the foreign readers.

The only Thais that seem extremely concerned with the Tourism numbers are the people responsible for helping the numbers to grow and of course that is their job. Most other Thais probably don't give it a thought at all except for those possibly dependent on knowing tourism estimates (and these are probably the folks TAT depends on for their estimates) for their business but probably most of those involved in tourism could care less about the numbers and are simply more concerned with getting the business of those who do come be it a 10 million or 30 million.

What is more important than the actual numbers for the vast majority of business owners or those involved with tourism is if the number are going up and down and by what percentage. It is obviously impossible to get perfect numbers but using the same reporting data each period allows a view into how much tourism is increasing or decreasing.

Edited April 15, 2013 by Nisa

[ginjag]

Sure it is a draw card. So why boast numbers of tourism in April will rise? Stating the obvious is so boring...

I hope this Flu in China does not get out of hand, What will TAT do ban the Chinese from entry ???-then we will be almost empty. Just to add why didn't it mention MAY when the rains really start.

It's a godsend DMK airport is up and running, if it hadn't it would have been curtains for the tourist industry. What a fabulouse place to be in but isn't it a shame that no one cares enough to enforce the laws enough to improve it here. pity greed and corruption is ingrained too deep.

[lemoncake]

my driver who is in the airport daily says the airport is empty compared to usual. May be they all coming by busses

[mancub]

In Chiang Mai wwe have a large influx of tourist for Songkram but they will be gone next week, lots of chinese and farangs

Most will be gone, but I've met quite a few Chinese tourists who are in large groups that are here for a month. And they will definitely be back. All the ones that I met love Thailand. I even met some that want to come to start a business here. Chinese tourism to Thailand will explode over the coming years.

Thailand will quickly become China's Disneyland....and will most likely prostitute itself as such , quickly losing what it has left of it's true culture and remaining values.