Tourist numbers rise in Thailand amid growing concerns

[Usual Suspect]

What utter crap!

I bet no survey-related figures were gleaned from the food stalls, guest houses, street-vendors, laundrettes, and all the other 'everyday' service-providers that Mr average tourist spends his money on.. No one in office wants to recognise the fall in 'street' income this country is losing by the fact that Mr Average Western tourist IS fed up of Thailand, & IS going elsewhere. Check the tourist resorts, ask the street vendors & Guest-house owners how busy this last high season has been for them, & how it is just now..THen the TaT will get the real picture how much money has NOT come in this last year.

(Oh, but they DO know this..hence the monthly bull*** reports to save face)

[KenKadz]

Surveys always say what the surveyor wants them to say, like "creative accounting".

Demographics Please (from where, spending how much, on what)?

Chinese getting cheated on their "all inclusive" tours?

[carstenp]

So they brag about the revenue from foreigners being at around 1.71 trillion baht.

Just to put that figure into some sort of context. The 2016 budget just handed down by PM Prayuth Thailand shows a deficit of 390 trillion baht which has to be borrowed just to balance the books. That gives an idea of what deep poo the Thai economy is in.

The other message in the story is that tourists are honing in of a few specific destinations. Pattaya, the sex hub of Asia, is sure to be one of those. Spare a thought of despair for Thailand's tourism and the economy without the illegal sex industry?

a little correction Not Trillion but billion baht

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's military government has approved a 56 per cent increase in the budget deficit planned for the next fiscal year as it is trying revive the economy after a coup in May ended months of political unrest.

In the fiscal year starting Oct 1, the budget deficit is projected at 390 billion baht (S$16 billion), up from the current year's 250 billion baht, government spokesman Yongyuth Mayalarp told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

Expenditure will increase 5.6 per cent to 2.72 trillion baht, he said.

Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/thailand-cabinet-approves-larger-budget-deficit-for-next-fiscal-year

so 2015 (budget deficit 250 billion and 2016 budget deficit 390 billion) 2 years of a junta in power budget deficit 640 Billion

Edited June 27, 2016 by carstenp

[Thian]

"Never believe numbers you haven't falsified yourself".

I don't believe any numbers issued by TAT.

I was in BKK in early June. Khaosan Road was empty (during the anyways, didn't hang around long), Sukhumwit was pretty quiet and JJ Market had a good number of people, but most were locals and Chinese. Didn't see all those tourists TAT are claiming.

These days they also count Thai tourists.....

[Berty100]

Chulalongkorn University recently reported results from a survey of six hundred tourism-related businesses, 350 foreign tourists and 350 Thai tourists in Q2 this year.

Maths still isn't strong at TAT, so far for the credibility of any other figure in this OP.

Edited June 27, 2016 by Berty100

[SunsetT]

Bosses at T.A.T. hold their regular meetings, what can we come up with this time.

Tourist numbers up, more money coming in.

If we were to believe all the utter crap they keep spouting Thailand would not be able to cope with all the tourists.

They have to make it up as If they came through the traditional Thai career route and Thai education system they probably bought their positions and cant do maths and statistics anyway.

[mihalis]

Will all you bitter foriegners, go get a life !

[Balance]

1.71 trillion baht divided by 35 is 48,857,000. That is not very close to the estimate.

Oh, if you take that number and divide by the 33 million expected bodies, you get about 50 baht per.

The Thai government people have never been able to get the numbers right.

Time for some Excel lessons?

[ozyjon]

They might not spend cash

but consume toilet paper and water,,,

everyone has to go.

[berybert]

Now you have your answer as to why the RTP are doing nothing to stop crime and murder in Pattaya.

They want people to vist other parts of Thailand and hope the high crime and murder rate will give people a reason to go to other places.

New slogan................ DONT GET KILLED IN PATTAYA, COME TO KOH TAO, LET US DO IT FOR YOU.

[Mystified]

The numbers might be up from bus loads of Chinese but as far as I see they don't spend money on the "0 dollar" tours. It's all set up for a bus ride to an all you can grab fest then off to the island only stopping to parasail then back to the main land on the bus back to the airport ( no punctuation no time!) Hurry for next load!!!

Edited June 27, 2016 by Mystified

[Tomtomtom69]

"Never believe numbers you haven't falsified yourself".

I don't believe any numbers issued by TAT.

