Thailand: Push for more European tourists

[ttthailand]

This link I think sums it up. Joni Mitchell, Take paradise and put up a parking lot.

youtu.be/94bdMSCdw20

Edited November 8, 2014 by ttthailand

[Jungle Jim]

Can never have enough girly bars, resorts, beach chairs, Thailand will destroy itself with mass tourism. Lets cover every last inch with more tourists, sex tourists, alcoholics, beach bimbos , and lets not forget the FMP morons.

This link I think sums it up. Joni Mitchell, Take paradise and put up a parking lot.

youtu.be/94bdMSCdw20

[Jungle Jim]

Have you tried saying NO! and just walking away ? Twenty years and never had a single problem anywhere throughout Thailand. NO works wonders i do it every time someone including foreigners tries to scam me.

I have been stopped by the Police 3 times on bangkok over the past 10 days, each time a nonsense reason for the ticket being issued. Each time I was asked if I wanted to "go to the police station?" Bas--cially giving me the opportunity to cross the palms of the bib with a few hundred baht.

I simply don't believe that you were stopped by the police three times. It was almost certainly tessakit (city inspectors). The uniforms are similar, but their powers aren't. They can't arrest you and it's safe to ignore them. (They don't have guns.)

I don't particularly care if you believe me or not,, the truth is the truth and my wallet knows it. Twice on Rama 4 road the other time on the road just before (can't remember the name). They were police not city inspectors and yes they wore guns.

The first time they could not explain to me clearly why they were giving me a ticket, it was only when I got to the station that someone explained it to me and it turned out to be a complete and utter lie, but what can you do argue with the Thai police? The other 2 times just seemed to be made up law on the spot, I just said to them give me the ticket so I can get moving and be quick,,, I will not pay on the roadside and participate in their corruption so they can line their own pockets. Make no mistake this is all about money, nothing to do with enforcing the law, you only have to watch the way the police ride their own motorbikes to know this.

If you don't believe what I say is true thats up to you,, but if you believe the police are honest and straight and only pull you over for legitimate reasons then you are delusional.

[namdocmai]

I have been stopped by the Police 3 times on bangkok over the past 10 days, each time a nonsense reason for the ticket being issued. Each time I was asked if I wanted to "go to the police station?" Bas--cially giving me the opportunity to cross the palms of the bib with a few hundred baht.

I simply don't believe that you were stopped by the police three times. It was almost certainly tessakit (city inspectors). The uniforms are similar, but their powers aren't. They can't arrest you and it's safe to ignore them. (They don't have guns.)

I thought the bribing of the police would be over now, i haven't experienced it lately even they stopped me several times though, which is fine.

Also i don't know the difference of that Tessakit and the police, i even had never heard of tessakit untill today and i come here for 12 years in row.

There are too many uniforms who try to stop people, even security guards who just walk onto the highway to stop traffic. I won't stop for them but maybe i should i, have no idea.

We also have been stopped in the middle of the night by Thai with a "broken car", they just look for an expensive car and try to stop it for a robbery? That's what my wife told me at least so at night i stop for nobody except for very official looking police with guns (and a policecar preferably)

[MJP]

This thing about some US banks (and a UK bank so far) stopping the use of their cards in Thailand due to fraud is seriously going throw a spanner in the works.

I mean who uses travelers cheques these days? Can't take loads of cash, that tends to get confiscated before departure in these times of government tax evasion paranoia.

Pre-pay cards?

[Thai at Heart]

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

Goodness that was a boring post,,, thank you for your "internet assembled" summary, I have no idea what your point is. So, the way I see it is pretty clear, if EU tourists stay nearly twice as long as other tourists then a significant amount of revenue is generated.

The problem I see is simpl the things we have all been reading,,, death of 2 Brits on Kao Thao Island, political unrest, scams, corruption, dodgy Police and overall terrible publicity for Thailand. This is going to have a big impact on travellers coming into the country for sure.

I have been stopped by the Police 3 times on bangkok over the past 10 days, each time a nonsense reason for the ticket being issued. Each time I was asked if I wanted to "go to the police station?" Bas--cially giving me the opportunity to cross the palms of the bib with a few hundred baht. Personally I would not recommend Thailand to anyone for a holiday break this year at least.

