Thailand tourist arrivals keep on rising

[Ulic]

Double Post

Edited July 28, 2015 by Ulic

[Ulic]

[gk10002000]

And if you believe this, you will believe anything.

Just open your eyes and have a look around. There has definitely been less tourists here over the past year or so.

I'm not doubting the overall numbers but you are right in that you don't see them - unless you wander around arrivals and see the planeloads of Chinese tour groups being rushed out onto buses. The problem is that they simply don't spend as anyone in the industry will tell you. I was at the W on Samui a few days back and literally hundreds of tourists wandered in to the spectacular bar. Good for the hotel you might think - but not a single one bought anything. They took a few selfies with the view and then left.

Thailand's middle and high end tourist industry is a wreck, thanks mostly to the coup - the bottom end has a ton of people.

I agree with your statement. Middle end tourism has gotten very expensive. I no longer consider myself in that category. To me staying in the sea view room at Flipper Lodge in Pattaya was middle end. Now that is way too expensive. Sadly, the lower priced hotels have not put a penny into upkeep or maintenance. So glad I made my dozen trips when I did

[Ricardo]

Is Thai tourism really is falling, and remember that these figures from AoT were for passenger-arrivals (which might include people just passing-through at DMK & BKK) , the stand-by for the usual recovery-strategy of price-increases !

[CapeThai]

More Farang to Rip Off and Arrase for tea money should this have been the truth which it's definitely not.

[CapeThai]

Maybe the Indians , Pakistni's and Bangladeshi's will be. able to rescue the faltering tourism industry. After all TAT has been pushing them this way............

Yeah all those quality tourist....

[Crazy chef 1]

As usual course and effect are foreign words.

10-15 years ago Thailnd has been cheap and offered substandard service- value given.

Nowadays the same crap service for top prices- value not given.

IMHO value is the most important thing westerners looking for.

Though Thailand either you drop the prices or increase the level of service....

[bkksteve123]

I don't doubt the numbers, but I think the majority of the growth consists of tourists that 1) are not spending as much, and 2) not staying as long, i.e. mostly Chinese tourists.

I went out in Bangkok the other weekend. Two observations:

1) First we went to Khaosarn road. I have never seen those street bars so packed (I've visited KSR at high-season / low-season since 2009). You could barely walk.

2) Then we took a taxi to Nana/Asoke at 1.30-2am. I kid you not, there was a proper traffic jam on Sukhumvit rd. at 2am (we came down soi 3 - driving towards sukhumvit rd.) I don't remember ever seeing that much traffic at 2am in that area. Ridiculous.

So I don't know what exactly is going on and why, but seems that there are more and more people here than ever before.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Where they all go? Business owners in Phuket, Pattaya, Hua Hin, Chiang Mai says it's quiet!

Chiang Mai is really busy with tourists right now, especially considering it's July-August!

I'm sure people recall what this period was like a couple years ago..

[cracker1]

I find this report very difficult to believe ! I regularly pass through Don Mueang and Swampy and on all occasions this year they have appeared to be very quiet.

I think AOT and TAT "just think of a number" to publish but I have not been able to understand why ?

[cmboy]

Where they all go? Business owners in Phuket, Pattaya, Hua Hin, Chiang Mai says it's quiet!

Chiang Mai is really busy with tourists right now, especially considering it's July-August!

I'm sure people recall what this period was like a couple years ago..

Yeah, busy in some metrics. Still I hear only complaints about local business owners income. Tours probably do good. Especially those who focus on Chinese visitors.

Anyway this does not only apply for tourism but other sectors as well.

Edited July 29, 2015 by cmboy

[Cam Khao]

The value of any product is made up of PRICE + QUALITY + SERVICE.

If we see Thailand as a tourism product, how many of those three main drivers have improved lately?

It doesn't take a genius to work out that when a popular tourist destination loses its value, people will move on to a new destination.

The powers that be can juggle the figures all they want, it doesn't put more cash in the bank.

[Keesters]

The report shows increases in both aircraft movements and passengers. But what they failed to say was it is all departures.

[mxer90]

Talking of pattaya, I did a visa run to Cambodia yesterday.... Minivan was full.... Of Laos and Cambodia workers.

I was the only falang male, one other non Asian female (Russia). 8 Asian workers.

At the border there were 4 minivans whilst I was there, only 3 other Falangs.

Btw, visa run price as increased from 1900 last year to 2200 now.

The reason I post this is 3 to 4 years ago when I did a visa run the van was full of male Falangs and so was the border. Something's doesn't add up somewhere. And as people have said pattaya is VERY quiet regarding the falang side of things at the moment.

This maybe indicative of the more permanent guys that seem to be disappearing. But there are a few bars and restaurants that get busy but the majority have 2 to 3 customers. Certainly seems like a lowest of the low season.

[mxer90]

Also I was talking to a friend from France a few weeks ago. He owns a hotel and bar on 3rd road. He told me last year for songkran the hotel was 100% full.... This year.... songkran.... 50%. Now only 30%.... And that is after reducing prices 300 or 400 baht per night.

The place is swamped with Chinese tour buses though!

Edited July 29, 2015 by mxer90

[marcusd]

I must be living in another dimension?

The bars and business in this other place are on the bones of their ar$e$ and going to the wall left, right and center for lack of business (see paying Tourists and visitors)

Good to see the actual official figures show in reality all is Tickety Boo here in LOS

Maybe after centuries of selling diddly squat and SEX Thailand may need to find some other income from WORK? Maybe even FOREIGN INVESTMENT in INDUSTRIES? OMG what next?

[marcusd]

I don't doubt the numbers, but I think the majority of the growth consists of tourists that 1) are not spending as much, and 2) not staying as long, i.e. mostly Chinese tourists.

