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[rooster59]

Hostels are the star of tourism business



BANGKOK: Hostel business is growing leap and bound in Thailand as the business has gained popularity mostly among lone backpackers who want more than just a place to sleep but also an opportunity to interact with the hostel staff and other travelers too.

There are now more than 2,000 hostels across the country which cater to foreign tourists, including about 400 in Bangkok, representing 12 percent of accommodation for tourists. And the number is increasing rapidly.

Hostel business is expected to grow about 10 percent this year especially in popular tourist destinations such as Bangkok, Phuket and Chiang Mai, according to Mr Burim Othakanon, vice dean of education support of the college of management of Mahidol University.

The increased number of backpackers corresponds with the increased number of hostels, said Mr Thanat Pa-arayapat, a hostel owner. One reason which makes hostels popular among lone backpackers is that there is a common area in most hostels which provides a space for the tourists who travel alone to come into contact, to engage in a conversation and, eventually, to know each other or to start a relationship, he added.

Words of mouths among the backpackers and messages posted in the social media by these travelers help promote the popularity of the hostels besides their reasonable or cheap accommodation fee which seems to be the main attraction.

Mr Thanat said that hostel staff members should try to engage with the backpackers because the latter want to socialize too.

According to Visa Global Travel Intentions Study last year, 13,000 tourists from 25 countries were interviewed and it was discovered that 24 percent of the tourists were lone travelers compared to 10 percent a year earlier.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/hostels-are-the-star-of-tourism-business

-- Thai PBS 2016-01-16

[Thian]

Quality tourists who pay 400 a night and rent motobikes without license.

But at least kao sarn has nice bars, is it busy there now?

[yellowboat]

Wonder if TAT will ever get this.

This is what most economists say about back packers. They are better for the economy. They buy local products. Also, having spent 6 months to a year in guest houses, there is no better way of life. It is far more sociable

If the Thai elite wants to fill their 4-5 star hotels, they may want to focus on making Thailand an easy place to do business. Business travelers are a huge part of that market. As it stands now, few are investing.

[ttthailand]

I never stayed in one of these type rooms. Do you share the room with strangers ? Share bath and other areas with strangers ? If so I would think there is increased risk of sexual assault or being robbed. Can anyone give more detail on how these rooms are setup and managed.

[Kiwisailor]

I never stayed in one of these type rooms. Do you share the room with strangers ? Share bath and other areas with strangers ? If so I would think there is increased risk of sexual assault or being robbed. Can anyone give more detail on how these rooms are setup and managed.

Many do have dorms with shared bathrooms. Security varies with the Hostel. Some have women only dorms but most are shared. Seems to work OK but most hostels also offer private rooms for 2 at a cost approx 3-4 times the price of a dorm bed. Works all over the world with few issues. Social media quickly ID's those that are substandard or unsafe. Far superior than cheap hotels for meeting other people and organising trips and tours. Most outside of the larger cities are family owned so money goes straight to the locals and many run their own tours. Backpackers are well known internationally for injecting cash directly into local economies.

[Thian]

When i was a backpacker in my twenties i had several company's and went to asia for business. We bought a lot wholesale from Thailand and India.

Kao sarn road wasn't so huge then but a great place to meet other backpackers from all over the world. Since then i've been coming back to Thailand and so did my whole family and all friends.

Also backpackers were the first ones who travelled to Samui 30 years ago. Now they go elsewhere since it became too expensive for them.

I was on Phi phi when there was only 1 resort and it was loaded with monkeys.

A bungalow costed 100 baht a night and had electricity at night only but then also you got the noise of the big generator.

[Mr Money Bags]

An absolutely unfair, ill-informed, and downright inaccurate generalization. Just like hotels, there are good ones and less good ones. For travelers needing cheap accommodation and looking for a more interactive form of housing, hostels can be, and often are, wonderful alternatives.

They'll never compare to The Four Seasons, but they really aren't trying to......

You're Welcome!!

Edited January 18, 2016 by seedy
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[Rob13]

One week Thailand is pushing for a higher grade of tourist,next they're touting hostels being the star of tourism, Somchai should make up is mind.

