SURVEY: High end tourists—good idea or a flop?

[Scott]

The government is making a push to attract high end tourists, presumably at the expense of backpackers and other less affluent travelers.   In your opinion, is this a worthwhile endeavor?   Do you think it will succeed?   Please chose the option that best fits your opinion.

 

Please feel free to leave a comment.

 

For further reading:

 

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1169754-hoteliers-push-back-at-thailand’s-shift-to-target-high-end-tourists/

 

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1170138-thailand sees-60-slump-in-january-may-tourist-arrivals-spending/

 

[Suddenplans]

Bhutan charges USD $250 per person per day.  The quality of guests to Bhutan is quite high.  Next store to Bhutan is Nepal that gets all the back packers.  Thailand could charge $25 a day.

[brommers]

Thailand is not making the best of its unique culture, cuisine and character by appealing to the bottom feeder tourists that visit in their tens of millions. But a sweeping change to high end tourism is simply a pipe dream, and will provide very little in the way of numbers. And this country badly needs numbers to soak up the unemployment following the lockdown. It is not a binary decision that is needed but a long term and well managed move away from trash tourists to a more middle market. Bhutan is no model for this and neither are most markets because they become fixated, like TAT are,  on chasing volume. Tourism is highly destructive unless very carefully controlled.

[Hanuman2547]

It's a failed idea that will surely flop.  To focus on just one segment of society and to exclude the mass body of tourists will not be enough to recoup the losses that have been incurred.  In addition, the middle class tourists and the budget level tourists put a lot of cash into the pockets of everyday businesses in Thailand.  The government plan would put these people out of work.  

[Laza 45]

You ask the low end.. what answer do you expect?   Encouraging the 'high end' is just an operner isn't it?  I wouldn't think there would be too many backpackers with the $$ or ability to come for some time anyway...

[Mama Noodle]

Not really sure how they would do this long term or how it would be implemented. Can’t come unless you confirm you are gonna spend “this” much? 
 

Thailand ain’t Singapore and never will be. 

[ozz1]

Everyone that i know with money  are all staying put till this all blows over  and Thailand is not the place for high end tourists  maybe the Maldives or the Adriatic coast  but Thailand has been out of favour for a while now maybe some wealthy Chinese but they have enough trouble at the moment  so  ithink they are flogging a dead horse

[Airalee]

2 hours ago, Suddenplans said:

Bhutan charges USD $250 per person per day.  The quality of guests to Bhutan is quite high.  Next store to Bhutan is Nepal that gets all the back packers.  Thailand could charge $25 a day.

Bhutan doesn’t even have a million people.  
 

Thailand’s GDP is more than 150 times Bhutan.

 

How many people have been, or would go to to Bhutan twice?

[ratcatcher]

2 hours ago, Suddenplans said:

Bhutan charges USD $250 per person per day.  The quality of guests to Bhutan is quite high.  Next store to Bhutan is Nepal that gets all the back packers.  Thailand could charge $25 a day.

Bhutan is the Shangrila of destinations in the world, with a traditional monarchy and way of life.

Thailand is a modern Shangrilalaland that has lost most of its traditional culture in the pursuit of tourist dollars. 

[holy cow cm]

The poll choices do not fit my answer so cannot check one. Mass tourism like having millions of Chinese everywhere is a loser. Has ill effects on the environment and installs false security. They already have high end wealthy tourists coming here, so not really sure at what they are getting at.

[Scouse123]

7 minutes ago, ratcatcher said:

Bhutan is the Shangrila of destinations in the world, with a traditional monarchy and way of life.

Thailand is a modern Shangrilalaland that has lost most of its traditional culture in the pursuit of tourist dollars. 

 

You speak in the UK in mixed company to anybody that you are going to Thailand for your holidays and you are guaranteed to get raised eyebrows and the ' knowing smile '  from people.

 

It is known for go go bars, prostitution, cheap sex, Thai brides, military coups (that went all around the world), etc.

 

It's famous for being on the TV, yeah right, it is famous  on ' Locked up abroad ' ' Banged up abroad '  It has reached the worlds press for cheating people out of life pensions, crooked land deals, boiler room scams, higher prices than Europe for shoddy Chinese goods, and corrupt cops.

