Tourist arrivals increase gradually

[Lite Beer]

Tourist arrivals increase gradually

BANGKOK: -- Department of Tourism says foreign tourists are returning to the country with arrivals last month gradually rose to 1.91 million from 1.56 million in June.

However when compared with the same month in July last year, arrivals still fell 10.9%, it said.

It said the number of foreign tourists arriving in Thailand in July this year fell 10.9% from a year earlier.

But compared with 1.56 million arrivals in June this year, July’s arrivals of 1.91 million represented improved tourism situation.

Arrivals from China, the country’s single biggest visitor source accounting for 19% of all arrivals, tumbled 25.3% from July 2013.

For the first seven months of the year, arrivals totalled 13.62 million, down 10.7% from 15.26 million a year earlier, an even deeper drop than the first-half decline of 9.9%.

By region, arrivals from East Asia were down 17.6% for the first seven months of 2014 from a year earlier. Arrivals are up 3.1% from Europe and 9.6% from Africa. Declines were seen from the Americas (3.5%), the Middle East (6.9%), South Asia (10%) and Oceania (1.6%).

The lucrative tourist sector, which accounts for about 10% of the economy, suffered its biggest drop in visitors in June – the first full month after the army took power on May 22 in a bid to end tensions and get economic activity going again.

But tourism improved gradually in following months after several measures were implemented by the military junta to stimulate economy and bring back investors, and tourists’ confidence.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/55799/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=55799

-- Thai PBS 2014-08-16

[JoePai]

Tourist arrivals still falling http://t.co/ASa3KwibJj

[khwaibah]

Same article Bangkok Post. Tourist arrivals still falling.. I'll believe the Bangkok Post.

[NickyBurma]

Number of Chinese tourists tops 4 million in 2013

SEOUL, Aug. 15 (Yonhap) -- The number of Chinese tourists to South Korea jumped more than fourfold in just six years while their spending also grew significantly, making them the largest group of tourists here, a report said Friday.

According to a report from the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, the number of Chinese visitors to South Korea rose from about 1.06 million in 2007 to more than 4.32 million last year.

The 2013 figure made up 35.5 percent of all foreign visitors to South Korea that year, making Chinese tourists the largest group of visitors from a single country.

The Chinese were also the largest spenders among foreign tourists in 2013.

The average amount of money spent by each Chinese tourist came to US$2,272 last year, up 80 percent from $1,262 in 2008. The amount was 1.3 times higher than the average $1,684 spent by all foreign tourists, the report said.

It added that the total amount of spending by Chinese tourists came to about 7.67 trillion won ($7.51 billion) in 2013, accounting for 49 percent of the total spent by foreign tourists here.

The report also noted that the large number of Chinese visitors created an economic impact of more than 13.37 trillion won on the South Korean economy while also creating some 240,000 jobs here.

"To help maximize the impact of the rise in the number of Chinese tourists, the country must expand the number of shopping areas that are currently limited to Seoul and some duty-free zones," it said. "It must also work to improve the quality of services and products used by Chinese tourists."

Read More : http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/yonhap-news-agency/140814/number-chinese-tourists-tops-4-million-2013

No surprise to be honest with you better options closer to home with a flight only lasting 3 hours 17 minutes...

Then you have this to think about ...

South Korea is set to become the most important medical tourism destination in Asia, as it has the necessary healthcare infrastructure.

The global reputation of Korea in plastic surgery attracts foreigners, as it provides them better treatment at low cost. Chinese patients made up the largest group, followed by those from the United States, Japan, Russia and Mongolia. Medical tourist arrival from Russia is also steadily increasing and Russia is expected to replace Japan as the 3rd biggest sender country by 2015.

The Korean government is very instrumental in supporting the industry and has designated the Korean Tourism Organization (KTO) to handle the majority of its promotional responsibilities. As a result South Korea is expecting to triple its medical tourism market by 2018 from its current market in 2013.

This 2nd edition of the "South Korea Medical Tourism & Forecast report provides a comprehensive analysis of the South Korea medical tourism market covering in detail various aspects such as medical tourists' arrivals and spending from top 14 countries.

Read More : http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140812005709/en/Research-Markets-South-Korea-Medical-Tourism-Forecast#.U-8cCPmSxfd

Edited August 16, 2014 by NickyBurma

[Sparkles]

When just about every country in the world issued travel warnings about coming to Thailand a few months back what did they expect an increase in tourist numbers !

For the seasoned traveller to Thailand it was water of a duck's back but there are a lot of people OS who do not want to run the risk of getting caught up in Airport closures,protests etc .Lots of places in the world you cant have a holiday as well as Thailand.

[Local Drunk]

RT @BPbreakingnews: Tourist arrivals still falling http://t.co/ASa3KwibJj #BreakingNews

Get your stories straight!

Edited August 16, 2014 by Local Drunk

[NickyBurma]

Hongkongers see few benefits from influx of mainland tourists

I refer to the article by Shirley Yuen, CEO of the General Chamber of Commerce ("Limiting mainland visitors counters Hong Kong's open doors policy", July 29).

