Thailand: Push for more European tourists

[Jungle Jim]

WHY ? Are.nt there enough already ? Down the toilet Thailand goes. Anything for a buck.

[impulse]

Problem with US is they live to work, while Sweden and Australia work to live:))

Nah. Problem with the US is that we can get anything we want in a 4 hour (or shorter) flight.

And can get 95% of what Thailand has to offer without even getting a passport...

Edited November 7, 2014 by impulse

[zydeco]

Pssst! This is entirely unnecessary.

Europeans already visit Thailand in massive numbers.

I believe there is a lot of scope to increase the number of European visitors.

Out of curiosity I calculated the number of visitors per thousand of the population for the top 20 countries by tourist arrivals.

Not surprisingly, the top of the list is dominated by Asian countries. The first non-Asian country is Australia with 39 per thousand of the population visiting each year.

Sweden comes next with a very similar 36/thousand.

It should be possible to bring the levels of other countries up to the 35 mark, e.g. UK (15), Russia (12), France (9), Germany (9).

The United States provides very few visitors (3). Again, it should be possible to increase these numbers, despite the travel distance.

Of course, the potential for increasing the number of visitors from wealthy occidental countries doesn't actually mean that TAT will be able to deliver.

Thailand_arrivals.gif

Americans looking for beaches and tropical settings are not going to come to Thailand, because:

*unlike Europe there are many, many tropical alternatives not only within the US but right next door in neighboring countries and islands (some day maybe even Cuba, again)

*why get a passport and visa when you can go to Hawaii? (Only an insane person would pick Thailand over Hawaii)

*SE Asia still largely has a negative mental imprint on most Americans

*for those who are even aware of the region, Vietnam looks more interesting for historical, cultural, and even nostalgic reasons

*if Americans want to stretch their dollar on a vacation to the Far East, they'll go to the Philippines, where English is spoken and there still exists an historical relationship and many American cultural practices.

Frankly, I'm surprised that hardly any Americans at all come to Thailand. Most of them must be Thai expats living in the US or US citizens of Thai descent.

Edited November 7, 2014 by zydeco

[IAMHERE]

What can one say?

Check the numbers.

Don't believe the numbers.

We need more numbers.

[ttthailand]

European tourists don't mix so well with Russian, Indian or Chinese tourists. My guess is that as one increases the other will decrease.

[IAMHERE]

"... British tourists will head to beaches and islands in Thailand, he said."

And hopefully not get raped and murdered.

And hopefully hot get raped OR murdered.

I don't want beaten into a coma for the rest of my life either.

[hugh2121]

Can these 'quality' tourists afford it? Euro, GBP, AUD , NZD and YEN all down quite significantly against the Baht in the past 12 months. The Baht remains stubbornly strong and seems to track closely to the USD for some reason, certainly unrelated to economic fundamentals.

These package tours would help fill rooms but as others have said it's very late in the day and they certainly do not represent the high value, high margin sector.

I don't know where you've been looking at exchange rates but the Thai Baht is currently heading swiftly for US$33 which is well down on the year. A year ago we got around 42 THB to the £. Currently, TT Exchange are offering around 52 Baht. The US$ is strengthening against all currencies and against gold, otherwise there is little movement in the forex market.

[AyG]

We are supposed to believe Africans are big spenders? what garbage this data is, where did it come from? How do they even know, do they ask, make it up? Laughable, nonsense.

The figures are based upon data provided by the Department of Tourism.

The report's author writes:

"How are the data gathered? We honestly do not know, but they have been reported for many years. We assume, this is one of the reasons, that when changing money etc. one is obliged to show identification. We can only assume that as good as feasible, all these data are tabulated somewhere, and the expenditure per tourist and per country of origin, registered. Hotels can also gather revenue data and report them (?). Nevertheless, it would be wise to consider the data gathered as an approximation."

[MediaWatcher]

RustBucket, on 07 Nov 2014 - 07:31, said:

Tell us another one.

I like the way this James Bell geezer thinks that tourist decline is only due to the coup.

He couldn't be more wrong. There are many contributing factors.

Murder, corruption, bad security for tourists (no interest), crimes against tourists being released ever more regularly. Appalling human trafficking record now world news.

There are lots of things that contribute to people shying away from here. There are thousands of places to choose from to travel to. They just need to be made aware of these places through the travel agents authorities worldwide. That is what put Thailand where it was.

