Thailand hoping to attract wealthier travellers

[upena]

And, visitors are not necessarily tourists.

[Ace of Pop]

Do something about Visas,must be the biggest muddle headed system ever devised.

[dominique355]

Wealthy people are usually educated people who are used to speak their minds. That will certainly bring them into trouble here in Thailand. So they stay away.

On the other hand Chinese people are used to shut up and travel in groups. That's what we see now in Thailand.

[chrisinth]

Having travesty of justice verdicts when a tourist is murdered won't help.

The list of things to do to attract wealthy visitors is indeed long, with many points noted above.

The only real way to do it is to have special areas where cheapo tourists (aka Chinese or backpackers) are forbidden, and only select vendors can ply their trade.

They tried that on Ko Chang several years ago trying to make it an exclusive island destination for the wealthy where backpackers would not be welcome.

How did that work out for them?

IMO, they haven't really figured out what a quality tourist is, as they still regard the word quality with super wealth.

A middle class family would put more money back into local economies than a super rich one would. Every time......

[phoenixdoglover]

"Our goal is to focus on quality and how to make tourists stay longer and spend more money," Kobkarn said, adding officials would target women, luxury holiday makers and sports tourism.

An implicit admission that 2015 was not a good year, despite the frenetic reporting of tourism numbers.

I would suggest there are two types of strategies that would beneficially impact the tourism business:

1 - direct marketing, promotions, development of specific tourist locations and activities

2 - indirect improvements to make the country more attractive to tourists, including reputation

The TAT strategy is to continue to focus on direct marketing. Their stated focus is women, luxury travelers and sports tourism. The principal weakness in this strategy is the strong negatives for each area of focus. For example, Thailand's strong reputation as a sex tourism destination would be diametrically opposite the needed reputation for women tourists (ignoring the Thai gigolo business, I suppose).

Many members above argue instead for focus on indirect improvements: lessening corruption, cleaning up the environment, improving transportation safety. The virtue of these actions is that they benefit citizens even more than they benefit tourists. In addition, these sorts of improvements establish a stronger base from which to pursue niche markets.

It is probably arrogance and considerations of "face" (and possibly a lack of relevant knowledge) that prevent Minister Kobkarn from advancing better tourism strategies.

Denial is not just a river in Egypt.

Edited December 26, 2015 by phoenixdoglover

[stickylies]

I have a good idea: They should make Thailand the hub of something.

Something like hub of financial, medical, information technology...

It used to be hub of criminal money with plenty of large hotels and businesses owned by folks active in the opium trade. Plenty burmese (Wa, Palaung, Shan) drug lords used to get their money laundered in Bangkok and CM or CR starting businesses and sponsoring local villages, building schools and wats. Those were the days, rich "aliens" coming in, lucrative for RTA too. Edited December 26, 2015 by stickylies

[WaiLai]

So the Four Seasons, Fujian, Dharma Devi and maybe a couple like Meridian and the D Tuan are maxed out with the obviously wealthier "we brought our bubble with us" Chinese. For how many months?

That's great for those establishments and obviously has positive economic trickle down effects in the local economy.

Obviously, staff wages are now rising like never before, food costs are declining, taxis, songtaews and tuk tuks are wheeling these people to numerous sites of interest, hordes of them are walking throughout the side streets and markets, buying from small vendors etc;

I don't see so!

Being a major boost to the economy is limited in scale. You know where the profits are going to go and it sure isn't going to be in cleaning up the banks of the Mae Ping!

Ask any Thais living beyond the confines of the "old city" how the arrival of the Chinese "bus tourist" has impacted their lives. You know, the ones who are scrambling to make a few baht profit a day as they watch their costs of living soar.

* was in Warorot Market the other day and watched a Chinese guy with selfie-stick and arm fully extended and 45* above his head walking down the aisle talking FULL VOLUME narrative to his camera - until his camera got tangled in an overhead wire and he stumbled into a stall, fell to the floor and people started chastising him - didn't take him but a minute to pack up and get back to the street

Edited December 26, 2015 by WaiLai

[retarius]

I can't reconcile the highest numbers ever with my visits to Pattaya and Chiang Mai where the hotels, restaurants and bars are empty. Yes, there are buses ferrying people (Chinese usually) around to temples and the like. Early in the year in Jomtien, the hotels were offering rooms at 1/3 of the price of the year before (high season). We paid 6500 B per night in Feb 2014 and only 2500 in Feb 2015 at the same luxury hotel.

[cheeryble]

.

