Chinese elevate to status of ‘quality tourists’

[Tomtomtom69]

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

You're an expat not a tourist, big difference. But then again, in Thailand where everything is black and white, where everything is talked about in terms of Thais vs. foreigners and the "politically correct" Thai way of referring to a foreigner is to call them a tourist eternally, no matter their visa status, you are probably right, because you just re-classified yourself according to Thai logic - you're simply a long stay tourist.

[Tomtomtom69]

I had lunch the other day with two Australians staying at the 4 star Muse hotel in central Bangkok. Cost 7200 baht incl 1 bottle of wine in the hotel restaurant. Foyer full of aussies and yanks. Didnt see any Chinese in the hotel.

You have to go to some dumpy hotel or cheap soi eatry to find chows.

The Tat and other authorities simply make all these figures up.

Of course they do, they simply count each entry by a foreigner as a new tourist. It gets even more interesting when accounting for all the visitors who hold more than one nationality, as is becoming increasingly common these days.

Speaking of dumpy hotels with lots of Chinese tourists (although there are also a few unexpected nationalities one doesn't expect to encounter much in Thailand such as Indonesians and Vietnamese): Bangkok City Suite and it's sister hotel with almost the same name located about 1km away next to the expressway entrance on Phetchaburi road. OK neither hotel is horrible, but they are very, very bland and average. Average room rate is about 900-1300 Baht including breakfast. The occasional westerner can be found staying at either hotel, but they are usually outnumbered 10-1 by Chinese tour groups alone.

[Tomtomtom69]

At the end of the day they are better for the economy than penny pinching fat farang pensioners. They come to Thailand, spend money, and leave within 2-3 weeks. This is the sort of crowd Thailand wishes to attract, not farangs who try to put their nose into everything.

Your whole post suggests that you indeed think that quality is indeed defined by money, as English 1 suggests.You are saying that as long as they come to Thailand, spend money, and leave within 2 - 3 weeks, they can behave in the most diabolical way, and it doesn't matter?

And yes, I am one of those fat farang pensioners that you are so critical of, but I and all my friends and acquaintances probably spend more in a week than these Chinese spend in a month, and that is EVERY week of the year - year in year out, so I'm afraid that if you think we are "penny pinchers" you are very much mistaken - plus I don't know of 1 person that would fit this bill:-

"Will not queue but push to the front, are ill mannered, aggressive, pick their nose, noisy and have no consideration."

I am originally from the UK, and we actually invented queuing! Where are you from by the way?

Yes, there are fahrang pensioners who live in Thailand permanently, and who spend money, and don't cause problems.

However, I'm going to say that some fahlang pensioners do cause problems, and are almost penniless and staying in Thailand. These men don't tend to stay in Pattaya, the rent in Pattaya is not so cheap. These men tend to stay away from Pattaya, Bangkok and Phuket. These people live on whatever government pension, rent out houses for four or five thousand baht per month, and go out drinking about once a week. They do the rest of their drinking in their own homes, and buy their food from the local supermarket and cook at home. I don't have a problem with such people, but some of them abuse and shout at Thais in the bars they drink in. They speak Thai because they've lived in Thailand for years, but are bitter and angry because they have little money, they are forced to watch tourists turn up and who spend good money. These men can't get retirement visas because their pension/income is not big enough, and must try to get tourist visas, this just causes more anger and bitterness.

These are, surely, 'tourists' or foreigners that Thailand does NOT actually want ? And unfortunately, there seems to be a growing number of them.

So the problem is some "fahlang" pensioners who go out once a week, are bitter and angry that tourists turn up that have more money than they have, and shout at the locals in the bars that they drink in?

If this is the best that you can come up with regarding a problem in Thailand, I would suggest that the PM has done a wonderful job in bringing happiness back to the people!

Every day there are hundreds of farangs that are being attacked, robbed, beaten up, murdered, raped by bitter and angry Thais, and scammed/conned out of their money- sometimes by the very people who are supposed to be there to protect and help them (i.e.the BIB/RTP) and you complain about some pensioners that "abuse and shout at Thais in the bars they drink in."!!! I am sure that the Thais must be more than capable of handling that kind of situation!

Get a life, or at the very least find something more important to complain about!

