Tourism Council announces minimum price for Chinese tourist packages be 1,000 baht per day

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Tourism Council announces minimum price for Chinese tourist packages be 1,000 baht per day

By Coconuts Bangkok 

 

Photo: Judithbluepool/Flickr

 

BANGKOK: -- As part of an ongoing effort to curb the zero-dollar tour packages used by many Chinese tour operators, the Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT) has announced that the minimum price per tourist, per day for tour packages from China should be THB1,000.

 

The China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) will meet with the Thai Tourism and Sports Ministries today to talk about how to put this new minimum price into place.

 

Zero-dollar tour packages refer to tour packages sold very cheaply by Chinese tour companies to Chinese tourists. So cheap, in fact, that the tour operators don’t really make a profit on them.

 

Full story: http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2016/09/22/tourism-council-announces-minimum-price-chinese-tourist-packages-be-1000-baht-day

 

-- © Copyright Coconuts Bangkok 2016-09-23

[BigBadGeordie]

At last we can define "quality tourists" after the phrase has been used relentlesly by various officials. It is "a minimum of 1000 Baht per day, per tourist"

 

Quality.

[smedly]

is it just me or.......................................

[smedly]

my interpretation or understanding or lack thereof   of this is that China tourists are coming here on China owned Airlines - travelling in China owned buses or (crossing the borders using camper vans which is now banned) - staying in China owned hotels - eating in China owned restaurants - travelling on China owned and built trains (lol) and all the money they spend is going back to China 

[mercman24]

ha ha goodbye chinese tourists, and i thought these were the one spending billions according to our wonderful boss of tourism, those that do spend, (more lies), they will go elsewhere, and next the old biddy will be wringing her hands, "where have all the "big spending" chinese gone"

[NongKhaiKid]

28 minutes ago, BigBadGeordie said:

At last we can define "quality tourists" after the phrase has been used relentlesly by various officials. It is "a minimum of 1000 Baht per day, per tourist"

 

Quality.

Will the Thai equivalent of Paul Revere be rushing around all 7-11s in tourist areas to warn,

The Chinese Are Coming, better stock up ?

[Rorri]

4 minutes ago, NongKhaiKid said:

Will the Thai equivalent of Paul Revere be rushing around all 7-11s in tourist areas to warn,

The Chinese Are Coming, better stock up ?

No, it could be more like "where have the Chinese gone!"

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

The only other place I have heard of where you must spend a min amount of money per day is Bhutan, but they tries to keep the numbers down with a steep price, Thailand wants millions of "mini-spenders" maybe they are going for the hub of mini spenders? 

[Brer Fox]

9 minutes ago, mercman24 said:

ha ha goodbye chinese tourists, and i thought these were the one spending billions according to our wonderful boss of tourism, those that do spend, (more lies), they will go elsewhere, and next the old biddy will be wringing her hands, "where have all the "big spending" chinese gone"

And they are going elsewhere. Last time I passed through Noi Bai Airport Hanoi recently I thought I was in Chinatown and these weren't the cheap charlie bus load variety. They were seemingly well heeled families and couples and young groups.

[NongKhaiKid]

36 minutes ago, BigBadGeordie said:

At last we can define "quality tourists" after the phrase has been used relentlesly by various officials. It is "a minimum of 1000 Baht per day, per tourist"

 

Quality.

That will come later IF the minister, TAT et al can actually bring themselves to admit the truth.

Big IF isn't it ?     

[Lashay]

Was it not meant to 6 million quality tourists spending 5000 per day per per person and 3 million on tours? I wonder what went wrong....

 

http://www.thailand-business-news.com/tourism/53710-thailand-expects-10-million-chinese-tourists-2016.html

 

At least TAT might stop peddling that crap survey result that puts chinese as best spenders. 

 

Now for them to realise that maybe the other listed big spenders from those surveys  are not really that big spenders either and they are wasting a lot of time and money pursuing them for small return.