The deaths on Koh Toa are not going to have any measurable effect on tourism to Thailand. Only somebody completely ignorant would avoid a country because of a single criminal incident and would need to be even more ignorant to not know Thailand is a less developed country that has had political unrest, scams and corruptions going on longer then they have been alive. International Tourism has boomed in Thailand and nearly tripled in the last 10 years and total tourism went from accounting for about 6% of GDP to nearly 10%.

Things that can significantly impact Thailand tourism are natural disasters, epidemics and extreme political unrest. Even during the flooding a few years back, Tourist revenue increased from the previous year. And even during the 2010 riots as well as the 2011 Flooding Thailand saw big increases in international tourist arrivals.

Tourist don't generally come to Thailand because it is modern and safe, them come at least in part for adventure. If safety, control, cleanliness and 1st world nation is what they are looking for then they would go to Singapore.

I disagree. Young backpackers who have nonfixed plans will vary their choices.

[Grindting]

As someone else said, thai airlines is crap. It's expensive crap. The business class in emirates is FAR superior, A380 from london to bangkok, and cheaper than thai which is an inferior product, how did that happen then? Emirates latest a380 business product is even superior to thai first class (not tried 1st class on the latest double decker thai planes, If such do exist?). Economy on thai I remember also being pretty uncomfortable. Emirates a380 on the latest planes with those bucket seats is the best economy I have ever tried. Thai cannot compete with the quality of emirates, no way, but why can't it compete at least with the price, considering their 3rd world overheads will be less than emirates in dubai with higher aviation standards and such ?

[Grindting]

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

Goodness that was a boring post,,, thank you for your "internet assembled" summary, I have no idea what your point is. So, the way I see it is pretty clear, if EU tourists stay nearly twice as long as other tourists then a significant amount of revenue is generated.

The problem I see is simpl the things we have all been reading,,, death of 2 Brits on Kao Thao Island, political unrest, scams, corruption, dodgy Police and overall terrible publicity for Thailand. This is going to have a big impact on travellers coming into the country for sure.

I have been stopped by the Police 3 times on bangkok over the past 10 days, each time a nonsense reason for the ticket being issued. Each time I was asked if I wanted to "go to the police station?" Bas--cially giving me the opportunity to cross the palms of the bib with a few hundred baht. Personally I would not recommend Thailand to anyone for a holiday break this year at least.

The deaths on Koh Toa are not going to have any measurable effect on tourism to Thailand. Only somebody completely ignorant would avoid a country because of a single criminal incident and would need to be even more ignorant to not know Thailand is a less developed country that has had political unrest, scams and corruptions going on longer then they have been alive. International Tourism has boomed in Thailand and nearly tripled in the last 10 years and total tourism went from accounting for about 6% of GDP to nearly 10%.

Things that can significantly impact Thailand tourism are natural disasters, epidemics and extreme political unrest. Even during the flooding a few years back, Tourist revenue increased from the previous year. And even during the 2010 riots as well as the 2011 Flooding Thailand saw big increases in international tourist arrivals.

Tourist don't generally come to Thailand because it is modern and safe, them come at least in part for adventure. If safety, control, cleanliness and 1st world nation is what they are looking for then they would go to Singapore.

I disagree. Young backpackers who have nonfixed plans will vary their choices.

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Thailand should be a very easy 'starter' country for the budding young backpacker, as it's so easy to get around and transport is cheap(enough). But generally backpackers even first timers who are wanting to really see different parts of the world are informed enough to know thailand is just like a cheap Spanish island booze up or a place for young couples with cash to blow.

Everything else on the other hand, makes it the worst destination in asia for backpacking. Accomodation, food, drink and activities are all more expensive than close countries, yet the quality is not better. No where is 'undiscovered' or even comes across remotely so, it's all very cliche and passé. The kind of 'backpacker' in Thailand now is no different to the party revellers in the Spanish Islands, just further away and drinking un-certified cheap alcohol and not very well dressed. If you are backpacking you will meet the worst in Thailand, all the cool open minded and inteligent backpackers you will find roaming around china, trying to make it work on a shoe string, nepal, india, Central asian former soviet states, etc. not old hat thailand.

Edited November 8, 2014 by Grindting

[i claudius]

As someone else said, thai airlines is crap. It's expensive crap. The business class in emirates is FAR superior, A380 from london to bangkok, and cheaper than thai which is an inferior product, how did that happen then? Emirates latest a380 business product is even superior to thai first class (not tried 1st class on the latest double decker thai planes, If such do exist?). Economy on thai I remember also being pretty uncomfortable. Emirates a380 on the latest planes with those bucket seats is the best economy I have ever tried. Thai cannot compete with the quality of emirates, no way, but why can't it compete at least with the price, considering their 3rd world overheads will be less than emirates in dubai with higher aviation standards and such ?