However Tan warned that there was "almost no chance" of 2016 matching this year’s figures, citing capacity constraints -- particularly at Thailand’s already hard-pressed airports.

Tourism minister Kobkarn said she hoped Thailand could attract 32 million visitors in 2016.

These last two statements seem mutually exclusive

[Thian]

Now the euro is 39 baht, some years ago it was 50++....of course that has nothing to do with european tourists.

There's no snow in Switzerland this year, if the baht was lower they would all come here but don't forget they are real quality tourists and expect quality like in Switzerland. Cheat them once and they'll never come back.

[cheeryble]

I can't reconcile the highest numbers ever with my visits to Pattaya and Chiang Mai where the hotels, restaurants and bars are empty. Yes, there are buses ferrying people (Chinese usually) around to temples and the like. Early in the year in Jomtien, the hotels were offering rooms at 1/3 of the price of the year before (high season). We paid 6500 B per night in Feb 2014 and only 2500 in Feb 2015 at the same luxury hotel.

We must be living in a different CM, which seems to be swarming with Chinese.

A friend until recently has been involved in the running of two small boutique hotels and reports high occupancy including largely independent Chinese travellers.

There seems to be a range of .chinese from many many Young motorcy renters who can't drive to those in BMW SUVs and the like.i previously heard figures saying the Chinese spend a third of the average westerner, but suggest this is changing go to Maya mall and they are certainly free spending, almost like a buying frenzy and not cheap stuff.

[Mr Creosote]

Hotel owners need to start investing in their properties, modernising them and hiring quality management & staff. The hotel building boom of the 80's and 90's by the elite has left a ton of run down properties only fit for Chinese tour groups and sexpats.

[Mr Creosote]

Do something about Visas,must be the biggest muddle headed system ever devised.

What's the problem with the visas? Please explain.

[craigt3365]

Do something about Visas,must be the biggest muddle headed system ever devised.

Not so sure about that. We're talking tourists, not long term visitors. Visa on arrival is very easy. And I think they made it easier to extend also? My first trip here, as a tourist, I got a 90 day visa. Same as I get when I go to Europe. Only 90 days and then I have to leave.

[Mr Creosote]

Meanwhile the SET continues its steep decline as institutional capital flows out, foreign direct investment is drying up and looking for other shores, exports (the lifeblood of the economy) are not exactly booming. Tourism is but a small slice of the GNP pie. The bigger picture is much more alarming.

[MeHere]

Wealthy westerners on holiday prefer to be treated well, and special.

Although there are a few exclusive resorts catering to people like this, they are few and far between all the other mediocre destinations... then when leaving the safety of the resort bubble, there isn't much that gives anyone a sense that this place has a lot to offer, sadly.

What's here:

Temples - OK!

Attractions - mistreated elephants and tigers, starving angry monkeys, greedy and scammy tuk-tuk & taxi drivers

Fine dining - Good!

Shopping - meh... less than anywhere, more expensive than most

Culture - eroding

Friendliness - transparent

Overall cleanliness - ahem

Infrastructure - mrt/bts=10; mobile connectivity=8; everything else=LOL

Safety - don't count on it

Nightlife - Good!

Cheap and beautiful escorts/prostitutes - excellent!

The list goes on...

Shopping for these wealthy travelers?? All these high-end shopping centers popping up... I don't understand why anyone would buy anything there with the prices much higher than the rest of the world. They may be rich, but most are not so stupid!

I think most wealthy westerners would rather go to somewhere like Tahiti or the Maldives than here, except for maybe a brief stopover.

In the end, I think there is way more to do than just build a couple of malls and condos... first would be to start educating the people properly.

[Aladdin]

Not too many years ago most of the tourists you met in Cambodia and Laos were there for a few days only and they would return to Thailand.

Last year I did a Mekong Christmas cruise in the North and South of Mekong. None of my fellow travellers had been to Thailand during the holiday. They flew in to Malaysia and did a SE Asian tour skipping Thailand. Some of them had been there before and never again.

The rest had heard about how bad things were, scams and pollution and they had no wishes to visit.

Back packers will of course always be attracted to Thailand, but now it is getting expensive. 200 Baht for a beer at a normal pub, this is if not more expensive than Europe at least as expensive.

People for Europe I work with comes to Thailand, young single people. But the old married/ living as a couple skip Thailand as they have heard about all the scams and the pollution.

[Lockheed]

Thailand would have to offer something sweet....for the luxury of snapping up rich, educated tourists. Nobody likes dual pricing...even the rich...as it is a slap in the face. I went to a National Park near Nam Nao and was told to pay 400, while thais only paid 40. Just a small example...but a good start.

