Thai tourism: Travel firms gear up for Chinese visitors

[webfact]

TOURISM
Travel firms gear up for Chinese visitors
Petchanet Pratruangkrai
The Nation
Kunming, China


Akarapol Chaimongkoltrakul, marketing director of Samphran Elephant Ground and Zoo.

BANGKOK: -- Thai travel-related businesses are preparing for an expected rise in the number of travellers from China next year - and they hope to earn more tourism revenue.

Some enterprises plan to employ more Mandarin-speaking staff, while expanding their facilities to serve more visitors.

Akaraphol Chaimongkoltrakul, marketing director of Samphran Elephant Ground and Zoo, said that because of the Chinese government's policy to get rid of "zero-dollar tours", Thai enterprises could expect Chinese visitors with more purchasing power to come to the Kingdom next year. Samphran is one of the businesses that will hire more Mandarin speakers.

He foresees that with more "quality tourists" arriving from that country, his business should earn more income from Chinese visitors as the price of a Chinese tour to Thailand would increase from an average of Bt18,000-Bt20,000 to more than Bt30,000.

Dhwat Sommanobhat, head of marketing and public relations of Riverside Masterplan, operator of Asiatique, said it would launch a new Muay Thai show to draw more foreign visitors, particularly from Western countries and China.

The Thai boxing show will be held every day. The tickets will be about Bt1,200-Bt1,500 per seat.

In the next few years, the company also plans to expand its complex to the opposite side of the Chao Phraya River to serve more tourists.

"The company is asking for the government's approval to build a cross-river ferry to connect its complex in Phra Nakhon with the Thon Buri side," Dhwat said. Sa-Nguan Limtanakul, marketing director of Ramada Plaza Bangkok Menam Riverside Hotel, said he expected the standard of Chinese travellers to improve thanks to that country's new tourism law.

Although the number of Chinese travellers dropped by 40-50 per cent after the law was enacted early last month, more Chinese with higher spending power are expected to visit Thailand after the next Chinese New Year, he said.

The hotel has staffed many of its facilities with Mandarin speakers.

About 1,400-1,500 Chinese stay at Ramada Hotel each month.

Chenyue Xu, sales and public relations coordinator at Twinpalms Phuket, said the resort would target more upper-class Chinese tourists as it was confident they would spend a lot of money. With only 97 rooms, Twinpalms has targeted honeymoon couples or luxury-seeking visitors from China.

Daraporn Sookpromsan, sales manager of Destination Patong Hotel and Spa, said it planned to attract more Chinese individual travellers as they would spend more than members of a group tour.

Daranee Sillapaolankul, sales executive of Siam Niramit, said the theatre planned to adjust some ticket prices to serve more high-end tourists from China in the future.

She said more high-income tourists from China were expected to visit Thailand as this is one of top destinations that can serve a variety of demands, while Chinese were also familiar with Thai culture and liked the flexible Thai living style.


-- The Nation 2013-11-04

[Thai at Heart]

Zero tours removal will INCREASE the number of quality tourists? Total tourists way down but quality tourist up in total?

Please someone explain this to me, because I can't get it.

Edited November 3, 2013 by Thai at Heart

[jackr]

Best clean up your act Muang Thai tourism industry (yes, that includes you dodgy tuk-tuk drivers et al) as the Chinese won't take all the flack.

[abhaya]

_{I agree that attracting individual Chinese tourists is a much better strategy, since the package tourists are notoriously cheap and culturally insensutive. I have just come back from a holiday trip to Northern Thailand and found the younger Chinese tourists travelling on their own were much friendlier and polite than their Western counterparts.}

[soi41]

Sign i Mandarin at the elephantcamp:

Picking your nose, whilst riding the the elephant, might cause you to fall off.

