Thailand tops in tourism receipt growth, UNWTO says

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Thailand tops in tourism receipt growth, UNWTO says
Bamrung Amnatcharoenrit
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Thailand has ranked among the world's highest in terms of growth in tourism receipts this year according to data collected by the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).

The "UNWTO World Tourism Barometer" said in a release that of the 25 largest international tourism earners, 10 destinations show double-digit growth, though the figures are not very helpful for comparison purposes, as different periods were applied, ranging from the first six months to the first 10. By that measure, however, Thailand ranked first with growth of 28 per cent.

In the first nine months of the year, Asia and the Pacific showed strong growth in international tourist arrivals, at 6 per cent compared with the same period last year, thanks largely to Asean, which posted 12-per-cent growth.

Overall, international arrivals grew by 5 per cent in the first nine months to 845 million worldwide, an estimated increase of 41 million from the same period last year. Growth was bolstered by Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, which both posted an increase of about 6 per cent.

"International tourism continues to grow above expectations, supporting economic growth in both advanced and emerging economies and bringing much-needed support to job creation, GDP and the balance of payments of many destinations," Taleb Rifai, UNWTO secretary-general, said in the release.

Sisdivachr Cheewarattanaporn, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents, said the number of foreign-tourist arrivals in Thailand was projected to reach 27 million next year. India and Indonesia, which are two of the world's most populous nations, are promising source markets because their people are looking for countries to travel to, thanks to economic prosperity. Growth in travel here from Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore, however, is projected to be flat.

Political tension is the major risk for Thailand. He said it was hard to predict the tourism outlook because the political landscape was so uncertain.

Dr Ronnachit Mahattanapreut, senior vice president for finance and administration at Centara Hotels & Resorts, agreed. He said politics was the only risk to the tourism scenario next year. It is a sensitive industry. If no violence breaks out, tourism can move ahead with a flow of foreigner visitors into the Kingdom.


-- The Nation 2013-12-17

[Rob8891]

There you are then.... I knew that the talk of 400,000 stay-away tourists was a load of old keech.

still wondering which budget they filched these funds from though, to inflate the income.

[bkkfaranguy]

There you are then.... I knew that the talk of 400,000 stay-away tourists was a load of old keech.

still wondering which budget they filched these funds from though, to inflate the income.

They are talking about all asian Countries and Pacific and Thailands forecast for next year, not the indivual growth of Thailand for 2013. I have been in and out of Thailand on 2 trips this month since the riots and have not seen it this slow since the protesters shut in down in 2008.

[thhMan]

And soon the TAT will be getting the results from a cereal box....

Pity they cant actually work on improving the situation....

[easybullet3]

here you are then.... I knew that the talk of 400,000 stay-away tourists was a load of old keech.

still wondering which budget they filched these funds from though, to inflate the income.

They are talking about all asian Countries and Pacific and Thailands forecast for next year, not the indivual growth of Thailand for 2013. I have been in and out of Thailand on 2 trips this month since the riots and have not seen it this slow since the protesters shut in down in 2008.

So, are the UN statistics correct (and the Thai Tourist Authority is lying) ??

or, are the UN figures wrong, and the TAT is telling the truth ??

if the TAT is lying, then does it mean they make the tourist figures look low so that they can get a bigger budget allocation next year,, (thus perhaps making some tourism officials getting their new cars!!)

or,, is it somewhere in the middle, where TAT is always exaggerating their losses and the UN statistics are not so great either ?

I assume that the UN gets its data from immigration? (not from the TAT).

did thai immigration release any public data about "Arrivals" ?

then again, you have no idea if anyone at immigration is in cahoots with people at the TAT !!

- are there any other benefits to making tourist figures seem lower than what they really are ?

[tudorc]

anyone in Pattaya?i just come of the phone to a mate of mine staying in Pattaya telling me its packed,all the bars full,

a bit concerned as i arrive in a few days and dont have anywhere to stay,thought it might have been easier this year to find a room

as all the talk of doom and gloom.

any feed back would be apreciated

[oldthaihand99]

"He said politics was the only risk to the tourism scenario next year."

What about:

1. Flooding

2. Terrorism

3. Psunamis

4. Sars

5. Crime

6. Ripoffs

7. Vietnam

[upena]

Where do you think the UN gets their data from? From the Thai Government. Plus, the way the UNWTO counts a tourists is anyone visiting a country for less than one year. TAT also uses this standard.