Thailand and Burma have this dual pricing policy, don't you love it.

In Pattaya a few days ago, the police were booking all the tourists on motorbikes, probably no licenses, not really sure but they were having field day whereas elsewhere, they couldn't care less.

[UTH001]

Bringing in plane loads of cheap Chinese tourists doesn't impress wealthier tourists. You can't have both. Pick one or the other.

Don't quite understand that Minister tough. In July this year, The Nation stated this:

"Last year around 4.6 million Chinese nationals visited Thailand, with the average tourist spending 5,500 baht ($160) per day -- more than the average European visitor".

Since the Chinese visitors are already spending more than the European tourists, where could more large numbers of 'high value' tourists come from? Russia or South America?

[Robert24]

Wealthy well heeled people do not sit on rubbish strewn beaches, whilst gagging on the smell from the overflowing bins being rummaged through and the contents spilled onto the roads.

Most wealthy tourists are educated enough to know not to visit parks where animals are used for entertainment.

When in 'First Class' Rail carriages they don't expect to be woken all night by vendors selling food.

I would think they don't normally frequent city centre high streets being propositioned by hookers every 5 mtrs.

The list goes on an on.....Thais being as insular as they are have no conception of what a clean modern city/country/beach/national park/river/canal looks like.

you are a bit negative. Wealthy Asians tend to like Thailand as a holiday destination. They like Thai culture, food, shopping, the beaches etc. I've lived in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore before. All of them love Thailand as a holiday destination. To give you an example: No 1 holiday destination for Singaporeans is Thailand. Singapore Airlines just announced it increases their daily flights to Bangkok from 5 to 6. Similar picture in Hong Kong and Japan. I think the issue is more as to how to attract wealthy Europeans or Australians to come to Thailand. But for Asians, Thailand is in a good position.

[soalbundy]

At BMW we had a notice on the wall saying 'if you want quality you have to make it''

[Robert24]

Wealthy westerners on holiday prefer to be treated well, and special.

Although there are a few exclusive resorts catering to people like this, they are few and far between all the other mediocre destinations... then when leaving the safety of the resort bubble, there isn't much that gives anyone a sense that this place has a lot to offer, sadly.

What's here:

Temples - OK!

Attractions - mistreated elephants and tigers, starving angry monkeys, greedy and scammy tuk-tuk & taxi drivers

Fine dining - Good!

Shopping - meh... less than anywhere, more expensive than most

Culture - eroding

Friendliness - transparent

Overall cleanliness - ahem

Infrastructure - mrt/bts=10; mobile connectivity=8; everything else=LOL

Safety - don't count on it

Nightlife - Good!

Cheap and beautiful escorts/prostitutes - excellent!

The list goes on...

Shopping for these wealthy travelers?? All these high-end shopping centers popping up... I don't understand why anyone would buy anything there with the prices much higher than the rest of the world. They may be rich, but most are not so stupid!

I think most wealthy westerners would rather go to somewhere like Tahiti or the Maldives than here, except for maybe a brief stopover.

In the end, I think there is way more to do than just build a couple of malls and condos... first would be to start educating the people properly.

I think you forget that most potential for growth in tourism is from Asian countries. So you should think different, what do wealthy Asians like and you would come to a different conclusion

[slipperylobster]

Wealthy westerners on holiday prefer to be treated well, and special.

Although there are a few exclusive resorts catering to people like this, they are few and far between all the other mediocre destinations... then when leaving the safety of the resort bubble, there isn't much that gives anyone a sense that this place has a lot to offer, sadly.

What's here:

Temples - OK!

Attractions - mistreated elephants and tigers, starving angry monkeys, greedy and scammy tuk-tuk & taxi drivers

Fine dining - Good!

Shopping - meh... less than anywhere, more expensive than most

Culture - eroding

Friendliness - transparent

Overall cleanliness - ahem

Infrastructure - mrt/bts=10; mobile connectivity=8; everything else=LOL

Safety - don't count on it

Nightlife - Good!

Cheap and beautiful escorts/prostitutes - excellent!

The list goes on...

Shopping for these wealthy travelers?? All these high-end shopping centers popping up... I don't understand why anyone would buy anything there with the prices much higher than the rest of the world. They may be rich, but most are not so stupid!

I think most wealthy westerners would rather go to somewhere like Tahiti or the Maldives than here, except for maybe a brief stopover.

In the end, I think there is way more to do than just build a couple of malls and condos... first would be to start educating the people properly.

