Chinese elevate to status of ‘quality tourists’

[Thaivisa News]

Bangkok:- Chinese tourists have elevated their status to quality tourists with the highest average daily spending in Thailand in the first quarter of this year, Tourism Minister Korbkarn Wattanavrangkul said.

Korbkarn said each Chinese tourist averagely spent Bt6,346 per day during the stay in Thailand. The minister said the median of average daily spending of tourists from countries in the first quarter was Bt4,950.

She added that Singapore tourists came second with an average daily spending of Bt6,284 per day, followed by Malaysians of Bt6,020, Indians Bt5,952 and Australians Bt5,842.

“Thailand is a top choice of destinations of Chinese tourists and they came with purchasing power, generating a lot of income for Thais,” Korbkarn said.

“From January to April, they generated income of Bt122.71 billion of income for Thailand, which was an increase of 110 per cent from the same period of last year.”

She said about 2.69 Chinese tourists visited Thailand in the first quarter and 1.2 million of them or more than two fifths came with tourism companies.

The minister said people in the North of Thailand have already changed their attitude towards Chinese tourists because they like to shop. “Local residents also advised the Chinese tourists what can be done and what should be avoided,” Korbkarn added.

The minister added that some 11.95 million foreign tourists visited Thailand from January 1 to May 25, generating income of Bt578.94 billion for the country.

Korbkarn said it is expected that some 28.5 million foreign tourists will visit the kingdom this year and they could generate some Bt1.4 trillion of income for the country.

[Tywais]

Guess no surprise that tourism minister's definition of 'quality' tourist is how much they spend.

[Sydebolle]

In the absence of anything else - correct!

[kotsak]

Hail is welcome during a drought..

[sscsamui]

?

[Bung]

This is just a "chinese tourist are great for thailand, we can all make money, dont complain about their behaviour" announcement. Interesting that indians spend more than australians! How do they know what each nationality spends? They love throwing figures around.

[DavisH]

Guess no surprise that tourism minister's definition of 'quality' tourist is how much they spend.

They should deduct the amount for the cost of cleaning the toilets after they have used them

And are all these tourist companies fully Thai or Chinese owned? How much of the profits find their way back offshore? They may well spend a lot of money, but it may end up in the pockets of a few and not spread among the general population.

I'm probably the worst kind of expat - Thais pay me money, I never spend much, and never leave

[Praematura]

Impossible to know how much a tourist spends. The only time I see Chinese spending anything is at the food court at Tesco as the food is so cheap it's almost free. Or at Ko Larn when we witnessed them trying to barter beach chair fees to 20 baht instead of paying the 100.

This article is ridiculous and they must of sample department store purchases of hand bags and extrapolated.

[zakk9]

They can deduct the cost of traffic jams caused by the thousands of buses used to transport the Chinese but that are parked all over Pattaya and other tourist destinations most of the time. Parts of Pattaya look like storage areas for buses nowadays. That's not what I call "high class" or "quality".

[FireMedic]

Considering four Malaysians pay 8,800 baht for a seafood dinner, I would think they were higher on the list.

[JOC]

More nonsense from the honorable Madame "wristband" Popcorn!!.....................

[phoenixdoglover]

Here's a little question for the TVF members: In all of your visits to Thailand, have you ever been subjected to a survey or questionnaire regarding your spending during your stay?

I have never divulged this information, and I have never heard of it being collected.

This begs the question of how the Tourism Ministry makes up determines these average tourist spending figures, by country of origin.

[Yunla]

Happily, it wouldn't make any difference to me if they labelled me 'quality' or 'brill' or anything.

I will still continue to be presentable and courteous in my tourist travels, spend sensibly, and tip generously where it is deserved. Even though I'm not officially quality.

[JOC]

Here's a little question for the TVF members: In all of your visits to Thailand, have you ever been subjected to a survey or questionnaire regarding your spending during your stay?

I have never divulged this information, and I have never heard of it being collected.