Went back to the UK business with Emirates heaven pure heaven,have not traveled with Thai for many years not much good and expensive

[Thai at Heart]

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

Goodness that was a boring post,,, thank you for your "internet assembled" summary, I have no idea what your point is. So, the way I see it is pretty clear, if EU tourists stay nearly twice as long as other tourists then a significant amount of revenue is generated.

The problem I see is simpl the things we have all been reading,,, death of 2 Brits on Kao Thao Island, political unrest, scams, corruption, dodgy Police and overall terrible publicity for Thailand. This is going to have a big impact on travellers coming into the country for sure.

I have been stopped by the Police 3 times on bangkok over the past 10 days, each time a nonsense reason for the ticket being issued. Each time I was asked if I wanted to "go to the police station?" Bas--cially giving me the opportunity to cross the palms of the bib with a few hundred baht. Personally I would not recommend Thailand to anyone for a holiday break this year at least.

The deaths on Koh Toa are not going to have any measurable effect on tourism to Thailand. Only somebody completely ignorant would avoid a country because of a single criminal incident and would need to be even more ignorant to not know Thailand is a less developed country that has had political unrest, scams and corruptions going on longer then they have been alive. International Tourism has boomed in Thailand and nearly tripled in the last 10 years and total tourism went from accounting for about 6% of GDP to nearly 10%.

Things that can significantly impact Thailand tourism are natural disasters, epidemics and extreme political unrest. Even during the flooding a few years back, Tourist revenue increased from the previous year. And even during the 2010 riots as well as the 2011 Flooding Thailand saw big increases in international tourist arrivals.

Tourist don't generally come to Thailand because it is modern and safe, them come at least in part for adventure. If safety, control, cleanliness and 1st world nation is what they are looking for then they would go to Singapore.

I disagree. Young backpackers who have nonfixed plans will vary their choices.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Thailand should be a very easy 'starter' country for the budding young backpacker, as it's so easy to get around and transport is cheap(enough). But generally backpackers even first timers who are wanting to really see different parts of the world are informed enough to know thailand is just like a cheap Spanish island booze up or a place for young couples with cash to blow.

Everything else on the other hand, makes it the worst destination in asia for backpacking. Accomodation, food, drink and activities are all more expensive than close countries, yet the quality is not better. No where is 'undiscovered' or even comes across remotely so, it's all very cliche and passé. The kind of 'backpacker' in Thailand now is no different to the party revellers in the Spanish Islands, just further away and drinking un-certified cheap alcohol and not very well dressed. If you are backpacking you will meet the worst in Thailand, all the cool open minded and inteligent backpackers you will find roaming around china, trying to make it work on a shoe string, nepal, india, Central asian former soviet states, etc. not old hat thailand.

I have never backpacked, but for example my sister went around Thailand largely alone while I was living in bangkok.

She was very careful going around and made sure she met a group to hang out with. I wouldnt let her or reccomend and girl do that now. I just have a feeling that the whole atmosphere for young western women has changed.

Call it what u like, but something has changed and not for the better.

[adammike]

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.

The Euro seems to stay between 40-45 Baht the exchange rate is not the problem,close down Bangkok was scary, closing the airport was scary,travel insurance

not valid because of riots and blockades and coups are scary, wages in the UK and Euroland stagnating over over the last few years while prices have risen across the board thats scary,our disposable income has taken a big hit places closer to home seem a better deal Greece and Turkey have seen tourist numbers rise.rapes, murder,jetski scams with the threat of violents to wallet and body is scary.Air fares if you are flexible are as low as I have ever seen thats the only plus

thing thats in Thailands favour at the moment.There are tourists from three countries that I do not want to share my vacation with China,Russia and Israel plenty

of the first two, leave Goa for the others.

[Lukecan]

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.

Then why on earth are you on Thaivisa?

[Grindting]

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.

Then why on earth are you on Thaivisa?

Maybe he's married to a Thai?

Maybe he's in the process of divorcing a thai?

Maybe he has to work in Thailand due to company and financial committments.

Maybe he simply has to travel to thailand for the same above business reasons.

