News Forum - Tourism Authority of Thailand: 18 million tourists in 2023

[Thaiger]

After arriving tourist numbers crossed seven million last month, inching towards the goal of 10 million for the year, the Tourism Authority of Thailand is making middle-of-the-road projections for 2023. While they don’t believe that Thailand will see anything like the 40 million tourists per year they saw before Covid, the TAT is estimating 18 million international arrivals next year. They are setting their sights on short-haul markets like Southeast Asia and the South Pacific while not getting their hopes up for a wave of Chinese tourists to Thailand anytime soon. With a 2023 target of 971 billion baht in […]

The story Tourism Authority of Thailand: 18 million tourists in 2023 as seen on Thaiger News.

Read the full story

[KaptainRob]

Interesting numbers though I wonder how many were 'land border' entries compared with 'air' arrivals.  Malays in particular have been driving in for shopping or weekend get-a-ways.

[Soidog]

I’m sure they also include the hundreds of thousands of not millions of journeys made through land borders of expats and illegal workers from Myanmar and Laos. 

[Dedinbed]

  On 11/2/2022 at 11:02 AM, Thaiger said:

the Tourism Authority of Thailand

Expand  

has been on the reality altering gas again .? hohum something's never change .. 

[Marc26]

  On 11/2/2022 at 12:24 PM, Dedinbed said:

has been on the reality altering gas again .? hohum something's never change .. 

Expand  

Why? they had 7mil this year with restrictions and people just starting to travel again

18mil is completely plausible

I swear, you guys root against the place............

[DoUKnowWhoIAm]

  On 11/2/2022 at 11:02 AM, Thaiger said:

the TAT is estimating 18 million i

Expand  

Typo, surely they must've ment 18 billion tourists.

[HolyCowCm]

  On 11/2/2022 at 1:54 PM, Marc26 said:

Why? they had 7mil this year with restrictions and people just starting to travel again

18mil is completely plausible

I swear, you guys root against the place............

Expand  

Lots of tourists here now. I’m in Bangkok again after 3 weeks here before. Lots of tourists in Bangkok and Chiang Mai now. I can confirm. No Chinese though in big big numbers but they are here. Oddly their new craze is Tie die tank tops and elephant pants or shorts . Sky train 2 Chinese today. 
But all races are here. Equal mix. 

[Leo]

  On 11/2/2022 at 4:55 PM, HolyCowCm said:

Lots of tourists here now. I’m in Bangkok again after 3 weeks here before. Lots of tourists in Bangkok and Chiang Mai now. I can confirm. No Chinese though in big big numbers but they are here. Oddly their new craze is Tie die tank tops and elephant pants or shorts . Sky train 2 Chinese today. 
But all races are here. Equal mix. 

Expand  

There are more Chinese in Ratchada. To get out of China now you have to produce a student or a work visa along with the necessary letters. China has been enforcing an exit ban lately, and not issuing passports or passport renewals has been in the news this year. Getting out of daily/every other day PCR tests, getting sent to central quarantine for 2-4 weeks if positive, or 2 weeks if negative but a close contact, and massive and strict lockdowns that happen unexpectedly and at any city, plus having a government that just voted itself in for another 5 years, makes Thailand truly paradise on earth.

Edited November 3, 2022 by Leo

[cowslip]

  On 11/2/2022 at 11:02 AM, Thaiger said:

After arriving tourist numbers crossed seven million last month, inching towards the goal of 10 million for the year, the Tourism Authority of Thailand is making middle-of-the-road projections for 2023. While they don’t believe that Thailand will see anything like the 40 million tourists per year they saw before Covid, the TAT is estimating 18 million international arrivals next year. They are setting their sights on short-haul markets like Southeast Asia and the South Pacific while not getting their hopes up for a wave of Chinese tourists to Thailand anytime soon. With a 2023 target of 971 billion baht in […]

The story Tourism Authority of Thailand: 18 million tourists in 2023 as seen on Thaiger News.

Read the full story

Expand  

As opposed to 40 million in 2019

[cowslip]

I think a lot of people who are seeing "Chinese" are seeing Taiwanese and Koreans....