This begs the question of how the Tourism Ministry makes up determines these average tourist spending figures, by country of origin.

Who needs a survey, when you have this one?

[JonnyF]

Here's a little question for the TVF members: In all of your visits to Thailand, have you ever been subjected to a survey or questionnaire regarding your spending during your stay?

I have never divulged this information, and I have never heard of it being collected.

This begs the question of how the Tourism Ministry makes up determines these average tourist spending figures, by country of origin.

Exactly, only thing I've ever been asked is how much I earn and I lie about that as it's none of their business.

This is just a PR piece to try to reduce some of the growing ill feeling from Thais towards the less well behaved Chinese guests. You can tell it's aimed at Thais by the criteria they are using for "quality".

[harada]

That's a lot of Mamma noodles.

[ratcatcher]

I hate to bring this up in a discussion about "Quality" tourists, but I wonder if the Tourism Minister has ever considered the economic impact of the hundreds of thousands of tourists who come to Thailand for the lure of the nightlife in such exotic destinations as Pattaya, Patong, Bangkok and Koh Samui. All places where there are bars and adult entertainment venues where the ladies, men and katoeys provide play for pay. An enormous amount of this money eventually ends up being sent up country to Nakhon Nowhere to support family etc. There are also hotels and restaurants and many other businesses that are benefited

I do realize that in the minister's world this doesn't exist as quality tourism, but as an economic contributor, surely it is significant.

[ExPratt]

No Laughing please, 3rd and 4th Paragraph

THE TOURISM Authority of Thailand (TAT) says it will make every effort to hit its tourism revenue target of Bt2.3 trillion for fiscal year 2016, with the help of the "Discover Thainess" strategy.

Santi Chudintra, deputy TAT governor for policy and planning, said that the authority, which was in the process of formulating its marketing plans, had to meet the revenue target announced by Prime MinisterPrayut Chan-o-cha during his declaration of the fiscal 2016 budget act to the National Legislative Assembly.

Santi said he was confident that in the current fiscal year, tourism revenue would reach the Bt2.2-trillion target, given increases in the number of tourists every quarter so far. Forward booking jumped 20 per cent in the second quarter of this year despite it being low season.

In 2016, TAT will continue its focus on quality rather than quantity tourism, and will stimulate spending per tourist. Three or four years ago, the agency adopted this target and has seen a 10-per-cent rise in average spending per tourist.

"Discover Thainess" will be used to stimulate tourism consistently, after starting to realise results in local and overseas markets, with a push for higher spending per traveller.

Santi said this concept started a few years ago, and TAT laid out its 2013-14 marketing plan under the goal "Higher Revenue through Thainess", planning to get tourists to understand Thai ways of living in depth.

Other concepts for 2016 include more emphasis on women, especially those who like to spend a lot of money when they visit a foreign country. For example, Hong Kong women, whether they are regular workers or high-ranking executives, are interested in fashion and other shopping activities.

Edited May 28, 2015 by ExPratt

[Pattaya28]

6,346 Baht per day

Cannot believe this.

The source of this amount ?

The accuracy of this amount ?

How can this even be calculated ?

Is accommodation lumped into this figure ?

Did they forget these "quality" tourists a few weeks back, were washing their feet in sinks at temples ?

What was the name of the monkey who's backside this figure was plucked from ?

Edited May 28, 2015 by Pattaya28

[mikemac]

I find it hard to believe the average Chinese tourist spends more than an Aussie tourist.

An Aussie would spill more than a Chinese tourist spent on an average day.

[heybruce]

Where is all this big spending going on?

[ratcatcher]

Where is all this big spending going on?

At this casino.

[kkerry]

Don Mueang at 6am the other day,and immigration was backed up out the door in to the departures area. Chinese tour groups made up the majority of foreigners. The ratio of Chinese looking tourists to western looking tourists must have been fifty to one.

