TAT expects tourism to bounce back soon

[FangFerang]

TAT is right, it will bounce back and all the naysayers on TV wont change that.

You're dreaming, and calling it fact.

It will bounce back, that part is true, whenever the military and government are not one and the same.

[wilcopops]

I think many people will look at the last coup and decide to come............

[ThaiAtoZ]

I think many people will look at the last coup and decide to come............

I would agree! In 3 or 4 months from now things will be very calm and almost back to business as usual - minus democracy, of course. Like the last two coups (1991 and 2006), it is not what happens following the coup - but when the elections are finally held! If we continue to have the huge gap between the people regardless what the gap is - money, education, employment, skin color, religion, taxes, domestic/foreign policy, or whatever and no system in place for the people to change the manner in which those elected operate - then we can expect history to once again repeat itself. I'm just not sure the Thai mass is educated enough to even understand what it is they need to solve the problems. We can only sit on the sidelines and hope it works out for the best!

Edited June 6, 2014 by ThaiAtoZ

[northernjohn]

What a load of bs. You think people booking holidays now for later this year will come to thailand?

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I disagree.

I understand your thinking, with all the scams some of the locals subject tourists too. But despite the scam stories in the press, visitors gush about how lovely and gentle the good Thai folk are.

Yeah, there are many decent Thais about, they just aren't in the tourist areas

OK, flame away, 555

What do scams have to do with what is going on now?

Id bet money this high season is very quiet.

Nobody knows what will happen in 2 days 2 weeks or 2 months. So of course people will go else where

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Please take me out of your no mind nobody.

We may not know what will happen in two days but we do know what won't happen in two days.

You can take your aluminum foil hat off.

[northernjohn]

I think many people will look at the last coup and decide to come............

I would agree! In 3 or 4 months from now things will be very calm and almost back to business as usual - minus democracy, of course. Like the last two coups (1991 and 2006), it is not what happens following the coup - but when the elections are finally held! If we continue to have the huge gap between the people regardless what the gap is - money, education, employment, skin color, religion, taxes, domestic/foreign policy, or whatever and no system in place for the people to change the manner in which those elected operate - then we can expect history to once again repeat itself. I'm just not sure the Thai mass is educated enough to even understand what it is they need to solve the problems. We can only sit on the sidelines and hope it works out for the best!

To be honest with you we have a different General in charge than the previous ones and he is no dumb dumb. He has learned from the mistakes the previous ones made.

The same for the next elected government they will have learned from the mistakes the PTP has made. Even if it is a PTP government there will be a lot of new faces and they defiantly will not be looking to repeat the same mistakes the last bunch made. Also they will not have Thaksin pulling the strings.

Who ever gets into power will know that the grass roots people who have been remaining silent over the years are now awake and willing to do some thing about it if the new government continues with the in your face corruption.

it would seem by the actions of the government that the drive by grenade shootings are a thing of the past. People can now feel safe on the streets. Not that there was that much of a threat in most of Thailand. It was only in small areas and the southern three provinces. Thailand has and is showing safety now. Now they are reaching out to the world with the truth.

Just on May 29 2014 CNN had an article out praising Chiang Mai as a destination for tourists. Not one bit of negativity in the whole article.

[Tokay]

Hey honey, lets take the kids to Thailand for holiday. Those tanks and armed soldiers would make for great selfies. And the weapons they are finding every day, along with the bombs in the south, just add to the adventure. I also hear they will scam us every chance they get, starting at the airport. Pack your backs, love!!!

[ThaiAtoZ]

I would agree! In 3 or 4 months from now things will be very calm and almost back to business as usual - minus democracy, of course. Like the last two coups (1991 and 2006), it is not what happens following the coup - but when the elections are finally held! If we continue to have the huge gap between the people regardless what the gap is - money, education, employment, skin color, religion, taxes, domestic/foreign policy, or whatever and no system in place for the people to change the manner in which those elected operate - then we can expect history to once again repeat itself. I'm just not sure the Thai mass is educated enough to even understand what it is they need to solve the problems. We can only sit on the sidelines and hope it works out for the best!

To be honest with you we have a different General in charge than the previous ones and he is no dumb dumb. He has learned from the mistakes the previous ones made.