They didn't help themselves when two reps from the Australian Association of Travel Agents were attacked and one murdered a couple of years ago.... These are the things you can not reverse. Once you lose support from these organizations, it is game over.

And let's no forget, my people can NOT get travel insurance, due to military law being in place.

[hoyism]

excellent timing

Edited November 7, 2014 by hoyism

[sweatalot]

Hope they are successful, with so many ordinary Thais dependant on the tourist-industry for their livelihood!!

No they deserve utter failure until they clear Koh Tao murders and get honest police

[impulse]

Quick question, because I have read conflicting information from various sources...

If a European applies for travel insurance for Thailand, will it be approved, or denied because of martial law?

[JOC]

Problem with US is they live to work, while Sweden and Australia work to live:))

Nah. Problem with the US is that we can get anything we want in a 4 hour (or shorter) flight.

And can get 95% of what Thailand has to offer without even getting a passport...

So why is Mr 5% here??

[Pundi6446]

Then Thailand better get their Shet together, before this will happen.

[buhi]

Problem with US is they live to work, while Sweden and Australia work to live:))

Nah. Problem with the US is that we can get anything we want in a 4 hour (or shorter) flight.

And can get 95% of what Thailand has to offer without even getting a passport...

So why is Mr 5% here??

Boom Boom!

[impulse]

So why is Mr 5% here??

I'm here for the paycheck. (full stop) I suspect a lot of American tourists are working in the area, and find Thailand convenient.

But I suspect most of those who fly all the way over the pond for their holiday have something to do with the oldest profession, and/or nostalgia for time they spent on R&R (which is the same thing?)

[Lupatria]

Amazing Thailand! How true it is!

As a former senior editor/travel I can assure you this:

The managing director of Turquoise Holidays / managing director of Chic Locations / representative of TUI / general manager of the Rembrandt Hotel and Towers in Bangkok / and managing director of the Coral Cove Chalet Koh Samui…

would even tell me and ensure my readers in every interview the Christmas Islands, Bhutan, Algeria and inner Mongolia would prosper enormously from increasing tourism next year, if they offer holidays trips to these destinations just to get their company names and “expert quotes” printed in a newspaper for free.

Edited November 7, 2014 by Lupatria

[for real]

If I was a tourist seeking a short break from monotonous work I would not want to spend my hard earned break in a place where the bars close at 1.am

Where gambling [even watching] is against the law and where food/hotel prices for usually substandard quality is on even par with Europe.

Where crime is now on the increase and the tourist is seen as a cash cow and disliked by the vast majority..including those ripping him off.

[sweatalot]

How about they openly say that it will be more easy for European visitors to get tourist visas for Thailand ?

As in, gaurantee that the embassies in Laos and Cambodia will give tourist visas to Europeans, and it doesn't matter how many visits you've already had in Thailand ? Making it easier to get a tourist visa will probably increase the number of tourists. Making it more difficult might reduce the number of European visitors.

Why should they be interested in reentry visas? What they would like are tourists coming for not more than 30 days, spending all their money then go home, save for the next year and come back to bring their money again. Most tourists staying longer will not spend much money. Not good business

[Evolare]

What? After giving the developed world the two fingers and chasing Chinese and Russians, they want to now get their quality tourists back?

Amazing Thailand.....

Judging from the article,they seem to rate them not much different than Cambodian tourists ... this is just one small part of tourism efforts. Beyond Russia, the top ten tourist arrivals by country this year probably won't include a European nation. Despite record breaking tourist numbers and revenue last year, the UK was 10th last year with less visitors than Australia and about 1/5th of that of China. Of the 26 Million visitors last year less than 3 Million were from Europe (excluding Russia)and remember how so many here love to say these numbers are not accurate because of border runs. Point being is I am sure they would love to see a higher increase than they saw last year with European tourists but it is just a piece of the pie. They were right to focus on China as they were able to capitalize on economic timing and increase Chinese visitors about 3 fold in as many years. While UK visitors over the last 10 years has been fairly steady with just a slight increase in this period. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Thailand#Top_20_arrivals_by_nationality

These numbers are all over the place from analysing tourism. Malaysia is normally first and Laos is in the top 10.

They all know the Europeans spend the most. No harm in admitting it.

They chased Russia, now the ruble is in the pan. They chased Chinese with zero cost tours. Boom. They chased Indian weddings.

