Thailand tourism situation

[PeteC]

Being western educated he knows the solution, but he dare not say or implement it. Hire foreign consultants with experience to fix your house!

[buksida]

Just observations here. Came through Swampy over the weekend and my flight from the Middle East was virtually empty. For the first time in memory there was no queue at all at immigration and I was through in record time. 110,000 tourists a day - yeah right.

Hua Hin also seemed very very quiet, even the busy 88 food court was half full on Saturday night but that may have been the weather.

[Big Boy]

I was at Pae Mai Food Garden Saturday night also - just as dead. I guess it was a combination of the weather and Hua Hin Food Fest.

[hhinner]

I was at Pae Mai Food Garden Saturday night also - just as dead. I guess it was a combination of the weather and Hua Hin Food Fest.

We went to Pae Mai food garden when it first opened and the noise level from the band was so painful that we haven't been back. What's it like now?

[Big Boy]

Really? It is the complete opposite these days compared with Baan Khun Por where the music makes your ears bleed. We all agree, it is nice to be able to sit down, enjoy a meal and/or a drink and talk without every word being drowned out by the band.

HeeHee, it might be a bit different this coming Saturday though. They have a top band playing, and I doubt a top Thai band will do easy listening.

I have to say it though, we're meant to be discussing the tourist slump and not the food court

We often have food courts mentioned on various threads, I'll start a new thread where pros, cons and even food can be discussed

[PeteC]

Asia's beaches go quiet as Chinese tourists stay home

From quiet beaches in Bali to empty rooms in Hanoi’s hotels, pangs from China’s economic malaise and weakening yuan are being felt across Southeast Asia’s vacation belt.

A boom in Chinese outbound travel in recent years that stoked tourism across Southeast Asia is now in reverse gear. The abrupt decline of Chinese travelers is becoming a painful lesson for nations such as Thailand and Indonesia that had become overly dependent on Asia’s top economy.......

https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/17 ... -stay-home

[laphanphon]

Must be time to pay off those CCs ...

[buksida]

Tourism ministry: World economy to blame for Thailand's tourism woes
A top official at the Thai Ministry for Tourism and Sports told a business meeting in Hua Hin that the world economy was to blame for Thailand's lack of tourists.

Panya Hanlamyuang pointed the finger at the ongoing trade spat between the US and China.

He said that this was discouraging investment in Thailand and elsewhere in the ASEAN tourism sector.

https://www.talknewsonline.com/156083/


Really? Nothing to do with any of this then ...

• Over-inflated local currency
  Ridiculous 24 hour reporting requirements limiting movements
  Shorter term visa crackdowns (no back to back TR visas)
  More raids and nightlife/alcohol crackdowns
  Cheaper, more welcoming alternative countries (Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam)
  Increased reports of crime against foreigners (Koh Tao etc)
  Boats sinking, tour buses coming off the roads every day
  Expensive by comparison (greed when things are slow/empty)

No no no, of course Thailand cannot be to blame ...

[Jack Sprat]

https://media.giphy.com/media/aCow2k5qf ... /giphy.gif

[oakdale160]

JS--WTF is that all about??

[buksida]

Chiang Mai braced for barren hotels
Chiang Mai's hoteliers are expected to suffer from a low occupancy rate throughout the remainder of the year because of a strong baht, a glut of rooms and the popularity of home-sharing accommodations.

The occupancy rate during July and August fell to 60% from 80% last year. The decline is unusual for Chiang Mai, as this time of year is considered the high season because of school holidays for European and Chinese markets, said La-Iad Bungsrithong, president of the Thai Hotels Association (THA) northern chapter.

Mrs La-Iad said the sturdy baht is pushing long-haul travellers to visit cheaper destinations in Asean, the Middle East and Latin America. Fewer visitors are also expected from the Chinese market during Golden Week, Oct 1-7.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/17 ... ren-hotels

Thoughts
On the road at the moment and have been to 6-7 different provinces. I reckon I've seen fewer farangs that I have fingers on one hand over the past week or so and certainly no huge hordes of Chinese. The only tourists abundant in large numbers are Thais.

[Geko]

Has there ever been 'Rise' in tourist's since September 2014 when this thread was started?

[STEVE G]

.....and certainly no huge hordes of Chinese.

The only place that I see huge hordes of Chinese tourists in Thailand is at the airport, where they go after that I've absolutely no idea. Mind you, Chinese tourists are perhaps interested in things different to us Westerners, I used to stay at a hotel in Luxembourg that had large numbers of Chinese visitors and when I asked a tour guide why they came to Luxembourg, I was told that it was because it was a short journey away from Trier in Germany where they could visit the birth place of Karl Marx!

[buksida]

Mind you, Chinese tourists are perhaps interested in things different to us Westerners,

Shopping appears to be a big attraction for them, though I can't see how Thailand is cheaper than shopping in China or even different. Most of what you can buy here comes from China anyway!

Maybe they're all in some huge underground bunker somewhere that the army has built for them!

[Ttmike]

I flew Lhr-Dxb-bkk 1st october
The flight from London to dubai was full, but the second leg dubai to Bangkok was very quiet.
This is really strange as in dubai all the connecting flights meet up which normally means the Bangkok leg is reasonably full.
Went down binta thurs night and was surprised just how dead the whole area was.
Thailand is simply too expensive for most tourists now,