 

And before someone jumps in to say there are many rich chinese (or Indians/Malays) that could spend like that or lot more, sure there are and they holiday in France, UK, USA,  Aus, Japan. Thailand gets the bottom of market types and higher class chinese (Malaysians,Indians, Russians)  want to be no where near that lot.

Edited September 22, 2016 by Lashay
And not idea why this is randomly changing fonts on me

[Johpa]

44 minutes ago, smedly said:

my interpretation or understanding or lack thereof   of this is that China tourists are coming here on China owned Airlines - travelling in China owned buses or (crossing the borders using camper vans which is now banned) - staying in China owned hotels - eating in China owned restaurants - travelling on China owned and built trains (lol) and all the money they spend is going back to China 

 

But wait, there's more!  Let us not forget the small mom and pop Thai run trinket stalls near the Chinese hotels that were uprooted and replaced with Chinese own stalls selling the same junk trinkets.  The crows have come home to roost in the Teochew Kingdom.

[CelticBhoy]

20 quid. Says it all  

[BKKdreaming]

There was a simpsons episode where when you visited Crustyland , you had to buy Crusty dollars only good there ......well  not good at half the places there either

 

So 1000 baht a day is great IF its Thai cash they have to spend and cannot turn it in when they leave

 

I am sure the Hotel , Tour Bus . food etc costs much more than 1000 baht a day ,  but that does not go into the into the local Thai economy

 

So just hand them 1000 baht cash when they get off the bus in Chinatown , Emporium, MBK , JJ market and let them roam like "free range" chickens !  spending it how they want

[smedly]

the funny thing is they have left out the visitors from India - who I have seen on various occasions 5 sharing a bottle of cola from a 7/11 and being told to fc ff when they plant themselves round a table in a bar and order 5 straws lol now that is serious Zero dollar - 5 to a room and try to talk a lady to go back - we all stay room number 555 - not same Japan sam sam sam   

[worgeordie]

The 1000 THB per day,thats for their board ,food,travel

expenses,not what they have to spend ,correct ?

regards Worgeordie

[autanic]

"Quality Tourists". They have to be forced to spend 1000THB per day ?

 

You have to be kidding me.  

 

Hey who am I to argue, if that what Thailand really wants, I wish them the best of luck.  

 

Just give me shout when you want real Tourists back in your Country, that spend like 10,000 a day and go home with a smile on their faces and skint.

Work hard all year, just to do it all again.

 

 

[PatOngo]

Mr Wong, you only spent 800 thb yesterday......GET OUT!

[petedk]

my interpretation or understanding or lack thereof   of this is that China tourists are coming here on China owned Airlines - travelling in China owned buses or (crossing the borders using camper vans which is now banned) - staying in China owned hotels - eating in China owned restaurants - travelling on China owned and built trains (lol) and all the money they spend is going back to China 

And paying entrance fees to Chinese owned shopping centres.

[futsukayoi]

32 minutes ago, smedly said:

the funny thing is they have left out the visitors from India - who I have seen on various occasions 5 sharing a bottle of cola from a 7/11 and being told to fc ff when they plant themselves round a table in a bar and order 5 straws lol now that is serious Zero dollar - 5 to a room and try to talk a lady to go back - we all stay room number 555 - not same Japan sam sam sam   

 5 people sharing a single drink - souds like some western backpackers I have come across

[notmyself]

1 hour ago, Johpa said:

 

But wait, there's more!  Let us not forget the small mom and pop Thai run trinket stalls near the Chinese hotels that were uprooted and replaced with Chinese own stalls selling the same junk trinkets.  The crows have come home to roost in the Teochew Kingdom.

 

Seen the same thing on Samui with regard to the effect on small businesses in general. These so called 'zero dollar' tours inject very little into the local economy while at the same time occupying a space such as a bed where otherwise small Thai businesses could make a living. It was the same with our Russian friends (mostly gone now) who would spend money but only with huge companies such as Tesco Lotus, 7-11 and such like. Close to nothing for small business owners.

