Bangkok edges out London as world's top travel destination

[Jimbo2014]

Might be time to clean up the city then and invest a little in electrical and flood prevention

[jethro69]

3 hours ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

bangkok, i dont get it. what is the attraction? am i missing something?

Nana, Cowboy, Patpong.....and eventually a trip to MBK to buy a new (fake and overpriced) mobile without warranty!

I'm quite sure there are some on more than a trip and didn't get further than that......well besides Pattaya.

[Khon Kaen Dave]

There are hotels and tourist attractions for the Elite of all countries that can afford to live like  kings for the duration of their holiday.The sleezey parts,they will never see,and wont be allowed to.Then there is the other side of Bangkok,where the normal,saved for a year to get there,type tourist goes.On the whole,i prefer the sleeze.

[Khon Kaen Dave]

There are hotels and tourist attractions for the Elite of all countries that can afford to live like  kings for the duration of their holiday.The sleezey parts,they will never see,and wont be allowed to.Then there is the other side of Bangkok,where the normal,saved for a year to get there,type tourist goes.On the whole,i prefer the sleeze.

[Alwyn]

4 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

Nothing to do with votes. The chaos was caused by the actions of both. PT's lords and ladies of misrule were as responsible as suthep's lunacy. 

I could not disagree more. If they were leading the country badly there was (but not any more) an electoral system in place where the citizens of Thailand could have deposed them for another political party to have a go. That's how it works. PT's crime was winning the election and upsetting the status quo of a different corrupt bunch. Now, thanks to Suthep and his masters loading and pointing him, there is no such system in place and the ultimate corrupt and untouchable clowns are running the country.

[Redline]

4 hours ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

bangkok, i dont get it. what is the attraction? am i missing something?

A baby cat

[Redline]

What percentage is men?

[HoboKay]

Only because it's more affordable and perhaps the better weather and food but I digress, being an anglophile, I'd take the draughty weather and rubbish curries?

Edited September 23, 2016 by HoboKay

[Bluespunk]

5 minutes ago, Alwyn said:

I could not disagree more. If they were leading the country badly there was (but not any more) an electoral system in place where the citizens of Thailand could have deposed them for another political party to have a go. That's how it works. PT's crime was winning the election and upsetting the status quo of a different corrupt bunch. Now, thanks to Suthep and his masters loading and pointing him, there is no such system in place and the ultimate corrupt and untouchable clowns are running the country.

No, PT's crime was their misrule, their abuse of power to benefit themselves, their unleashing of their UDD storm trooper street thugs, their attempts to amnesty the criminal and corrupt elements in their upper tier, their failure to rule for the country but rather their own faction of the ruling elite, the rice scam, the late night shenanigans/do-over votes to get their legislation through and so much else. 

 

Votes entitle you to form a govt but they also oblige you to rule in a manner that benefits the country. PT's failure to do this is as responsible for the pre coup chaos as suthep's lunacy. 

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

20 hours ago, nausea said:

Bangkok has absolutely zero attractions for tourists, apart from it's cheap, cheerful, and a gateway to Asia. London has many, and it's a gateway to Europe 

(or used to be).

London is just the same as regards Europe, nothing has changed except the pound has dropped 10%,  and you still need a passport to travel to the EU, and likely a visa if you are not an EU citizen.

[jamesbrock]

3 hours ago, sanukjim said:

The survey is wrong,Thailand is not the number one tourist destination in the world. France is with 79.5 million yearly with the USA 62.7 million,China 57.6,.The UK is is #7 with 29.2,Thailand is # 14 with 19.1.The Thai over estimate of numbers spreads to the airport also about the number of flight operations by at least 25%.

 

Not a survey per se, the Mastercard Global Destinations Cities Index projects visitor volume and spend estimates.

 

According to the study, Bangkok is projected to receive 21.47 million international overnight visitors in 2016, just ahead of second-ranked London.

 

As per MasterCard:

 

Quote

The sources for city level overnight arrivals by foreign visitors are typically the National Statistics Boards of the relevant countries or their Tourism Boards. The indicators for 122 out of the 132 cities were directly sourced from or estimated from official data. 

 

So, if TAT find out that they can win by simply doing what they do best—making up numbers—surely they could make up anything they need to win?

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

Since this is a Mastercard survey I very much doubt it has been  done with figures for visas (no pun intended) or a count at immigration, since they don't count.

I expect the survey has been done by card transactions in London, Paris, New York, Sydney etc etc by people whose cards are registered in another country.

It clearly isn't anywhere near accurate, just like most polls these days.

 

[jamesbrock]

11 minutes ago, George FmplesdaCosteedback said:

Since this is a Mastercard survey I very much doubt it has been  done with figures for visas (no pun intended) or a count at immigration, since they don't count.

I expect the survey has been done by card transactions in London, Paris, New York, Sydney etc etc by people whose cards are registered in another country.

It clearly isn't anywhere near accurate, just like most polls these days.

 

"The Mastercard Index of Global Destination Cities ranks cities in terms of the number of their total international overnight visitor arrivals and the cross-border spending by these same visitors in the destination cities, and gives visitor and passenger growth forecasts for 2016.

 

Public data is used in deriving the international overnight visitor arrivals and their cross-border spending in each of the 132 destination cities, using custom-made algorithms; paying special attention to eliminate the hub effects for destination cities such as Singapore, Dubai, Amsterdam and Frankfurt.