Meanwhile the humble European sexpat got f*****d, except not IN Thailand.

Clean up Hua hin, samui and one other and make them really 5 star. Striftly zone phuket, turn patong into pattaya and clean up the rest. Let pattaya go back to what it does best.

Don't mix sex with family tourists.

Europeans spend the least per day but they stay longer than other countries ... an average of 16 1/2 Days compared to about 7 Days by Asians and a total average of 10 Days for all countries. So yes, overall they leave the most money here.

How reliable are those stats that's what I wanna know.

[Don Aleman]

Gee, you know, if you stop scamming/injuring/killing them, more might come.

[JOC]

Hope they are successful, with so many ordinary Thais dependant on the tourist-industry for their livelihood!!

No they deserve utter failure until they clear Koh Tao murders and get honest police

So you think that Somchai, Chang, Lek, Mok and Pom and small business-operators should pay the price for the failure of Thai politicians??

Doesn't make sense to me!!

[Alan653]

Cambodian's are Europeans???

[Meatwadism]

Thailand doesn't deserve more European tourists. There are better countries to go to like Burma or Cambodia. Considering the appalling attitude of the government with regard to recent events i'd like to see the country stagnate.

[kannot]

Id advise they all bring their own crash helmets for the beach safety

[kannot]

Hope they are successful, with so many ordinary Thais dependant on the tourist-industry for their livelihood!!

No they deserve utter failure until they clear Koh Tao murders and get honest police

So you think that Somchai, Chang, Lek, Mok and Pom and small business-operators should pay the price for the failure of Thai politicians??

Doesn't make sense to me!!

Well they "did" have a vote

[JOC]

Only on Thaivisa!!

A thread about tourist-promotion, turned into the masterrace's contempt for Chinese, Russians, Indians, Laotians and "ragheads"!!

You guys should try to look in the mirror sometimes!!

[MaRKie]

I think backpackers and budget travellers would bring down the European average.

[kannot]

Problem with US is they live to work, while Sweden and Australia work to live:))

Nah. Problem with the US is that we can get anything we want in a 4 hour (or shorter) flight.

And can get 95% of what Thailand has to offer without even getting a passport...

So why is Mr 5% here??

Boom Boom!

Basil Brush?????????/

[Jungle Jim]

The euros don,t come here for culture. They come here for two reasons. Can you guess what ? And yes Vietnam is far better for culture. Thailand has the idea cover every square inch with Euros , girly bars, foreign restaurants and resorts. Zero charm and no American or Canadian with any brain cells left, that is not already married to a Thai would think of staying or visiting here. i did not move to Thailand twenty years ago to be around millions of very questionable Euros granted not all are bad but i think the majority of Thais have had enough of the Euros, Russians and the middle east types.

Pssst! This is entirely unnecessary.

Europeans already visit Thailand in massive numbers.

I believe there is a lot of scope to increase the number of European visitors.

Out of curiosity I calculated the number of visitors per thousand of the population for the top 20 countries by tourist arrivals.

Not surprisingly, the top of the list is dominated by Asian countries. The first non-Asian country is Australia with 39 per thousand of the population visiting each year.

Sweden comes next with a very similar 36/thousand.

It should be possible to bring the levels of other countries up to the 35 mark, e.g. UK (15), Russia (12), France (9), Germany (9).

The United States provides very few visitors (3). Again, it should be possible to increase these numbers, despite the travel distance.

Of course, the potential for increasing the number of visitors from wealthy occidental countries doesn't actually mean that TAT will be able to deliver.

Thailand_arrivals.gif

Americans looking for beaches and tropical settings are not going to come to Thailand, because:

*unlike Europe there are many, many tropical alternatives not only within the US but right next door in neighboring countries and islands (some day maybe even Cuba, again)

*why get a passport and visa when you can go to Hawaii? (Only an insane person would pick Thailand over Hawaii)

*SE Asia still largely has a negative mental imprint on most Americans

*for those who are even aware of the region, Vietnam looks more interesting for historical, cultural, and even nostalgic reasons

*if Americans want to stretch their dollar on a vacation to the Far East, they'll go to the Philippines, where English is spoken and there still exists an historical relationship and many American cultural practices.

Frankly, I'm surprised that hardly any Americans at all come to Thailand. Most of them must be Thai expats living in the US or US citizens of Thai descent.