[sabaii69]

I was at Salt Lake City, Utah (USA) airport and about 70 Chinese tourists were in the waiting area with me. They brought out cookers, went to the rest room for water and everyone cooked and ate their meals causing an awful smell. Airport staff did nothing about putting the hot cookers on the plastic seats. <snip>

Edited September 23, 2016 by Jai Dee
Racist comment removed

[williamgeorgeallen]

3 hours ago, smedly said:

my interpretation or understanding or lack thereof   of this is that China tourists are coming here on China owned Airlines - travelling in China owned buses or (crossing the borders using camper vans which is now banned) - staying in China owned hotels - eating in China owned restaurants - travelling on China owned and built trains (lol) and all the money they spend is going back to China 

yes but they are still keeping up the arrival numbers and that is what counts.

how the hell can they police the 1000thb per day rule? just another law to over complicate everything that will not be policed, but can be applied selectively to issue fines or seize assets  without trial. 

[Graemej100]

A few months ago I met a Thai bus driver who was driving Chinese Tourists for a Chinese tour company. He told me, and he had no reason to lie, that the 7 day package tour he was working was costing a flat 10,000 baht each - including airfares!  If you take the airfares out of the cost then they would be spending around 1000 per day.

To my way of thinking, no matter how low-end those sorts of tours might be, at least the hotels are employing Thais in front-of-house staff, bar staff, cleaners, cooks etc. so there might be an upside to this.

[LomSak27]

3 hours ago, smedly said:

my interpretation or understanding or lack thereof   of this is that China tourists are coming here on China owned Airlines - travelling in China owned buses or (crossing the borders using camper vans which is now banned) - staying in China owned hotels - eating in China owned restaurants - travelling on China owned and built trains (lol) and all the money they spend is going back to China 

 

Your interpretation is Wrong Smedly, but a good distraction nonetheless. Whether Thai owned or Chinese owned they are buying a package that includes meals, Ground transport, tickets for sites, vouchers for site seeing. All of these are negotiated in advance and paid for in China. So a couple chosen Hotels and tour operators do benifit, but literally no money finds itself pumped into the economy at large. NO trickle down..

 

The real problem; they are not wandering down to a market and buying food, or souveniers or taking a tour on their own. No trickle down effect

 

And by the way this is what people have been saying for years. Chiang Mai vendors were complaining about this in 2006, so its not like it is a recent thing. On this site are troll team members seem to have instructions to poo poo all these negatives and loudly proclaim the Chinese are the saviours of Thai Tourism ... well until the newpaper was OK's to talk about these NO MONEY TOURS. Now are troll team seem to have vanished, go figure 

[LomSak27]

4 hours ago, sabaii69 said:

I was at Salt Lake City, Utah (USA) airport and about 70 Chinese tourists were in the waiting area with me. They brought out cookers, went to the rest room for water and everyone cooked and ate their meals causing an awful smell. Airport staff did nothing about putting the hot cookers on the plastic seats. <snip>

 

They were bringing cookers on their carry on luggage?!  TSA would have a field day with that. TRolling Sabai  

[madmitch]

Most of the hotels they use are Thai owned. The price of that alone will be towards the 1000 baht mark, though they do negotiate rock bottom prices. Add to that the money spent in the 7-Eleven and I would say that equates to not much change.

 

It's also not particularly well known that those on 4 and 5 day packages do get a day off from the organised tours, when, at least where I'm based, they frequent the local street food stalls with some even venturing into the restaurants!

[JSixpack]

4 hours ago, smedly said:

my interpretation or understanding or lack thereof   of this is that China tourists are coming here on China owned Airlines - travelling in China owned buses or (crossing the borders using camper vans which is now banned) - staying in China owned hotels - eating in China owned restaurants - travelling on China owned and built trains (lol) and all the money they spend is going back to China 

 

An indirect invocation of the silly but comforting TVF Poster Only Farangs Have Money rule. One of our most cherished myths is that the quality tourists, i.e., the "naughty mongers," the economic powerhouses behind Thailand's now-vanished prosperity, the great jobs creators, the golden eggs layers, were "put off" and all have left for you-know-where.

