Thai tourism: Bank of Thailand report proposes opening up to mass tourism, with safeguards

[webfact]

Thai tourism: Bank of Thailand report proposes opening up to mass tourism, with safeguards

 

File photo: REUTERS

 

A major Bank of Thailand report has suggested that a crucial way to stimulate the Thai economy is to open up the country to mass tourism. 

 

Reliance on improvements to the tourism sector from promoting domestic tourism are just not enough.

 

They are only a small proportion compared to foreign tourism potential and besides the effects of promoting the domestic market have been minimal, said a report.

 

Though they suggest that the opening of the country must be a balancing act between rescuing the economy and ensuring that there is not a resurgence of the pandemic in Thailand.

 

Thai media RYT9.com went with the headline that the Bank of Thailand was proposing "turning on the switch of foreign tourism" to boost the economy but in a way that the country's health measures would not be compromised.

 

They published an infographic called "Safe Opening of the Country" that highlighted this balancing act.

 

Image: RYT9

 

Green on the left were the advantages to opening the economy. Low was domestic tourism while medium was opening to high spenders, long term tourists and those coming for medical or beauty treatment purposes. High was open to all tourism.

 

On the right in red was the health risk potential. For the above groups it was low for domestic tourism but high for a full opening.

 

The Bank of Thailand report acknowledged that tourism is, or more accurately was, 20% of gross domestic product in Thailand. 

 

It brought in 2.9 trillion baht to the economy. 

 

Domestic tourism represented only a one in three part of this. 

 

Promoting the domestic market was not the answer as its effect was only being seen at certain resorts and at certain times.

 

This has principally been seen on the ground at places like Pattaya, with close proximity to Bangkok, where tourism has only been reignited by domestic tourism at weekends and long weekends. 

 

Places like Chiang Mai, Phuket and Koh Samui are not seeing any of these benefits.

 

Even Pattaya is very quiet during the week as like everywhere else there are no foreign tourists in town.

 

The report from the economic arm of the bank further reported that 8.3 million Thais are employed in the tourism industry.

 

Many have lost their jobs already and there are fears that millions more could be made redundant if the government does not do something urgently to open the country up more realistically to foreign tourists.

 

Measures so far are seen as a drop in the ocean. 

 

Source: RYT9

 

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[NCC1701A]

8 minutes ago, webfact said:

The Bank of Thailand report acknowledged that tourism is, or more accurately was, 20% of gross domestic product in Thailand. 

this is a good source of information. you often hear 11 or 12% as a figure tourism. 

[thaibeachlovers]

20 minutes ago, webfact said:

A major Bank of Thailand report has suggested that a crucial way to stimulate the Thai economy is to open up the country to mass tourism. 

Is that code speak for saying bring back the Chinese?

[thaibeachlovers]

10 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

this is a good source of information. you often hear 11 or 12% as a figure tourism. 

It was reportedly about 6% when I first came to LOS. I don't know when it became 20%, if it did.

[NCC1701A]

6 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

It was reportedly about 6% when I first came to LOS. I don't know when it became 20%, if it did.

the Bank of Thailand says it is 20% so I'm going with that. 

[RotBenz8888]

30 minutes ago, webfact said:

The report from the economic arm of the bank further reported that 8.3 million Thais are employed in the tourism industry

I read somewhere that Thailand has a workforce of 38 million people. That would mean that over 20% is (or was) in the tourist sector. 

[OumarhindaOunsingha]

10 days' quarantine and covid tests before departure, on arrival and after 10 days in quarantine at a cost of max. 25,000 baht and no paperwork would make me buy a plane ticket. And probably many others too that are waiting to be let in. And it should be enough to control the virus - why not?

 

I don't see why 14 days quarantine is necessary, and I most certainly do not see why it has to be so expensive. Many cheap places are surely ready to be used for quarantine purposes. Of course the whole procedure could be done for less than a thousand US dollars. If they wanted. So, why are they not doing it? 

[OumarhindaOunsingha]

26 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

this is a good source of information. you often hear 11 or 12% as a figure tourism. 

I would not be surprised if it was 30-40 percent, though. But no one really knows, very hard to calculate...

[thaibeachlovers]

1 minute ago, NCC1701A said:

the Bank of Thailand says it is 20% so I'm going with that. 

Perhaps, but I doubt if the numbers coming, if even allowed would return LOS to that figure. Unlikely westerners will return so long as they have to pay for 2 week quarantine on return to home country, IMO.