 

This Index and the accompanying reports are not based on Mastercard volumes or transactional data."

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

10 minutes ago, jamesbrock said:

Public data is used in deriving the international overnight visitor arrivals and their cross-border spending in each of the 132 destination cities, using custom-made algorithms; paying special attention to eliminate the hub effects for destination cities such as Singapore, Dubai, Amsterdam and Frankfurt.

 

This Index and the accompanying reports are not based on Mastercard volumes or transactional data."

Okay thanks, so it is "public data" so any convenient figures will do.

Plus an algorithm or two and hey presto....

Just more nonsense then....

[dunque]

4 hours ago, sanukjim said:

The survey is wrong,Thailand is not the number one tourist destination in the world. France is with 79.5 million yearly with the USA 62.7 million,China 57.6,.The UK is is #7 with 29.2,Thailand is # 14 with 19.1.The Thai over estimate of numbers spreads to the airport also about the number of flight operations by at least 25%.

The survey is on global cities, France was not a city last time I looked.

[Nigeone]

edit..see above 

Edited September 23, 2016 by Nigeone

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

These figures must come from airline, ferry and Tunnel passenger data as they don't count passports/visas or even ins and outs at immigration in the UK.

The fact is nobody really knows who and how many for sure.

[dinsdale]

That's about 30,000 a day, every day. 

 

[yellowboat]

Does that include back packers or just "quality tourists" ?  Thailand is for those carrying rug sacks, not for the discerning.  It is not civilized enough thankfully.     

[VN4now]

On 9/22/2016 at 1:37 PM, OMGImInPattaya said:

Well I guess this kinda puts the kabosh on all the negative nabobs who are constantly predicting a crash for the Thai economy from a fall in tourism numbers due to whatever negative item is in the news that day.  

Yes well being the #1 sex tourist destination has it's benefits. I wonder what BKK rank would be without the bargirls, freelancers, ladynoys, soapy girls, etc. What it puts the kabosh on is any attempt to leave the seedy past behind.

[BlindMagician]

Tourism or sex or both?

What's the real attraction?

How that ministers anti sex trade approach going...haven't heard any more about that.

30 million tm30 forms...that's a lot of paper and ink, and some poor sods time wasted.

You couldnt write this stuff could you.

[Xircal]

Jumping the gun a bit aren't they? It's still only September and a lot can happen before Christmas.

 

 

[jamesbrock]

3 hours ago, Xircal said:

Jumping the gun a bit aren't they? It's still only September and a lot can happen before Christmas.

 

A lot can certainly happen before christmas - when they tell anyone about it is a matter of political convenience.

[NongKhaiKid]

12 hours ago, eliotness said:

Surely most people book their holidays a few months in advance, so it should be easy to get the info from tour operators and airlines.  So where do these millions of extra people who book their holidays the very last minute come from ?

From someone's fertile imagination perhaps ?

[NongKhaiKid]

7 hours ago, jamesbrock said:

 

Not a survey per se, the Mastercard Global Destinations Cities Index projects visitor volume and spend estimates.

 

According to the study, Bangkok is projected to receive 21.47 million international overnight visitors in 2016, just ahead of second-ranked London.

 

As per MasterCard:

 

 

So, if TAT find out that they can win by simply doing what they do best—making up numbers—surely they could make up anything they need to win?

You shock and sadden me, TAT and the lovely minister prone to invention, I just can't handle this !    

[jamesbrock]

6 minutes ago, NongKhaiKid said:

You shock and sadden me, TAT and the lovely minister prone to invention, I just can't handle this !    

 

The probably just follow the example set by the NNT...

[OMGImInPattaya]

7 hours ago, VN4now said:

Yes well being the #1 sex tourist destination has it's benefits. I wonder what BKK rank would be without the bargirls, freelancers, ladynoys, soapy girls, etc. What it puts the kabosh on is any attempt to leave the seedy past behind.

It sure does...but I'd guesstimate there's as many, or more, sex-workers in London as Bangkok.

[mcfish]

16 hours ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

bangkok, i dont get it. what is the attraction? am i missing something?

Bangkok is still considered mysterious and exotic and perhaps slightly dangerous by western tourists. People want a different experience from the sterile cities back home , great shopping, restaurants , night life can be as wild as you wanna make it.

 

You need to put your tourist hat on and stop thinking like an expat!

 

The bashers seemed to be very distressed at the no.1 rating LMAO

 

 

 

[chiang mai]

Bangkok is a major transit point, arrivals mean nothing.

[RaoulDuke]

I am sure some of you were forced to come to Thailand for work (likely a very minute percentage). The rest of you are here completely by choice or quite willingly by taking advantage of an opportunity here. Which means that there was clearly something about Thailand that appealed to you at some time. Maybe BKK is not your cup of tea, but I imagine when you first landed off of the boat, BKK was an exotic and unique place to visit. Of course, after living here or frequently visiting over a number of years, you have become cynical and jaded, which is human nature for all people in all locations. I just find it comical that there is so much nonsense to the Thai bashing. Of course, if you spend a considerable amount of time anywhere, you will notice the many chinks in the armour (and Thailand is very far from perfect). But to sit and pretend that you cannot in a million years imagine why anyone would want to ever visit a single time is quite absurd.