They keep forgetting that the young backpackers will come back as far higher spenders a few years down the road, having become parents who enjoy a good income. But commenting on the tired old "quality tourists" theme, you can only repeat what has been stated here hundreds of times already. Hearing the term "quality tourists", I feel like I have to grab a plastic bag or rush to the toilet, have to throw up.

If you want to extract some serious cash from people, you need seriously good products that can earn a premium from which the government takes its bank from via taxation. Show me the world class locations near international airports that are attractive to those to which I think TAT maybe dreaming of.

Could it be the HiSo's idea of wealth and how to spend use it is radically different from the international communities. I see many perceived luxury brands and shopping experiences being pushed in bangkok, none of that is attractive to a traveller when they can obtain it their own countries and usually with a much broader selection of products.

I am still clutching at straws to understand what this quality tourist is, has TAT defined it??

Tourism and Sports Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul revealed that she has instructed the TAT to look for a strategy to penetrate high-quality markets and increase the number of visitors with high purchasing power.

Does that answer your question?

The problem is that there are too many negatives to come here anymore. Thailand has the same as most tourist destinations except for the pretty young ladies but for a visitor with "high purchasing power" the ladies are in every country.

So what does Thailand have to offer the "quality high purchasing powered tourist? Nothing! Dirty seas and Beaches... Overpriced attractions and Misguided Thais who over-charge foreigners. Corruption on every level. Immigration crackdowns and harassment at the borders. The places that do have quality things for a sale usually charge too much and then there is the taxes for buying it.

The TAT has high hopes to get their 2.2 trillion for the year but that will never happen the way things are now. They will be lucky to hit 2 trillion.

SO their only metric is purchasing power, not spending, I am sure the aggregate spending of the 90% percentile is not outstripped by the top 10%, I could be wrong I'm just giving an opinion.

If TAT is succesful in upping its numbers, it will be improvement of trying to increase THAI passenger numbers.

Last thing I heard is that you have to take an IQ test before you're allowed to board a plane heading to Bangkok.

i wonder what a Thai IQ test would consist of ?

Thai IQ test (100 Points).

Please choose one of the following answers:

Q1. How are you?

A. I'm fine.

B. I'm fine.

C. I'm fine.

D. All of the above.

End of test.

Oh Ajarn it seems very difficult.

How much does it cost to get an A ?

Last thing I heard is that you have to take an IQ test before you're allowed to board a plane heading to Bangkok.

i wonder what a Thai IQ test would consist of ?

Thai IQ test (100 Points).

Please choose one of the following answers:

Q1. How are you?

A. I'm fine.

B. I'm fine.

C. I'm fine.

D. All of the above.

End of test.

Oh Ajarn it seems very difficult.

How much does it cost to get an A ?

Sorry, you all failed the test!

Q How are you?

A Fine thank you and you?

This is Thai thinking. Better have 1 customer who pays 1000 baht for a product then 10 customers who pay 500 baht.

Can anyone define a 'quality' tourist?

Is it simply one with money, a drunk one who spends lots on booze, a sex tourist paying heaps for ... well, you fill in the blank, or what?

One with a heartbeat and healthy bank account?

Last thing I heard is that you have to take an IQ test before you're allowed to board a plane heading to Bangkok.

i wonder what a Thai IQ test would consist of ?

Thai IQ test (100 Points).

Please choose one of the following answers:

Q1. How are you?

A. I'm fine.

B. I'm fine.

C. I'm fine.

D. All of the above.

End of test.

E.my name is Somchai

60 points -test passed.

Quality tourist, one who drinks Heineken and not Leo!

Wears a T shirt not a vest and has tattoos all over arms and legs.

Accessory a pretty young lady looking most unladylike.

Make up your minds TAT, one day you open the flood gate to all those obnoxious Chinese tourists,

the next you want a " quality tourists", which one is it than?

Quality tourist, one who drinks Heineken and not Leo!

Wears a T shirt not a vest and has tattoos all over arms and legs.

Accessory a pretty young lady looking most unladylike.

Not a quality tourist:

Drinks Leo,

Wears a vest or is bare chested'

Really bad tattoos all over body including neck ( a must),

Girl, definately iffy also with a neck tattoo!

Maybe time for Khun Kobkarn (wristbands and lifewests) to realise that the days of delievering a third class product and charging for first class are well and truly over!!

But due to arrogance, they simply don't get it, do they??

Ok lets assume for a moment that "quality" tourists are going to want to visit the Northern regions of Thailand, so they arrive into the International Airport in Bangkok and from there jump on a tour bus which if they did their homework would find that it is an extremely unregulated and unsafe mode of transport with overworked unqualified drivers and buses that are less than mechanically sound - not even going to mention the very safe minibus network

Anybody want to do a head count on the injuries and fatalities that occur on public transport each year including buses minibuses and ferries and like everything else here is most likely underreported

Unfortunately Thailands safety record for tourists is going the wrong direction and this is just one aspect of the many that could be discussed here as to why people will choose to holiday elsewhere

Address the issues and the rest will follow - nice TV adds don't cut it anymore

Tourism and Sports Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul revealed that she has instructed the TAT to look for a strategy to penetrate high-quality markets and increase the number of visitors with high purchasing power.

