Century Pattaya Hotel

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Where Are The Tourists?

Where are our dear foreign guests who usually invade the kingdom this time around? This is by no means a post backed up by hard facts and figures, but by simple observation and talks with tourists and hoteliers alike. OK, last year’s high season was a non-event after Bangkok’s airport seizures. But don’t only blame the international credit crunch and financial crisis. This holiday season Westerners travel to the Caribbean and Southern Europe, to Turkey and wherever. But not to Thailand.

Occupancy rates in Thailand’s major hotels are miserable. Had a talk with a big shot of the Dusit in Hua Hin and some regular guests who stay there every year. Never seen that place so quiet. Hua Hin’s famous night market is empty compared to previous high seasons. Tweets tourist Bob the “hotel in Cha Am we’ve been staying at every year for the past ten years is also A LOT quieter than usual” – and a friend in Pattaya tells me in December you usually have to push your way through Walking Street. Not this time.

Our honorable leaders prefer to blame external circumstances. But don’t underestimate the ghosts of the airport occupations. Had some family friends coming over from Europe who even thought that the reds – not yellows! – were seizing the airports a year ago and now that the reds announce new demonstrations for January they’re scared if they’ll run into trouble. Friends that told me that back home in Europe many Thailand regulars avoid the kingdom for fear of a new breakdown. Thailand keeps on paying a heavy price for this sort of superficial stability.

It is impossible to put a price tag on the immediate and remote damages caused by Thailand’s political upheaval. But a sure thing is that the country keeps on suffering to this day from those acts some called peaceful and necessary. Holiday packages to Thailand don’t cost a fortune. Anyone who wants to visit Thailand and shops around can visit Thailand. But that’s not the point. The point is Thailand removed herself knowingly, if not deliberately from the top spots of international travel and tourism.

Nah, I’m not even mentioning all the scams and cheats that make it again and again into the world’s media furthermore scaring off potential visitors. But if the suffering tourism sector is any guidance how other industrial sectors of Thailand suffer – such as stagnant direct foreign investment due to the country’s obvious and hidden risks and lack of transparency – well then it’s easy to do the math yourself, isn’t it.

I’m not saying. I’m just saying. Whatever rosy picture the government is trying to present, question it, question it, question it. The situation on the ground remains a very different one. Shop keepers who hoped for a splendid high season after a long drought and were stocking up on goods are in despair.

Some basic tourism downturn statistic is available here. In the first ten months of this year international arrivals were down 30% – and counting.

The tourism & sports minister just announced he “believes” Thailand could still get 14 million visitors this year … Believing as a part of governing, there you go.

December 2009 must be one of the worst high seasons in the history of Thai tourism. Tells me the big shot of Hua Hin’s Dusit that between Christmas and year’s end a 100,000 holidayers are expected in Hua Hin … Maybe locals. Forget the foreign market for a while.

The thing to do would be to offer irresistible price incentives. But try to book a better hotel in a seaside resort. The money you’re asked to spend for a few nights pays you two weeks including flights and food and everything in – again – the Caribbean or Southern Europe.

A week ago I booked a fancy New Year’s Eve dinner and show at a better hotel. The hotel expects some 200 guests for the party. Well I got ticket numbers 0005 to 0008. Eight tickets sold so far for a party with 200 … The tourism biz may have been a walk in the park some time ago.

I doubt that any of the major hotels will have a full 100% occupancy rate over the festive days. Remember, not too long ago fully booked hotels was the order of Thailand’s tourism days.

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Where Are The Tourists?

Some basic tourism downturn statistic is available here. In the first ten months of this year international arrivals were down 30% – and counting.

The tourism & sports minister just announced he “believes” Thailand could still get 14 million visitors this year … Believing as a part of governing, there you go.

I doubt that any of the major hotels will have a full 100% occupancy rate over the festive days. Remember, not too long ago fully booked hotels was the order of Thailand’s tourism days.

Sphere: Related Content