Thailand’s popularity dips in Europe

[webfact]

Thailand’s popularity dips in Europe

By Don Ross

 

  

BANGKOK, 28 January 2020: There are certainly devils lurking in the details of Thailand’s tourist arrival statistics for 2019.

 

On the surface, welcoming 39.79 million tourists and clocking up a 4.24% increase to boot deserves an okey-dokey slap on the back for the Ministry of Tourism and Sports. But does it?

 

Whether you look at the 39.79 million visits rising 4.24%, or the revenue improving 3.05% to reach  THB1,876,136.90 million, there are some alarming trends once you move past the headlines.

 

Yes, China remains the top generating market with 10.9 million visits up 4.36% and revenue hitting THB543,707.33 million up 4.78%, and there are another 10 countries delivering 1 million visits each to Thailand’s border checkpoints. Move to the details and discover that of all the 11 top nations on the 1 million a year plus list only two are located outside of Asia — Russia (1.48 million) and the USA (1.16 million).

 

Among the top five supply markets, China dominates with almost 11 million visits, and if the novel coronavirus retreats during the first quarter of the year, Chinese visits to Thailand could top 12 million by the end of the year.

 

Full story: https://www.ttrweekly.com/site/2020/01/thailands-popularity-dips-in-europe/

 

-- © Copyright TTR Weekly 2020-01-28

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[DrTuner]

Europeans do check the internet before going. Thailand has been negative news only since .. well 2010 or so. Why bother flying a long way when there are better and cheaper destinations closer. Thailand screwed it up in multitude of ways.

[fforest1]

I just do not understand this....Thailand has been bending over backwards to make westerners and expats feel welcome for years....lol

[unamazedloso]

Thailands just not a friendly place. There are so many other far nicer places that are cheaper, more welcoming and best of all appreciative!

[JusticeGB]

Chinese visitors spend far less per day than European visitors. My daughter from England just visited me and was shocked by the price increases since she last visited 2 years ago. Chinese visitors mostly come in groups and spend money in rich Chinese Thai owned shops that money doesn't help the local economy only the rich friends of the corrupt!

[ChipButty]

It's dropping lets see what happens in the low season Im not holding my breath especially if the sh@@ite from China gets a grip

Edited January 28, 2020 by ChipButty

[BRUFC]

1 hour ago, fforest1 said:

I just do not understand this....Thailand has been bending over backwards to make westerners and expats feel welcome for years....lol

Your tongue firmly in cheek I think. I have no problem with that.

 

In June 2017 before ever I'd come here, my eldest daughter and family changed flights in Swampy on their way back to the 'old country', from Brisbane to Heathrow. A mild-mannered girl until riled, she told me ...'Land of Smiles? <deleted>. I've never seen such a miserable, unfriendly lot of bar stewards in all my life'.

OK, they were just passing through but they 'felt the love' alright.

Didn't prevent me from coming though and I'm glad I did. Keep away from officialdom, live with the locals and life is good. 

[PatOngo]

 

2 hours ago, webfact said:

there are another 10 countries delivering 1 million visits each to Thailand’s border checkpoints.

Yes, Khmers, Lao and Burmese love working there and taking their earnings home! 

[Creasy]

They must think a lot of the world has a muzzled media and internet restrictions like Thailand, and people in Europe live in a giant bubble like the Thais

[Scot123]

The question I would ask each and every expat living or who as lived in Thailand recently: if a close relative asked for advice about booking a holiday in Thailand would you immediately say yes or stop and think first or maybe simply say try Vietnam. For me the spiral of Thailand's down turn started in 2006. Now Thailand is 1. Dangerous, 2. Expensive, 3. Not very welcoming. 4. Very dirty. 5. Bangkok smoggy or flooding. Then you would have to start the list of donts like don't argue with any Thai's as it could end in your death..... 

[madmitch]

Nothing unexpected here, though I would like @saengd, who was trying to argue in a thread last week that land border entries don't count towards the tourism figures, to take a look at the number of visitors from neighbouring countries. 1.8m visitors to Laos, for example, which has a population of around 7m. Do you really think that over a quarter of that country's population took a flight into Thailand last year? 5,000 Laotians in and out of Bangkok's airports each and every day?

[spinner2020]

As ever, The Don nailed it in his piece - check the link."

 

"Despite these campaigns and the substantial investments in maintaining an expensive network of Tourism Authority of Thailand offices across Europe the massive sums spent over the last five years failed to reverse the negative trend in arrivals and tourist spending."

 

Would anyone who has been here a while be surprised by this? (And will anything ever change while the current lot's snouts are in the trough?)

[dabhand]

The Don Ross full article states 'Little is said about declines from Europe evident over the last few years...'.

Yet, delving into the TAT figures for the last few years (as Mr Ross is basing his whole article on the TAT data for 2019 he, presumably, is accepting these figures at face value) this comment is not backed up by the TAT data. Maybe that's why little is being said by TAT.........

