Thailand tourist arrivals grow unexpectedly January thru July

[GaoYuk]

I knew them bags with cats on them were going to be a hit!

[marell]

Thailand used to be a great place for a cheap fun holiday but not now I need 70K Baht a week just to survive for food and beer. Have my own condo so dont use hotels either.

10K a day for food and drink? Wow.That does seem a bit steep, and certainly doesn't pass the cheap fun holiday test. But since the 'cheap' part apparently doesn't apply anymore, hope you're at least having fun.

Edited September 18, 2013 by marell

[hellodolly]

The best that they could come up with in the newspaper was a photo showing "departures" in an article about "arrivals."

Your rite I went back and checked the photo.

When will the TOT BS stop

[hellodolly]

Thailand used to be a great place for a cheap fun holiday but not now I need 70K Baht a week just to survive for food and beer. Have my own condo so dont use hotels either.

10K a day for food and drink? Wow.That does seem a bit steep, and certainly doesn't pass the cheap fun holiday test. Hope you're having a good time.

I believe you are rite. It will how ever pass the BS test.

[Spalpeen]

More people from Laos and Singapore than Australia and Russia? I think that tells you what kind of 'arrivals' we're talking about here.

[hellodolly]

Where are all the tourist sleeping? Hotel occupancy rates just do not reflect a 21% increase. http://www2.bot.or.th/statistics/ReportPage.aspx?reportID=624&language=eng

These tourist dont seem to eat in restaurants, or drink in bars much either. I see nothing but mostly empty.

Fascinating data set on that website. Incredible growth in tourist numbers since about 2007 or so, but quite slow between 1997 and 2007. . But I wonder if the growth in numbers over the past 6 years can be maintained. For a start the infrastructure, airport etc, are already bursting at the seams. But even if that wasn't the case will it be possible to keep sourcing new markets to keep the number heading ever higher? The growth seen was a marketing led policy adopted by Thailand to tap into new markets. Where though is the theoretical maximum? If increasing the numbers is no longer feasible or desirable then will Thailand finally find a way to raise its prices or otherwise go "upmarket"?

I have no problem with the concept of growth in Tourism. People passing through figured in is OK with me as it has always been figured into the total numbers. I would how ever consider a far more important thing the amount of money being spent by these tourists. Is it also growing or are we just attracting thriftier travelers?

"Occupancy rates in hotels have actually been quite stable over the years though"

Are they shifting from High end rooms to cheaper rooms?

[paddyjenkins]

Where are all the tourist sleeping? Hotel occupancy rates just do not reflect a 21% increase. http://www2.bot.or.th/statistics/ReportPage.aspx?reportID=624&language=eng

These tourist dont seem to eat in restaurants, or drink in bars much either. I see nothing but mostly empty.

Fascinating data set on that website. Incredible growth in tourist numbers since about 2007 or so, but quite slow between 1997 and 2007. . But I wonder if the growth in numbers over the past 6 years can be maintained. For a start the infrastructure, airport etc, are already bursting at the seams. But even if that wasn't the case will it be possible to keep sourcing new markets to keep the number heading ever higher? The growth seen was a marketing led policy adopted by Thailand to tap into new markets. Where though is the theoretical maximum? If increasing the numbers is no longer feasible or desirable then will Thailand finally find a way to raise its prices or otherwise go "upmarket"?

I have no problem with the concept of growth in Tourism. People passing through figured in is OK with me as it has always been figured into the total numbers. I would how ever consider a far more important thing the amount of money being spent by these tourists. Is it also growing or are we just attracting thriftier travelers?

"Occupancy rates in hotels have actually been quite stable over the years though"

Are they shifting from High end rooms to cheaper rooms?

It looks to me like there has been no rise in average room rate for the past 3 years before which they did not provide data.

So it looks so far that no progress at all has been made in going upmarket.

I believe the vast majority of visitors are too price sensitive to pay more than they are. And since Thailand has gone for numbers it is hard to imagine many of its visitors are even capable of paying higher prices. I am extremely sceptical that Thailand will be able to go upmarket in any meaningful way. Even rich people I know don't like to pay more than necessary for anything. I am not calling myself rich and I still stay in 3 star hotels when in Thailand as I have done for the past 15 years. But my net worth is more than 20 times higher than it was 15 years ago. Call me a cheap charlie if you like, i don't care, i see that as a compliment.

So back to the point, no evidence so far of going upmarket, hard to see numbers increasing like they have even if just because of infrastructure limitations, so is the best growth in tourism now in the past? Was the post GFC spurt a flash in the pan?