The same for the next elected government they will have learned from the mistakes the PTP has made. Even if it is a PTP government there will be a lot of new faces and they defiantly will not be looking to repeat the same mistakes the last bunch made. Also they will not have Thaksin pulling the strings.

Who ever gets into power will know that the grass roots people who have been remaining silent over the years are now awake and willing to do some thing about it if the new government continues with the in your face corruption.

it would seem by the actions of the government that the drive by grenade shootings are a thing of the past. People can now feel safe on the streets. Not that there was that much of a threat in most of Thailand. It was only in small areas and the southern three provinces. Thailand has and is showing safety now. Now they are reaching out to the world with the truth.

Just on May 29 2014 CNN had an article out praising Chiang Mai as a destination for tourists. Not one bit of negativity in the whole article.

Each coup had a different general - but I will agree that this one seems to have a clear direction. I don't agree with all of methods used so far, but at this point the results seem to be more positive than negative. At times I still recall his past however - which he supported the military crackdown on Thai protesters (red shirt attack in 2010) that left a bloody mess of medical personal. But, again overall the results are looking very positive!

I hope you are right about the next elected government, however i feel that what ever reforms are made, the gap between the people can not be fixed with political reform by itself - at least not in the next 12-15 months. But the general has done a decent job in selecting people to help build a better system - but these systems take time, more than a year. It would not be my first choice, but maybe better for the people of Thailand to operate with the intern government and the reform changes for a longer period of time so they can be educated on how to exercise they rights to make changes that country needs and not just tossed back to the lions. Maybe a gradual transition into a fully elected government would work best - start off with elections for 25% of the seats each year over the next 4 years????

As far as the south goes - well that is a whole other can of worms! The last coup the general was from the south - understood and followed the customs - including breaking Thai law and having several wives - and still was not able to fix that mess! Reds, Yellows, Locals, etc. have failed. Once the religion card is played - all bets are off. Maybe with whatever reforms that are made will allow the people in that region to elect the people into government whom can continue to mold reform so everyone can get alone without killing a fellow Thai.

Edited June 6, 2014 by ThaiAtoZ

[balo]

The TAT figures have no credibility. And the quality of the tourist, how much money they spend, goes lower every year. Stop building!!!

We are all one happy family , never forget that .

[Tokay]

The TAT figures have no credibility. And the quality of the tourist, how much money they spend, goes lower every year. Stop building!!!

We are all one happy family , never forget that .

Happiness. Thailand is all about it.

[wilcopops]

I think many people will look at the last coup and decide to come............

I would agree! In 3 or 4 months from now things will be very calm and almost back to business as usual - minus democracy, of course. Like the last two coups (1991 and 2006), it is not what happens following the coup - but when the elections are finally held! If we continue to have the huge gap between the people regardless what the gap is - money, education, employment, skin color, religion, taxes, domestic/foreign policy, or whatever and no system in place for the people to change the manner in which those elected operate - then we can expect history to once again repeat itself. I'm just not sure the Thai mass is educated enough to even understand what it is they need to solve the problems. We can only sit on the sidelines and hope it works out for the best!

To be honest with you we have a different General in charge than the previous ones and he is no dumb dumb. He has learned from the mistakes the previous ones made.

The same for the next elected government they will have learned from the mistakes the PTP has made. Even if it is a PTP government there will be a lot of new faces and they defiantly will not be looking to repeat the same mistakes the last bunch made. Also they will not have Thaksin pulling the strings.

Who ever gets into power will know that the grass roots people who have been remaining silent over the years are now awake and willing to do some thing about it if the new government continues with the in your face corruption.

it would seem by the actions of the government that the drive by grenade shootings are a thing of the past. People can now feel safe on the streets. Not that there was that much of a threat in most of Thailand. It was only in small areas and the southern three provinces. Thailand has and is showing safety now. Now they are reaching out to the world with the truth.

Just on May 29 2014 CNN had an article out praising Chiang Mai as a destination for tourists. Not one bit of negativity in the whole article.

Actually I don't think people understand what I said - I meant that "people" as in foreign tourists will think this coup is the same as the previous one assume that it will run its course as before and therefore won't alter any holiday plans........I'm not sure that this perception is actually accurate.

[hawker9000]

Apart from travel insurance issues, many tour operators in the civilized world refuse to organize package tours to countries with a military regime. Myanmar has therefore been banned for years. Bringing tourists to a place where Human Rights have been pushed away.......this TAT is a Happy Club with only positivism and Happiness. Reality does not pop up in their vocabulary.

