Thailand tourism situation

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richard
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Re: Thailand tourist slump continues

Post by richard »

Well this should thin the Phuket and Pattaya trade down a smidgeon

Russia raises key interest rate to 17% amid Rouble decline


http://www.bbc.com/news/business-30490082
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Re: Thailand tourist slump continues

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Don't know about that - those with money might be more likely to de-camp to Thailand! And, I guess I could get interested in a 17% coupon - Russian Bond Funds, anybody :-)

In many respects I am with pdm3547 though. I just had a similar experience at Imm. Waiting 4 hours outside in the heat to pay $25 for a piece of paper, to go and be allowed to pay yet more money to another agency to renew my car and bike licence. It is a money game, and the Thai Civil Service appears increasingly unwilling to provide an acceptable level of service when they collect that money. Indeed, irritation seems to be more common. We are paying you goddamit! Tourists and expats seem to be seen as more of a nuisance - at a time when the country probably needs them most.

I'll repeat this - I have said it before - Thailand has enjoyed 40+ years of first-mover advantage in most markets in SE Asia, but the competition is wising up fast. Previously, disaffected tourists sooner or later always came back - there was no alternative market *for tourists* in the region. That is no longer, the case. I can easily see small changes (such as Vietnam appearing to give land rights to foreign purchasers as of July next year) significantly undermining the remaining rationale for choosing Thailand over it.
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Re: Thailand tourist slump continues

Post by caller »

To be honest, the average tourist comes for what, 2/3 weeks at best. The don't have to worry about visa extensions or any other such nonsense. If they're staying away, then the reasons are not to do with red tape and so on. It will be the political climate, uncertainty, previous experiences, been there done it, bad press, murders, attacks, rip off stories, various embassy warnings and VFM.

The political situation isn't going to be resolved anytime soon, so all they can address are some of the other issues and they're not.
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Re: Thailand tourist slump continues

Post by sateeb »

Quote.... I just had a similar experience at Imm. Waiting 4 hours outside in the heat to pay $25 for a piece of paper, to go and be allowed to pay yet more money to another agency to renew my car and bike licence.


I think the longest time i have ever spent in any Imm office in 10 years is less than 1 hour, for all sorts of paperwork including proof of address. You didn't need to wait out in the heat you know...there is a nice air con waiting room.
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Re: Thailand tourist slump continues

Post by Korkenzieher »

the average tourist comes for what, 2/3 weeks at best
While that is true, a large part of the news-feed does come from the experiences of expat communities, and those experiences occasionally hit the media just as hard as the happenings on Koh Tao. All expats started out as tourists to a greater or lesser extent (I would hope so anyway - how many people would decide to come live here without a visit or 2 first?).

It's also not quite true to say that visa issues don't hit tourists - plenty of people on gap years and the like get into the visa mill. Anyone wanting to use Thailand for regional visits (Angkor for eg) might well have border issues and at least annoyances, similar to those of the long term resident. Indeed, the lack of familiarity with the loops that must be jumped through, may make it feel even more frustrating. Perhaps it is useful to distinguish between conventional 'holiday makers', and non-residents of other types. I certainly don't think that we can restrict (in Thailand at least) the term 'tourist' to a nice conventional 3 week family holiday, whatever the Junta's view of the world.
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Re: Thailand tourist slump continues

Post by Korkenzieher »

You didn't need to wait out in the heat you know...there is a nice air con waiting room.
Which had been closed one and a half hours by the time I got my letter. The girls in the processing room instructed us to sit outside - which we did (about 10 people). I am not entirely sure they come into the other room to look for you if they cannot immediately find you. In any case, waiting for so long, one would not like to lose one's place in the queue simply to test their level of engagement!
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Re: Thailand tourist slump continues

Post by caller »

Korkenzieher wrote:It's also not quite true to say that visa issues don't hit tourists - plenty of people on gap years and the like get into the visa mill. Anyone wanting to use Thailand for regional visits (Angkor for eg) might well have border issues and at least annoyances
Well I just read on another thread about the hassles involved in visiting Cambodia, so it's not just Thailand.
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richard
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Re: Thailand tourist slump continues

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Which thread?
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Re: Thailand tourist slump continues

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caller wrote:To be honest, the average tourist comes for what, 2/3 weeks at best. The don't have to worry about visa extensions or any other such nonsense. If they're staying away, then the reasons are not to do with red tape and so on. It will be the political climate, uncertainty, previous experiences, been there done it, bad press, murders, attacks, rip off stories, various embassy warnings and VFM.

