Tourism Min hopes tourism revenue will reach 2.4 trillion baht this year

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Tourism Min hopes tourism revenue will reach 2.4 trillion baht this year


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BANGKOK, 18 April 2016 (NNT) – The Ministry of Tourism and Sports is hopeful that Thailand will this year earn 2.4 trillion baht from the tourism industry which is constantly thriving.

Minister of Tourism and Sports Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul said the government was satisfied with the overall celebration of Songkran Festival, given that the number of tourists this year had so far been higher than the previous years.

The ministry expects the country to rake in 2.33 trillion baht from tourism this year while voicing confidence that the tourism revenue has a high potential to reach 2.4 trillion baht.

According to the ministry’s forecast, Thailand will attract no less than 32 million visitors in 2016. Because of the increasing number of tourists, the prime minister has instructed all security-related agencies to ensure tourists’ safety at all times.

In a bid to further push the tourism growth, the ministry will host more roadshows and tourism promotion activities overseas, getting foreigners to know more about beautiful destinations in Thailand.


-- NNT 2016-04-18

[shirtless]

Optimism at its best , why not say 5 trillion.

[Thechook]

They say it is growing stronger and stronger every year but I am seeing fewer tourists every year

[NongKhaiKid]

it will reach the desired figure as the TAT wouldn't have it or report it any other way.

[thesetat2013]

it will reach the desired figure as the TAT wouldn't have it or report it any other way.

Being that they quoted 2.3 trillion last year as their expected figure which I don't think they reached. It begs to wonder why they still think a quality tourist is packs of Chinese. Everyone else seems to know already that quantities of Chinese does not equals more money.

[phantomfiddler]

The real amount is not being considered here, and that is the massive silent flow of cash under the table between the guys and the gals, and one thing is certain ..... sex is never going to go out of style or the human race is in trouble. My guess is that the total cost being spent over here would be the biggest money earner of all

[MaxLee]

No worries, the Chinese tourists brigades will be more than happy to skyrocket this objective, with barbarian behavior.

Profit over manners, more than welcome as always.

[Colabamumbai]

Tourism is the only thing the country may have going for it. Production is down, exports are down, I personally think the economy is not good, there will be very little economic growth over the next few years.

Thailand will start to rely on China more than ever before.

[samjaidee]

2.4 trillion Baht divided by 32 million tourists.

That means each tourist spends about 75,000 Baht

Let's assume (I know it's a risk to assume anything) each tourist stays for an average of 2 weeks. That would mean an average daily spend of 5,360 Baht.

Really? Are the TAT living in some kind of fantasy land?

[puukao]

i have just started my own country...only 3 meters squared....

this year i predict 1 visitor

next year, 11 million

year after, 4 billion

then i will buy islands...

[carstenp]

Tourism is the only thing the country may have going for it. Production is down, exports are down, I personally think the economy is not good, there will be very little economic growth over the next few years.

Thailand will start to rely on China more than ever before.

I was reading In other media that says Thailand has an extremely well-established travel and tourism economy, as we all can see around us.

And Despite challenges, the sector grew 18.4% in 2015, contributing nearly 21% to the country's GDP (2.8 trillion baht), supporting 5.9 million jobs (about 10% of the population), which was 15.4% of total employment.

What more surprises me more, was for a few years back, the tourism economy was only 5-6% to the country's GDP. So when the tourism is down or the tourist is not spending, it will hit hard to the government.

I understand more and more why the junta is rededicate of the Taxi drivers, tuktuk cleanup, beach cleanup, scam cleanup and so on, to make a good image of the Thailand's tourism.

As you say, economy is not good and i agree with that, but if the high spending tourist is not coming to Thailand, there will be a future problem with tax income to the government. I think there already is a problem with income tax, even the don't want to talk about it, but we can read about it every day about cigarette tax, beer tax, car tax, land tax and so on

The big questing is.

Are they able to change this sector in time?

Are they able to get more high spender tourist to arrive to Thailand?

Are the able to be a travel and tourism destination in the future?

We properly never going to know, with TAT spin on the facts, but with contributing nearly 21% to the country's GDP they really have to take good care of there visitors

[Jim walker]

As long as we don't need to put up with the country full of these horrible tourists can we not just collect the 2.4 trillion Baht at airport then deport them immediately it would save so much paper work regarding the overstay process

[Charly2007]

Dreaaaaming, dream dream dream dream......................

[DrTuner]

They say it is growing stronger and stronger every year but I am seeing fewer tourists every year

They pack them tighter and tighter in those blue Tayo sardine cans and only let them out at designated ripoff stops.

[khun custard]

The ministry expects the country to rake in 2.33 trillion baht from tourism this year while voicing confidence that the tourism revenue has a high potential to reach 2.4 trillion baht.

Pity that Thailand does not receive all this revenue into the economy - I wonder what percentage of this total that remains in Chinese Bank accounts of tour operators 20,30,40% ???

If 100% of the revenue/ cash flow came to Thailand some real progress could be made in future proofing the tourism industry and improving infrastructure (to the benefit of all)

As the Chinese become more affluent and well traveled (seen as the next 10-20 years) their holidays preference may well depart the cheap bus tour holiday options.