 

The recent yearly Europe arrivals, as noted by TAT, have been:

2019 - 6.719m

2018 - 6.760m

2017 - 6.514m

2016 - 6.174m

2015 - 5.477m

https://www.mots.go.th/more_news_new.php?cid=411

 

Yes, the TAT figures come in for much criticism for lack of accuracy, but having accepted the 2019 data to have used them as the basis for his article, perhaps he needs to do a bit more research before making nonsense comments. 

 

 

 

[mickey rat]

Sadly, Europeans don't much care for wearing 2.5PM face masks while on holiday. Unfortunately the locals have no choice but to live with it. ☠️

[justin case]

sexpats will be back every year, good bang for their buck, or so they say

[RichardColeman]

17 hours ago, webfact said:

China dominates with almost 11 million visits, and if the novel coronavirus retreats during the first quarter of the year, Chinese visits to Thailand could top 12 million by the end of the year.

So, they are basically saying that if Chinese tourism is dead for the first 3 months of the year, the last 9 months will each have about a 36% Boom in more Chinese tourists ? I doubt that ................just a little

[ChipButty]

Cancellations must be running pretty high 

[30la]

How many lies can be written in an article? Many, especially if the lies come from the government or government organizations!

[spidermike007]

Thailand's popularity amongst all western tourists, has been dipping for at least a decade, and that decline has been dramatically exacerbated by the army, Prayuth, and the incessantly inane heads of immigration, and their incredibly xenophobia, hysterical rantings about the evils of foreigners, and the lack of any progress, in the areas where tourists have voiced issues, or complaints.

 

They will continue to get more Indian tourists. But, as with the vast majority of Chinese, it will be lower class, and lower middle class tourists. Thailand just cannot attract higher end tourists anymore. The focus on quantity over quality will continue to erode the nation on countless levels. More is rarely better. It just lowers the quality of life for nearly everyone, creates more congestion, more smog, more traffic, longer lines at immigration, and makes life difficult, especially in the big cities. There are countless things the government could be doing, if they wanted to attract the high quality tourists, and go for quality over quantity. Rich tourists like to spend money when they travel. And they cannot do that here, as they do not like getting taken for a ride. 

 

Quantity over quality is never a good thing, unless you are selling one dollar items at a swap meet. It just lowers the quality of the experience for all.

 

Sorry to say, but the high spending tourists are lost for good. They WILL NOT come back to Thailand, for a dozen different reasons. And places like Pattaya, Phuket and Samui will continue to go downhill. So, the goons at the TAT continue to pursue ever higher numbers, regardless of the noxious air, unbelievable congestion on the roads, and woeful service at the airports, that this policy only exacerbates. 

 

You really want to boost tourism? Convince Prayuth to resign, and take his hapless army with him. Then you at least have a chance at getting competent people to deal with tourism. Until then? Prepare for the situation to get much worse. It is only downhill from here, with the incompetents running the show. And the corona virus could exacerbate this drop, in a major way. But, though that will cause alot of pain, to the common Thais, it may end up to be beneficial to the nation in the long run.

 

The youth just may end up forcing the army out of power. That is precisely what is needed here. They are dead weight for the nation. Get out now! You are not wanted, or needed. You are despised by the majority of the people. 

[mstevens]

1 hour ago, justin case said:

sexpats will be back every year, good bang for their buck, or so they say

 

That lot are a dying breed, quite literally.

[DefaultName]

I keep reading about tourists reading things and not coming.

We expats have friends and family back home.  They ask us how things are and we tell them;

• Immigration officers randomly deciding which rules to follow,
• Police checks for no apparent reason,
• Traffic police stopping cars and bikes for one thing, then "finding" something else to fine for when they are proved wrong,
• Padded bills,
• Mad road users,
• Thai's fighting in packs with weapons,
• The foreigner is always to blame and pays,
• Unusable pavements,
• Road crossings ignored,
• Rubbish everywhere,
• Pollution on land, air & sea,
• Taxis that won't use the meter,
• Dual pricing,
• etc.

Then TAT wonders why the western tourists don't come in numbers any longer.

 

Writing this, I'm wondering why I'M here!  Then I remember the life I had in the UK.  OK, I'll stay.  ????

 

 

Edited January 29, 2020 by DefaultName

[yellowboat]

Sadly the military government ruins Thailand in two ways.  They have made Thailand less fun for everyone while not tackling the pollution problems in tourist areas and who in Europe wants to prop up a military government? 

 

The Thai people lose out as they don't heard.  If you want to help the average Thai in your travels, suppose visiting Isan is the best way. 

 

[Baerboxer]

17 hours ago, Creasy said:

They must think a lot of the world has a muzzled media and internet restrictions like Thailand, and people in Europe live in a giant bubble like the Thais

 

Possibly. But they almost certainly think they can say anything and it will be believed, no matter how absurd, just like it is here.

[Bangkok Barry]

19 hours ago, unamazedloso said:

Thailands just not a friendly place. There are so many other far nicer places that are cheaper, more welcoming and best of all appreciative!

 

Exactly. Thailand and so many Thais in the tourist business have attitude. Tourists really don't like that. It would be very interesting to know how many that do come to Thailand then never come again.