This forum has useful information related to those who have to go to or be in Thailand. It doesn't imply that one has to like the place, does it? Or are you just another appologist infrequent holiday traveller going to LOS for your bi annual 2 week mongering session? And simply can't handle to read that some people simply do not like thailand anymore?

Edited November 8, 2014 by Grindting

[ginjag]

Recently travelled to UK with Thai. TG 916. it was one of those aircraft for sale--yes A340 290 seats, not full.

and the price was way OTT.

Travelled back Lufthansa, up to date aircraft 350 seats full.

So long haul Thai are using smaller aircraft and not full, as opposed to Emirates A380 500+ at a lower price.

My point on topic is if you want more European tourists try looking at your flag carrier (Thai) and do something about aircraft selection and overpricing.

Surely the Thai national carrier should set the example and get them on board. But they haven't done this now for years, over priced policy===if you do not have the customers--put up the price---STUPID.

Flag carrier has nothing to do with tourist numbers, Thai has been substandard overpriced and out of date for more than a decade, I havnt flown them for as long and wont until they get in the real world.

Lufthansa has reduced the amount of flights to BKK and I believe shares with Austria air or someone to fill flights, like BA does with Quantas to BKK.

Truth about tourists is Thailand is doing everything wrong to keep attract and entice them. The tourist market isnt booming anyway due to world economics. At exactly the same time Thailand is turning people off and away whilst others are developing and attracting them.

Coup aside and very public murder/rapes aside, we have martial law, suspect holiday insurance, increasing prices also affecting medical tourists... as if all this isnt hard enough to deal with they choose right now to mess about with visas and the possibility of being turned away.

Then theres the slavery trade and scandal that isnt exactly on the brochure and the southern terrorist attacks happening on a weekly and almost daily basis.... but theres no problem your safe.....

On top we have heard over and over Thailand thinks it can pick and choose its tourists.... well the rich dont need Thailand they can go anywhere and it not the Seychelles or Virgin Islands or the US, Thailand isnt really a family holiday destination and it dosnt apparently want the backpacker tourist which has been the backbone of tourism here along with the sexpat forever ( which they do want the money from just pretend they dont )

Now tourists are not only told its fine they are safe when the army takes over because people are being blown up, shot and beaten to death a few short months ago, on top of which tourists raped and murdered with a clear cover up and a PM who clearly has a problem with diplomacy and human decency.

Along with all this of course is prices rising which just puts people off more if they have a choice, there are some fantastic package deals out there to all kinds of exotic places, many far better value for money than Thailand.

its whined and moaned and tried to manipulate visitors to pay top dollar for medium quality for decades, its got what it deserves and all adds up.

Serves the country right....

Good points from your post.

Quote." The flag carrier (Thai) has nothing to do with tourist numbers".......my point wasn't suggesting they could bring in another 5 million tourists, it was just pointing out charity starts at home and their contribution is near nil. There is near zero effort as far as I can see from them to put on a BIG SHOW for Thailand.

The reason I travelled out with Thai to the UK was because Lufthansa was delayed---and with them sharing with Thai, I was transferred.

Lufthansa--Thai---star alliance. get it -reason each one has cut flights. Just saying.

Good to use my post to put your feelings across re the topic

[JohnThailandJohn]

This thing about some US banks (and a UK bank so far) stopping the use of their cards in Thailand due to fraud is seriously going throw a spanner in the works.

Where are you getting this information from?

[JohnThailandJohn]

.I,m sorry but I just don,t believe these figures ! Having been in business here for well over 30 years, to be told that indians and ragheads spend a lot more per day than british tourists is absolute nonsense !

Wouldn't it be nice, if some posters thought twice before posting??

Yes, it would.

Indian tourists are the biggest spending in U.S.

http://www.rciventures.com/indian-tourists-are-the-biggest-spending-in-u-s/

Indians have now emerged as among the biggest spenders when holidaying in London.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Indians-one-of-the-biggest-spenders-among-London-tourists/articleshow/34872966.cms

Edited November 8, 2014 by JohnThailandJohn

[lvr181]

Thai Visa Headlines

• Thailand wants more European tourists
• Danish tax fraud suspect arrested in Phuket

Or is this just my lateral sense of humour?

[mitsubishi]

I,m sorry but I just don,t believe these figures ! Having been in business here for well over 30 years, to be told that indians and ragheads spend a lot more per day than british tourists is absolute nonsense !