[coulson]

She said about 2.69 Chinese tourists visited Thailand in the first quarter

Seriously, where are they getting their figures from, TAT takes this from where? Hoteliers, Asiatique stalls & Tour companies only? I have rarely seen a Chinese flash any cash.

Deriving the term 'quality tourist' purely from how much they apparently pay their tour operators is a little narrow minded, every Thai I know feels they are nothing more than a nuisance.

[sanuk711]

What is it that makes people so uptight about these facts ? --and they are facts.

They are the same facts reported by other governments all around the world.

These are the very latest figures just released 15/4/2015---The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) just released new data on tourist spending in 2014. Last year international tourism generated over $1,245 billion around the world. Tourism is obviously a huge moneymaker for countries that are top travel destinations, but some tourists spend more than others.

Unsurprisingly, Chinese people spent the most when traveling abroad, spending a total of $165 billion in 2014....1/

Unsurprisingly it would seem to everyone but the farang bar experts who see it all as a great plot by Thailand Gov-- but their not going to be fooled by it all----they haven't seen one Chinese guy buy a bar girl a house---so how can it be correct. I guess the United nations are also in on this plot.........

http://www.businessinsider.com/tourists-from-these-countries-spend-the-most-when-traveling-abroad-2015-4

[JOC]

Quality tourist preparing for her shopping spree.................

[coulson]

Don Mueang at 6am the other day,and immigration was backed up out the door in to the departures area. Chinese tour groups made up the majority of foreigners. The ratio of Chinese looking tourists to western looking tourists must have been fifty to one.

Majority of International flights through Don Mueng are Asian, it is a horrendous place to suffer these days

[sanuk711]

Here's a little question for the TVF members: In all of your visits to Thailand, have you ever been subjected to a survey or questionnaire regarding your spending during your stay?

I have never divulged this information, and I have never heard of it being collected.

This begs the question of how the Tourism Ministry makes up determines these average tourist spending figures, by country of origin.

Seriously phoenixdoglover .... does your brain really go into overload trying to work this out ??........amazing.

I will try to explain part of it---but it just may prove to be just to Technical to take in....its done by all governments in several ways

1/

When Yuan gets exchanged into baht in Thailand.......they assume its from the Chinese

When Tugrik gets exchanged into baht---they just jump to the conclusion That its a tourist from Mongolia doing it.

And so on & so forth.

2/

Credit card companies publish their spending trends every 3 months---X amount is being spent by Germans in these destinations-----you can Google it. Marketing companies always pay close attention to what is being spent where.

3/

Each countries banks buy in certain amounts of foreign currency for their customers to exchange. If there buying in more of a certain currency then.................

There are also a few other ways------but these do not need to concern you, because you have a hotline to the real source of info, ---The guy on the bar stool next to you---and your both in agreement that all this sort of stuff is just one big plot by the Thai government ...........now.....who's round is it.............

[seajae]

well Thailand have just confirmed that money is more important than anything else in Thailand, you can rob, shoot, kill, steal, destroy but as long as you spend lots of money you are considered the best tourist possible, shows exactly the mentality of those in charge

[DP25]

Here's a little question for the TVF members: In all of your visits to Thailand, have you ever been subjected to a survey or questionnaire regarding your spending during your stay?

I have never divulged this information, and I have never heard of it being collected.

This begs the question of how the Tourism Ministry makes up determines these average tourist spending figures, by country of origin.

Yes, I've seen them. They hang out in from of places like Paragon or the Emporium do surveys sometimes.

The numbers are all BS. The places they do the surveys are full of high spending tourists, not average tourists. The average tourist is not going to be approached by these people, and wouldn't take the time to fill out the survey anyway.

If I remember right they also have Laos tourists down as spending 5,000 baht per day, about 1 million of them. Sure, the Lao shopping at Siam Paragon spend a lot, but the other 99% of Laos 'tourists' in Thailand are staying with family or working illegally.

Edited May 28, 2015 by DP25