Also, weren't the numbers of westerners arriving decreasing before corona? IMO Thailand just wasn't good value anymore as a tourist destination, with so many Chinese creating congestion at tourist attractions. I visited the White Temple and the crowd of Chinese was so bad I left without going inside the temple. Koh Larn was awful, and we know what happened to Maya Bay.

[NCC1701A]

1 minute ago, OumarhindaOunsingha said:

I would not be surprised if it was 30-40 percent, though. But no one really knows, very hard to calculate...

well it could not include the boom boom industry as that is all off the books. 

 

[OumarhindaOunsingha]

38 minutes ago, webfact said:

The report from the economic arm of the bank further reported that 8.3 million Thais are employed in the tourism industry.

And at least 6 million of them have lost their job, I would think. Jesus, man, this is a lot!! The government - or whatever you wanna call it - must do something now that will enable international tourism to flower again. 

[thaibeachlovers]

9 minutes ago, OumarhindaOunsingha said:

10 days' quarantine and covid tests before departure, on arrival and after 10 days in quarantine at a cost of max. 25,000 baht and no paperwork would make me buy a plane ticket. And probably many others too that are waiting to be let in. And it should be enough to control the virus - why not?

 

I don't see why 14 days quarantine is necessary, and I most certainly do not see why it has to be so expensive. Many cheap places are surely ready to be used for quarantine purposes. Of course the whole procedure could be done for less than a thousand US dollars. If they wanted. So, why are they not doing it? 

Of course the whole procedure could be done for less than a thousand US dollars.

 

I doubt if many would be willing to add US$1000 to the cost of a holiday in LOS, and then add probably more expensive air travel plus extra insurance costs. More likely IMO they'll use the money to holiday at home, which is what is happening in NZ.

Edited October 28, 2020 by thaibeachlovers

[pkrv]

I think Thailand has been realigning itself away from the historical Western tourists and seeking to gain more Asian visitors. Certainly the majority of Western tourists are not going to jump through 1001 hoops, sit in quarantine for 2 weeks, mandatory Thai insurance, be tagged or monitored, or any other of the craziness being suggested almost daily. And that's all without the crippling high THB rate.

Edited October 28, 2020 by pkrv

[thaibeachlovers]

4 minutes ago, OumarhindaOunsingha said:

And at least 6 million of them have lost their job, I would think. Jesus, man, this is a lot!! The government - or whatever you wanna call it - must do something now that will enable international tourism to flower again. 

and your suggestion for that is ...............................................?

 

Mine would be longer visa free entry and back to back entries allowed. Of course that would upset immigration which prior to corona was making it as hard as possible to stay longer than 60 days, and that included paying to extend beyond 30 days.

Edited October 28, 2020 by thaibeachlovers

[JomtienRay]

One third of the 20% tourism figure is domestic tourism.. that leaves about 13% as international, so the normally reported 12% (approx) is close..

We keep hearing how this 12-13% is badly effecting the economy..

WELL.... 

what about the other 87%??

What is Thailand doing to protect and expand this major part of the economy?? Which is in their power to exert control..

the 13% international tourism business is largely out of their hands at the moment..!! ????

[LennyW]

And this from the bank that continually manipulates the baht rate in Thailand's favour!!

[darksidedog]

There is no doubt that the country is in critical need of international tourism, as its economy is close to being on its knees. It is a fine balancing act required though to do so, without bringing in floods of covid, a balancing act I see no way they can manage.

[anchadian]

A major Bank of Thailand report has suggested that a crucial way to stimulate the Thai economy is to open up the country to mass tourism. 
__________________________________________

How many times has this been said before?

 

Jump on the bandwagon Khun major bank.

[John Drake]

57 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Is that code speak for saying bring back the Chinese?

 

Everything is quite out in the open these days. No code needed. This country is going on its knees for China. Why is there never a protest outside the Chinese embassy? They just had one outside the US Embassy blaming America for everything wrong in the country. It's not America, however, that turns off the taps of the Mekong, buys up the durians and leaves the Thais with the scraps, defecates in Thai temples, and runs credit card scams out of boiler rooms in one room condos.

[OumarhindaOunsingha]

55 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Of course the whole procedure could be done for less than a thousand US dollars.

 

I doubt if many would be willing to add US$1000 to the cost of a holiday in LOS, and then add probably more expensive air travel plus extra insurance costs. More likely IMO they'll use the money to holiday at home, which is what is happening in NZ.

Yes, a lot would still not move, but some would, I think. Many are waiting to be able to return. The question is how many. But it would help Thailand's economy some, I think. 

[khunPer]

1 hour ago, NCC1701A said:

this is a good source of information. you often hear 11 or 12% as a figure tourism. 