I was in BKK in early June. Khaosan Road was empty (during the anyways, didn't hang around long), Sukhumwit was pretty quiet and JJ Market had a good number of people, but most were locals and Chinese. Didn't see all those tourists TAT are claiming.

It seems very quiet here in Pattaya too (even taking into account that it's Thai low season).

Although quite alot of Indian & Chinese tourists around.

I think things like: Burma opening up, and Vietnam & Indonesia going towards visa-free travel is bound to have hit tourist numbers for Thailand.

That what our taxi driver was saying the other day. The good time (sic !) when they were able to over charge falang who were taking a taxi straight from the airport to Pattaya is over. Nowadays it's mostly Chinese tourists traveling in group by bus. So the total number of tourists maybe up, and it's good for Thailand as a whole, but the small operators like the taxi drivers or small restaurant and guesthouse owners don't benefit from it, quite the opposite. It's now a business for big tour operators and big retailers like Duty Free.

Another effect, which will likely be a boon for big business has been new rules to effectively prevent Chinese from driving their own cars to Thailand, which went into force yesterday. The main reasons for getting them off the roads was to ensure safety and order, because if you were here during the months of February and March (Chinese New Year), especially in the north but even in odd places where most tourists don't dare drive like Bangkok, there were Chinese driving their blue plated LHD cars, driving on the wrong side of the road, getting into accidents and in some cases fleeing the country before adequate compensation was paid.

Now there is a laundry list of requirements to bring a car in for tourism, and the basic permission needs to be requested through a Thai tour operator in advance of arrival. This will result in more Chinese getting on tour buses (or if they insist on driving themselves, they will restricted from driving outside the border province entered) and thus will need to hire a local Thai car or request special permission to go on a tour driving across multiple provinces.

Having said that, despite the insanity of Chinese New Year the numbers of Chinese tourists that came in by car in the first four months of this year (12000 vehicles reportedly, carrying a total of roughly 35000-40000 passengers) is a drop in the ocean compared to the millions (1.5-2 million?) that arrived by plane and other methods in that time.

I think apart from reducing the huge number of foreign [Chinese] vehicles that were on the roads during the earlier months of this year, forcing tourists to use a tour operator or to rent a car, increases revenue for Thai businesses, simple as that. Self-drive in your own car means Thai tourism providers such as rally tours and hire car operators miss out, except for restaurants and hotels, though the latter two are well served by tour groups already.

Given China imposes these same requirements on Thais (and other foreigners) wishing to drive their own cars to their country, it is little surprise the Thais became fed up and realized this can be used as a lucrative revenue stream for local businesses. After all, this must be the reasoning behind China's own laws - pay through the nose for the "privilege" of driving to China and our government, guides and tourism agencies can make a killing.

[Pinot]

Wasn't TAT quoting only a month ago that they would meet or exceed 2.2 billion tourist dollars? With such a drastic loss in tourist dollars compared to previous years, can they really claim they now have their quality tourists. I guess all of those Chinese tourists just aren't spending what TAT expected.

I am in the tourism business with charter yachts and I have had to go with the flow which is Chinese and Korean tourists. The Chinese seem to be holding the tourism market together as the Russians have dropped out due their currency value dropping and other tourists are reducing due to deck chairs being removed from beaches in Phuket and other reasons. If it were not for the Chinese I personally would have problems. Regular bookings for yacht charters has dropped a lot. Chinese day trips are now soaking up nearly all the catamarans in Phuket and more are being bought to enter that day trip market

Deck chairs had nothing to do with it. The beaches are beautiful without them...thank Buddha they're gone. It removed a whole layer of corruption.

Chinese are the dregs of the tourist barrel. It's like watching cattle being herded into Chinese controlled hotels and venues.

Better than Russian tourists?

[Moonmoon]

most vendors on the ground that i have met or know says that chinese tourist dont spend money. BRING BACK THE FARANGS!

[balo]

China alone is the only reason for a rise in tourist numbers. So no big surprise here.0

[ttthailand]

Round figures .... 1.71 trillion Baht, that's about 49 billion dollars, and with about 33 million tourists, that's about $1,500 dollars spent per tourist. ( I know some spend more some less) Not too bad except that half of that for Chinese is the flight and other transportation, 25% is the hotel, and the other $375.00 is for food, tours and crap all from Chinese owned businesses. I would guess for Chinese perhaps about $50.00 per might get to local businesses like bars, 7/11, restaurants, street shops, etc ....

