TAT workshop to find way for rise in quality tourists to 40%

[leisureboy]

"First-time and repeater tourists will be in focus equally. At present, 70 per cent of foreign tourists are repeaters. Next year, the first-visit group will increase its share, with the hope that they will be future repeaters.

Making lemonade out of lemons...they can look forward to when all tourists will be first-time.

BTW I've been here for 4 years and no plans on leaving.

[chooka]

Sounds easy. Just keep raising prices and the low quality tourists won't be able to afford to visit.

That's the quickest and easiest way to have only high class tourists. The problem is when they push all the other tourists out a lot of Thai's are going to be unemployed unless they can rake up 25+ million high end tourists.

[friskodude]

I've written several guidebooks to Thailand, and I've NEVER had any help from TAT. The org is a scam and should be dismanded, but that will never happen. Too many hands in the pot

[bigbamboo]

To paraphrase, every country gets the tourists it deserves.

[moe666]

What surprises most about this thread is that no one has said the words from yesteryear, It is just one more nail in the coffin.

[MaxLee]

Workshop to find way for rise in quality tourists to 40%

Let me define workshop:

- Rip off tourists and clueless farang like there is no tomorrow

-lie about your a$$ about any incident that happens

[Benmart]

I love Thailand, bumps, smells and all. No one is forcing me to live here and we can all vote with our feet and catch a plane if we don't like it.

[DocN]

I love Thailand, bumps, smells and all. No one is forcing me to live here and we can all vote with our feet and catch a plane if we don't like it.

Did it really take us 97 posts today, to get to the ever so classic "if you don't like it- go home"- post?

[i claudius]

I think i saw a quality tourist with lots of money the other day ,he was being mugged by two guys who own a jetski.

[draftvader]

Quality country, quality offering = Quality tourists.

TAT can I have my money now?

Sent from my HTC Desire using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[bigbamboo]

If only they could start a workshop in Thailand to find some quality politicians.

[GreenSnapper]

I've written several guidebooks to Thailand, and I've NEVER had any help from TAT. The org is a scam and should be dismanded, but that will never happen. Too many hands in the pot

Welcome to TV, Carl!

[Lancelot]

Does this mean more of us will have to wear shirts and refrain from screaming <deleted> every other word?

[lumply]

Let's hope the tourists who are not " quality " decide to take their money elsewhere and we will see how long it takes to affect Nana Plaza, Soi Cowboy, Pattaya and the like when the they are ignored by the quality arrivals.

This will never happen. I regard myself as a part time quality tourist in that a five star holiday and the trappings is more than an occasional occurrence, but with a NP night out sometimes. There must be plenty of other tourists and business people who dip in and out but still spend far more than the back-packers and hand to mouth expats put together, even when they choose to go down market.

[jaidam]

Nice photo, of Boracay.

you should try google image search - this suggests it is Wasana Resort Ranong

http://www.zoover.com/thailand/thailand/ranong/wasana-resort/bungalow/photos

Have you been to this beach?

I thought it looked more like a beach in the Phillipines due to the 2 boats on the beach in the photo all having outriggers and western script names. If you look closely at the boat in the water at the far left of the pic, it also has outriggers and the shape of all 3 boats look more like the Phillipine bancas rather than a Thai style boat. Searching google image I can not find a single pic of a boat at Bang Ben beach or Wasana resort with outriggers but lots of pics with longtail boats.

Having said that the Bang Ben beach does have lots of images with dead wood that looks similar. You may well be right but I'm not 100% convinced.

[jamhar]

You don't need to get 300 people together for a junket at the taxpayers expense. The Ambassadors have been telling you over and over what the problems are. The high end farangs are not going to come to Thailand whilst the beaches are dirty, the streets and rivers are littered with garbage, duel pricing and scams are rampant. Setting up safety zones leads one to think that the rest of the areas are no go zones and doesn't sound attractive for a holiday.