Seems Australia is already has its sights on future markets (good luck to them!!!!!)

http://www.travelweekly.com.au/article/australia-trials-new-visa-rules-for-chinese-travellers/?utm_campaign=Tourism+&utm_term=Tourism+Icon+&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=linkedin

Funny how the visa on arrival arrangements for Chinese is not reciprocated or enjoyed by Thai or Aussies traveling to the PRC :-)

[Srikcir]

Not everything is positive:

- Deputy Governor for Policy and Planning at the Tourism Authority of Thailand Santi Chudintra, "Even though Chinese tourists account for 18.66 per cent of visitors and continue to increase indefinitely, I don’t believe it is a sustainable path to developing the tourist industry in the long run if we only concentrate on the Chinese market"

- Russian arrivals in Thailand fell 4.9 percent from January - November last year

- For domestic travel only 25 percent of Thai holidaymakers decided to travel in the country.

- There was a 54 per cent jump in the number of tourist deaths last year

- World Economic Forum had ranked Thailand 130th on a list of 141 nations for safety and security at tourist attractions.

- Asia was the only region among six where room rates contracted last year.

In the big picture tourism only accounts for 10% of GDP in terms of value while exports account for 70%. But exports will contract again in 2016, leaving tourism and government spending as the only drivers for GDP growth. So even if tourism exceeds 2.4 trillion baht this year, its contribution to annual GDP growth will be insignificant.

[tuanku]

2.4 trillion Baht divided by 32 million tourists.

That means each tourist spends about 75,000 Baht

Let's assume (I know it's a risk to assume anything) each tourist stays for an average of 2 weeks. That would mean an average daily spend of 5,360 Baht.

Really? Are the TAT living in some kind of fantasy land?

Please don't cloud the issue with logic and mathematics or we will have to re-educate you in Thai maths.

"the prime minister has instructed all security-related agencies to ensure tourists’ safety at all times".

Tourist safety - dealt with, that's another one to cross off the "to do" list..time to move on to happiness and democracy??

[madmitch]

2.4 trillion Baht divided by 32 million tourists.

That means each tourist spends about 75,000 Baht

Let's assume (I know it's a risk to assume anything) each tourist stays for an average of 2 weeks. That would mean an average daily spend of 5,360 Baht.

Really? Are the TAT living in some kind of fantasy land?

I believe the figure includes domestic tourist spending, which I think equates to about a third of the overall projected income. I have no idea here they get any of the figures from, but they'll reach the target, they always do.

[ratcatcher]

2.4 trillion Baht divided by 32 million tourists.

That means each tourist spends about 75,000 Baht

Let's assume (I know it's a risk to assume anything) each tourist stays for an average of 2 weeks. That would mean an average daily spend of 5,360 Baht.

Really? Are the TAT living in some kind of fantasy land?

This report is from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, not the T.A.T.

Their figures may be even more wildly optimistic than Kobkarn's..

[Strangebrew]

You forgot tour de Thailand race didn't you?

[elgordo38]

Tourism is the only thing the country may have going for it. Production is down, exports are down, I personally think the economy is not good, there will be very little economic growth over the next few years.

Thailand will start to rely on China more than ever before.

When hard times arrive across the globe and its only a matter of time tourism is one of the first things people strike off of their list. Its pretty easy to go into your friendly bank manager and ask for a tourist loan and he says sign here. Its amazing how many young people I see around the city. I think back to when I was their age and the need to WORK. They are all well dressed with iphones and some pushing baby carriages. Boy what prosperous times we live in. Well financed times anyways.

[phoenixdoglover]

First, the tourism revenue numbers always include domestic tourist spending. About 1/3 of the total. Domestic tourism spending is a squishy concept; because it is disposable income earned and spent within Thailand, and can't really be counted as additional spending contributing to the economy. In other words, people spend on domestic travel, or on going out to a local restaurant, or on any number of things. One is counted as tourism; the others are not.

Second, yes, the daily per person spending for foreign tourists around 5,000 baht per day is a reasonable number. Even the Chinese spend at that level.

Third, the problem with Chinese tourists, other than their propensity for rude behaviors, is they come to Thailand more often on so-called "zero dollar" tours. All this means is that more of their spending gets repatriated to China than the tourists who travel independent from a pre-booked tour. So their gross daily spending may be comparable to others, but their net spending is lower due to outflows from Thailand back to the tour companies. In addition, they tend to be on one-week tours while tourists from EU and other zones tend to stay for longer.

Finally, I think the 21% of GDP number cited above is really overstated. The basic calculation for 2014 nets 14%, including domestic tourist spending. The real measure of value added spending should be based primarily on international tourists, and that is below 10% of GDP.

[clockman]

Sex and sunshine!

[sgtsabai]

What was that old song, "hoping and praying, hoping and praying". How about "dream lover come to me" oh, "dream tourist come to me".

[Redline]

Here we go again with the "hoping"!

Should governments really hope? Report what is being done (concrete moves), and give the facts after the fact.

Hoping and wishing is not news! Actually, I have removed those words from my vocabulary. The Thai government should do so as well.

It's just whishy washy hogwash...

And "instructing" people to do things doesn't seem to work. Hold people accountable for everyone's sake

[MaxLee]

Tourism is the only thing the country may have going for it. Production is down, exports are down, I personally think the economy is not good, there will be very little economic growth over the next few years.

Thailand will start to rely on China more than ever before.

But but but, without exports, production, high spee networks, effective transportation system and foremost international customer service tolerance, tourism will go down as well in terms of tourist perceptions worldwide....

Sounds logical, doesn't it.

Very well, have it your way Thailand, aka ruling not to be named elite, if you want to become as cheap as made in China, go ahead ,.......

[arrowsdawdle]

Optimism at its best , why not say 5 trillion.

Taxes.

[arrowsdawdle]

2.39 of the 2.4 trillion baht is from locals running around.

[Thechook]

Well apparently international tourism is up 20.4%