[dcutman]

Where are all the tourist sleeping? Hotel occupancy rates just do not reflect a 21% increase. http://www2.bot.or.th/statistics/ReportPage.aspx?reportID=624&language=eng

These tourist dont seem to eat in restaurants, or drink in bars much either. I see nothing but mostly empty.

Fascinating data set on that website. Incredible growth in tourist numbers since about 2007 or so, but quite slow between 1997 and 2007. Occupancy rates in hotels have actually been quite stable over the years though. But I wonder if the growth in numbers over the past 6 years can be maintained. For a start the infrastructure, airport etc, are already bursting at the seams. But even if that wasn't the case will it be possible to keep sourcing new markets to keep the number heading ever higher? The growth seen was a marketing led policy adopted by Thailand to tap into new markets. Where though is the theoretical maximum? If increasing the numbers is no longer feasible or desirable then will Thailand finally find a way to raise its prices or otherwise go "upmarket"?

Actually the growth seen during 1997 to 2010 was more inline with growth rates seen with the rest of the world. Not sure how the TAT started figuring it after that.

My point with Occupancy rates not increasing along with huge increases in tourist arrivals just does not make any sense. From 2010(14 million) to end of 2013(projected 24 million) tourist/business people visited Thailand. Has 5 million hotel rooms been built in 3 years to keep the occupancy rates relatively the same? Highly unlikely, unless tourist come to Thailand and just walk around 24 hours a day and not get a hotel room, occupancy rates should be over 90%

Why is it during low season, restaurants and bars have no people in them even though the tourist numbers during low season are larger now than during high season a couple of years ago? See graphs below.

[paddyjenkins]

why do you think 5mio rooms would be needed? the monthly arrival rate rose by about 800k over 3 years. just to get a ball park estimate lets assume an average 1 week stay, this means 200k extra rooms. factoring in a 65% occupancy rate mean about 330k rooms. say the average hotel has 200 rooms, that means about 1500 new hotels, or 500 a year. given the huge amount of construction iver the past few years then yes, quite possible.

maybe someone knows how many rooms have been added over the past 3 years?

[Mr Brown]

Mmmm lots of Russians in Phuket at the moment and come high season the Island will be declared an annex of mother Russia there will be so many of them here.

[dcutman]

why do you think 5mio rooms would be needed? the monthly arrival rate rose by about 800k over 3 years. just to get a ball park estimate lets assume an average 1 week stay, this means 200k extra rooms. factoring in a 65% occupancy rate mean about 330k rooms. say the average hotel has 200 rooms, that means about 1500 new hotels, or 500 a year. given the huge amount of construction iver the past few years then yes, quite possible.

maybe someone knows how many rooms have been added over the past 3 years?

I should not have confused things with an arbitrary number of hotel rooms, that was not the point I was trying to make.

Paris, New York and Las Vegas barley have 300k hotel rooms with over 100 million visitors a year all combined.

The point I was making is, where the hell are all these tourist ? Where do they sleep and eat, especially during low season, when the tourist numbers are greater now during low season, than they were during high season a year or two ago.

Pattaya for example, (8.5 million visitors 2012, TAT) it has changed a lot in the last 10 years, but the entertainment areas haven't really, its all pretty much the same, but is dead, same in Jomtien.

[maximillian]

Thailand's top-ten foreign traveller countries of origin are 1 China, 2 Japan, 3 South Korea, 4 Lao PDR, 5 Vietnam, 6 Singapore, 7 India,

8 Australia, and 9 Russia, in that order.

What country is no. 10 ?

Malaysia ?

[DocN]

No. 10 is the home of most TAT- members: Absurdistan!

[madmitch]

Thailand's top-ten foreign traveller countries of origin are 1 China, 2 Japan, 3 South Korea, 4 Lao PDR, 5 Vietnam, 6 Singapore, 7 India,

8 Australia, and 9 Russia, in that order.

What country is no. 10 ?

Malaysia ?

I think Malaysia is number 1, and that is the one they have missed.

[JulesMad]

TAT is so full of it! Their numbers ALWAYS go up

[Rimbuman]

Tourists are definitely not in Jomtien

Hardly see them in CNX either.

[NeverSure]

Perhaps these people just came here to lay ties (for the new railroad racks).

The only reason I go to Thailand is to lay Thais.

[zydeco]

Tourism is up.

The Rice Mountain is down.

Wages are higher.

Inflation is stable.

And there will be no flood.

Let's all take a free train ride to Chiang Mai to celebrate the good news.

[ratcatcher]

Perhaps these people just came here to lay ties (for the new railroad racks).

The only reason I go to Thailand is to lay Thais.

Makes more sense than going to Hawaii to tie leis?