 

As well as attitude, the massive price increases combined with the dreadful exchange rate means the place simply is very poor value now for Europeans. I just found that the 'special deal' at a hotel bar I liked to go to has increased their price by nearly 20 per cent . That sort of increase just doesn't happen elsewhere and can only be put down to greed. Europeans have better prices, better infrastructure and better attitude from service providers close to home, so why spend 10-12 hours on a plane and back again for higher prices and poorer quality.

[Assurancetourix]

18 hours ago, PatOngo said:

 

Yes, Khmers, Lao and Burmese love working there and taking their earnings home! 

"love working"; it seems very exaggerated to me ..
If they could live decently in their country they would not come to Thailand where most of the time they are considered as s.hit and paid accordingly, that is to say very often not much ...

[Artisi]

20 hours ago, DrTuner said:

Europeans do check the internet before going. Thailand has been negative news only since .. well 2010 or so. Why bother flying a long way when there are better and cheaper destinations closer. Thailand screwed it up in multitude of ways.

And continuing screwing it up on a daily basis. 

[Bangkok Barry]

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

Thailand's popularity amongst all western tourists, has been dipping for at least a decade, and that decline has been dramatically exacerbated by the army, Prayuth, and the incessantly inane heads of immigration, and their incredibly xenophobia, hysterical rantings about the evils of foreigners, and the lack of any progress, in the areas where tourists have voiced issues, or complaints.

 

They will continue to get more Indian tourists. But, as with the vast majority of Chinese, it will be lower class, and lower middle class tourists. Thailand just cannot attract higher end tourists anymore. The focus on quantity over quality will continue to erode the nation on countless levels. More is rarely better. It just lowers the quality of life for nearly everyone, creates more congestion, more smog, more traffic, longer lines at immigration, and makes life difficult, especially in the big cities. There are countless things the government could be doing, if they wanted to attract the high quality tourists, and go for quality over quantity. Rich tourists like to spend money when they travel. And they cannot do that here, as they do not like getting taken for a ride. 

 

Quantity over quality is never a good thing, unless you are selling one dollar items at a swap meet. It just lowers the quality of the experience for all.

 

Sorry to say, but the high spending tourists are lost for good. They WILL NOT come back to Thailand, for a dozen different reasons. And places like Pattaya, Phuket and Samui will continue to go downhill. So, the goons at the TAT continue to pursue ever higher numbers, regardless of the noxious air, unbelievable congestion on the roads, and woeful service at the airports, that this policy only exacerbates. 

 

You really want to boost tourism? Convince Prayuth to resign, and take his hapless army with him. Then you at least have a chance at getting competent people to deal with tourism. Until then? Prepare for the situation to get much worse. It is only downhill from here, with the incompetents running the show. And the corona virus could exacerbate this drop, in a major way. But, though that will cause alot of pain, to the common Thais, it may end up to be beneficial to the nation in the long run.

 

The youth just may end up forcing the army out of power. That is precisely what is needed here. They are dead weight for the nation. Get out now! You are not wanted, or needed. You are despised by the majority of the people. 

 

I agree with every word. High-end travellers want high-end services, high-end infrastructure and high-end attractions to visit. Thailand all too often does not provide this. The Tourism Authority and other parts of the government would not know what competition they are up against because they have been brainwashed from birth to believe that everything in Thailand is perfect and therefore irresistible to foreigners. It is not, especially to people who have real money to spend and know where to spend it. And that doesn’t include a country with attitude.

 

Thailand is a low-end attraction and has been for decades. When the country was cheap it attracted cheap tourists. Now that it is no longer cheap they have gone, and they won’t be replaced by high spenders because Thailand doesn’t tick their boxes. It will be next to impossible to change that because Thais are always in denial and will endlessly defend every single thing about Thailand, even when it is indefensible. And even on the rare occasion they admit to something being wrong they do absolutely nothing about it. The country has the future it deserves.

[ChipButty]

Dont see many tourist from America these days

[Artisi]

18 hours ago, BRUFC said:

Your tongue firmly in cheek I think. I have no problem with that.

 

In June 2017 before ever I'd come here, my eldest daughter and family changed flights in Swampy on their way back to the 'old country', from Brisbane to Heathrow. A mild-mannered girl until riled, she told me ...'Land of Smiles? <deleted>. I've never seen such a miserable, unfriendly lot of bar stewards in all my life'.

OK, they were just passing through but they 'felt the love' alright.

Didn't prevent me from coming though and I'm glad I did. Keep away from officialdom, live with the locals and life is good. 

Yes, life can be good, stay away from the politics, have the mimimum contact with anything official, if needing to get involved with officials do your home work - ensure all paperwork is correct and in order, smile and agree with any directives etc. 

Above all, mind your business, keep a low profile, always be polite, blend in when ever and where ever you can - always smile and  keep your cool. 

[Grumpy John]

Fruit pickers from Myanmar get 200baht a day.  The local green (ma-muang mun felun) mango buyer employs them.  We give them lunch,  most orchard owners do but it's small compensation for a days work....not that their that good as I found another 2 boxes going around after they finished!  That's 50+ kg or a thousand baht of income! So why they here?   If their working for 200 baht a day here, how bad is it in Myanmar?