Influx of tourists expected

[snoop1130]

TOURISM
Influx of tourists expected
Suchat Sritama
THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- Up to 800,000 foreign tourists are expected to visit the country in the next two weeks, but total annual arrivals is likely to miss the 30 million target predicted by the private sector.

The agency expects a total visitor number of 28.8 million this year, slightly higher than the original projection of 28-28.5 million.

Juthaporn Rerngronasa, deputy governor for international marketing for Europe, Africa, Middle East and Americas at the TAT, said a lot of the large volume of foreigners tourists travelling to the Kingdom over the next fortnight were coming to celebrate Christmas and the New Year.

Private sector entities such as the Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT) earlier forecast the country should receive up to 30 million tourists this year due to large numbers of visitors arriving from China. The TCT is still optimistic about the situation for the remaining weeks this year despite the market facing many negative factors.

Ittirit Kinglake, president of the TCT, believed the deadly bomb blast in Bangkok in August and violence in some western countries were key factors negatively affecting inbound business.

The country's previous highest number of tourists was at 26.5 million in 2013, with the figure falling to 25 million last year.

Travel operators said many tourists would avoid travelling into Europe and the Middle East and shift their plans to Thailand.

"Travel companies in Russia have been ordered [by the Russian government] not to bring tourists into Turkey due its current conflict [with the country]. This will be good for Thailand as the Russia market should bounce back," said a spokesperson from an inbound tourism company.

The spokesperson added that tourists from the Middle East would not travel to Russia, and Thailand had become a new choice.

Tourists and travel companies in the Middle East recently named Thailand the best holiday country in the world for 2015.

They were polled in a survey conducted by Ultratravel Middle East Magazine. Thailand beat Australia, the Maldives, South Africa and the US.

In Rome, the TAT's office is promoting Thailand as sport destination due to the many sporting facilities in the country that are on par with international standards.

It is also promoting the fact that the county has a long list of regional and international sports tournaments taking place every year.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Influx-of-tourists-expected-30274900.html


-- The Nation 2015-12-14

[BSJ]

TAT, always good for a laugh!

[Mitkof Island]

How many foreigners is enough ? 70 million ? 100 million ? 200 million?

[stickylies]

the Moo Paa coming from Bpama or Khmen (sic) are considered tourists too now ?!

[steve187]

How many fly staight out again

[cyberfarang]

Nice to keep it on the optimistic side.

[BuckBee]

I've been in/out of swampy few times in last 2 weeks & it been dead every time. have friend in hotel chain & they super quiet .

TAT figures are dreams at best ...

[WhizBang]

How many foreigners is enough ? 70 million ? 100 million ? 200 million?

No number is enough. Just come, come, come, leave your money, then get lost (go home).

[SoiBiker]

Breaking news - sun expected to rise tomorrow.

[worgeordie]

That's a lot of Chinese

regards Worgeordie

[JoeLing]

Sure TAT must have learned from Kittiratt Na-Ranong who said:
"Noble lies are OK if they cause good feelings. The goal is to create
confidence which in turn benefits the countries economy as a whole"

Maybe I'm wrong, maybe they learned from Goebbels:
"propaganda means repetition and more repetition"
"if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth"
'the bigger the lie, more people will believe it"

[JoeLing]

Sorry - Double posting.

Edited December 14, 2015 by JoeLing

[kkerry]

Last week on a weekday afternoon at Suvarnabhumi and the place was packed. Immigration hall was full with a huge number of people waiting in the arrivals area. A bit of a struggle to make it to the travelator though all the crowds.

[NCC1701A]

where is the water coming from?

[DogNo1]

My hotel is running at an average occupancy of 60% and the management has notified me that they plan to raise my monthly rate by 10% for my next winter stay starting in Nov. 2016. They say that the new management is trying to generate more revenue per room. I really wonder if they can raise their occupancy at the higher rate. Maybe they just want to squeeze more money out of the 60% that they can achieve but then with the higher rate their occupancy might fall. The higher rate is certainly discouraging to me.

[coulson]

I would love to see a TAT spreadsheet of planned/ actual and from where they take their data.

Even funnier would be a further breakdown of back to back tourist visa runners, non immigrant re -entries, long haul one-night-in-bangkok layovers and foreigners who return frequently each year to their pseudo homes. That would be an interesting read.

