Thai tourism downturn

There has been a ton of over-the-top whining about this episode. I mean, in comparison to places where tourists have been actually singled out for mass murder by terrorist squads (Bali, India, Egypt), the inconvenience posed by the closing of an airport for a week is, really, not so significant. We've lost at most maybe one tourist season.
so-sorry-most-will-not-be-back-and-no-new-one-t16623.html (http://www.sawatdee-gay-thailand.com/forum/so-sorry-most-will-not-be-back-and-no-new-one-t16623.html)


Battered tourism sector seeks urgent government help

BANGKOK: -- Amid a sharp drop in tourist arrivals to Thailand, the countryтАЩs tourism agencies were alarmed and strongly urging the government to provide urgent measures to rescue the beleaguered industry.

Tosaporn Thepbutr, deputy-chairman of Committee on Tourism and Sports, said the Association of Domestic Travel (ADT), the Thai-Chinese Tourism Alliance Association (TCTA) and Thailand-Japan Tourism Promotion Association on Tuesday submitted a complaint letter to the committee.

They charged that although the government had announced tourism as a national priority, to date no concrete measures have been implemented by concerned-agencies to boost the countryтАЩs tourism industry. So the premier himself should intervene to resolve the problems.

ThailandтАЩs tourist arrivals sharply drop to a critical level, Mr. Tosaporn said, in June alone, the number of tourist arrivals has dropped from 165,000 in the same period of 2008, to 27,000 in 2009 due to the Influenza A(H1N1) outbreak, or 33.45 per cent year-on-year.

Mr. Tosaporn said that with the falling number of tourist arrivals from almost every nation, except from Iran and Hong Kong, the earlier estimated arrival levels of 11 million tourists projected by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) will be unlikely to achieve the target.

"The causes of the sharp drop in tourist arrivals are attributed to the closure of Suvarnabhumi Airport by the PeopleтАЩs Alliance for Democracy (PAD) in November and December, and recent domestic political turmoil, combined with the current outbreak of the H1N1 flu,тАЭ Mr. Tosaporn said.

"The causes of the sharp drop in tourist arrivals are attributed to the closure of Suvarnabhumi Airport by the PeopleтАЩs Alliance for Democracy (PAD) in November and December, and recent domestic political turmoil, combined with the current outbreak of the H1N1 flu,тАЭ Mr. Tosaporn said.

I am no expert, but I think the global economic situation might have something to with the downturn in tourism? I would even hazard a guess that is the major cause.

Hahaha...you really think the airport closure is even a small reason why tourism is down in Thailand? Nothing to do with the fact that the world economy is on its knees, I'm sure...

[Beachlover]

Gotta feel for those tourist-based business owners and tourism workers right now... triple whammy effect of the GFC, swine flu and discouraging effect of the multiple major protests must be pushing down numbers by a lot.

Gotta feel for those tourist-based business owners and tourism workers right now... triple whammy effect of the GFC, swine flu and discouraging effect of the multiple major protests must be pushing down numbers by a lot.A graph of the May arrivals is shown on the Blog - http://thaicrisis.wordpress.com/

The following might contribute:

1 Global downturn
2 Baht strengthening against some currencies
3 Red & yellow shirts
4 Hostile attitude of certain authorities to visitors

The following might contribute:

1 Global downturn
2 Baht strengthening against some currencies
3 Red & yellow shirts
4 Hostile attitude of certain authorities to visitors
I totally agree with all your points, i would also add , certainly in the case of Pattaya and Jontiem, a marked reluctance on the part of authorities to modernise. Cleaner water and modern beach facilities like sun loungers rather than regimented lines of deckchairs under a total umbrella cover. Visitors come for mainly the beach, sea and sun. Here they are forced to sit in uncomfortable deckchairs in long lines under an impenetrable ceiling of umbrellas, (unable to see the sun,) and swim in pollluted water. A situation reminiscent of the UK in the early 1950's (minus the sun) :cheers:

[Bob]

A graph of the May arrivals is shown on the Blog - http://thaicrisis.wordpress.com/

I wonder if the numbers and the graph also include Thai citizens (my guess would be "yes"). My personal impression is that the number of foreigners has been dropping for years, during the same time that there has been an increase in the number of Thai citizens who are traveling internationally (due in part to the growth and cheap tickets provided by Air Asia as well as other airlines). The decline, it seems to me, started with the tsunami and has continued through the bird flu, political unrest, changes in bar hours by the former interior minister, the worldwide recesssion, the new H1N1 flu, etc.. I don't know which reason counts for the lower "falang" count that I seem to see at least up north in the Chiangmai area.