The problems are been plastered all over the international media for years but Thailand has always put the earplugs in the blindfolds on putting it down to farang hysteria.

Very true. I agree 100%. and you can include middle level farangs also.

I can only share my observations as an American traveler. And I've noticed that Americans are a small fraction of the travelers here.

1) I believe most Americans would be shocked by the conditions in Thailand unless you spend lots of money

2) If you're going to spend as much $ as you would in Miami, Las Vegas, Honolulu, Jamaica, or Cancun, Why would you come to Thailand? What is the draw of Thailand?

3) see #1 above again

But you maybe able to increase the quality of visitors (meaning willing to spend more money) from Russia and China. Thats probably low lying fruit that Thailand can take advantage of quickly.

I cant believe I agreed with chooka on a topic

[IsaanUSA]

Nice photo, of Boracay.

you should try google image search - this suggests it is Wasana Resort Ranong

http://www.zoover.com/thailand/thailand/ranong/wasana-resort/bungalow/photos

Google image search? No.

You need to use www.tineye.com

TinEye lets you search images. The image in this story if from the Philippines. Pamilacan Island

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2010-12/12/content_11688215.htm

[wolf5370]

I used to contract to a major retailer back in the UK. A high street name well known as a middle/upper middle class department store chain. About 15 years or so ago, they got fed up of watching new kids on the block like Gap and Next etc attracting all the young fashion conscious and earning oodles of profit (with their sweatshop produced clothing etc). So, this company decided to copy them - they turn away from hundreds of European suppliers in favour of Indian and other Asian suppliers and changed their clothing styles and colours. The end result is they spent the next decade trying to recover - nearly going bust several times in the process. The immediate effect was that they pushed away and lost their 50 plus middle class women that were their mainstay and failed to compete against the new guys (colours didn't help either as greys and purples were the fashion colours at the time and though this is easy to hide in a small jazzy shop, it makes for a horrendous display for a department store with acres of racking).

Thailand is risking exactly the same thing - by pushing away and making it unattractive for their mainstay (back packers/cheap tropical holiday set/families on a budget/honeymooners/lads n girls cheap get away) in favour of a chimerical "quality" tourist. They try to compete with beautiful clean white fine sand beaches, shallow turquoise waters with living reefs, police/local and national government that protects tourists and comes down hard on scams and littering, locals who welcome and are very friendly to the tourists (as they realise it's their living) - and we all know what they have as a carrot.

Add to this that the real wealthy have many choices and they usually like to play in placed known to be places where only the wealthy go.

[wolf5370]

Let's hope the tourists who are not " quality " decide to take their money elsewhere and we will see how long it takes to affect Nana Plaza, Soi Cowboy, Pattaya and the like when the they are ignored by the quality arrivals.

This will never happen. I regard myself as a part time quality tourist in that a five star holiday and the trappings is more than an occasional occurrence, but with a NP night out sometimes. There must be plenty of other tourists and business people who dip in and out but still spend far more than the back-packers and hand to mouth expats put together, even when they choose to go down market.

You make the mistake of thinking margins rather than volume. There are simply far, far more back packers/hand to mouth expats [sic] and cheap/package holiday makers than there are people like yourself here - and that fact alone (not withstanding the multitude of other reasons) is why it will remain so. The country might make more out of you than a couple of back packers, but the volume is what makes the difference - that's what keeps McDonalds et al in business.

[NeverSure]

You don't need to get 300 people together for a junket at the taxpayers expense. The Ambassadors have been telling you over and over what the problems are. The high end farangs are not going to come to Thailand whilst the beaches are dirty, the streets and rivers are littered with garbage, duel pricing and scams are rampant. Setting up safety zones leads one to think that the rest of the areas are no go zones and doesn't sound attractive for a holiday.

The problems are been plastered all over the international media for years but Thailand has always put the earplugs in the blindfolds on putting it down to farang hysteria.

Very true. I agree 100%. and you can include middle level farangs also.