Older percentages, number of tourists more than doubled in a decade, i.e. from 14.15 million in 2009 up to 39.8 million in 2019.

[OumarhindaOunsingha]

43 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

There is no doubt that the country is in critical need of international tourism, as its economy is close to being on its knees. It is a fine balancing act required though to do so, without bringing in floods of covid, a balancing act I see no way they can manage.

Then they will never open up again? They cannot escape covid forever. And of course it can be managed: 10 days' quarantine at a cheap hotel, test before departure, on arrival and after 10 days in quarantine - and that's it! Nothing else, whatsoever. Why would this spread the covid? The alternative is what? Never tourism again? And if every country is doing this? 

[potless]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

The report from the economic arm of the bank further reported that 8.3 million Thais are employed in the tourism industry.

 

Many have lost their jobs already and there are fears that millions more could be made redundant if the government does not do something urgently to open the country up more realistically to foreign tourists.

 

The banking sectors main concern is the amount of non performing loans/mortgages, a situation that can only worsen as millions have no income. No light at the end of a very long tunnel.

[simple1]

50 minutes ago, OumarhindaOunsingha said:

Then they will never open up again? They cannot escape covid forever. And of course it can be managed: 10 days' quarantine at a cheap hotel, test before departure, on arrival and after 10 days in quarantine - and that's it! Nothing else, whatsoever. Why would this spread the covid? The alternative is what? Never tourism again? And if every country is doing this? 

 

The OP talks to mass tourism.

 

As I understand the majority of PRC tourists, under the definition of mass tourism, have a relatively short stay in Thailand, probably the same for other Asian visitors. 'Mass tourist' Westerners usually holiday in Thailand for 2 - 4 weeks; two week holidays obviously not arriving. For those with 4 weeks leave I would think 14 days quarantine would exclude them from coming to Thailand. The OP (mass tourism) makes no sense, unless Thai authorities put aside quarantine requirements for countries with very low rates of Covid transmissions.

 

Don't know about the rest of the world, but currently Australia will not permit re-entry after departing Australia, other than extraordinary exceptions, which are very difficult to obtain.

Edited October 28, 2020 by simple1

[donnacha]

20% may be the figure they are attributing to tourism, however they define that, but there is a conveyor belt that, in rotations of several years, delivers Western money far deeper into the heart of the economy.

It is worth noting that, for many of us, the money we spent here as tourists was just a starting point, and 90% of what we splurged on those initial sprees never showed up on any spreadsheet marked 'tourism'.

The real money came later, a few years into the rotation, when we met our partners. Whether sending monthly support or moving our lives over here, all of you ended up spending far more than you ever did as tourists. With no fresh meat arriving as tourists now, the flow of idiots buying cars and condos in 5 years time dries up.

Now that the conveyor belt has stalled, many Westerners are still sending money but, with no obvious reunion in sight, some drop out each week. With no new farangs, the flow can only diminish.

The girls of Isaan, who used to cheerfully meet the Westerners as they arrived on the conveyor belt, are now back in the rice-fields. No longer mixing with free-spending tourists and angling to meet their big score, most have already exhausted their savings. They liked spending money, but now they cannot.

Some members here bought apartments to rent out to other Westerners on an earlier stage of the conveyor belt. This would fund their modest life in Thailand. Now the rooms lie empty and those members are wondering if they should just sell up and return home. But sell to who?

Frail networks of spending that grew up organically have been shattered. Even if mass tourism starts up again in January, it will take years for conveyor belt to fill up again.

If the Thai government spends too long arsing about with grand schemes involving five-star tourists, the parts of the economy that has been waiting thirstily for the conveyor belt to reach them again will dry up entirely, with unpredictable consequences. 

The only chance for a systemic resuscitation is if they embrace the emerging vaccines as an excuse to go directly back to what they know best, to what they had before the junta started messing around with it five years ago: Undiscerning mass tourism that allowed Thailand to be the main meeting place in South East Asia, an easy-going place that Westerners could actually imagine themselves settling down in.

 

Edited October 28, 2020 by donnacha

[OumarhindaOunsingha]

13 minutes ago, simple1 said:

 

The OP talks to mass tourism.

 

Unsure why you are suggesting 10 days in quarantine, when the current recommendation is 14 days or is the Thai government going to go against international norms. As I understand the majority of PRC tourists, under the definition of mass tourism, have a relatively short stay in Thailand, probably the same for other Asian visitors. 'Mass tourist' Westerners usually holiday in Thailand for 2 - 4 weeks; two week holidays obviously not arriving. For those with 4 weeks leave I would think 14 days quarantine would exclude them from coming to Thailand. The OP (mass tourism) makes no sense, unless Thai authorities put aside quarantine requirements for countries with very low rates of Covid transmissions.