Well, they might not want to do business with an idiot who calls them "ragheads."

Given they have a lowly reputation with the latest shenanigans in the ME I think business might be booming

[lvr181]

Thai Visa Headlines

• Thailand wants more European tourists
• Danish tax fraud suspect arrested in Phuket

Or is this just my lateral sense of humour?

Oooops forgot this one Headline:

Greek Man Arrested On Koh Kood For Attempted Murder

[grumbleweed]

Their desire to attract quality tourists cannot be taken seriously while ever they still allow Leeds Unted supporters to freely enter the kingdom

[Richo68]

The only "Discover Thainess" campaign I could find on facebook has just 3 likes

https://www.facebook.com/DiscoverThainess

[khunpa]

All I wish was the government here to make up their mind of what they really want and then stick to that.

What others tend to call a "PLAN". They seem totally disorganized, unaware of reality and uncontrolled when it comes to making public announcements. All making Thailand more and more undesirable for both Tourists and Foreign Investors.

[Emster23]

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

Seems a limited understanding of Americans (I am one). I started coming here in 82, lived here last 13 years, and didn't come for the hookers and booze. I wanted a different culture to experience. In 82 started in Thailand and worked way down to Bali: very few Americans there at the time.

I see travel something like blood spatter forensics, and I wanted to get far away from point of impact of other Americans. Hawaii just didn't cut it, and went thru airport there many times on way to Asia.

[Jungle Jim]

Cheap booze not very well dressed. Boy! that hit the nail on the head.

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

Goodness that was a boring post,,, thank you for your "internet assembled" summary, I have no idea what your point is. So, the way I see it is pretty clear, if EU tourists stay nearly twice as long as other tourists then a significant amount of revenue is generated.

The problem I see is simpl the things we have all been reading,,, death of 2 Brits on Kao Thao Island, political unrest, scams, corruption, dodgy Police and overall terrible publicity for Thailand. This is going to have a big impact on travellers coming into the country for sure.

I have been stopped by the Police 3 times on bangkok over the past 10 days, each time a nonsense reason for the ticket being issued. Each time I was asked if I wanted to "go to the police station?" Bas--cially giving me the opportunity to cross the palms of the bib with a few hundred baht. Personally I would not recommend Thailand to anyone for a holiday break this year at least.

The deaths on Koh Toa are not going to have any measurable effect on tourism to Thailand. Only somebody completely ignorant would avoid a country because of a single criminal incident and would need to be even more ignorant to not know Thailand is a less developed country that has had political unrest, scams and corruptions going on longer then they have been alive. International Tourism has boomed in Thailand and nearly tripled in the last 10 years and total tourism went from accounting for about 6% of GDP to nearly 10%.

Things that can significantly impact Thailand tourism are natural disasters, epidemics and extreme political unrest. Even during the flooding a few years back, Tourist revenue increased from the previous year. And even during the 2010 riots as well as the 2011 Flooding Thailand saw big increases in international tourist arrivals.

Tourist don't generally come to Thailand because it is modern and safe, them come at least in part for adventure. If safety, control, cleanliness and 1st world nation is what they are looking for then they would go to Singapore.

I disagree. Young backpackers who have nonfixed plans will vary their choices.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.


Thailand should be a very easy 'starter' country for the budding young backpacker, as it's so easy to get around and transport is cheap(enough). But generally backpackers even first timers who are wanting to really see different parts of the world are informed enough to know thailand is just like a cheap Spanish island booze up or a place for young couples with cash to blow.

Everything else on the other hand, makes it the worst destination in asia for backpacking. Accomodation, food, drink and activities are all more expensive than close countries, yet the quality is not better. No where is 'undiscovered' or even comes across remotely so, it's all very cliche and passé. The kind of 'backpacker' in Thailand now is no different to the party revellers in the Spanish Islands, just further away and drinking un-certified cheap alcohol and not very well dressed. If you are backpacking you will meet the worst in Thailand, all the cool open minded and inteligent backpackers you will find roaming around china, trying to make it work on a shoe string, nepal, india, Central asian former soviet states, etc. not old hat thailand.

I have never backpacked, but for example my sister went around Thailand largely alone while I was living in bangkok.

She was very careful going around and made sure she met a group to hang out with. I wouldnt let her or reccomend and girl do that now. I just have a feeling that the whole atmosphere for young western women has changed.

