[wowpow]

The Nation, Published on November 30, 2005<br>
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The Thai Hotels Association believes that tourist arrivals in the country will not reach estimates of 13.48 million, set earlier this year, because of fresh outbreaks of bird flu in several Asian markets, including China.<br>
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The association’s deputy president Prakit Chinamourpong said outbreaks of the disease troubled the tourist industry during October and November, when tourists from China and neighbouring countries postponed trips to Thailand.<br>
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As a result, the Thai Hotels Association (THA) estimates that total tourist arrivals will reach only 11.6 million this year – 1.88 million lower than official projections by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT.)<br>
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“Looking at Pattaya, which is one of the most popular destinations for Chinese tourists, there has been a slowdown from October till mid-November, with average hotel occupancy rates down to 63 per cent,” Prakit said. Overall, however, the hotel business is expected to recover next year thanks to the opening of the new Suvarnnabhumi Airport, the Chiang Mai Night Safari and the luxury shopping mall, Siam Paragon, in Bangkok.<br>
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Breaking the latest hotel occupancy rates down into regions, the THA said the average occupancy rate in the South was 50 per cent, in the North 68 per cent, Bangkok 72 per cent and the West between 80 per cent and 90 per cent. Figures for the Northeast are not yet available.<br>
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“THA hopes that next year, the tourism industry will remain the same – not too bad for operators,” Prakit said. To attract more international visitors, the THA plans to travel more to China, Australia and Europe.<br>
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THA and TAT have jointly sponsored many tourism events this year, including the World Travel Mart in the UK at beginning of this month.<br>
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Suchat Sritama, The Nation<br>
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Not surprising news but odd that there is no mention of the tsunami, droughts, floods, crackdowns on alcohol and bars, youth curfews, or insurgents in South Thailand.<br>
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In 2004 there were 11,737,413 arrivals according to The Tourist Authority Thailand. In the circumstances 11.6 millions sounds pretty good. <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p092.ezboard.com/bsawatdeeforum.showUserPublicProfile?gid=wowpow>wowpow</A>  <IMG HEIGHT=10 WIDTH=10 SRC="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v27/wowpow/Flag.jpg" BORDER=0> at: 29/11/05 3:16 pm<br></i>

[Bob]

I, for one, neither understand nor trust the TAT figures, and I wonder how they get their arrival figures. Is that arrivals/passengers at the international airport in Bangkok only? If so, does it include thai citizens who seem to be travelling more these days?<br>
I was on a flight from Chiangmai to Singapore and back a couple of weeks ago. The planes were fairly full but there were not many "falangs" on them. I'd estimate less than 5% on each plane.<br>
All year long, I've heard from people in Chiangmai that the tourists have been significantly down this year. Two business owners in Chiangmai told me this month that they estimated it was 20-30% down (which is very substantial). TAT published something in August that said visitors to Phuket were down over 60% for the year. And I've had a few friends in Pattaya saying they thought the low season was especially "low" this year (specifically meaning that there were fewer tourists).<br>
Yet, TAT also claimed that through August that the visitor arrivals at Don Muang were only down 6% from last year. I can believe that if they are including both domestic and international arrivals as there's been a big boost in domestic arrivals due to the low-budget airlines (i.e., an obviously large increase of thai nationals flying within the country); however, if TAT is suggesting that foreign visitor arrivals were only down 6% through August, I'd suggest that claim is more self-hype and promotion than factual.<br>
. <p></p><i></i>

[macaroni21]

Usually, the total figures are obtained by counting the arrival cards that each tourist (but not citizens) has to complete and hand over with his passport at immigration control. This applies therefore to airports as well as land entry points such as Haadyai and Aranyaprathet.<br>
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I don't know how average hotel occupancy rates for any region are tabulated - based on hoteliers' reports? It also seems odd that there is no "East" region in this respect, so where does Pattaya fit?<br>
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Coming back to total visitor arrivals, the immigration department is usually suppposed to match departures with arrivals, as visitors may recall, the second half of the arrival card is handed in upon departure. Matching them by hand must be a herculean task, and I've always wondered if the immigration computer system is up to it as well.<br>
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Anyway, just recently, the Malaysian government reported that their departures were 50,000 short of arrivals, for a total visitor traffic somewat less than Thailand's (I can't recall with precision the total figure). That is, some 50,000 tourists entered the country and then just disappeared. I wonder what the Thai government would find if they did a similar exercise. <p></p><i></i>

[lester4]

As Thailand is the sort of country where those in power try and not to admit the full truth, I suspect the TAT numbers are open to debate.<br>
My own view as a year round resident of pattaya is that caucasian tourists from US or Europe or wherever are WELL down compared to a few years ago. Tourists looking for the 'asian experience' are put off by the tsunami and flu scares, night club tourists are put off by the various crackdowns, and it has never been a place that offers family holidays because children find it difficult to move round the pavement potholes, possibly rabid dogs,and cope with pedestrian hating traffic rules. <p></p><i></i>