What an excellent reply and I might add, where does one even find these fat pensioners anymore? All I am seeing are crowds of Chinese tourists along with a (still) relatively large number of Russians despite the fact that their economy tanked (although it will pick up again), a fast increasing number of Indians who are almost as prevalent as Chinese in some places (though noticeably absent in others, such as the seafood market in Patong, Phuket where I didn't spot a single Indian customer, but of course with all the signs in Chinese that doesn't surprise me). That seems to be the present and future of Thai tourism.

So with such few old fat pensioners left, there really can't be much to complain about unless one has some kind of personal or even racist agenda against this demographic.

One should also not stick their head in the sand and forget to mention the many shouting incidents of Chinese tourists against Thais, who become aggressive quite quickly if they feel they are being taken advantage of, for example if they are being ripped off by a minivan driver or tourism operator. This will start to occur more and more as Chinese tourist numbers increase.

[Tomtomtom69]

The amount of times i see chinese complaining and argueing a restaurant bill after stuffing their faces i doubt they are keen to spend any money here!

Then the ones that push their way to the front of the line to board an aircraft that is boarding by row numbers only to have to struggle past them in the front of the plane as they complain about their seat allocation and an old lady comlaining about how cold it is, making childlike noises and gestures of being cold and demanding blankets immediately to put in their hand luggage.

Quality..

I been going to China on business trips off and on for longer than I care to admit, so have a pretty good idea of the place. First, there are plenty of good people in China, tourists from any country don't really give the best impression--I see some horrendous behaviour from my countrymen/women as well as from other Westerners.

That said, there's a level of selfishness and inconsideration of others there that is beyond what I encounter pretty much anywhere else. One small but telling example: if you take an elevator, say going up, in China, it will often stop at a floor where no one is going up. That's because a lot of people will push both buttons thinking it will speed up their trip without any regard, even if they're well aware of it, how that inconveniences others. If there's one person standing there when the door opens, they'll look at you with a blank look even though they're the one who just made you stop for no reason. I rarely see that kind of childish, selfish behaviour elsewhere. I could go on, and on, but won't....well one more:

I flew BKK-HKG quite recently on Sri Lankan--Sri Lankans are pretty laid-back people, the plan was full of mainlanders, and they were pulling the usual crap--using the restrooms and pulling down their carry-on luggage while the plane descended, then jumping up while it was taxiing. The flight attendants were politely announcing that passengers should remain seated thank you etc, so since I was sitting across from one I told her how to say, not "please sit down," but "sit down!" in Chinese; made it clear that politeness equals weakness. She couldn't quite get the pronunciation, so when the back of the plane all stood up while taxiing and started to rush forward, not wanting to be almost last off the plane (good luck cutting into a line of mainland Chinese), I regretfully stood up, turned around, and yelled in Chinese "SIT DOWN, NOW!" They all stopped their forward motion, and a few even sat down. That's what it takes. You have to shame them or they just don't give a bleep--all most care about it they're own face, so make them lose it in front of others and they'll get in line, literally or figuratively. Usually, anyway.

It helps if you can say some zingers like "are you shameless, or ignorant" or things like that. One good thing compared to Thai men, you can get verbal with most Chinese men and they won't throw down and do their best to stomp you (half) to death joined by every other local guy in sight. Just watch out for people with scalding hot water at hand!

That last sentence is so true. One can easily get angry in China and achieve an acceptable outcome, whereas in Thailand no one involved will talk to you again. The guidebooks and cultural etiquette guides are so horribly wrong when they suggest you shouldn't get angry in China. Chinese get visibly angry all the time, one sees it ALL the time when travelling in China. It's very true that getting visibly angry in Thailand may cause a grand loss of face to all concerned and end any chance of reasonably resolving the dispute. But that's Thailand, not China. While I don't advocate getting angry in any culture, I know for a fact it is possible to get upset with someone in China and then go for a beer afterwards, assuming of course, you weren't trying to kill each other! Try that in Thailand and you'll probably go to hospital afterwards.

Thai and Chinese culture are way more different than many people realize.

[tonbridgebrit]

Finally reached busses parked on both the outside and inside lanes.ImageUploadedByThaivisa Connect1433675117.137149.jpg

Okay, okay, you've got something against the Chinese tourists. What do you suggest ?

How about, all the Chinese tourists must apply for a visa before entering Thailand. And these appilcations, half or two-thirds will be rejected. Such an easy thing to do, and it will reduce the congestion that we see. Do you want to suggest this absurd idea to the Thai government ??