Tourism made up 17 percent of GDP last year

[SABloke]

"In January of this year, 4.8 million foreigners came to Thailand... ...have already spent 253 million baht."

So a whopping 50 Baht per head. Listen, if they mess up 1 set of numbers why should we beleive ANY numbers they give us.

[maewang99]

I wanna see farm incomes and ag exports zoom... and then we ****will**** see the long term (post Tom Yung Gun) Thai Baht trend resume. plus Trump may get a handle on this promise too at some point.

not just tourism for asia and Thailand... more and bigger yet airports... and specialty stuff like the World's Biggest Automotive Airbag Fabric Plant being in Bangkok etc... the stuff they get lucky on because of Japanese managers.

go Thailand! let's hope for rain and better prices for what will be the most precious commodity..... not oil and not iron ore... food.

     

Edited February 18, 2017 by maewang99

[spidermike007]

48 minutes ago, Shawn0000 said:

 

http://www.thaiwebsites.com/tourism-income-Thailand.asp

According to this, you are wrong, the Chinese being the highest spenders per day, Europeans being the lowest with Americans being the second lowest.

 

That data was provided by the department of tourism. Sorry, but zero credibility there. It is a propaganda machine. There is no doubt in my mind, and from the dozens of people I have spoken with in tourism, there is no doubt in their mind, that Western tourists spend far, far more than Chinese tourists here in Thailand. Most of the Chinese tourists who come here, come on budget tours, costing as little $60 a day, so not sure how or where they came up with that data, but it is simply alternative facts. Orwellian. Not real. The Chinese who are in a position to spend, prefer Paris, London, NY, Tokyo, Rome, and other spots that offer world class service, without exorbitant duties on luxury goods they love to purchase while on holiday. The current batch of Chinese tourists will spend some money in restaurants, when they are not eating the buffets provided by the tours. They will also spend some money at 7/11 buying chocolate bars, potato chips, soda, juice, and cigarettes. But, not much more than that. 

 

I knew many European tourists who used to visit Thailand regularly. They would spend anywhere from $200 to $2,000 per day, while here. Many of those people have not returned recently. Too many issues, that are not being addressed. 

 

Believe anything that comes from an organ of the current party at your own peril.

 

Little P. Moving Thailand backwards at an alarming pace. 

Edited February 18, 2017 by spidermike007

[chiang mai]

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

 

From what I understand, the TAT in it's desperation to keep the numbers up, uses all business visas, and some transit passengers in their counts. And alot of the new numbers are Chinese tourists, who spend very very little here. And most of the money for their tours is repatriated to China. Only the hotels and restaurants they use benefit, and the rooms and meals are steeply discounted. Again, all I talk to say the same thing. I am sure there are areas that are doing better than others. You have alot more Chinese up north. They fill up the buses, but do not provide much income, as the quality Chinese tourists have little interest in Thailand, as the country cannot provide the quality of service they are accustomed to, and the luxury shopping is too expensive due to misguided policy, with regard to excessive import duty. Also, the F & B is not what it should be, due to excessive duty on imported wine. The highest in the world, at over 400%. Totally misguided on nearly every level. Extremely poor leadership. Something this country has suffered from for decades. 

 

Little P. Moving Thailand backwards at an alarming pace.

Your assumption about Chinese tourist spending is simply wrong, you assume that because they come by the coach load on cheap package tours plus they are not seen in the bars, that they don't spend money. That's only one segment of the Chinese tourist sector, just like Brits who holiday in Costa Del Fish and Chips are only one segment, the remaining segments are big spenders, as described earlier. You're describing stereotypes rather than reality, we meet Chinese tourists almost daily by virtue of Mrs CM who is now fluent in Mandarin and her work at a nearby tourist attraction, as a consequence we now have more Chinese friends than we do Thai! The message is the same from all the ones we meet, Thailand is cheap by comparison and it's a desirable location where they are happy to spend. New neighbours nearby are Chinese, they visited  three times before moving here, their entire family of goodness knows how many people. Their three kids go to Prem, a nearby International school that is very pricey, they just bought a rai nearby and their house is being built. Similar stories exist all over the North, Chinese are spending and they are spending big time..