In the where, in the civilized world, where's that then!

And whilst it was fashionable and trendy for some "responsible " travel agents to refuse to organize tours to places such as Myanmar (how patriotic and noble that gesture is), others cleaned up and sent groups their by the thousand, case in point the Hong Kong agencies completely ignored the issue during all of the 1990's and 2000's .

And actually it's not TAT that has reality issues it's posters in this thread and the like. Look what happened to tourism after every coup in the past twenty years, it increased to new record highs and the same thing will happen after this one..

Tourism increased to record heights thanks to Thaksin's Suvarnabhumi. Not military coups. If Thaksin comes back we really have tourism perspectives. Not with Flower Power Parties in army colors.

You miss the point, the reality is that tourism increases after every coup, not as a function of there having been a coup and not as a function of any one person nor as a result of the new airport, it increases because that is the trend over time, for posters to suggest that wont be the case of that TAT is being naive is very blinkered.

Annual statistics

2013 26,735,583 +19.60% ^[20]

2012 22,303,065 +15.98 % ^[21]

2011 19,230,470 +20.67 % ^[22]

2010 15,936,400 +12.63 % ^[23]

2009 14,149,841 -2.98 % ^[24]

2008 14,584,220 +0.83 % ^{[citation needed]}

2007 14,464,228 +4.65 % ^[25]

2006 13,821,802 +20.01 % ^{[citation needed]}

2005 11,516,936 -1.15% ^{[citation needed]}

2004 11,650,703 no data ^{[citation needed]}

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Thailand

I followed the link, and saw no clear explanation of what these numbers actually represent or measure. Some of the footnotes cited do say "tourist arrivals". What does that mean? Bangkok is a regional hub. Many people pass through there on the way to other places in SE Asia. Increases MAY represent actual growth in thai tourist trade, OR just increases in "flow through" to other places, like Myanmar, Indo, or Vietnam (which, when you add them up, I would expect to be significant). The increases also say nothing about actual tourist revenue levels or margins. 'Have always been very skeptical of TAT statistics. Also, the #1 "most visiting country" is China (which has been ramping up dramatically in recent years; #3 is Russia, whose rate has increased almost 10x since 2006) - hmmm.

[chiang mai]

There's a couple of posters on this page for whom the TAT article is nothing more than a chance to bash Thailand and/or to try to be funny but to fail miserably - always a risk with Friday evening postings! But most seem to understand that recovery is a quick process which is almost assured historically, it's perhaps worth keeping that point in mind when discussing the economy and the currency, those things will also bounce back much more quickly than people expect..

[metisdead]

A post linking to Bangkok Post has been removed.

[chiang mai]

In the where, in the civilized world, where's that then!

And whilst it was fashionable and trendy for some "responsible " travel agents to refuse to organize tours to places such as Myanmar (how patriotic and noble that gesture is), others cleaned up and sent groups their by the thousand, case in point the Hong Kong agencies completely ignored the issue during all of the 1990's and 2000's .

And actually it's not TAT that has reality issues it's posters in this thread and the like. Look what happened to tourism after every coup in the past twenty years, it increased to new record highs and the same thing will happen after this one..

Tourism increased to record heights thanks to Thaksin's Suvarnabhumi. Not military coups. If Thaksin comes back we really have tourism perspectives. Not with Flower Power Parties in army colors.

You miss the point, the reality is that tourism increases after every coup, not as a function of there having been a coup and not as a function of any one person nor as a result of the new airport, it increases because that is the trend over time, for posters to suggest that wont be the case of that TAT is being naive is very blinkered.