49 billion dollars is not really that much for a country for an entire year considering that Bill Gates has that much sitting around just by himself.

[ttthailand]

1.71 trillion baht divided by 35 is 48,857,000. That is not very close to the estimate.

Oh, if you take that number and divide by the 33 million expected bodies, you get about 50 baht per.

The Thai government people have never been able to get the numbers right.

Time for some Excel lessons?

I think you need to calculate those numbers again. See my prior post, I think I may be correct but maybe not

[spidermike007]

Just another lie from the not trusted TAT.

Another day in Thailand. As usual Minister of Tourism and Sports Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul is just making things up as she goes along. We are bulletproof. Nothing affects us. No adversity would drive tourists away. No amount of police corruption, violence against Westerners, or scandals will keep you away. We know that. Why is that?

1. We offer some of the finest food.

2. We have some of the nicest people.

3. We have some of the most gorgeous tourist attractions, and everything is really, really cheap.

4. Plus we really take care of our country, and are very concerned about the environment, the forests, the beaches, and keep the water in both in the Gulf and the Andaman in crystal car condition, due to all of our progressive programs to save the environment.

5. Plus, we are taking really good care of our migrants, and have ended slavery in all forms.

6. Don't even consider any other countries within SE Asia. None of them are as good as our country. We are the best!

Come and see. We are waiting for you, and will greet you with big smiles. We know you will come, as you really do not have many alternatives to our great and gorgeous nation. Don't even consider any other countries within SE Asia. None of them are as good as our country. We are the best!

As many of us know, western tourism is way, way down. Nearly everyone I talk to, whether it be a restaurant, bar, massage shop, gift store, travel agent, tour operator, or hotel owner, say the same thing. Tourism is way down. The TAT would claim the numbers are up. Of course they are counting the Chinese tourists, all business visas, and all border runs in those (not so accurate) numbers! The Chinese have contributed to the arrival numbers. But, they are mostly low quality tourists, who contribute little to the Thai economy, as most of the profits from their tours are repatriated to China, and elsewhere. And the Chinese do not spend much money in the shops, restaurants, bars, or elsewhere. And the room rates they are paying are highly discounted.

So, again this numskull is missing the mark, as usual. Rather than focus on developing or sustaining higher quality western tourism, these TAT people just trod on, seemingly oblivious, or unconcerned about the decline in the quality of tourists here. Plus, the PM is not the greatest ally of tourism, as he is continually being allowed to mouth off, and sabotage Western tourism, on a daily basis, with his fabulously ignorant statements about Westerners, and his continued demonstration of nationalism, at every opportunity.

Edited June 28, 2016 by spidermike007

[Ulic]

TAT needs to start counting tourist days not tourist arrivals. The Chinese tourist

has a 3-4 day junket to Thailand and does spend a lot daily but his/her total spend

in Thailand is very low compared to Australians, Europeans, North Americans.

who stay 3-4 weeks.

[tomyumchai]

i treated dorris to a seafood slaughter on the weekend in ban sarray. we were the only 2 sat in the restaurant at the end of a jetty when 40+ chinese stormed in.

"oh good god no," i thought... but nothing to worry about, they just took 50 selfies of the beach and got back on the coach and left.

these are the quality tourists putting those trillions into the thai economy, right?

[tomyumchai]

i treated dorris to a seafood slaughter on the weekend in ban sarray. we were the only 2 sat in the restaurant at the end of a jetty when 40+ chinese stormed in.

"oh good god no," i thought... but nothing to worry about, they just took 50 selfies of the beach and got back on the coach and left.

these are the quality tourists putting those trillions into the thai economy, right?

[tomyumchai]

i treated dorris to a seafood slaughter on the weekend in ban sarray. we were the only 2 sat in the restaurant at the end of a jetty when 40+ chinese stormed in.

"oh good god no," i thought... but nothing to worry about, they just took 50 selfies of the beach and got back on the coach and left.

these are the quality tourists putting those trillions into the thai economy, right?

[Lokie]

Amazing Thailand...

you would think they'd get someone in like Fred Pontin or Billy Butlin and show them how to run an holiday industry, instead they carry on like Billy Smarts Circus and Ali Bongo (smoke and mirrors) lol...