 

 

[chiang mai]

7 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

 

That data was provided by the department of tourism. Sorry, but zero credibility there. It is a propaganda machine. There is no doubt in my mind, and from the dozens of people I have spoken with in tourism, there is no doubt in their mind, that Western tourists spend far, far more than Chinese tourists here in Thailand. Most of the Chinese tourists who come here, come on budget tours, costing as little $60 a day, so not sure how or where they came up with that data, but it is simply alternative facts. Orwellian. Not real. The Chinese who are in a position to spend, prefer Paris, London, NY, Tokyo, Rome, and other spots that offer world class service, without exorbitant duties on luxury goods they love to purchase while on holiday. The current batch of Chinese tourists will spend some money in restaurants, when they are not eating the buffets provided by the tours. They will also spend some money at 7/11 buying chocolate bars, potato chips, soda, juice, and cigarettes. But, not much more than that. 

 

I knew many European tourists who used to visit Thailand regularly. They would spend anywhere from $200 to $2,000 per day, while here. Many of those people have not returned recently. Too many issues, that are not being addressed. 

 

Believe anything that comes from an organ of the current party at your own peril.

 

Little P. Moving Thailand backwards at an alarming pace. 

You wont accept the source of governement or TAT data as being credible or true, there's no point in debating anything with you on this topic in that case, especially if you expect us to believe your version of the numbers over anybody else's. Done.

[Shawn0000]

33 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

 

That data was provided by the department of tourism. Sorry, but zero credibility there. It is a propaganda machine. There is no doubt in my mind, and from the dozens of people I have spoken with in tourism, there is no doubt in their mind, that Western tourists spend far, far more than Chinese tourists here in Thailand. Most of the Chinese tourists who come here, come on budget tours, costing as little $60 a day, so not sure how or where they came up with that data, but it is simply alternative facts. Orwellian. Not real. The Chinese who are in a position to spend, prefer Paris, London, NY, Tokyo, Rome, and other spots that offer world class service, without exorbitant duties on luxury goods they love to purchase while on holiday. The current batch of Chinese tourists will spend some money in restaurants, when they are not eating the buffets provided by the tours. They will also spend some money at 7/11 buying chocolate bars, potato chips, soda, juice, and cigarettes. But, not much more than that. 

 

I knew many European tourists who used to visit Thailand regularly. They would spend anywhere from $200 to $2,000 per day, while here. Many of those people have not returned recently. Too many issues, that are not being addressed. 

 

Believe anything that comes from an organ of the current party at your own peril.

 

Little P. Moving Thailand backwards at an alarming pace. 

 

You generalize to the point of ridiculousness.  What percentage of the European tourists are backpackers spending $20-$30 per day?  What percentage of Chinese tourists are not on all inclusive holidays, are wealthy and spending large amounts?  To compare the Europeans who spend a lot to the lower class package holiday Chinese tourists is daft, compare like for like, there are Chinese coming on every budget, that is a fact, and they are not just spending a few baht in 7-11, they are going to all the attractions, going zip lining, canoeing, to water parks and zoos, they are buying new clothes and souvenirs, they are typical tourists looking for something to spend their money on, but what they don't have is a large percentage of truly budget tourists like the Europeans, you never see a Chinese family downing spirits by the trolleys outside Big-C like you do Russians every single day of the week, but you do see them in restaurants ordering lobster and Johnny Walker Black.

[jvs]

I know tourist who come here every year for a few months and lately they have moved into cheaper hotels because of the exchange rates.Before a 2500 Baht hotel and now a 1200 Baht one,the rest of the money they spend on other things.

It is a no brainer that with all the new hotels being build there will less people staying in a single place.

Januari alone 4.5 million tourists?

Break that one down into one hour.

[spidermike007]

5 hours ago, chiang mai said:

You wont accept the source of governement or TAT data as being credible or true, there's no point in debating anything with you on this topic in that case, especially if you expect us to believe your version of the numbers over anybody else's. Done.

 

 

Well, we all know the government is the paragon of virtue, and they would never have any reason to mislead, or color the facts. Utter, and complete nobility, honor, truthfulness, and righteousness. Always, and forever. 

[chiang mai]

6 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

 

 

Well, we all know the government is the paragon of virtue, and they would never have any reason to mislead, or color the facts. Utter, and complete nobility, honor, truthfulness, and righteousness. Always, and forever. 

Whereas we all know you to be the ultimate expert source of data and fact regarding everything Thailand!!! You see the problem!