.. TOURISM - Pattaya's glory days are at an end?!

[brutox]

The government's Pattaya Tourism Association and Tourism Authority of Thailand both predict continuing tourist growth this year .. (recently cited in recent articles on this thread).

The private sector's Thai hotel Owners Association and the Entertainment and Tourist Industry of Pattaya have a vastly different view .. they report year-on-year declines in Pattaya and Phuket are down 20-30% in 2019 starting after January.

The Entertainment and Tourist Industry of Pattaya (representing business owners themselves) declared Pattaya's glory days have come to an end.

Jeez .. who to believe? .. the businesses themselves? .. or, the government bureaucrats?

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https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/tourism/thailands-tourism-stormy-weather-ahead

Thailand’s tourism – stormy weather ahead

Published  July 14, 2019

By The Thaiger

Thailand's tourism industry finds itself in stormy weather as a falloff in visitors spook trade, even forcing candid admissions from some of Thailand’s tourism chiefs.

Thailand has suffered a slump in tourism figures since the beginning of the year as hoteliers and tourism trade leaders have confirmed a huge 20 to 30% drop for June in tourist numbers and trade in Pattaya and Phuket this week in separate media interviews.

The slump is a startling and quite sudden drop, just seven months after the end of a record tourist year in 2018 and a good start with Christmas, New Year and January numbers. In December of 2018, the number of Chinese visors arriving in Thailand was over 838,000, a nearly 3% increase year-on-year at the time. A third of tourist arrivals into Thailand in 2018 were mainland Chinese.

But a perfect storm has now beset Thai tourism – emerging nearby tourist markets, a high baht, the US-China trade wars and ongoing fallout from the Phuket Boat Tragedy.

Locally there are other issues such as over-development of accommodation causing too much new competition, poor infrastructure and systemic tourist turn-offs never being addressed (Phuket taxi prices is one example).

All this is now broadly accepted, even officially. Figures for tourist arrivals show a slump following January this year. In April and May 2019 the figures for monthly arrivals dropped to 3,195,006 and 2,726,808. These arrival numbers were a big drop from, say, December last year.

The TAT governor, Yuthasak Supasorn, recently spoke to a meeting in Thailand’s north-eastern city of Udon Thani. He outlined plans by tourism chiefs to develop niche markets for Thai tourism for secondary locations in the country targeting affluent tourists seeking lifestyle and wellness experiences, including LGBT travellers. He predicted that tourist revenues for 2020 would reach 3.7 billion baht with a 10% growth. The authority is, officially, still holding out hope that 2019 can rebound.

The optimism is based on hopes and prayers rather than any of the ‘problems’ actually being fixed.

Meanwhile, hotel owners and managers staring down the low-season in Phuket and Pattaya have been raising the alarm highlighting reported drops of 20-30% compared to last year. Some hotels have admitted occupancy rates as low as 10-20% as the price wars continue to drive down room rates. They admit it’s an unsustainable situation fear that July and August could be as bad as June.

Kongsak Phupongsakorn is the head of the Thai hotels Association for southern Thailand. He gave a  wide-ranging interview this week to Manager Online and frankly addressed the situation.

‘There are hopes that Asian and Australian travellers will take up some of the slack in July and August. But that is all they are, hopes. Most people are expecting July to be just as bad as June.”

He  blamed the problems not only on external factors but also on shortcomings in Thailand. One was the political uncertainty sparked in the run-up to the election in Thailand and the long process afterwards to form a new government.

The Phuket hotelier also criticised a lack of clarity in government policy and strategy regarding tourism.

Kongsak explained that Phuket has seen what he described as ‘leapfrog’ investment in the tourism industry on the island driven by a massive increase in tourist arrivals in five years from 9 million arrivals to 14 million.

“This poses a major problem for operators who find themselves competing for a shrinking market.”

He suggested that some rooms in Phuket were on sale at 50% of the low reason rate for June last year as desperate hotel operators try to recoup income on their investments. He also believes that there are now heightened tensions caused by the US-China trade war that is suffocating the tourist trade. This is most notably seen in a dramatic fall-off in Chinese tourists.

Kongsak also acknowledged the growing competition from other Asian tourist locations, especially Vietnam and Cambodia. He described a tourist industry in Phuket currently stranded with too many hotel rooms and not enough visitors.

In another rush of candor, Damrongkiat Phinitkar, the Secretary-General of the Entertainment and Tourist Industry of Pattaya told Sophon TV that the number of tourists and trade for June was between 20-30% down on the same month last year.

“Compared to last year, there are between 20-30% fewer tourists this low season.’

He blamed the absence of European tourists from the resort city. The tourist boss said that this had now become a long term trend but that in past years, the influx of Chinese tourists and travellers from other Asian countries had filled the gap. He hoped that European and western travellers are still more likely to arrive at high season.

