Tourism Thailand Wants News Tourist Because the Spend More

Tourism Thailand will try to ease the pressure on tourism from the surging Thai Baht by targeting more first-time tourists. Why? because new tourists spend more according to the Tourism Authority.

“First-timers spend 10% to 20% more than returning visitors according to Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

The Governors goal is to increase first-time visitors to more than 10 million in 2020. Basically about a quarter of overall arrivals, from 10% now. It’s focusing marketing efforts on regions such as Central Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.

Next year’s targets include a record 41.8 million arrivals generating $73 billion in receipts, both up roughly 5% from 2019.

Tourism, a key Thai economic engine, sputtered this year as the Thai baht climbed 7.6% against the dollar. Made Thailand a far costlier destination. The appreciation has slowed recently after the Bank of Thailand stepped up efforts to tackle the surge.

Meanwhile, more Chinese tourists are travelling to Vietnam than Thailand while more Indian tourists are coming to Pattaya and going to night life places. Tourist numbers in Pattaya are down 40% compared to last year, and last year was bad, the Thaiger reports.

The number of tourists at night clubs and bars has significantly decreased compared with last year at the same period.

The decrease in tourists from China has also become a concern for Thailand’s tourism industry. Tourism operators are getting jittery as the Kingdom continues to bleed Chinese tourists. They fear Thailand is losing its reputation as one of the most affordable destinations in south east Asia for Chinese tourists.

Chinese protests over rip off tour in Chiang Mai

Chinese tourists took to their social media to say that a Thai company ripped them off to the tune of thousands of baht for a Loy Krathong celebration that left them completely unimpressed.

So bad was the rip off that Chinese tourists were seen in clips chanting their dissatisfaction. One man stormed a stage where a cultural event was taking place.

The angry crowd were furious they had been charged 6,000 baht for VIP tickets – and got virtually nothing.

Fancy advertisements were just a front for the rip-off, they said.

Operators have said that the incident and bad publicity is another nail in the coffin for Chiang Mai tourism. Tourism operators want action taken against the company responsible.

Source: Bloomberg, Manager Online