Call it what u like, but something has changed and not for the better.

[SteveFong]

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

The USA numbers will not increase, starting with the distance, and because US people are not taking their families to Thailand; why would they?

and the distance, does matter

[Rocking Robert]

It was called I and I

[GAZZPA]

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

Goodness that was a boring post,,, thank you for your "internet assembled" summary, I have no idea what your point is. So, the way I see it is pretty clear, if EU tourists stay nearly twice as long as other tourists then a significant amount of revenue is generated.

The problem I see is simpl the things we have all been reading,,, death of 2 Brits on Kao Thao Island, political unrest, scams, corruption, dodgy Police and overall terrible publicity for Thailand. This is going to have a big impact on travellers coming into the country for sure.

I have been stopped by the Police 3 times on bangkok over the past 10 days, each time a nonsense reason for the ticket being issued. Each time I was asked if I wanted to "go to the police station?" Bas--cially giving me the opportunity to cross the palms of the bib with a few hundred baht. Personally I would not recommend Thailand to anyone for a holiday break this year at least.

The deaths on Koh Toa are not going to have any measurable effect on tourism to Thailand. Only somebody completely ignorant would avoid a country because of a single criminal incident and would need to be even more ignorant to not know Thailand is a less developed country that has had political unrest, scams and corruptions going on longer then they have been alive. International Tourism has boomed in Thailand and nearly tripled in the last 10 years and total tourism went from accounting for about 6% of GDP to nearly 10%.

Things that can significantly impact Thailand tourism are natural disasters, epidemics and extreme political unrest. Even during the flooding a few years back, Tourist revenue increased from the previous year. And even during the 2010 riots as well as the 2011 Flooding Thailand saw big increases in international tourist arrivals.

Tourist don't generally come to Thailand because it is modern and safe, them come at least in part for adventure. If safety, control, cleanliness and 1st world nation is what they are looking for then they would go to Singapore.

Well I think you are completely wrong about that. The world is changing fast my friend and you cannot judge the past to predict the future so easily anymore.

I am absolutely convinced that if the social media networks and international press send a strong enough message (or well publicised incident) to target tourist countries it can and will have a effect. For the incident of the 2 British tourists murdered on Ko Tao Island the message that has swept the world is that the Thai Police are covering up and protecting some locals and that justice will not be done.

This has lit up the social media networks and there are talks of how corrupt the police are, how you can not rely on them if you get in trouble, how they always favour the locals no matter what, how they take money off you on the roadside, how they support and take a cut from the beach scams such as jet skis and I have even seen stories about them planting drugs on people to extort cash to avoid jail (One story from an Italian Tourist I actually know). Now go and ask someone, would this effect your decision to go on holiday to a place where this is being publicised?

Also, like all tourism places they do not stay "hot" forever. Popularity eventually changes as new destinations are found and right now there are many other countries emerging. So, not a good time to start casting huge doubts on whether your country is a safe place to visit.

There are those who will travel anyway, of course or there wouldn't be any tourists left.

As for thinking only ignorant people avoid "potentially" unsafe destinations for a holiday,, well how out of touch are you?

[madmitch]

For those of you that think you cannot buy travel insurance for Thailand

YOU ARE WRONG!

Being under military rule does not activate any sort of war exclusion clause unless your claim is as a direct result of military action e.g you get shot by military personnel. If you are sick, have an accident, lose your luggage or get robbed, you will still be covered.

On another point, backpacker numbers seems to be well down this year. I'm looking at it from Phuket. I have no idea of numbers at last week's Koh Phangan full moon party or what's happening on Khao San Road. Anyone know?

[AyG]

For those of you that think you cannot buy travel insurance for Thailand

YOU ARE WRONG!

Being under military rule does not activate any sort of war exclusion clause unless your claim is as a direct result of military action e.g you get shot by military personnel. If you are sick, have an accident, lose your luggage or get robbed, you will still be covered.

The World Travel & Tourism Council doesn't share your viewpoint; the situation is much less clear cut. To quote from them:

Will [martial law] affect travel insurance?

This is very much a grey area. Usually, martial law triggers an exclusion clause in policies ... Be sure to check with your provider to see what these changes may mean to you.

Source: http://www.wttc.org/2014/may/faq-what-does-martial-law-mean-for-thailand/

[mrtoad]

Panic stations by the sounds of it. Thought the Chinese, Indian and Russian market were what they were wanting.