I can only share my observations as an American traveler. And I've noticed that Americans are a small fraction of the travelers here.

1) I believe most Americans would be shocked by the conditions in Thailand unless you spend lots of money

2) If you're going to spend as much $ as you would in Miami, Las Vegas, Honolulu, Jamaica, or Cancun, Why would you come to Thailand? What is the draw of Thailand?

3) see #1 above again

But you maybe able to increase the quality of visitors (meaning willing to spend more money) from Russia and China. Thats probably low lying fruit that Thailand can take advantage of quickly.

I cant believe I agreed with chooka on a topic

You are so right. Also, Thailand is a long trip for Americans. It's grueling. Same for Canadians.

I looked the other day and I was surprised (and embarrassed that I didn't know) just how much higher in latitude many of the W. European countries are than the US. No wonder Brits complain about the cold and so much worse for those above them. Russia is really cold.

But Canadians and Americans can simply go to anywhere in the S. of the US and find near-tropical weather at reasonable prices and with clean, first world infrastructure added to it.

Walk down a main street in Phuket. I can smell the raw sewage, and I swear they dump it right into the ocean. They expect me to swim in that? Phucket is a shithole of almost frightening tangles of overhead wires and filthy streets, crazy drivers and litter. That's not to mention the ripoffs or the violence.

Parts of Thailand are wonderful to visit and I do so a couple of times a year. I don't know if I'm a "high end" tourist. I have no idea. I rented a car in Bangkok for all of April and drove all over Isaan for the experience. I stayed in a hotel every night and at all meals in restaurants. I spent about US$10k including air fare and car rental. Gas, food, hotels, tips... Surely I didn't hurt Thailand's income any even though I didn't stay at any 5 star hotels.

If I want to go "high end" I'll just take a 5 hour flight to Florida. Who is Thailand trying to kid?

Edited July 3, 2013 by NeverSure

[PaullyW]

You don't need to get 300 people together for a junket at the taxpayers expense. The Ambassadors have been telling you over and over what the problems are. The high end farangs are not going to come to Thailand whilst the beaches are dirty, the streets and rivers are littered with garbage, duel pricing and scams are rampant. Setting up safety zones leads one to think that the rest of the areas are no go zones and doesn't sound attractive for a holiday.

The problems are been plastered all over the international media for years but Thailand has always put the earplugs in the blindfolds on putting it down to farang hysteria.

Very true. I agree 100%. and you can include middle level farangs also.

I can only share my observations as an American traveler. And I've noticed that Americans are a small fraction of the travelers here.

1) I believe most Americans would be shocked by the conditions in Thailand unless you spend lots of money

2) If you're going to spend as much $ as you would in Miami, Las Vegas, Honolulu, Jamaica, or Cancun, Why would you come to Thailand? What is the draw of Thailand?

3) see #1 above again

But you maybe able to increase the quality of visitors (meaning willing to spend more money) from Russia and China. Thats probably low lying fruit that Thailand can take advantage of quickly.

I cant believe I agreed with chooka on a topic

Agree. I think the draw is

1. Thailand is something far removed and very exotic for most Americans

2. You'd be hard pressed to find an American man who doesn't know of all the cheap (from Thai men and women) -- I think nearly everyone underestimates the sex scene

3. Good food

That's truly it. People just want to see what a place so different is like. Even if most of them come to the conclusion that Thailand is sh!tty (which they do), it's part of the experience, so they are fine with it. When they get back to the US, they go on and on about how sh!tty things in Thailand are and how much fun it was because of it.

[Somtamnication]

You can raise the quality of tourists. It is their country. But you gotta raise the quality of the hosts, as well.