Look within yourself to find the reason why people go elsewhere.

You will not like what you find.

reviving one of thaksin's old ideas.

This is Thai thinking. Better have 1 customer who pays 1000 baht for a product then 10 customers who pay 500 baht.

so right you are

Customers fall away - increase prices - customers fall away more - increase prices more.....scratch head - close

seen it over and over

Thailand isn't a quality destination. Sorry.

Hiso tourists with high spending power will be going to the Caribbean, Bora Bora, St Tropez etc etc....

Thailand is not a typical luxury destination. It is backpacker, modest earning working class types and a sprinkling of middle class.

The hiso jetset don't want to rub shoulders with these types and so go holiday in the high end destinations.

Thailand seems to think it is a lot more than it actually is. It has nothing more to offer than a thousand other places that don't have regular military coups, life under martial law, well known human rights abusers and of course huge amounts of crime and corruption including brutal murders with cover ups to follow.

For a start, people want to go somewhere that they know if they come a cropper, they will at least get justice.

I agree, if i was not living in Thailand and was looking for a place to take the family on holiday, Thailand wouldn't even make the top 5, like Rustbuket says to much crime, corruption, ripping off the tourist and the 'come back tommorow' attitude from anyone in authority..

Not to mention the reason why people came to thailand was more bang for your buck, now its on par with America in cost

One wrong letter makes all the difference.

Focus on Quality Tourism, then the quality tourists will follow.

And yes, you have to offer the one to receive the other.

Also, until you open a Paragon Diamond Excellence Boombastic Mall at Roi Et, high spending tourists (Middle East and Chinese moguls) will stick to Bangkok, where a dinner can cost more than two weeks in Isaan.

Why are they so stupip? They should first bring out some quality service, without cheating on the most tourists.

I just know from a new case/ Two foreigner, got ripped of for a suit 700 Euro. And the police doesn't stop them.

Thailand, wake up and start blaming yourself.

You have to improve a lot. Evaluate yourself, and stop cheating foreignern. That would be a good start.

Trouble for you is, TAT, 'high quality' tourists want a high quality destination. Yours is far from it. Get that into your head!!

northeastern region to listen to local authorities about problems they face in the promotion of tourist attractions in their respective areas

What tourist attractions ? Dinosaurs and Central shopping centres?

Can you keep your knowledge of attractions up here to yourself? . We don't want millions of tourists visiting Du Home and Central and HomePro, and driving the price of somtam and radnaa up to southern levels. Leave the North East alone!

I'm going for my 40 Baht flat white now

When a government, or department of a government (MOTS) does not recognize damage limitation and insists that imaginary, albeit calculated, targets are reached (2.2 trillion) then you will see nonsensical proposals such as you are seeing here.

There is no doubt that Thailand offers some beautiful natural resources and historical heritage in the Northeast, but where is the infrastructure? Where are these 'quality' tourists expected to stay in such numbers that it will make any difference? Are they expected to stay in the run-of-the-mill resorts and guesthouses or transported on busses the same as the package tourists?

That's not going to happen, not now, not ever.

And if by chance it does, it will be for one time only......................

I liked that they listed one of the attractions of the northeast as access to border crossings out of Thailand.

having recently driven across the border into Cambo, i can assure everyone, there is nothing quality about it. quality tourists will just change plane in swampy on the way to angkor wat etc.

I'm a native Texan living about 40 km. east of Ubon Ratchathani and agree that there are some really nice, scenic tourist destinations near in the northeast. The biggest problem that I see is the roads that one has to use to get to them. There are potholes big enough to lose a tractor-trailer (lory) in. My family and I would like to visit many of them more often but the roads are so hard on our vehicle that it's better to stay home.

Hi-So tourists don't want to go lo-so destinations.

Quality tourist...your having a Laugh..Am in Lamphun which gets no tourists..got ripped of last night in a quiet restaurant /bar..was just out for a quiet drink..check bin!! 168bht for bottle of Leo for girl who chatted to me and I offered would she like a drink while she chatted to me..even outside the tourist areas ..and these girls aren't bar girls as such..80bht for Leo for me...stupidity as I will never go back..its a inherent ingrained mentality in so many Thais..they will never ever get more tourists even ,never mind Quality..whatever that means with there never mind about tomorrow mindset...buffalo's..

<deleted> ... that was my instant response on reading the headline. When a group of so called human beings openly and consitantly refer to people as 'quality' according to their spending power then we know these people are sociopathic!

What they really need to do is get these local hiso <deleted> to spend some of their corruption money locally rather than hording it in garbage bags in their living room.

That wasn't corruption money. Remember, it was monetary gifts from the Daughter's Wedding!

First they need to define what they think a "quality" tourist is . . . and from what I've seen over the years, their definition just doesn't exist out there.

....let us define 'quality'......

...less tourists.....revenue down......

...need to get more money out of each tourist.......???

....is that 'quality'....???

....so quality is....what....not a quality....not having quality......having money....and spending more of it....???

...to make up for lost revenues....due to...poor service and quality....???

...go figure....

...I guess we define 'quality people'.....and 'quality students'....ad infinitum....the same way....???

....all based on bottom dollar....money....outlay....payment....profit.......???