[lostmebike]

More tourists = More scams

[ginjag]

_{I agree that attracting individual Chinese tourists is a much better strategy, since the package tourists are notoriously cheap and culturally insensutive. I have just come back from a holiday trip to Northern Thailand and found the younger Chinese tourists travelling on their own were much friendlier and polite than their Western counterparts.}

These individual Chinese tourists are most certainly -Hong Kong, the type that has mixed with Westerners over many years, independent style people mostly wealthy. Now the rest are not as yet frequent travelers they are not comfortable alone and have to be in a group tour. I have rarely seen individual Chinese in the north east. Many Koreans - Singapore/Chinese not the masses from mainland cities, the inexperience shows-on the beach-shopping-manners-and they do not integrate with Thais the same Westerners do. They are not unfriendly it is because they do not know how to travel alone.

[IBoldnewguy]

"Although the number of Chinese travelers dropped by 40-50 per cent after the law was enacted early last month, more Chinese with higher spending power are expected to visit Thailand after the next Chinese New Year, he said."

What is the purpose of this off topic... odd ball sentence... threw me off while reading article. Since there is no other reference to "law enacted".... evidently readers are supposed to read the the writers mind. Or maybe it's a code to the politicians....

[mikebell]

Come to Pattaya for an adventure holiday. Risk beheading by para-gliding; take a ferry to Koh Larn; get beaten up after hiring a jet-ski. Or you could take a mini-bus journey to oblivion; a train journey to Derailment. Book now before you die.

[winstonc]

_{I agree that attracting individual Chinese tourists is a much better strategy, since the package tourists are notoriously cheap and culturally insensutive. I have just come back from a holiday trip to Northern Thailand and found the younger Chinese tourists travelling on their own were much friendlier and polite than their Western counterparts.}

These individual Chinese tourists are most certainly -Hong Kong, the type that has mixed with Westerners over many years, independent style people mostly wealthy. Now the rest are not as yet frequent travelers they are not comfortable alone and have to be in a group tour. I have rarely seen individual Chinese in the north east. Many Koreans - Singapore/Chinese not the masses from mainland cities, the inexperience shows-on the beach-shopping-manners-and they do not integrate with Thais the same Westerners do. They are not unfriendly it is because they do not know how to travel alone.

correct,.....they prefer to be in herds.safety in numbers....

[Benmart]

Come to Pattaya for an adventure holiday. Risk beheading by para-gliding; take a ferry to Koh Larn; get beaten up after hiring a jet-ski. Or you could take a mini-bus journey to oblivion; a train journey to Derailment. Book now before you die.

So sad, so true.

[A1Str8]

What quality tourists are they hallucinating about? Chinese represent everything except quality tourists. But I know they are referring to the money they bring in. Only problem with that is those Chinese who have money, go to other countries not Thailand.

[Benmart]

What quality tourists are they hallucinating about? Chinese represent everything except quality tourists. But I know they are referring to the money they bring in. Only problem with that is those Chinese who have money, go to other countries not Thailand.

There may some validity to that. I would quess that the better educated person, regardless of nationality, would do more research when planning a vacation. In addition, a person who has more wealth may look a bit closer at Thailand and find that it has a questionable safety record in regards to roadway, rail, water and air transport.

Disclaimer: My comments are not based on intensive research and only reflect the writer's thoughts on the topic. For more (in)credible information, please contact the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Edited November 4, 2013 by Benmart

[Thai at Heart]

I still haven't worked out why if the type

Tours stop coming that there will all of a sudden be a massive increase in quality tourists to replace them.

They didn't come last year so why should they come this year. Cause and effect disconnect here.

[wileycoyote]

I think there will have to be a great improvement an safety

[lostmebike]

'Quality tourists'

The very same that purchase a package deal back home. The very same that charter their own planes to fly here. The very same that only stay in their own country-men's hotels. Or the ones that only eat out in restaurant owned by their own nationality??? Hell they even built a restaurant on route back to the airport just to avoid the Thais!

Are these the quality tourists the government keep talking about?

[ginjag]

Here is a High end tourist holiday schedule --Beijing airport-Bangkok, transfer to hotel. next day hotel to golf course, repeated for 7 days. Hotel transfer to Bangkok airport return to Beijing. Thailand Velly Lubly the grass velly green, Chinese food good. We nebber see any scam they talk about.