Inbound tourists up 20.4% in first 7 months

[News Bandit]

The number of inbound tourists during January and July rose 20.4 per cent year on year to 14.97 million, while outbound tourists were up 7.10 per cent to 4.71 million, according to the Tourism and Sports Ministry.

 

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[QuotaMan]

Umm, I thought tourism to Thailand was "suffering" according to an "expert" whose opinion was posted here on PA not too long ago.

[smartbuy]

Easy to get more visitors when tourist hostile countries like Vietnam do their best to loose prospects with whopping visa fees. 

 

Also swampy airport is full - expansion on the way - so flying numbers also up. When ASEAN gets underway (delayed again) , numbers will up again.

 

Assertions that NETT spend is not matching visitor numbers is probably right - yet magically Thailand gets a lot of undeclared income- for now. The rupee took a hit - wonder if their numbers are down. Based on LK Metro, hard money down now, for tomorrows gamblers.

 

Relative to surrounding countries, Thailand is outsmarting them - all-over. I predict bigger swings - a deeper low seasons. and a bigger peak seasons.  The trick is to survive the low's.

[owching]

The amount of tourist coming in may grow, it does not say how long they stay and how much they spend. A lot of the Asian tour groups may only stay a week all accomodation and food already payed for at bargain prices. Russians can book a 10 day trip for $ 700 in Pattaya including rooms and food. More tourists is not automatically more income.

[apter]

The Russian market has a lot to do with it. For a start Russians like to travel in groups. Also there is an increasing middle class who have disposable income to take a holiday but who don't fancy having to queue up for a day or two to get a tourist visa.

 

We've got a lot of Russian techies (developers, programmers) in the office here and the visa requirements are pretty horrendous, even for a tourist entry. Not as bad as they used to be but still pretty tough.

[spinklerhead]

Many  Chinese ,group tours. Brainwashed by Thai tourist advertisements, Pristine green environment ? Friendly honest people ?  The  do 'nt know that Thailand is saturated with Tourist