[wabothai]

I never stayed in one of these type rooms. Do you share the room with strangers ? Share bath and other areas with strangers ? If so I would think there is increased risk of sexual assault or being robbed. Can anyone give more detail on how these rooms are setup and managed.

been on the road for 3 years all over Thailand, never saw a sign "hostel" or do they mean guesthouse?

Many signs with resort. They do vary from 3 straw hut 200 baht dumps to 40.000 baht a night hotels.

HOW DOES ONE DEFINE A HOSTEL?

[sanukjim]

When i was a backpacker in my twenties i had several company's and went to asia for business. We bought a lot wholesale from Thailand and India.

Kao sarn road wasn't so huge then but a great place to meet other backpackers from all over the world. Since then i've been coming back to Thailand and so did my whole family and all friends.

Also backpackers were the first ones who travelled to Samui 30 years ago. Now they go elsewhere since it became too expensive for them.

I was on Phi phi when there was only 1 resort and it was loaded with monkeys.

A bungalow costed 100 baht a night and had electricity at night only but then also you got the noise of the big generator.

So,I stayed at one of BJs thatch hut on Pattaya Beach for 50 baht a night (100) with fan. Still it was alone and not at a hostel .

[Alwyn]

A lot actually. Most backpackers are toilet trained and don't defecate in the streets, nor do the hawk big green grollies every few seconds. They tend to buy local products and do lots of tours and trips which they pay for in Thailand, not back in their home country. Generally, they know how to drive and ride and don't just stop in the middle of a busy junction for no apparent reason. They treat the Temples with respect and don't on the floor or wash their feet in the sinks. They integrate with other travelers, locals and expats alike and are generally more civilised and spend more than the Chinese. What else? Oh yes, they're not judgemental of people like you.

Edited January 18, 2016 by seedy
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[ilostmypassword]

Actually, there's a huge difference. The chinese tour groups are overwhelmingly on pre-paid packages with everything paid for. It doesn't benefit small local businesses and workers at all. Lots of their cash flows right back out of the country. But backpackers frequent the small restaurants, street vendors and other shop thus giving a boost to the Thai working people who need it the most. And who spend the money gained in Thailand.

Edited January 18, 2016 by seedy
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[Alwyn]

Why do people have such a downer on hostels and/or backpackers? When kids take a gap year before Uni why should they not have a bit of an adventure and why would anybody begrudge them to choose a hostel over a 5 star hotel? Hostels are all over the World and work well. Kids meet like minded others who are on an adventure, the problem is when they meet idiots or choose places like Koh Tao and don't make it home alive. My daughter went to Cambodia on her gap year to work on a project for charity. They were building houses in some village for the super-poor farmers. After they did their 12 week stint her and her buddies went on a trip through Asia - probably traveling more than the judgemental fools here wll ever travel, had a great time, totally spent every penny of the £6,000 she'd saved and ramped up her credit card nicely too. Leah and her friends went on just about every kind of activity you can think of on their travels and if it was not for the hostel accommodations, she would never, ever had been able to make that trip. The following year she and her brother came to Brazil and stayed with me for a bit and then set off on travels around Brazil and Peru. Some hostels are great, others not, a bit like hotels. I've seen hotels in Patong that are nowhere near the quality of hostels I stayed in Israel in the 1970's!

[trigpoint]

There is a lot of difference, manners aside, backpackers spend much more locally whereas Chinese tourists spend zilch, zero not 1 baht, no spin off whatso ever, only clog the roads up on their tour buses around here (pattaya). Have to say at least the Russians spent in 7-11,s.

Edited January 18, 2016 by seedy
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[jchfriis]

One week Thailand is pushing for a higher grade of tourist,next they're touting hostels being the star of tourism, Somchai should make up is mind.

Actually backpackers tend to be an adventurous lot and want to see the world, and very often todays backpackers are tomorrows guests at the upscale hotels.