 

It is no longer renowned for its temples, charming people and exotic culture, no matter how hard they try to package it up with slogans.

 

Those days have gone.

[Brunolem]

I selected option #3, not because it is a bad idea in itself, but because Thailand is way too far down the cheap tourist rabbit hole to change direction.

 

Bhutan and Nepal have been given as examples.

 

In Africa, Botswana and Kenya have shown very similar results.

 

The thing is that Bhutan and Botswana (and the Maldives and the Seychelles) have been high end destinations from the get go, and they have built their reputation upon this.

 

Thailand has made the mistake of giving priority to quantity over quality, and its reputation has suffered from that.

 

Changing a reputation takes decades.

 

To make things even more difficult, Thai people are not educated/trained to cater to high end demanding tourists...just look at their inability to speak foreign languages, for example, or how the service is done in many restaurants.

 

 

Edited June 28, 2020 by Brunolem

[DefaultName]

I am decidedly NOT a high end tourist,  but I can try to think like one.

 

Thailand is a place that I'd visit.  Once.  Maybe again in a few years.  But it is NOT a place I'd go to every year, or plan a retirement to.  If you have big money, so much more of the world is open to you, I don't see how Thailand is high on the list.  Even if you fall for a Thai - and they're very good at getting under your skin - your instinct would be to take him/her out for a better quality of life, not to move here to be with him/her.

 

Long term, IMO, the lower end tourist who comes as often as he can and dreams of living here will contribute more to Thailand's economy.

[rwill]

No answer to the poll question as provided.  There is no problem with trying to promote wealthier tourists.  However it is foolish to ignore regular tourists.

[Justgrazing]

Thailand is getting a bit confused about all this wanting Hi-enders to make out there .. Do they realise the well heeled don't suffer fools easy .. Not being able to park your supercar exactly where you want to will not go down well with Thais who see that privilege as exclusively theirs and not available to anyone other ( ever see the hand written signs outside shops saying no parking ) Hugo Burberry will not suffer Somchai telling him in bad engrish that he can't park the Bentley outside 7/11 .. And that's be before we even get to pollution , death on the roads , Immigration , dodgy foreigners from the east , ghosts etc .. 

Thailand needs to get real and wake up from the dream of becoming some sort of Asian Cote d'Azur .. 

[sammieuk1]

There is sure to be bending of the low end to meet high end expectations under the covid cloak not to be confused with the invisible one that runs in parallel????

[CMNightRider]

To attract high end tourists, you need a high end destination.  I doubt if these high end tourists will be looking forward to Thailands smokey season, dangerous roads, or the jet ski scams.  Thailand already had the Golden Goose (western tourists and long term westerners).  Thai Immigration hounded these people until they finally left.  

 

I have read where the Thai government is looking forward with replacing westerners with Chinese.  I say one should be careful what you wish for, lol.

[Anythingleft?]

Thailand seems to be trying to run as fast as it can into being taken over by the Chinese in may sectors, who will gladly oblige

 

As commented, they dont have the infrastructure/service/culture to be a high end destination. They could earmark a particular location and revamp it for lesser numbers and control the market and growth

That in my mind is the only way they could achieve this dream of theirs, as a whole country wide it is not an attractive option for the better heeled of society IMO.....

[wasabi]

They should accelerate completion of the high speed train. Not sure what caliber of tourist that would attract but I am confident it would attract more.

[dallen52]

They totally miss the point and the market once again. 

 

In these times its about restoration of the tourism industry asap.

Allow the separation to end for families and relationships torn apart. 

As everything progresses they can market the possibility of refining the tourism base. 

 

Many thai businesses are echoing what a wise Japanese person told me.

 

"No business with no profit is better than business with no profit"...

[OneMoreFarang]

Does anybody know how many of the tourist from i.e. last year would qualify as high-end-tourist? 10%? 1%?

I understand that Thailand wants these people, and I think Thailand should try to get them. But they alone won't resurrect the tourist business.

 

What would help with tourists is well known: Be nice to tourists, don't have double price policy, don't have lots of taxi, gems, jet-ski and whatever scammers. Don't have TukTuk drivers who want a fortune for a trip around the corner, etc. The list is long and well known. The authorities could do a lot to address these well knows problems - if they wanted to do that...