No country the size of Hong Kong, with a population of seven million, handles 54 million tourists a year. About 75 per cent of these visitors are mainlanders, and it is this geographical proximity and small physical size that should prompt the SAR government to limit tourist numbers.

Hongkongers do not discriminate against mainland tourists because they are from north of the border, but they do feel the adverse effects of 40 million mainlanders entering the city each year.

Yuen says Hong Kong is in danger of losing tourists to the likes of South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore. South Korea - about 90 times larger than Hong Kong - handles 11 million tourists a year, three million of whom are mainland Chinese. Malaysia is 300 times larger, with about 25 million tourists, two million of them mainlanders. Singapore had 15 million tourists in 2013, of whom 2.3 million were mainlanders.

These countries are a few flying hours from China and have generally higher taxes than Hong Kong; with taxation, tourism revenue benefits a wider spectrum of people there.

In low-tax Hong Kong, regardless of the high cost to society from inflation and overcrowding, retail tourism benefits mainly landlords, property developers and jewellery shops. Local neighbourhood shops and restaurants frequented by Hong Kong's grass roots are forced out by high rents.

Escalating prices makes it expensive for the grass roots to dine at their favourite cha chaan teng, as our economy is now geared towards a price and economy for tourists, not locals.

The currency peg that benefits certain industries, such as tourism, results in wage earners' productivity gains not being reflected in real pay increases due to inflation.

Our artificially weak currency and low tax environment shouldn't be mistaken for high productivity. Britain and Switzerland have strong currencies but are doing better compared to the euro zone.

Many Hongkongers lately have had ill feelings towards business, and the Chamber of Commerce should constructively address this instead of, for example, blaming high labour costs due to the minimum wage.

Although tourism accounts for 5 per cent of our economy, it adversely effects most of the population. It is right that the government should consider limiting tourist numbers to continue making Hong Kong habitable for its people.

Bernard E. S. Lee, Tsuen Wan

Read More : http://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/1570133/hongkongers-see-few-benefits-influx-mainland-tourists

Better options for the Chinese to be fair with you plus less stress.

[upena]

Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA) reports foreign tourist arrivals that they handle (bookings and tours) are down 44% in July and were down 43% in June. These numbers are much closer to the truth.

[shirtless]

Rush out and build more hotels Tourist figures are up,

[oztaurus]

That is a picture of the check-in area for Departures ... if they have noticed an increase in traffic there then that could be the source of the confusion in the original article.

[VINCENT2012]

in ubon i still wait for those tourist to feel up my resort.

http://www.hadkuduaview.com

i dont see a farang here since the last candle festival

[surangw]

That is a picture of the check-in area for Departures ... if they have noticed an increase in traffic there then that could be the source of the confusion in the original article.

maybe departures are up, and they got confused reading the stats

[ggt]

From Bangkok Post Article

Tourist arrivals still falling
Sat, 16 Aug 2014 11:32:00 +0700 : The number of international tourists arriving in Thailand in July fell 10.9% from a year earlier, according to data from the Department of Tourism, showing the industry has not recovered from the impact of prolonged political tension.

[alant]

It has been good to see a noticeable increase in western (and other) tourists over the last weeks in Chiang Mai as the holiday seasons of Europe take place. Lets hope it continues.

[Christie Paul]

Tens of thousands of long term Thai aficionados have been booted out of the country, effectively spitting the face of a free positive PR machine. Doubtless, they'll now be making their feelings widely known about the land of crack down.

Full moon parties banned. Thailand now ranks alongside the Ukraine as a cool place to hang out.

They've banned a video game. When families discuss holiday destinations, teenagers the world over will get one of their first opportunities to resist fascism.

Too many turds in the punchbowl.

[Strangebrew]

Looking at the figure how can you going up looks like going down Oh quality tourist from Russia and Are well tanned big spenders from Nigeria

[bushwacker]

Well i looked at Sawadee which is a hotel booking site to see what is available for a weekend adventure to Bkk and was very surprised at how many hotels were sold out. It looked like high season. What is going on ... so many conflicting stories. Oh yeah, I am in Thailand now.

[billd766]

Tens of thousands of long term Thai aficionados have been booted out of the country, effectively spitting the face of a free positive PR machine. Doubtless, they'll now be making their feelings widely known about the land of crack down.

Full moon parties banned. Thailand now ranks alongside the Ukraine as a cool place to hang out.

They've banned a video game. When families discuss holiday destinations, teenagers the world over will get one of their first opportunities to resist fascism.

Too many turds in the punchbowl.

Did you mean the tens of thousands of border runners who didn't have a proper visa?

Normal tourists on normal visas have no problem, people who genuinely work in Thailand with proper work viss have no problem, married and retired people who have proper visas have no problem.

Full moon parties where drugs are freely available are banned but only for 5 months.

Only one video game is banned.

Families generally discuss their holiday plans months in advance and I somehow think that if they can get the visas the families will still come.

The only group of people who it seems to affect the most are those without proper visas, funds and lomg term overstayers. After all the Thais are only enforcing the existing laws that they haven't bothered with before.

[belg]

10% of gdp for tourism

but they never count how many farang / tourists sponsor the houses , cars, whole families ... plus the ones that get fleeced out of every penny

Edited August 18, 2014 by belg