I went out in Bangkok the other weekend. Two observations:

1) First we went to Khaosarn road. I have never seen those street bars so packed (I've visited KSR at high-season / low-season since 2009). You could barely walk.

2) Then we took a taxi to Nana/Asoke at 1.30-2am. I kid you not, there was a proper traffic jam on Sukhumvit rd. at 2am (we came down soi 3 - driving towards sukhumvit rd.) I don't remember ever seeing that much traffic at 2am in that area. Ridiculous.

So I don't know what exactly is going on and why, but seems that there are more and more people here than ever before.

Try a Trip to SILOM. EMPTY EVERYWHERE. And Traffic? Were they just looking out the windows of buses?

[Tony125]

Countries and people outside of Thailand ignor anything Thailand says. OP says " During the first six months of the year, the country main gateway Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport welcomed 26.75 million passengers followed by Don Mueang with 14.43mn and Phuket 6.43mn. Chiang Mai Airport handled 4.04mn passengers" That's anazing as Thailand has nerver recorded more than 28+ million visitors for an entire year but in six moths they have almost reached that figure? Thats why its Amazing Thailand.

[outsider]

I clicked on this article only because of the nice shot of an A330. As for the numbers... same-same drivel from TAT... *yawn*

Actually the figures in the OP are from AoT not TAT. Not that that matters much because within 24 hours TAT will issue a press release trumpeting the huge increase in tourists using the same data. Remember TAT's mission goal is to issue as many press releases as possible regardless of the substance or accuracy.

Yet where are all these tourists? Previous posters here have said that the tourists are not in Pattaya or Samui. I don't think they are here in BKK either. I was in MBK and Central World this afternoon and both places were quiet. In MBK there were a few arabic speaking people and some scandahooligans but that was about it. Central World was virtually empty although I did notice from the BTS on the way into Siam that there were approx 12 tourist busses leaving Paragon, maybe Chinese on tour packages?

As Disraeli said 'lies, damn lies and statistics'

Yes, it's AoT. I guess my eyes glazed over that and my brains automatically see 'TAT' whenever tourists numbers are touted. Still, no excuse. I stand corrected @lujanit. Thanks :-)

As for your comment, I agree... I don't notice a lot of tourists around. Not sure where they get the figures from, but I suspect not a very reliable source.

Edited July 29, 2015 by outsider

[CNXBKKMAN]

Countries and people outside of Thailand ignor anything Thailand says. OP says " During the first six months of the year, the country main gateway Bangkoks Suvarnabhumi airport welcomed 26.75 million passengers followed by Don Mueang with 14.43mn and Phuket 6.43mn. Chiang Mai Airport handled 4.04mn passengers" That's anazing as Thailand has nerver recorded more than 28+ million visitors for an entire year but in six moths they have almost reached that figure? Thats why its Amazing Thailand.

28 million foreign visitors have nothing to do with domestic travel numbers. Thais travelling between Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Bangkok and Hatyai plus all the other domestic destinations are responible for milions and millions of passengers at the various airports. None of this locals get recorded as an international visitors. If you dont understand the difference the numbers will never add up right.

For all the TV members who feel the numbers are bogus, thai airpsace and airports are crowded with chinese holidays flights every night. They even fly direct to Surathani, Chiang Rai places that never had international flights before. Phuket, Krabi, Bangkok, Chiang Mai are all crowded with chinese flights. Do you think this has no effect on the airport movements and visitor numbers?

[JohnThailandJohn]

Not sure why people get their panties all in a bunch over tourism being on the rise as it has been for 20 years. There are off years as is recorded by TAT and other years just like last year was an off year so, of course this years numbers are going be up from last year too because the political situation is more stable.

Looking at the below chart is is easy to see the things that affect tourism as well as the trend over the last 15 years and the fact TAT is willing to admit there are bad years but of course they are not going to shout this out as it would be idiotic for any countries tourism office to advertise negatives.

Just really can't understand the haters. Sure the number may be off but you need to be really hiding your head in the sand to ignore the obvious trends and the simply fact Thailand is a top tourist destination.

http://www.thaiwebsites.com/tourism.asp

[theguyfromanotherforum]

Of course tourists numbers are up. In Pattaya now on my break and it's full of Chinese tourists. A lot of young Chinese couples who are not in tours and actually spend money contrary to many bitter posts here. Chinese have replaced Russians and Pattaya looks much better than before. Soon they'll start buying condos here and totally transform this into a family destination.

[Usernames]

As usual course and effect are foreign words.

10-15 years ago Thailnd has been cheap and offered substandard service- value given.

Nowadays the same crap service for top prices- value not given.

IMHO value is the most important thing westerners looking for.

Though Thailand either you drop the prices or increase the level of service....

They never (and I mean NEVER) drop the prices, here. If anything, any downturn in tourism will cause them to raise prices.

[sambum]

As usual course and effect are foreign words.

10-15 years ago Thailnd has been cheap and offered substandard service- value given.

Nowadays the same crap service for top prices- value not given.

IMHO value is the most important thing westerners looking for.

Though Thailand either you drop the prices or increase the level of service....

They never (and I mean NEVER) drop the prices, here. If anything, any downturn in tourism will cause them to raise prices.

A fact that is sometimes referred to as "Thai logic"! I've come across it a few times, but the most laughable instance I can recall was when a new bar complex opened close to the town centre, but it was always deserted - from the word go!. A pal and I ventured in to one of the bars for a drink after it had been up and running for a few weeks, and the price for a beer was 30 - 40 baht more than the surrounding areas. I enquired of the manageress/mama san "Why do you charge so much?" The answer astounded me then, but would not now as I've been living here for a few years now :- "Because we have no customers!"

Unbelievable!!!