Do people like Trump need cheap prostitutes?

How odd you gave that high marks.

Edited December 26, 2015 by slipperylobster

[hansgruber]

The key word is hoping.

You can hope all you want but doesn't mean its going to happen.

[Robert24]

Bringing in plane loads of cheap Chinese tourists doesn't impress wealthier tourists. You can't have both. Pick one or the other.

Don't quite understand that Minister tough. In July this year, The Nation stated this:

"Last year around 4.6 million Chinese nationals visited Thailand, with the average tourist spending 5,500 baht ($160) per day -- more than the average European visitor".

Since the Chinese visitors are already spending more than the European tourists, where could more large numbers of 'high value' tourists come from? Russia or South America?

China and other Asian countries like Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, China.

[emilymat]

Yawn, not this old chestnut yet again.

I will remember this the next time I am unable to enter the 7-11 in Bang Lamung because the aisles are clogged with those "high-spending" Chinese tourists wolfing down 17 Baht buns and 10 Baht Lactasoy cartons whilst hanging out for three-quarters of an hour in the 7-11 to enjoy the free aircon.

Or perhaps next time one of the real high-spending tourists docks at Laem Chabang on their cruise ship, they will not be decapitated by speed boat "captains" whilst swimming close to the beach in Pattaya. (That really happened, you know).

Briggsy, you're yawning too much and obviously forgetful. The battle is not only the Chinese who avail themselves of 7/11but the soi dogs.!!

[Robert24]

I can't reconcile the highest numbers ever with my visits to Pattaya and Chiang Mai where the hotels, restaurants and bars are empty. Yes, there are buses ferrying people (Chinese usually) around to temples and the like. Early in the year in Jomtien, the hotels were offering rooms at 1/3 of the price of the year before (high season). We paid 6500 B per night in Feb 2014 and only 2500 in Feb 2015 at the same luxury hotel.

well at least in Chiang Mai, everyone sees the sharp increase in Tourists. Hotels are booked and you only have to look around to see the tourists.

[Robert24]

I just spent the last few days in Singapore and had a great time at Universal Studios on Christmas Day. Seeing the Marina Sands, walking the river area, china town, Garden on the Bay, etc was great ! The difference is night and day compared to Thailand. Everything in Singapore is clean, Taxis will take you everywhere and are nice, there is so much to see that you would need weeks , the place is very safe, traffic accidents are few, etc etc .... Thailand on the other hand offers low standards, it's dangerous, dirty resort areas, ripoff taxis, other than temples nothing really special to see, etc etc.... The only thing Thailand really offers is cheap hotels, cheap boozes, and cheap women. Why would a family with money want to come here and take the chance of getting raped, ripped off or perhaps killed ??? Chinese, Indian, , southeast Asian countries, and backpackers make up the numbers now and I understand why....

so why do you think Thailand is the no 1 holiday destination for Singaporeans?

[tomacht8]

The visions of the tourism authorities are also often short term.
The unloved Backpacker from today, is may be tomorrow the sought family tourist who make his holidays in upgraded hotels and may later the long-term pensioner who buys a condo.

Furthermore, Thailand gets increasingly competition from other neighboring countries.
Other alternative destinations such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos; but also the Philippines and Myanmar are gaining in importance.

Rather than to look at what they not have (High Class tourists), they should care more about the tourists who come and try to make them happy.

To have a good costumer base of permanent costumers, who come back regularly is the Backbone of any business. That Thailand can get out only with an honest and customer-oriented business policy.

The number of potential first-time costumers is not infinite. And every disgruntled tourist will not come back soon to Thailand. For example, the pricing policy, where tourists have to pay up to 10 times more for parks or other attractions is culturally perceived as discriminatory from many western tourists.

Unfortunately, Thailand gets more and more a negative image. From an amazing country with beautiful beaches, rich culture and friendly people, it gets more and more towards unsafe, watch out rip-offs and dirty.

Customer complaints and suggestions are often not taken seriously, ignored or not accepted.
The belief that Thailand can replace the lost customers completely with clueless new first-time visitors, is completely wrong.

[duckmandon]

The wealthier tourists go somewhere they don't have to put up with garbage, being ripped off, assaulted, robbed, killed in motor vehicle accidents or being murdered. If you want quality tourists then provide a beautiful & safe place where they can relax & spend money (which is all you want anyway). I am leaving soon & have already told my Thai wife (who is coming with me) that I will not return. There are nicer places in this big wonderful world to go to. Maybe in about 50 years, Thailand, you might start living in the 21st century.