Many Chinese Tourists Now Avoid Pattaya
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thaiworthy
Re: Many Chinese Tourists Now Avoid Pattaya
Great story.
I came down from Bangkok twice last year and noticed a stark contrast between my visit in May and just last month. Gone were the yellow pennants held high by tour guides clogging the streetsides, making it impossible to pass on the sidewalks. I had to push and shove my way through the loitering masses. Gone were the tour buses parked everywhere I went. It was noticeable, also because I was expecting high season crowds for the month of December. They were gone.
Here is another news story which more clearly explains what is meant by "zero dollar," and the circumstances surrounding it, such as the seizure of a whopping 2,155 tour buses! The story below reports on all of Thailand.
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A Thai crackdown on cheap tour packages for Chinese tourists has hit arrivals in Thailand during China's peak "Golden Week" holiday, and dimmed prospects for an important sector in a sluggish economy.
China's Golden Week break, which started last Saturday, sees millions of Chinese tourists traveling to overseas holiday spots including traditional favorite Thailand.
But Thailand's military government says the packages, known as "zero dollar" tours aimed at Chinese tourists on a budget, are tarnishing the country's image and the tourist police have moved to shut them down.
The tours involve Chinese visitors paying Thai-based operators low prices for their package holiday.
But once in Thailand, they are often pressured into buying overpriced food, accommodation and gifts, said industry experts.
Police Major General Surachate Hakparn, commander of the Tourist Police Division, said police had shut three companies operating "zero dollar" tours and had seized 2,155 tour buses.
Arrest warrants have been issued for nine people involved in the tours as of Oct. 6, he said.
Ruengdet Amorndetphakdee, owner of the D Land Holiday Co., Ltd, which caters to Chinese tourists, said the crackdown had made travel to Thailand more expensive for Chinese visitors.
"Chinese travel agents are not recommending Thailand because it suddenly became more expensive. It is easier for them to sell cheap package tours to South Korea or Vietnam," Ruengdet told Reuters.
Thailand expects 220,000 Chinese visitors during the Golden Week break, up about 30 percent from last year, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand.
But industry operators said those numbers could have been even bigger had it not been for the action against the "zero dollar" operators.
"There have been fewer bookings since the crackdown. We have seen just 10,000 to 20,000 bookings from Chinese tourists during Oct. 1-10," Ronnarong Chewinsiriamnuai, president of the Thai-Chinese Tourism Alliance Association, told Reuters.
"Normally, we would have 100,000 during this period," Ronnarong said, adding that 30 to 40 travel operators have gone out of business because of the crackdown.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand recently said Chinese visitors this year could fall to 9.6 million from 10 million due to the crackdown.
Pimonwan Mahujchariyawong, an economist at Kasikorn Research Center, said the crackdown could cut Chinese arrivals by 300,000 in just the current quarter.
Tourism accounts for about 10 percent of Thailand's gross domestic product and has been a rare bright spot for Southeast Asia's second-largest economy which has struggled since a May 2014 military coup, with exports and domestic demand stubbornly weak.
Thailand had forecast a record 33 million visitors this year, driven mostly by an increase in Chinese numbers.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china ... SKCN1270Q3
I came down from Bangkok twice last year and noticed a stark contrast between my visit in May and just last month. Gone were the yellow pennants held high by tour guides clogging the streetsides, making it impossible to pass on the sidewalks. I had to push and shove my way through the loitering masses. Gone were the tour buses parked everywhere I went. It was noticeable, also because I was expecting high season crowds for the month of December. They were gone.
Here is another news story which more clearly explains what is meant by "zero dollar," and the circumstances surrounding it, such as the seizure of a whopping 2,155 tour buses! The story below reports on all of Thailand.
----
A Thai crackdown on cheap tour packages for Chinese tourists has hit arrivals in Thailand during China's peak "Golden Week" holiday, and dimmed prospects for an important sector in a sluggish economy.
China's Golden Week break, which started last Saturday, sees millions of Chinese tourists traveling to overseas holiday spots including traditional favorite Thailand.
But Thailand's military government says the packages, known as "zero dollar" tours aimed at Chinese tourists on a budget, are tarnishing the country's image and the tourist police have moved to shut them down.
The tours involve Chinese visitors paying Thai-based operators low prices for their package holiday.
But once in Thailand, they are often pressured into buying overpriced food, accommodation and gifts, said industry experts.
Police Major General Surachate Hakparn, commander of the Tourist Police Division, said police had shut three companies operating "zero dollar" tours and had seized 2,155 tour buses.
