21 Dec 2022
Tourism
It is expected that Thailand’s tourism will be busy once again after a two-year hiatus as more Thais intend to travel in the country while foreign travelers are planning to visit Thailand during the upcoming New Year 2023 festive season. As a result, cash flows in travel-related businesses here may reach roughly THB30 billion from December 30, 2022 to January 2, 2023, amounting to around 50 percent of the total amount reported during the same period of 2019 (before the COVID-19 pandemic). ... Read more
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15 Nov 2022
Active domestic tourism at year-end; full-year 2022 domestic tourism projected to reach 150.8 million trips (Current Issue No.3359)... Read more
19 Oct 2022
Hotel and lodging business, 2022: Recovering gradually, but at a meager pace ... Read more
1 Jul 2021
On June 29, 2021, the Ratchakitcha website (Government Gazette) published “Thailand’s Tourism Reopening Scheme”, which comes into effect on July 1, 2021. Cooperation among the related parties allowed the second phase of the reopening plan to move forward according to plan on July 1, 2021. Provinces involved in the pilot program include Phuket (starting July 1, 2021) and Surat Thani in the areas of Koh Samui, Koh Tao and Koh Phangan (starting July 15, 2021). ... Read more
18 Jun 2020
The COVID-19 situation in Thailand has improved to the extent that the government has eased lockdown measures on interprovincial travel, public transport systems, airports and tourist destinations, allowing services in these sectors to return to normal. On June 16, 2020, the Thai cabinet approved three packages to promote domestic tourism, with an implementation period from July until October 2020.... Read more
22 Oct 2019
During October-December 2019, 76.9 percent of people living in Bangkok have planned to travel, up slightly from the survey in the same period last year; 22.2 percent of the sampled group said the government’s tourism stimulus measures (in October-November 2019) affect their decisions to travel.... Read more
20 Aug 2019
On August 20, 2019, aside from the extension of visa-on-arrival fee waiver for Chinese and Indian citizens, which is scheduled to expire at the end of October 2019, to the end of April 2020, the Cabinet also approved a number of measures, aimed at stimulating domestic tourism. These include: 1) A 1,000-Baht cash handout to be allocated to the first 10 million people, who register via an application developed by the Ministry of Finance. Qualified recipients must be at least 18 years old and they are required to visit destinations outside their home provinces. The measure requires a budget of THB10 billion; 2) A 15 percent cash rebate of up to THB30,000 on their tourism spending. The registration is open from September 23 to November 15, 2019. The recipients must use those rights from September 27 to November 30, 2019. These measures are part of the second round of tourism stimuli after tax measures, which expired on June 30, 2019.... Read more
28 Jun 2019
In 1H19, inbound tourism slowed due to various factors; whereas, the overall number of tourists and slowing growth rate were as expected (party due to high base effect in 2018), in spite of some differences in details in each market. For example, the number of Chinese tourists is lower than expected partly because of the cooling Chinese economy as a result of the US trade war with China, and the Thai Baht has gained strength versus Chinese Yuan currency. At the same time, Chinese tourists have more tourism destination choices to choose from now while other countries are trying to appeal to international tourists, especially the Chinese, by highlighting their attractions as well. An extension of the fee exemption for visa on arrivals has also promoted the growth of international tourists from other countries as there has been a surprising surge in the number of Indian tourists coming to Thailand... Read more
9 Apr 2019
The anticipation toward Songkran this year has been dampened by the air pollution in the northern part of Thailand. At any rate, since the smog in the north had continued for some time, tourists have adapted to the situation and adjusted their travel plans to other areas. Meanwhile, the drought in many provinces has prompted holidaymakers to change their Songkran activities in line with the prevailing circumstances. Overall, Songkran this year should see a buoyant atmosphere as usual in both key tourism cities and secondary provinces. This should boost the Thai tourism business. KResearch views that travel activities of both Thai and international tourists during the week-long Songkran (April 11-17, 2019) will generate earnings for tourism and related businesses worth approximately THB28 billion, up 2.2 percent YoY.... Read more
6 Nov 2018
At present, the fast-paced business world is fuelled largely by digital disruption. The tourism and hospitality business is one of the industries that has experienced a rapid evolution in the past decade, with Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) emerging to become a force to be reckoned with. The OTA business is driven by key global players which are poised to increase their presence and attach greater importance to the Asian region. The evidence is the value of merger and acquisition deals by the two OTA juggernauts in the Asian region; it represents 41 percent of their global M&As worth THB440 billion.... Read more
23 Aug 2018
According to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports’ data, the number of Chinese tourists in Thailand in July 2018 dropped 0.9 percent over-year to a total of 930,000 persons. In contrast, the tourism receipts from the Chinese segment rose 4.5 percent over-year to THB51.38 billion. A slight slowdown is expected for August, but the government has implemented some promotional campaigns, while the hotel and accommodation operators, as well as retail traders, have used intensive marketing tactics to attract more Chinese voyagers during their National Day holiday in early October. Given the above scenario, KResearch views that the Chinese tourist market will likely pick up, and the number of Chinese holidaymakers in Thailand may reach 10.9 million for the entire year of 2018 (compared to the previous estimation of 10.6 million), equal to growth of 11.2 percent versus the 12.0-percent pace in 2017. For total receipts, they will likely amount to THB602.01 billion, rising 14.8 percent over-year compared to the 15.8-percent increase in 2017. KBank has compiled Chinese tourists’ behaviors as follows: • Based on a survey of Chinese tourists toward their preferred destinations in Asia, Thailand remains their top destination, with a share of 27.0 percent of the survey respondents. After Thailand, most favorite destinations are Japan (18.8 percent), Maldives (14.5 percent), Hong Kong (14.3 percent) and Singapore (9.6 percent). • Around 53.0 percent of Chinese tourists travel with tour agencies, while the free independent tourists (FIT) constitute a share of 47.0 percent of the respondents. It has also been found that Chinese coming to Thailand for the first time make up 78.0 percent of the respondents, while the revisiting group represents 22.0 percent. Most of the first-time visitors have learned about Thailand from agencies’ recommendations, friends/relatives who had already been here, and from tourism websites such as Mafengwo and TripAdvisor. • The largest part of expenses goes to goods purchases, then food and healthcare service such as massage and spa. • The most popular goods for Chinese buyers are cosmetics/skincare creams, followed by food and processed fruits, Thai traditional medicine/herbs, for example, massage balms, apparel and souvenirs. • Chinese visitors prefer to use cash to pay for their goods and services. However, payments via China’s financial applications, especially Alipay and WeChat Pay, are almost as popular as cash. Chinese tourists view that the possibility of pay via such applications has resulted in an increase of their spending by 81.8 percent, given the convenience of not having to exchange money and discounts granted by the merchants. ... Read more
22 Jun 2018
The 2018 FIFA World Cup hosted by Russia is interrupting the consistent flow of Russian tourist arrivals in Thailand. According to statistics of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, the number of Russian visitors in Thailand over the first five months of 2018 surged 21.4 percent over-year to reach 802,496 persons. Meanwhile, a drop of 13.0 percent YoY was recorded for May, and this downtrend may continue through the period of the world’s largest football tournament. This trend is also similar to many other countries, because it would appear that Russians prefer to stay home at this moment.... Read more
28 Dec 2015
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