Published handled passengers at suvarnabhumi are down 10% every year since 2012, this year likely much worse (except domestic) for many obvious reasons.

It's also amazing coincidence the 28-millionth visitor was through suvarnabhumi and from the superior echelon of the Asean league to gain a little local exposure.

Pure fiction at it's finest.....

[coulson]

Last week on a weekday afternoon at Suvarnabhumi and the place was packed. Immigration hall was full with a huge number of people waiting in the arrivals area. A bit of a struggle to make it to the travelator though all the crowds.

Move on to the second immigration hall next time. Stupidity usually travels in numbers and joins the queue (not referring to you)

[upena]

There is a big difference between arrivals and tourists.

[JAS21]

My hotel is running at an average occupancy of 60% and the management has notified me that they plan to raise my monthly rate by 10% for my next winter stay starting in Nov. 2016. They say that the new management is trying to generate more revenue per room. I really wonder if they can raise their occupancy at the higher rate. Maybe they just want to squeeze more money out of the 60% that they can achieve but then with the higher rate their occupancy might fall. The higher rate is certainly discouraging to me.

Tell them that you will go elsewhere ... although to be fair the cost of just about everything here is increasing.

[retarius]

Why is there nobody in Pattaya if this is the highest ever total? 50% discounts on hotel rooms...with additional visitors one would expect higher prices, no?

Besides, numbers of tourists are useless....it is how much they spend that counts. Do all these Chinese spend as much as the Europeans that used to come did? How much do the hotel rooms cost that the Chinese use, or are there steep discounts. You can't pay your taxes with tourist numbers, however big they are.

[dageurreotype]

My hotel is running at an average occupancy of 60% and the management has notified me that they plan to raise my monthly rate by 10% for my next winter stay starting in Nov. 2016. They say that the new management is trying to generate more revenue per room. I really wonder if they can raise their occupancy at the higher rate. Maybe they just want to squeeze more money out of the 60% that they can achieve but then with the higher rate their occupancy might fall. The higher rate is certainly discouraging to me.

If their occupancy falls (likely), they'll simply raise it another 10%. I'd be looking for new digs if I were you.

[hgma]

The TAT should run THAI AIRWAYS...or did they already tried that?

[Lupatria]

During childhood, not in my wildest dreams I would have expected to read fairy tales as an old man on a daily routine.

My favorite today is:

In Rome, the TAT's office is promoting Thailand as sport destination due to the many sporting facilities in the country that are on par with international standards.

Italy is a country of bicycle enthusiasts. Unless they have a serious death wish no Italian would consider to ride his bike in this this country...

[kkerry]

Last week on a weekday afternoon at Suvarnabhumi and the place was packed. Immigration hall was full with a huge number of people waiting in the arrivals area. A bit of a struggle to make it to the travelator though all the crowds.

Move on to the second immigration hall next time. Stupidity usually travels in numbers and joins the queue (not referring to you)

Luckily I walk fast so I wasn't at the end of the line. I think a lot of people know about trying the next immigration hall as the last few times I've tried that there hasn't been much difference, unlike previous times when the second hall has been deserted. At least the better queuing system and staff checking to see passengers have filled in their arrival card has speeded up things. Despite all the people I got through fairly quickly as they had all desks open, so I'm not complaining.

[BuriramDevelopers]

Did i read correct? Are they stating this was a record year as to incoming toerists? oh wow

[TheCruncher]

Looks like the whole world again wants to take part in the previously announced expected ISIS attacks.

[zxzoomy]

The Centre for Aviation website gives these figures for total passenger traffic at Suvarnabhumi:

2011 47.9 million

2012 53 million

2013 51.4 million

2014 46.4 million

No figures for 2015 yet but anecdotal evidence is that it's not been a great year.

[Johpa]

I have been touring the north for the past month, comparing it to past three decades relative to tourism. Apart from Pai, all is quiet on the northern front. My many acquaintances in the tourist industry are all asking the same questions. (1) Where is the cold and (2) where are the tourists?

[hawker9000]

Thailand, Land of Laughs...

[DrTuner]

I know how they can get their influx numbers up. Start hauling the Syrians here. Win-Win-Win.