Annual statistics

2013 26,735,583 +19.60% ^[20]

2012 22,303,065 +15.98 % ^[21]

2011 19,230,470 +20.67 % ^[22]

2010 15,936,400 +12.63 % ^[23]

2009 14,149,841 -2.98 % ^[24]

2008 14,584,220 +0.83 % ^{[citation needed]}

2007 14,464,228 +4.65 % ^[25]

2006 13,821,802 +20.01 % ^{[citation needed]}

2005 11,516,936 -1.15% ^{[citation needed]}

2004 11,650,703 no data ^{[citation needed]}

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Thailand

I followed the link, and saw no clear explanation of what these numbers actually represent or measure. Some of the footnotes cited do say "tourist arrivals". What does that mean? Bangkok is a regional hub. Many people pass through there on the way to other places in SE Asia. Increases MAY represent actual growth in thai tourist trade, OR just increases in "flow through" to other places, like Myanmar, Indo, or Vietnam (which, when you add them up, I would expect to be significant). The increases also say nothing about actual tourist revenue levels or margins. 'Have always been very skeptical of TAT statistics. Also, the #1 "most visiting country" is China (which has been ramping up dramatically in recent years; #3 is Russia, whose rate has increased almost 10x since 2006) - hmmm.

I posted those numbers because they were the easiest ones to find without spending much time digging for better alternatives, whether they are entirely, mostly, somewhat or not at all accurate remains unclear, they were posted to make the point that tourism is growing year on year. But if the numbers are all wrong, the relationship between them, the year on year growth figures, remain viable hence they have served the intended purpose.

As for regional growth and hubs: there's lots of regional hubs these days, KL, Singapore, Hong Kong etc plus a number of wannabe hubs. But if your suggestion that Russian and Chinese tourist growth is growing as fast as you claim (and I believe that uis the case), the hub issue and pass through traffic is a non starter since travel from those countries would involve direct flights, Moscow/Uthapao, Kunming/Chiang Mai, Guangzhaou/Bangkok and so on, on that basis the numbers posted may well be broadly correct and appropriate.

But hey, if you can find different or more useful numbers, please post them for consumption by all.

Finally, TAT arrival numbers are slightly screwed up but they are at least consistently screwed up over time hence the relative nature of those screwed up numbers is still correct. The reason? Folks making visa runs are counted as one person out and one person in, the way things were previously a single person could be counted as having arrived twelve times during a year.

[MILT]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

TAT is right, it will bounce back and all the naysayers on TV wont change that.

......and boy there are a lot of them on this forum geeesh!

[Stradavarius37]

Tourism always bounces back in Thailand - its a teflon country. It will be even higher next year. Those who say otherwise have their heads up their collective a$$es and haven't been paying attention.

[chiang mai]

What! You mean that the Baht wont fall to 70 per Pound and 45 to the Dollar? Whaaaa, what to do!

[chooka]

Yep and I sure they will obtain those record breaking numbers of arrivals as promised even tho 1/2 the year is already lost. Better start buying more deck chairs.

[Stradavarius37]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Yep and I sure they will obtain those record breaking numbers of arrivals as promised even tho 1/2 the year is already lost. Better start buying more deck chairs.

Why do you care so much? Lots of people in the industry suffer when the numbers drop - an increase back to expected levels should be welcomed, and have historically always happened. Hemorrhoids flaring?

[northernjohn]

I would agree! In 3 or 4 months from now things will be very calm and almost back to business as usual - minus democracy, of course. Like the last two coups (1991 and 2006), it is not what happens following the coup - but when the elections are finally held! If we continue to have the huge gap between the people regardless what the gap is - money, education, employment, skin color, religion, taxes, domestic/foreign policy, or whatever and no system in place for the people to change the manner in which those elected operate - then we can expect history to once again repeat itself. I'm just not sure the Thai mass is educated enough to even understand what it is they need to solve the problems. We can only sit on the sidelines and hope it works out for the best!

To be honest with you we have a different General in charge than the previous ones and he is no dumb dumb. He has learned from the mistakes the previous ones made.

The same for the next elected government they will have learned from the mistakes the PTP has made. Even if it is a PTP government there will be a lot of new faces and they defiantly will not be looking to repeat the same mistakes the last bunch made. Also they will not have Thaksin pulling the strings.

Who ever gets into power will know that the grass roots people who have been remaining silent over the years are now awake and willing to do some thing about it if the new government continues with the in your face corruption.

it would seem by the actions of the government that the drive by grenade shootings are a thing of the past. People can now feel safe on the streets. Not that there was that much of a threat in most of Thailand. It was only in small areas and the southern three provinces. Thailand has and is showing safety now. Now they are reaching out to the world with the truth.

Just on May 29 2014 CNN had an article out praising Chiang Mai as a destination for tourists. Not one bit of negativity in the whole article.