The political situation isn't going to be resolved anytime soon, so all they can address are some of the other issues and they're not.
A big factor is that we dont have the money ten years ago the interest on my small savings would pay for my trip now its losing money,our wages have gone down over the last 8 years while all our costs have risen,gas electricity,travel,fuel,all
up.I have never had a worry in 20 years of regular trips to Thailand for the first time I am concerned, the shake downs in
and around Asoke will really put a damper on my Bangkok part of my holidays, I have booked the first three nights on suk/soi 24 and if i read that the stop and search and piss tests are ongoing i will by-pass Bangkok all together,and that
will mean I will never return to Thailand I do not want to be stopped when I have been drinking and have to do a piss test
even though I never do drugs,I have no idea how i will react and it could get messy and if you mess with the police any where in the world you lose.Cambodia as long as you get an E-visa will do vietnam,mynamar[sp] have good beaches
thai girls i will miss but at 63 a month away from the cold wet netherlands is more important.
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Re: Thailand tourist slump continues

Post by Dr Mike »

I spoke to a russian neighbor, a really wonderful, quiet , courteous man. He is on a govt pension and interest from savings--his income is down 45%, they have laid of the cleaning lady, the gardener, the pool service and never eat out anymore. Heartbreaking to listen to.
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Re: Thailand tourist slump continues

Post by HHTel »

But has already been pointed out, the rouble is in collapse. So that is just Russia.
Remember when the yen collapsed and hit the Thai baht. The rest of the world was not affected too much.
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Re: Thailand tourist slump continues

Post by Pleng »

europtimiste wrote:STEVE G, you are wrong, they are not spending one Baht in the morning. They are eating all they can at breakfast at their hotel, spending the day at the beach with some drinks and no food. After an early dinner, again one drink each in a bar....
A hotel for which the daily bill room rate is more often than not more than the average bar-crawler will spend in an entire week...
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Re: Thailand tourist slump continues

Post by Big Boy »

Mrs BB had a phone call last night - a last minute visitor staying 19th to 23rd. Could we find her a cheap hotel?

I did the usual Agoda search (cheapest to most expensive):

- First thing that amazed me was people putting tents in their gardens to rent out. The fact they do it was one thing, but advertising on Agoda :? . I've obviously been leading a sheltered life. :D

- Second thing. I've always assumed lower end accomodation would be hard to come by at this time of year - it is still plentiful, with plenty of bargains to be had, which must be an indication of the current tourist slump.

We have other friends visiting right through Christmas, and they changed one mid-range hotel to another a couple of days ago, with no problem whatsoever. So occupancy at that level seems to be plentiful also.
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Re: Thailand tourist slump continues

Post by lomuamart »

I wouldn't place too much emphasis on the numbers of tourists yet although a lot of the observations on hotel room availability right now or before Xmas isn't a good sign.
I'd say that the surge in numbers tends to happen directly after Xmas so it'll be interesting to see how things are from say the 28th Dec through until mid January.
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Re: Thailand tourist slump continues

Post by STEVE G »

Pleng wrote:
europtimiste wrote:STEVE G, you are wrong, they are not spending one Baht in the morning. They are eating all they can at breakfast at their hotel, spending the day at the beach with some drinks and no food. After an early dinner, again one drink each in a bar....
A hotel for which the daily bill room rate is more often than not more than the average bar-crawler will spend in an entire week...
Yes, and many of the tourists who only have one drink at night will be up in the morning playing golf, visiting attractions or going shopping, I drink quite heavily when I'm in Thailand and rarely spend anything before about two in the afternoon and I certainly don't spend however many thousand baht it now costs to knock a small white ball around a Thai hill.
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