 

Don't know about the rest of the world, but currently Australia will not permit re-entry after departing Australia, other than extraordinary exceptions, which are very difficult to obtain.

Only in very rare cases, the incubation period for covid is more than 10 days. Also, it is possible to detect the presence of covid 10 days after transmission, even in the very rare cases, where symptoms have not surfaced yet. 

With regard to te number of tourists, we need to see some data on how many tourists actually stay for months, how many are in need to get back to their work life, there, how many are immigrating, etc. To me, it looks like both Thailand and Vietnam are in greater need of English teachers than pre-covid, which suggests that there is a not insignificant influx of teachers every year to Thailand, and I could imagine that quite a lot of these teachers are arriving as tourists. We need to see some data, but as those data most likely are very hard to generate, all the government could do is try use their common sense and try and open under the conditions I have described numerous time on here, and the observe how many actually would come. If the tracking app, the insurances, the expensive 14-day quarantine and all the other stuff is ditched, I do not see how you can claim that none or very few tourists would come. What would you base such claim on? I say: only 10 days' quarantine and three tests, then 6 months' visa guaranteed, and that's it, total cost max. 25,000 baht - and then let's see how many would come. I would certainly come under these circumstaces, but the current 14-day quarantine at an expensive hotel, tracking app, expensive covid tests, insurences, pre-paid and with no reimbursement if something goes wrong, and a hundred other things is too much for me. 

I am merely suggesting something - basically an ease of the insane current restrictions to what my common sense tells me is the minimum for maintaining a reasonable contrl of the spread of the covid.

[simple1]

21 minutes ago, OumarhindaOunsingha said:

Only in very rare cases, the incubation period for covid is more than 10 days. Also, it is possible to detect the presence of covid 10 days after transmission, even in the very rare cases, where symptoms have not surfaced yet. 

With regard to te number of tourists, we need to see some data on how many tourists actually stay for months, how many are in need to get back to their work life, there, how many are immigrating, etc. To me, it looks like both Thailand and Vietnam are in greater need of English teachers than pre-covid, which suggests that there is a not insignificant influx of teachers every year to Thailand, and I could imagine that quite a lot of these teachers are arriving as tourists. We need to see some data, but as those data most likely are very hard to generate, all the government could do is try use their common sense and try and open under the conditions I have described numerous time on here, and the observe how many actually would come. If the tracking app, the insurances, the expensive 14-day quarantine and all the other stuff is ditched, I do not see how you can claim that none or very few tourists would come. What would you base such claim on? I say: only 10 days' quarantine and three tests, then 6 months' visa guaranteed, and that's it, total cost max. 25,000 baht - and then let's see how many would come. I would certainly come under these circumstaces, but the current 14-day quarantine at an expensive hotel, tracking app, expensive covid tests, insurences, pre-paid and with no reimbursement if something goes wrong, and a hundred other things is too much for me. 

I am merely suggesting something - basically an ease of the insane current restrictions to what my common sense tells me is the minimum for maintaining a reasonable contrl of the spread of the covid.

 

Thailand and Vietnam are in greater need of English teachers than pre-covid

 

English teachers do not come under the definition of mass tourist, so why refer to them in a topic about mass tourism.

 

then 6 months' visa guaranteed, and that's it, total cost max. 25,000 baht - and then let's see how many would come

 

Again Off Topic in a topic about mass tourism.

 

If the tracking app, the insurances, the expensive 14-day quarantine and all the other stuff is ditched, I do not see how you can claim that none or very few tourists would come.

 

Never made such a claim if all Covid mitigation controls ceased in Thailand. Though the question would be, would their home country re-admit, them after their holiday, in current circumstances. 

 

Out of curiosity do you now live in Thailand?

Edited October 28, 2020 by simple1

[Shey420]

This is something that really should have been in place by now. Should have allowed anyone willing to pay for 14 days quarantine and then slowly getting rid of some days for lower volume covid countries depending on the entry cases.

 

The best they can hope for now is a January/February reopening to mass tourism if start planning now.

Edited October 28, 2020 by Shey420
Edit

[Jimbo2014]

It would certainly stimulate the medical industry with all the covid cases surging across Europe and America.  Not sure it would stimulate much else given the inevitable lockdowns.  A vaccine may be months away - fingers crossed.

[scammed]

4 hours ago, RotBenz8888 said:

I read somewhere that Thailand has a workforce of 38 million people. That would mean that over 20% is (or was) in the tourist sector. 

so any way you cut it, 20% of economy is tourism based