Damrongkiat echoed other industry operators and confirmed that the glory days of the huge numbers of young and middle-aged European tourists crowding out the beer bars of Pattaya have come to an end. They have gone elsewhere or else they are put off by the high Thai baht and adverse economic conditions at home.

[Lok Jit]

As Long as there are Horny Men about Pattaya will Never die out..

[regyai]

5 hours ago, brutox said:

....................................They have gone elsewhere or else they are put off by the high Thai baht and adverse economic conditions at home. imposed on them in Thailand

 

[Hispano]

5 hours ago, brutox said:

The government's Pattaya Tourism Association and Tourism Authority of Thailand both predict continuing tourist growth this year .. (recently cited in recent articles on this thread).

The private sector's Thai Hotel Owners Association and the Entertainment and Tourist Industry of Pattaya have a vastly different view .. they report year-on-year declines in Pattaya and Phuket are down 20-30% in 2019 starting after January.

The Entertainment and Tourist Industry of Pattaya (representing business owners themselves) declared Pattaya's glory days have come to an end.

Jeez .. who to believe? .. the businesses themselves? .. or, the government bureaucrats?

Really? I found it hard to find a good rate for my usual hotel at Pattaya, and most of my previous searches failed because of no availability for October

Ofc, it's been told around here how a really bad low season it was this 2019.. and the baht strong exchange it doesn't too

[newbee09]

gotta agree - hotel prices does not seem to reflect the doom and gloom for October / November 2019 at this time on Agoda, hotels.com or booking.com

[dnaliaht]

Meanwhile Vietnam continues to set tourism records each year. If you're not mongering, you can get the same experience else where for a lot less and long stay visas are usually easier. Thailand has done a lot to push people away, regardless of the strong baht. 

[overseas516]

10 minutes ago, newbee09 said:

gotta agree - Hotel prices does not seem to reflect the doom and gloom for October / November 2019 at this time on Agoda, hotels.com or booking.com

If i was coming in October/November 2019 you would be mad to contemplate booking any hotels prior to your holiday. 

[THAJEC]

Personally, I would take the statistics reported by a Thai travel agency with a large margin. They have always worn too pink glasses and a very different view of the numbers reported by the actual owners, hotels and those who depend on their tourism filled with bars and hotels existentially dependent.
Thailand never wanted to admit a real drop in tourists, but now is the time when they will have to go out with the truth. Positive swallow is the new Minister of Tourism, who has already heard and will try to solve the situation.

[Mr Wombat]

23 minutes ago, newbee09 said:

gotta agree - Hotel prices does not seem to reflect the doom and gloom for October / November 2019 at this time on Agoda, hotels.com or booking.com

hotels wont start cutting prices 3 months out. Closer to the date will be a better indication 

[jojomecanic]

It's the same everywhere in any business in any country aroud the world.

Government brags about the success of their actions and the growing up of economy, and the business owners are whining about the crisis that affect them.

Both have different goals on their communications. Where is the truth betweens those two... nobody knows.

[Harry Brown]

The biggest factor is the exchange rate has fucked it for most.

[brutox]

7 hours ago, overseas516 said:

If i was coming in October/November 2019 you would be mad to contemplate booking any hotels prior to your holiday. 

Agree, overseas516 .. the only real reason to book in advance might be New Years.

6 hours ago, Mr Wombat said:

Hotels wont start cutting prices 3 months out. Closer to the date will be a better indication 

And, as Mr. Wombat cites, hotel operators are not yet using AI, which would allow them to better analyze tourist propensities and project their movements far in advance .. at the risk of losing future upside, hotel operators will book in advance to protect the future downside in a now uncertain market like Thailand, which appears to be in a transition.

Wait to book .. I rather doubt you are getting a discount to market now, and the chance of being caught without a room is like zero .. historically, there is always vacancy in Pattaya.

On 15/07/2019 at 19:33, Hispano said:

Really? I found it hard to find a good rate for my usual Hotel at Pattaya, and most of my previous searches failed because of no availability for October

Hey, Hispano .. you might check different online booking sites .. or, book directly with the hotel (they typically restrict the number of rooms available to booking sites, releasing more rooms as time grows short) .. unless you are dead set on a particularly popular room in a particularly popular property, 'no availability for October' in Pattaya is rather unusual.

_________________________________

Rather than dwelling on our individual hotel booking experiences, expats living here are steady witnesses to the ebb and flood of tourists .. the 'stream of consciousness' man on the street observation is a useful, if informal, measure of whether the sun is setting on Pattaya.

As a longtime resident here, I see a definite downward trend .. I say 'yes', it is ebbing.