Thailand tourism situation

[StevePIraq]

Just an observation but recently flew in from a connection in the middle east to Swampy and there were about 60 people on the plane, and about half of them were Thais. I know its low season but its the first time I've flown into Bangkok on an empty international flight!

One must remember Qatar Airlines flights from Doha, Qatar are now going direct to Pattaya and also Phuket, this could be a reason why so few going to BKK. I don't know if other airlines are doing the same.

[buksida]

If they're actually admitting arrivals are down now things must be serious ...

Collapse in China arrivals imperils target

Chinese arrivals in Thailand this year are expected to drop for the first time in a decade, with the plunge causing the country's tourism growth to miss its target.

The situation in other foreign markets for the remainder of the year is not much better, heightening concern among tourism operators such as Ittirit Kinglake, president of Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT).

He said that if Chinese arrivals do not bounce back this year, it will mark the first decline in this market since 2009. Arrivals from China represent about a quarter of international tourists in Thailand each year.

Other markets such as the Middle East, Russia, Eastern Europe, Africa and the Americas are also weakening, making the government's target of 37-38 million arrivals this year a stretch, Mr Ittirit said.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/to ... ils-target

[buksida]

Just spent ten days or so on the road visiting six different provinces in the south, two of which are tourist spots (Ao Nang and Khao Lak).

Some observations...

Most of the hotels were running at around 30% occupancy and room rates are very cheap at the moment (less than a thousand baht to stay in a four star resort). The only really busy places were targeted at Thais and full at weekends, virtually no farangs at these places.

The touristy spots (Railey beach, Ao Nang etc) were a little busier but nowhere near the numbers that TAT claim are coming here (over 100,000 per day). Yes the majority were Chinese, followed by Russians - very few Europeans. Bars were virtually all empty, restaurants at about 25% capacity on average in the evenings.

At non touristy spots (Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phattalung, Ranong) there were no farangs at all, it was like being here 20 years ago when the kids would stare and point at the white man!

Those in the industry I spoke to said it was the worst year they had ever experienced. Granted, October is still technically the low season and things will obviously be busier in January.

[PeteC]

I'll inject a small side note here as associated and of interest. Of course Thailand is not part of the OCED but the same could apply here in the future, if not already, and it's not a good conclusion concerning education.
___________________________
Beware the Tourism Curse

The so-called resource curse—when a country’s economy becomes too dependent on a natural resource like oil—is much talked about. But countries relying on tourism are finding themselves in a similar trap, suggests Geert Vansintjan in Foreign Policy. And education is one of the biggest casualties.

“According to the World Travel & Tourism Council, tourism made up 10.4 percent of world GDP in 2017. In the OECD area, it accounted for an average of 4.1 percent of GDP and 5.9 percent of employment. Across the developing world, the average is even higher,” Vansintjan writes.

Yet “tourism can discourage individual investment in education. In the OECD area, an average of 45 percent of people aged 25-34 have a college degree. In the OECD countries with large tourism sectors, the percentage is far lower: 43 percent for Spain, 34 percent in Portugal, 27 percent in Italy. Education is a lesser priority still in developing countries with large tourism sectors.

“The reason is fairly straightforward. In an economy dominated by tourism (like one dominated by oil), the economic returns on education are low because a large portion of available jobs are in hospitality or in other sectors that don’t require it.”

[Dannie Boy]

According to statistics published in the attached report, GDP from tourism in Thailand was about 11% and expected to continue to grow, so more pressure on raising education standard.
http://thaiembdc.org/2017/05/23/thailan ... s-in-2017/

[migrant]

Came through Swampy last afternoon on a connection from Russia. We flew on one of their big 330's and every seat was full. Of course most all Russian. Immigration line was all the way down the ramp with them and others, good thing I could go through the Thai line, only 5 there.

[Big Boy]

My usual tourism yardstick is how many abreast people are walking down Soi 94, totally oblivious to the fact it is a road full of Thai traffic. There have been a few encounters in the last week with people walking 3 abreast. Using my Soi 94 yardstick gauge, I'd put Hua Hin's tourism back to about 40%.

There are other gauges such as idiot motorcyclists (typical non-burnt skin, no helmet, loose fitting vest and complete arseholes on the road), but whilst they are arriving, numbers aren't as bad.

[buksida]

Every hotel in Bangsaphan is still empty so come down here if you want to get away from them!

[oakdale160]

Its only Nov 1st give it another few weeks. BB has his 'Tourist walking abreast" and 'Assholes on M/bikes" indexes.
My index is when the best of the bar girls return to duty, not arrived yet.

[Big Boy]

Yes, we all have our own yardsticks. I have a few, but the 2 mentioned are the only ones measurable at the moment. The Soi 94 measure is probably due to the first wave of snowbirds.

[caller]

The Soi 94 measure is probably due to the first wave of snowbirds.

Yup, they're back where I am as well.

[Khundon1975]

I always take TAT figures with a pinch of salt.
I suspect BigBoys measurements are more accurate than those of TAT.

[oakdale160]

A 'pinch" of salt. How about a truck load.

[Big Boy]

I never saw this with my own eyes, but we had a couple of friends turn up to see us at 8:30 last night - they live in a remote part of Cha-Am. They drove up Soi 94, and said they had never seen so many people in Thai bars - they reckoned every bar and restaurant was heaving.

I'm not sure how the correlation between 'remote Cha-Am' and 'heaving' works

[buksida]

Hotels panic as Chinese cause slump
Hoteliers in Pattaya are urging the government to step in and help following a 60% slump in Chinese tourist arrivals in the resort city in recent months.

Suwat Phaepiromrat, president of the Pattaya Hotel Club, said that between July and October, many hotels suffered from a steep fall in revenue.

This has hit the industry harder than in 2016 when authorities started clamping down on so-called "zero-dollar tour" operators, he added.

These are cheap package deals that see tourists pressured into buying overpriced goods and services from selected outlets woven into their travel itineraries.

The drop in Chinese tourists to Thailand was triggered by several events including the capsizing of the Phoenix off the coast of Phuket on July 5, which caused the death of 47 Chinese passengers. In September, a Chinese tourist was filmed quarrelling with a security guard who subsequently hit him at Don Mueang airport.

The government then said it would waive fees for visas on arrival over the next two months for visitors from 21 countries, including China.

However, Mr Suwat said that alone would not drag the industry out of its mini slump.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/to ... ause-slump


What did they do a decade ago before the hordes of Chinese started coming here.