Each coup had a different general - but I will agree that this one seems to have a clear direction. I don't agree with all of methods used so far, but at this point the results seem to be more positive than negative. At times I still recall his past however - which he supported the military crackdown on Thai protesters (red shirt attack in 2010) that left a bloody mess of medical personal. But, again overall the results are looking very positive!

I hope you are right about the next elected government, however i feel that what ever reforms are made, the gap between the people can not be fixed with political reform by itself - at least not in the next 12-15 months. But the general has done a decent job in selecting people to help build a better system - but these systems take time, more than a year. It would not be my first choice, but maybe better for the people of Thailand to operate with the intern government and the reform changes for a longer period of time so they can be educated on how to exercise they rights to make changes that country needs and not just tossed back to the lions. Maybe a gradual transition into a fully elected government would work best - start off with elections for 25% of the seats each year over the next 4 years????

As far as the south goes - well that is a whole other can of worms! The last coup the general was from the south - understood and followed the customs - including breaking Thai law and having several wives - and still was not able to fix that mess! Reds, Yellows, Locals, etc. have failed. Once the religion card is played - all bets are off. Maybe with whatever reforms that are made will allow the people in that region to elect the people into government whom can continue to mold reform so everyone can get alone without killing a fellow Thai.

Pretty much agree with what you have said. It is a new no nonsense man going about it differently and it seems with responsible people.

About the south how ever I don't think there has been any real change no matter who was in charge just a few cover up changes but in reality let the Army handle it. I believe Abhist tried to start some social changes but that did not last long due to other more pressing matters.

It is my opinion that is where the answer is. It is in the social connection between the regular day to day citizens and the government. But as course as you say when it comes to religion all gloves arte off. especially with Islam they kill there own with out any regret.

[rumbo1]

I'd comment more but I need to rush outside and view this herd of flying pigs going past ...

Travel agents in New Zealand are now actively warning customers not to come to Thailand. That won't change until something changes here.

Strange that as we have just been to two of the largest Kiwi agencies and never had any such warnings. Our yearly flights again booked. And on Kiwi travel message boards I have read advice from frequent Kiwis travel travelers to Thailand to fellow Kiwis is under Army rule the place has never been safer. Which I concur with talking to family in both Bangkok and Udon.

So you are happy to bring you're family here with no travel insurance then ? Hopefully you won't need to use but bring plenty of money with you just in case

[bangon04]

TAT expects tourism to bounce back soon

yes, of course they do....

[marcusd]

What a load of bs. You think people booking holidays now for later this year will come to thailand?

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I disagree.

I understand your thinking, with all the scams some of the locals subject tourists too. But despite the scam stories in the press, visitors gush about how lovely and gentle the good Thai folk are.

Yeah, there are many decent Thais about, they just aren't in the tourist areas

OK, flame away, 555

What do scams have to do with what is going on now?

Id bet money this high season is very quiet.

Nobody knows what will happen in 2 days 2 weeks or 2 months. So of course people will go else where

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

People are short of money in all countries. That will be the biggest problem.

Its not they don't want to come, they can't afford it and that is evident by looking at tourism over the past two years with YOUR OWN EYES. Not bs figures frm government agencies. They count visa runners as tourists

[maanoi]

What a load of bs. You think people booking holidays now for later this year will come to thailand?

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I disagree.

I understand your thinking, with all the scams some of the locals subject tourists too. But despite the scam stories in the press, visitors gush about how lovely and gentle the good Thai folk are.

Yeah, there are many decent Thais about, they just aren't in the tourist areas

OK, flame away, 555

What do scams have to do with what is going on now?

Id bet money this high season is very quiet.

Nobody knows what will happen in 2 days 2 weeks or 2 months. So of course people will go else where

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Please take me out of your no mind nobody.

We may not know what will happen in two days but we do know what won't happen in two days.

You can take your aluminum foil hat off.

So you disagree with my line of thinking that this will be a slow high season?

If so ill have some of what your smoking.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[benny1616]

funny guys from the tat and they wishfull thinking first of all. a real democrat never support a dictatorship bringing money in a country ruled by dictators. and second is thailand far to expensive specially for european tourists. with the average cost of 2 weeks vacation for 2 persons in thailand you can make at least 3 weeks in the south of europe (italy, spain, greece and so on) easy. even in the high season and without getting ripped of from some mafia.