Arrest warrants have been issued for nine people involved in the tours as of Oct. 6, he said.
Ruengdet Amorndetphakdee, owner of the D Land Holiday Co., Ltd, which caters to Chinese tourists, said the crackdown had made travel to Thailand more expensive for Chinese visitors.
"Chinese travel agents are not recommending Thailand because it suddenly became more expensive. It is easier for them to sell cheap package tours to South Korea or Vietnam," Ruengdet told Reuters.
Thailand expects 220,000 Chinese visitors during the Golden Week break, up about 30 percent from last year, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand.
But industry operators said those numbers could have been even bigger had it not been for the action against the "zero dollar" operators.
"There have been fewer bookings since the crackdown. We have seen just 10,000 to 20,000 bookings from Chinese tourists during Oct. 1-10," Ronnarong Chewinsiriamnuai, president of the Thai-Chinese Tourism Alliance Association, told Reuters.
"Normally, we would have 100,000 during this period," Ronnarong said, adding that 30 to 40 travel operators have gone out of business because of the crackdown.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand recently said Chinese visitors this year could fall to 9.6 million from 10 million due to the crackdown.
Pimonwan Mahujchariyawong, an economist at Kasikorn Research Center, said the crackdown could cut Chinese arrivals by 300,000 in just the current quarter.
Tourism accounts for about 10 percent of Thailand's gross domestic product and has been a rare bright spot for Southeast Asia's second-largest economy which has struggled since a May 2014 military coup, with exports and domestic demand stubbornly weak.
Thailand had forecast a record 33 million visitors this year, driven mostly by an increase in Chinese numbers.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china ... SKCN1270Q3
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Gaybutton
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Re: Many Chinese Tourists Now Avoid Pattaya
There are noticeably fewer Chinese tour buses in Pattaya too. There are still loads of them, but far fewer than just a couple months ago. I feel sorry for businesses that depended on them, but as for me - I'm not complaining.
Re: Many Chinese Tourists Now Avoid Pattaya
Not to mentin the lack of Russians too.
I've hardly seen any in Pattaya Tai or Boyztown.
I've hardly seen any in Pattaya Tai or Boyztown.
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Up2u
Re: Many Chinese Tourists Now Avoid Pattaya
Well that Rubbermaid store on Sukumvit near Macdonalds still packs them in, with their tour busses disrupting traffic flow on Sukumvit.
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Undaunted
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Re: Many Chinese Tourists Now Avoid Pattaya
They come to Pattaya to shop for RubbermaidUp2u wrote:Well that Rubbermaid store on Sukumvit near Macdonalds still packs them in, with their tour busses disrupting traffic flow on Sukumvit.
"In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king"
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Gaybutton
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Re: Many Chinese Tourists Now Avoid Pattaya
If they're coming for that, maybe some enterprising entrepreneur will set up Tupperware parties for them. He'll make a fortune - and it won't be the same kind of fortune you find in a fortune cookie . . .Undaunted wrote:They come to Pattaya to shop for Rubbermaid
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readerc54
Re: Many Chinese Tourists Now Avoid Pattaya
Have admit it baffles me that Asian tourists to Pattaya continue to take the risk of displaying gold necklaces and other jewelry. In this case, an MD from Korea admits he was aware of the threat but still became a snatch victim.
From Bangkok Post
PATTAYA - A Korean tourist visiting Pattaya who was aware of the resort city's reputation for jewellery snatchers became a victim of the thieves on Saturday. He was the second visitor from South Korea to have a necklace stolen in one night and the third Asian victim in three days.
The tourist, identified as Chang Hyun, told Pattaya police that his necklace worth 500,000 won (150,000 baht) was snatched while he was walking back to a hotel at 2am on Saturday.
The 38-year-old tourist, who is a doctor, told reporters through an interpreter that he had been keeping an eye out for possible snatchers in Pattaya but did not think he would become one of their victims.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general ... in-pattaya
From Bangkok Post
PATTAYA - A Korean tourist visiting Pattaya who was aware of the resort city's reputation for jewellery snatchers became a victim of the thieves on Saturday. He was the second visitor from South Korea to have a necklace stolen in one night and the third Asian victim in three days.
The tourist, identified as Chang Hyun, told Pattaya police that his necklace worth 500,000 won (150,000 baht) was snatched while he was walking back to a hotel at 2am on Saturday.
The 38-year-old tourist, who is a doctor, told reporters through an interpreter that he had been keeping an eye out for possible snatchers in Pattaya but did not think he would become one of their victims.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general ... in-pattaya