[Ulic]

Backpackers spend far more in six months then the average 4-5 star tourist who is here for

3-4 days (Chinese) or 10-14 days westerner. The amount the tourist spends in a country makes

a much bigger impact than the amount a tourist spends per day. There is more than enough

space and attractions in Thailand to accommodate all types and levels of tourists.

BTW as far as I am concerned it is the long term expat/ retiree that contributes the most on average.

Here through low and high season, supporting the construction industry through purchase

and rental, buying locally produced products, and here through political turmoil. Unfortunately

governments fail to recognize there value to the economy. They should focus a little more on

those they have, not just those they want.

[Squeegee]

An absolutely unfair, ill-informed, and downright inaccurate generalization. Just like hotels, there are good ones and less good ones. For travelers needing cheap accommodation and looking for a more interactive form of housing, hostels can be, and often are, wonderful alternatives.

They'll never compare to The Four Seasons, but they really aren't trying to......

You're Welcome!!

It's also a deeply stupid post. If hostels were really full of bedbugs they would go out of business eventually, but even more stupid about the post is the implication that the family who run the business are permanently living with bedbugs. This is just one example why DELETED post should be completely ignored.

Edited January 18, 2016 by seedy
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[Thian]

Bangkok needs a new Kao Sarn road area, a bit more upscale but in the same style.

I like the area with all the bars and restaurants, even the guesthouses look good enough for me to stay.

The rest of BKK is boring and there are no bars to find except at Nana or Soi Cowboy but the average tourist avoids those places like a plague.

Kao Sarn road is more like European city's where it's great to hang out at night, walk around and meet people.

Chinese groups in hotels are not my kind of a holiday, they are rude and don't care at all for other guests.

Last years i also see older farang staying at kao sarn road when i visit the area once a year. The missing thing is a skytrain to that area or a good riverboat express.

[Ricardo]

I never stayed in one of these type rooms. Do you share the room with strangers ? Share bath and other areas with strangers ? If so I would think there is increased risk of sexual assault or being robbed. Can anyone give more detail on how these rooms are setup and managed.

Probably the key feature is that hostels offer dormitory-style accomodation, often using bunk-beds, where you share with other budget-travelers, and thus get more opportunity to meet & get-to-know similar people from other countries. This helps keep costs to a minimum !

In modern times more upmarket, but still inexpensive, private rooms have become more common, catering to couples & families.

Hostels are generally friendly, safe, informal & clean. These aren't doss-houses, or social-housing, or necessarily full of undesirables, as you seem to fear !

In countries where food & eating-out is expensive, a communal self-catering kitchen may be provided, laundry-facilities can help guests stretch their budgets, or drying-rooms in mountain-areas where users are often walkers. Secure cycle-sheds for your bike, lots of tourist-information on the area, cheap-tickets for onward-travel or discounts at local-attractions, all intended to help their guests.

In Europe many people first encounter hostels, often run by the local youth-hostel-association, as part of a school-trip, indeed the founder of the movement was a teacher called Richard Schirrmann. Youth hostels tend to have lower-prices, or give priority when busy, to younger people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Schirrmann

Certain countries/cultures, often with stronger traditions of sharing, such as Germany or Japan, have very popular hostel-movements. But they are spread world-wide, and thus ideal for international-travelers on a tight budget, like students.

Thailand has its own 'offical' youth hostel network, run or franchised by the TYHA, who try to maintain common minimum-standards, and the TYHA is part of the official movement, the IYHF who trade as 'Hosteling International'.

https://www.hihostels.com/destinations/th/hostels

https://www.hihostels.com/pages/405

However there are now many more private backpacker-hostels too, often with fewer rules or with a bar, and a more party-atmosphere !

Staying in hostels is a fun way to travel IMO, but here I must declare an interest, having spent some 20+ years working in English YHA-hostels, and later owning/running two franchised ones, and had a quarter-of-a-million guests through-the-door by the time I retired to Thailand.

Theft & other crimes were remarkably rare, you will be relieved to hear !

Edited January 18, 2016 by Ricardo

[seedy]

off topic, derogatory, troll / flaming posts removed