Thailand tourism situation

[oakdale160]

I see that this thread originated 5 years ago. It takes a long time for a place, organization or person to get a good reputation and can take a long time for it to slip. There seems to be a general agreement that the tourist and retirement sources of income are diminishing. We can safely assume that TAT will continue in its state of denial and that nothing will be done to reverse the trend. Perhaps there are positives in all this!

[lomuamart]

I'd say that it only takes a moment for a good reputation to be damaged.

[hhinner]

Or a boat to sink and a porcine politician to open his mouth.

[buksida]

I'd say its pretty clear that the two things causing the slump at the moment are visa hassles/24 hour reporting bullshit, and the exchange rate.

Both of which the government can rectify tomorrow ... if they really wanted to.

[PeteC]

This chart comes from a group named "British Expats in Thailand" Who they are or where they got this data I don't know.

https://www.facebook.com/britishexpatsthailand

phpD2NwHJPM.jpg (84.6 KiB) Viewed 1029 times

[buksida]

Wow, that's about ten percent of what TAT are claiming - and probably a lot more accurate.

[GroveHillWanderer]

Wow, that's about ten percent of what TAT are claiming - and probably a lot more accurate.

Those are not the numbers of tourist arrivals, just those, "that use ATTA's members services." ATTA is the Association of Thai Travel Agents.

[buksida]

I'd still say they're closer to the truth than TAT's bullshit.

[PeteC]

The numbers are large enough to establish a pattern. I would be surprised if the arrivals that didn't use ATTA are any different.

[uncle tom]

I don't think that data is remotely close to the proportions of the nationalities as a whole.

A UK tourist is relatively unlikely to book a hotel through a Thai travel agent. He is much more likely to use a British one or online booking service.

If you do a quick head count of the foreign passport queues at BKK it's usually around two thirds european ethnicity. If the stats in the table were typical, it would be less than ten percent european

[caller]

I saw somewhere the article that stat is talking about and to me it just demonstrates that fewer and fewer people use agents these days.

Several years back, when I started travelling more, I would have a rough idea of my plans then head up to Trailfinders in Earls Court and spent virtually a whole afternoon with an advisor, nearly all of whom' had been there and done that', to alter, amend and finalise my plans with all fights and other modes of transport and accommodation all sorted out. It was great, but the internet and online advice and booking put an end to that.

[Ratsima]

I would have a rough idea of my plans then head up to Trailfinders in Earls Court and spent virtually a whole afternoon with an advisor, nearly all of whom' had been there and done that', to alter, amend and finalise my plans with all fights and other modes of transport and accommodation all sorted out. It was great, but the internet and online advice and booking put an end to that.

That brings back a memory. In 1977 I had the vague notion that I’d travel around the world. I took trains from LA to New York and flew across the Atlantic ending up in London. My first stop was Trailfinders. Spent the afternoon with an agent who provided lots of advice and some discount air fares leaving most of the overland travel to me. I spent the rest of the year in the road. Changed my life.

[HuaHin61]

where are all (proposed by TAT) tourists are going ?

https://mgronline.com/south/detail/9630000000246

English summary of above:

Thai media Manager painted a grim picture of tourism in Phuket in an article in which they quoted leading industry figures and analysts.

They said that tourism on the holiday island needed a "big injection" - and the private sector was demanding action from the government in delivering the medicine.

Expectations are that tourism in Phuket will see a 20% decline in 2020. Without government help it could be worse still.

In thirty years of Phuket tourism the island had faced many challenges, they said. And pulled through.

But this was the worst. Experts said that the root cause was the strong baht that showed no signs of weakening any time soon.

There was also a massive oversupply of hotel accommodation. For this year it is expected that the hotel industry will see 50% occupancy if they are lucky.

They think that the low season will be very low - 20% occupancy only contributing to the year round malaise.

Other factors are increasing competition from neighboring countries offering environmental holidays at new destinations. For many tourists the likes of Vietnam are both cheaper and more appealing as well as new.

Manager said that Phuket has enjoyed 14 million visitors annually in the past and they spend 44 billion baht a year.

But all this is now under threat.

Source: Manager Online

[stretch]

Took a walk down Takiab today all venders at ferry side packed away no beds no food nothing what tourist there are look stunned is it usual to close this early

[lomuamart]

That could be because all vendors were not supposed to be on the beach on Wednesdays. Gave a chance for a clear up.

Whether that's still the case, I don't know, but it might be an explanation.