[thaimat]

anyone in Pattaya?i just come of the phone to a mate of mine staying in Pattaya telling me its packed,all the bars full,

a bit concerned as i arrive in a few days and dont have anywhere to stay,thought it might have been easier this year to find a room

as all the talk of doom and gloom.

any feed back would be apreciated

Pattaya is packed????? Your friend wears some deeply rose tinted glasses?

[casindonet]

Well there you go....the tourist keeps cumming coming no matter what happens.

[bangkokheat]

then they must all be at the other end of pattaya, there certainly are not many in jomtiem or walking street from what i heard

[connda]

Sorry, but farangs from Western countries have completely different spending habits than tourist from China, the Middle East, Africa, the Near East, and ASEAN member countries. Good luck Thailand when the supply of farangs dry up and you're left with the rest.

[cronus]

anyone in Pattaya?i just come of the phone to a mate of mine staying in Pattaya telling me its packed,all the bars full,

a bit concerned as i arrive in a few days and dont have anywhere to stay,thought it might have been easier this year to find a room

as all the talk of doom and gloom.

any feed back would be apreciated

Walking street disco's are empty, never seen it like that even in "offseason"...

[Ulic]

anyone in Pattaya?i just come of the phone to a mate of mine staying in Pattaya telling me its packed,all the bars full,

a bit concerned as i arrive in a few days and dont have anywhere to stay,thought it might have been easier this year to find a room

as all the talk of doom and gloom.

any feed back would be apreciated

Pattaya is packed????? Your friend wears some deeply rose tinted glasses?

Always difficult to really gauge. Patrons are always busy moving from bar checking out what is on offer so to speak. So it can be

packed one minute the wide open 20 minutes later. Also there is a big difference between weekends and Monday/Tuesday. With

so many bars and hotels there are always rooms available. Maybe just not the particular one you want and weekends can be tight.

As for the bars, I think they are busy, but they always want more business as they are not solidly busy. As I said, patrons like

to move around and check out there options.

[Ulic]

here you are then.... I knew that the talk of 400,000 stay-away tourists was a load of old keech.

still wondering which budget they filched these funds from though, to inflate the income.

They are talking about all asian Countries and Pacific and Thailands forecast for next year, not the indivual growth of Thailand for 2013. I have been in and out of Thailand on 2 trips this month since the riots and have not seen it this slow since the protesters shut in down in 2008.

So, are the UN statistics correct (and the Thai Tourist Authority is lying) ??

or, are the UN figures wrong, and the TAT is telling the truth ??

if the TAT is lying, then does it mean they make the tourist figures look low so that they can get a bigger budget allocation next year,, (thus perhaps making some tourism officials getting their new cars!!)

or,, is it somewhere in the middle, where TAT is always exaggerating their losses and the UN statistics are not so great either ?

I assume that the UN gets its data from immigration? (not from the TAT).

did thai immigration release any public data about "Arrivals" ?

then again, you have no idea if anyone at immigration is in cahoots with people at the TAT !!

- are there any other benefits to making tourist figures seem lower than what they really are ?

I have read three different sets of numbers. The TAT says international arrivals are down about 1,400 a day over last year over

the protest period. The AoT reporting airport usage says number of people flying is up over last year but not as much as predicted.

This number includes domestic flyer's ( this time frame is also over the protest period) The hotel association is the group quoting

400 thousand fewer travellers and occupancy rates 40 % below normal. For me I have no confidence in this group/number. For the

airports it is a straight forward number. For the hotels I am not sure how they collect the numbers. If the association calls hotels

in the government office/ protest area the occupancy will be well down. The hotels in Phuket have been complaining that occupancy

rates have been dropping for the last 8 years. Nothing to do with the political unrest and probably more to do with the huge increase

in the number of rooms that have been added to the pool of what is available. Lots of building in Thailand of both hotels and condos

will not improve occupancy rates.

[a99az]

Bit like North Korea then booming, wall to wall tourists. The 400,000 tourists who canceled there visit where there all the time.

[richard10365]

Despite the report, Malaysia has about 2 million tourist more than Thailand.

[techboy]

There you are then.... I knew that the talk of 400,000 stay-away tourists was a load of old keech.

still wondering which budget they filched these funds from though, to inflate the income.

Blab all you want. Full hotels, crowded restaurants and tourist markets are what I am looking at and tourist business is thriving.

[DocN]

ATTA says...TAT says...AOT says...TOT says...UNWTO says...<deleted> says...