[Don Mega]

Just now, OneMoreFarang said:

Does anybody know how many of the tourist from i.e. last year would qualify as high-end-tourist? 10%? 1%?

I understand that Thailand wants these people, and I think Thailand should try to get them. But they alone won't resurrect the tourist business.

 

What would help with tourists is well known: Be nice to tourists, don't have double price policy, don't have lots of taxi, gems, jet-ski and whatever scammers. Don't have TukTuk drivers who want a fortune for a trip around the corner, etc. The list is long and well known. The authorities could do a lot to address these well knows problems - if they wanted to do that...

The only high end tourists ive seen in Pattaya arrive by car from Bangkok !!

[OneMoreFarang]

1 minute ago, Don Mega said:

The only high end tourists ive seen in Pattaya arrive by car from Bangkok !!

I read somewhere about that service from a bar in Pattaya that they pick up guys from the airport in a mini-van. It's up to them how many service girls should be in that mini-van for that long trip to Pattaya...

 

[RJRS1301]

So called "high end tourists" may not be allowed to leave there own borders for pleasure travel for some time into the foreseeable future.

Placing your economic survival in that market could be seen as a little concerning financially.

This is a time for the industry to invest in training, hygiene, and "languages" for those in the industry.

This is time for Thailand to invest in the industry, and to stimulate the economy prior to international borders reopening. 

You can have the business travelers to hone the skills on, before opening to tourists at about 50% because the countries who have supplied the tourists are also suffering financially because of job losses.

 

 

 

[BritManToo]

2 hours ago, ratcatcher said:

Bhutan is the Shangrila of destinations in the world, with a traditional monarchy and way of life.

Thailand is a modern Shangrilalaland that has lost most of its traditional culture in the pursuit of tourist dollars. 

Bhutan is 'pretentious end' rather than 'high end'.

The tourists that go there are more the 'look where I've been meditating' crowd.

It's too uncomfortable, not much in the way of modern comms or internet or anything really.

As a previous poster said, it isn't a place anyone visits twice, once you've taken the selfies 'job done'..

[RJRS1301]

10 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Does anybody know how many of the tourist from i.e. last year would qualify as high-end-tourist? 10%? 1%?

I understand that Thailand wants these people, and I think Thailand should try to get them. But they alone won't resurrect the tourist business.

 

What would help with tourists is well known: Be nice to tourists, don't have double price policy, don't have lots of taxi, gems, jet-ski and whatever scammers. Don't have TukTuk drivers who want a fortune for a trip around the corner, etc. The list is long and well known. The authorities could do a lot to address these well knows problems - if they wanted to do that...

High end tourists only take a tuk-tuk once or twice, too damn smelly and noisy and uncomfortable

 

[BritManToo]

10 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Does anybody know how many of the tourist from i.e. last year would qualify as high-end-tourist? 10%? 1%?

I understand that Thailand wants these people, and I think Thailand should try to get them. But they alone won't resurrect the tourist business.

 

What would help with tourists is well known: Be nice to tourists, don't have double price policy, don't have lots of taxi, gems, jet-ski and whatever scammers. Don't have TukTuk drivers who want a fortune for a trip around the corner, etc. The list is long and well known. The authorities could do a lot to address these well knows problems - if they wanted to do that...

 

Do high end tourists want to holiday in a place full of low class Chinese tourists?

[Brunolem]

11 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Does anybody know how many of the tourist from i.e. last year would qualify as high-end-tourist? 10%? 1%?

There is a number of beach hotels/resorts that charge 20,000 + baht per night...and obviously cater to high end tourists.

 

But I think that a large number of their customers are wealthy Thais, and not foreign billionaires...

 

 

[Don Mega]

11 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I read somewhere about that service from a bar in Pattaya that they pick up guys from the airport in a mini-van. It's up to them how many service girls should be in that mini-van for that long trip to Pattaya...

 

Yeah devils den, cost including refreshments and 2 ladies is Bt.16,500 !!

[Trillian]

One hundred turkeys were asked if Thanksgiving should be banned! Same same.

Edited June 28, 2020 by Trillian