 

 

And there they've already been making an impact:

 

A British national was arrested in Kampot town on Tuesday night after allegedly attacking a cash machine following what police said was a night of heavy drinking.

Boozed-up Brit accused in Kampot ATM attack, Phnom Penh Post, Thu, 31 December 2015

Replacing (not adding to) the supposedly departed "high class" (we're so class conscious!) are merely the low class and getting lower tourists. Both domestic and foreign, as one member claims.

 

Presumably, to judge by all the w@nk-posts about Chinese tourists, the "foreign" mainly refers to, ah, poor Chinese scavenging in the rubble, not spending anything. It's so disgusting that the Thai gov't, obviously bribed by China, forces corporations to tell outrageous lies like the following, cookin' the books to fool all them stupid auditors and analysts:

Improved performance of existing projects e.g. at CentralWorld, CentralPlaza Lardprao, CentralPlaza Pattaya Beach, etc., supported by spending from foreign tourists mainly from China and Korea during their summer travel season. . . . On a q-o-q basis, revenues from hotel operation increased by 6% thanks mainly to higher occupancy and room rate at Hilton Pattaya Beach Hotel with occupancy high at 92% in the third quarter, enhancing RevPar up 4% q-o-q as a result of an increasing number of Chinese and Korean tourist visits during their travel season in July-August. . . . continuing growth in hotel business with higher occupancy in this quarter on the back of increasing number of foreign tourists visiting Hilton Pattaya Beach Hotel. . . . However, the food court at CentralFestival Pattaya Beach experienced revenue growth, driven by higher traffic from tourist visits in the third quarter.

Central Pattana PCL, Performance Overview: Overall economic condition in 3Q15

 

And since all TVF economic experts absolutely KNOW that Chinese tourists only spend money in Chinese venues like Central and the Hilton (and now Tesco Lotus and Foodland, as I saw quite a few in there recently), we have the completely bizarre situation whereby Thai banks kindly provide up to 166 billion baht to Chinese tourists, and therefore to China, for no possible reason other than for Immigration to collect visa fees over one holiday!

 

The nation’s seven commercial banks have prepared up to 166 billion baht for spending during the holiday, up by 9.7 billion last year. Bangkok Bank has reserved 35 billion baht for the period, Siam Commercial Bank has prepared 33 billion, Krungsri Bank has set aside 28.6 billion, Krungthai Bank has readied 20 billion and Kasikorn Bank has made sure to have 40 billion baht on hand.

Banks confident Chinese New Year spending to be lively

 

Oddly, as TVF economists sneer at TAT's figures of rising numbers of tourists (and are still in denial about the construction of Suvarnabhumi Airport), the banks and the Mastercard Asia Pacific Destinations Index seem to agree more that the Chinese numbers are in fact rising, perhaps 16% annually according to the brokerage CLSA. Yes, dear GLOBAL CRASH! forecasters, CLSA took into account your knee-jerk about any economic slowdown:

 

But rising individualism and financial independence are seeing more and more young Chinese choose to defy custom, while at the same time tourism and outbound travel are surging. . . . Growing numbers are also seizing the opportunity for tourism, despite slowing growth in the world's second-largest economy. . . . Chinese travellers are by far the biggest spenders in the world, splashing $165 billion in countries they visited last year, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation.

New Year, New Travel: More Chinese Choose Tourism Over Tradition

Gotta love TVF economics.

Edited September 23, 2016 by JSixpack

[Bluespunk]

2 hours ago, futsukayoi said:

 5 people sharing a single drink - souds like some western backpackers I have come across

Yeah right. 

 

Edited September 23, 2016 by Bluespunk

[Bluespunk]

2 hours ago, smedly said:

the funny thing is they have left out the visitors from India - who I have seen on various occasions 5 sharing a bottle of cola from a 7/11 and being told to fc ff when they plant themselves round a table in a bar and order 5 straws lol now that is serious Zero dollar - 5 to a room and try to talk a lady to go back - we all stay room number 555 - not same Japan sam sam sam   

5 straws? 

 

I'm sensing exaggeration at the least here.