I tend to believe the various news articles from the Thai hotel associations...and they've been moaning for years (and always cite a drop larger than the governmental claims). I almost never believe anything TAT has to say.

Hahaha...you really think the airport closure is even a small reason why tourism is down in Thailand? Nothing to do with the fact that the world economy is on its knees, I'm sure...

You know, Bunny might be a jerk but sometimes he's spot-on.
The Global Economy has been hammered.
Here in the States it's the worst since '82 and in California it's the worst since 1941!
Well, I guess the upside is it's the buying opportunity of the century.

Anyone interested in a go-go bar cheap?

Well the reason tourism is down in my view is the cost of travel. A flight from Boston USA is now up over $1200 during March/April when I go.My usual hotel is way up also. Exchange rates are down. So what is one to do? Well I for one want to have a good time while I visit BKK and Pattaya so I will find out the good and leave out the bad. The last thing I want is to be disappointed that I did not find the right "Friend" or eat a fun meal or got to and adventurous place all due to cost.

But it really is not the cost of having fun in Thailand that is hurtin the traveler. It is the cost of living here in the states.Over the last year I bet it is costing close to 20% more to do the same than a year ago. So save up those dollars and euros and pound and get back to the Land of Smiles.Because the more of us who are there the more the beautiful Thai will be to show us the time we are looking for.

I'm not sure what you mean about prices being up 20% in a year. Since I returned from working in Singapore I've been surprised at how cheap groceries are, for example - I shop at H-E-B. What are you spending your money on that is up 20%? Whores?

The 20% inflation rate seems to have escaped the attention of all the major news outlets...

The "inflation rate" that seems to have escaped Americans since the 70's?

[Beachlover]

With the exchange rate for Australians things in thailand are 20-25% cheaper than 6 months ago. And flights are at an all time low... some of the airlines are hurting so bad I almost feel guilty paying such ridiculously low fares!

I totally agree with all your points, i would also add , certainly in the case of Pattaya and Jontiem, a marked reluctance on the part of authorities to modernise. Cleaner water and modern beach facilities like sun loungers rather than regimented lines of deckchairs under a total umbrella cover. Visitors come for mainly the beach, sea and sun. Here they are forced to sit in uncomfortable deckchairs in long lines under an impenetrable ceiling of umbrellas, (unable to see the sun,) and swim in pollluted water. A situation reminiscent of the UK in the early 1950's (minus the sun) :cheers:

I have no idea what a sun lounger is Stot but if you want one - maybe you should travel to wherever they have them. I reckon that the lines of deckchairs and umbrella's are part of the charm of Thailand. In fact it is the not-modern attitudes and not-modern facilities that are part of the attraction. I am from Australia and I dislike the way that everything is so modern, so regulated, and so sterile. Instead of going to Thailand and trying to change it - maybe you should be looking elswhere for your luxury holidays with more modern facilites to your liking - Hawaii maybe?

[Beachlover]

I agree about the "modern, regulated and sterile" thing... Thailand feels more real and raw.

What's a sun lounger?

The deck chairs are fine. They're only used on especially busy sections of beaches. There's planty of beaches or areas without these. I've never had an issue moving an umbrella to let light through or block the sun.

Things like "unpolluted water at the beach" seem easy to achieve when you are in a developed country... but developing countries like Thailand don't have the funding for huge government agencies, which manage things like this so comprehensively.

Newspaper reports about scams & extortion will put people off, especially the sort of tourist who just wants a beach.

If the Thai government wants to keep a healthy tourism sector, they need to root out corruption.

If the Thai government wants to keep a healthy tourism sector, they need to root out corruption.


I just saw 3 flying pigs pass my window lol

Simply put Thailand is grossly overpriced for the tourist ghettos it offers. People also have much less money due to the crisis. It is a matter of value for money and nothing more. I stop into Thailand because of the only major airport in the region. It is okay but I certainly don't go out of my way to stay there past the jet lag.
If the sex trade wasn't so big I don't think many people would bother. I know that more people than me look forward to the brown, firm, nubile ass on the other side of their trip.

It is somewhat ironic because I didn't start as a sex tourist. I didn't even like thai gusy the first couple of visits to Thailand. I used to like the beaches and temples and what not. However the only thing I now look forward to is a nice guy. I am not sure how TAT will deal with many people like me. The mountains have been degraded, the beaches more polluted but the sex is more or less the same. Good luck with the family crowd, and trying to draw them in.

More people here for example probably know where Babylon sauna is than are aware of what the highest point in Thailand is.