[Thai at Heart]

I used to contract to a major retailer back in the UK. A high street name well known as a middle/upper middle class department store chain. About 15 years or so ago, they got fed up of watching new kids on the block like Gap and Next etc attracting all the young fashion conscious and earning oodles of profit (with their sweatshop produced clothing etc). So, this company decided to copy them - they turn away from hundreds of European suppliers in favour of Indian and other Asian suppliers and changed their clothing styles and colours. The end result is they spent the next decade trying to recover - nearly going bust several times in the process. The immediate effect was that they pushed away and lost their 50 plus middle class women that were their mainstay and failed to compete against the new guys (colours didn't help either as greys and purples were the fashion colours at the time and though this is easy to hide in a small jazzy shop, it makes for a horrendous display for a department store with acres of racking).

Thailand is risking exactly the same thing - by pushing away and making it unattractive for their mainstay (back packers/cheap tropical holiday set/families on a budget/honeymooners/lads n girls cheap get away) in favour of a chimerical "quality" tourist. They try to compete with beautiful clean white fine sand beaches, shallow turquoise waters with living reefs, police/local and national government that protects tourists and comes down hard on scams and littering, locals who welcome and are very friendly to the tourists (as they realise it's their living) - and we all know what they have as a carrot.

Add to this that the real wealthy have many choices and they usually like to play in placed known to be places where only the wealthy go.

The cost of the flights alone mean that Thailand is never going to be a true budget destination.

It is between a rock and a hard place. They should have designated one or two places to receive high end tourists. The way it us now, everything is a combination between 1 star and 5 star within very small areas. It can't be undone.

[MaxLee]

Thailand due to its economy and populist policy SCAMS is becoming the most expensive destination in South East Asia,

Want some advice on how to run a workshop,... ask the Russian Mafia in Phuket...

[Ricardo]

Perhaps the TAT might instruct Immigration to turn-back anyone wearing shorts/T-shirt at the airport, that would raise the 'quality', although volume might take a serious fall !

Or anyone who puts their local-address as a guesthouse or sub-four-star resort-hotel ?

Anyone who ticks song-thaew or bus as 'mode-of-transport', that would please the taxi-mafia !

Or how about turning-away anyone with a shaven-head, or shoulder-length hair, equally logical/fallacious IMO !

Where do I send my invoice, for having solved the problem, anyone ? Kerchinggg !

Edited July 4, 2013 by Ricardo

[jamhar]

Maybe Its time to define Tourist by spending level.

The following are normalized for TL only.

Of course it depends on where in TL you are, but the way i see it

1) Low End - backpackers/hostels - If dont want to pay for a private room, you're probably a low end tourist.

Nothing against it. I personally would like to experience a hostel sometimes just to say i did it.

I sometimes like to travel on the cheap myself.

2) middle - You tip, even if its only sometimes, stay in aircon hotels and guest houses.

You eat in western food places because you miss it. you eat street food because you want to try it

or because you like it. You shop for bargains, not necessarily the lowest price.

You drink cocktails, with western booze because you miss it. and try the thai drinks because you're here!

3) HighEnd - you stay in $100 hotels and above. Nuff said

4) Elite - You stay in exclusive hotels. I generally stay away from these people.

I think I'm allergic to them. I know a few, and i tell them that lol.

In TL, I'm a #2. I dont know if I like the sound of that ( In the US, a "#2" has a not too flattering meaning)

I believe the goal is to get more $/traveler. They may have done a study and have seen that increasing the number of tourists per year is going to get increasingly difficult in the future. So the best path to tourism growth in the future is to get more bang per tourist. This is actually low lying fruit for TL. TL probably still has a significant level of low end, and low middle end travelers. that is, travelers that are on a very tight budget. If TL can attract more travelers who are on a move favorable budget, then TL can still see tourism growth (via dollars) , without having to increase the tourist numbers each year. How they can do that has yet to be seen, but the tourist industry is one of the very effective parts of TL's government so i wouldn't bet against them.

Just the views of one man.

[DiNiro]

If you could get past the airport without meeting numerous scammers it would bring in more high rollers.

Disgusting Thai culture at its finest.