[HolyCowCm]

  On 11/3/2022 at 5:31 PM, Leo said:

There are more Chinese in Ratchada. To get out of China now you have to produce a student or a work visa along with the necessary letters. China has been enforcing an exit ban lately, and not issuing passports or passport renewals has been in the news this year. Getting out of daily/every other day PCR tests, getting sent to central quarantine for 2-4 weeks if positive, or 2 weeks if negative but a close contact, and massive and strict lockdowns that happen unexpectedly and at any city, plus having a government that just voted itself in for another 5 years, makes Thailand truly paradise on earth.

Expand  

That’s ok with me. As long as they are not in huge numbers they ver again like before then things are good here. 

[Manu]

  On 11/2/2022 at 1:54 PM, Marc26 said:

Why? they had 7mil this year with restrictions and people just starting to travel again

18mil is completely plausible

I swear, you guys root against the place............

Expand  

For once I agree with you, I also can see where I am plenty of tourists, here it is usually European tourists anyway and now it is the time when they come to Thailand, so indeed it is quasi fully booked here for the next 3 months. I also know quite a few that before covid were used to come between 2 to 6 months over the European winter that are coming back.

[cowslip]

  On 11/4/2022 at 3:54 AM, HolyCowCm said:

That’s ok with me. As long as they are not in huge numbers they ver again like before then things are good here. 

Expand  

Those who earn a living from tourism might disagree - 

[cowslip]

  On 11/2/2022 at 11:19 AM, KaptainRob said:

Interesting numbers though I wonder how many were 'land border' entries compared with 'air' arrivals.  Malays in particular have been driving in for shopping or weekend get-a-ways.

Expand  

Malays have been traditionally the highest number of visitors to Thailand - they are of course a vital part of the income for the industry.

[Havana]

  On 11/2/2022 at 4:55 PM, HolyCowCm said:

Lots of tourists here now. I’m in Bangkok again after 3 weeks here before. Lots of tourists in Bangkok and Chiang Mai now. I can confirm. No Chinese though in big big numbers but they are here. Oddly their new craze is Tie die tank tops and elephant pants or shorts . Sky train 2 Chinese today. 
But all races are here. Equal mix. 

Expand  

Can't comment on amount of tourists in Bangkok but the number is pretty low in CM, it's like a ghost town compared to 2019. What restaurants that have survived are struggling to put bums on seats. Any number of Hotels way below 50% capacity plus the ones that have closed their doors indefinitely.

A good number of Spanish and Italian tourists hopping around Thailand (CM for a couple of nights). Some of them told me they were just desperate to get away.

[cowslip]

Low tourist numbers is a double edged sword..... lots of vacancies less crowds but also less businesses  and facilities cateri=ng for tourists.

I looks like it'll be 2 or 3 years before we see how much of the old industry has survived. Sadly it is likely to be replaced by those with capital. This means blander and more "corporate" product.

[Marc26]

  On 11/4/2022 at 5:17 AM, Manu said:

For once I agree with you, I also can see where I am plenty of tourists, here it is usually European tourists anyway and now it is the time when they come to Thailand, so indeed it is quasi fully booked here for the next 3 months. I also know quite a few that before covid were used to come between 2 to 6 months over the European winter that are coming back.

Expand  

I am very interested to see how it is at Xmas time, I land on Xmas day

Will be a good comparison to when I was there in May/June

[cowslip]

  On 11/4/2022 at 1:53 PM, Marc26 said:

I am very interested to see how it is at Xmas time, I land on Xmas day

Will be a good comparison to when I was there in May/June

Expand  

Yes - November to Feb is high season, especially for westerners

[Marc26]

  On 11/4/2022 at 8:23 AM, Havana said:

Can't comment on amount of tourists in Bangkok but the number is pretty low in CM, it's like a ghost town compared to 2019. What restaurants that have survived are struggling to put bums on seats. Any number of Hotels way below 50% capacity plus the ones that have closed their doors indefinitely.

A good number of Spanish and Italian tourists hopping around Thailand (CM for a couple of nights). Some of them told me they were just desperate to get away.

Expand  

I was in CM in June and although I don't live there like you guys, so you would know better references than me

But I was pleasantly surprised at how many tourists there were

But it was mostly either young farang or older single guys

[Marc26]

  On 11/4/2022 at 1:54 PM, cowslip said:

Yes - November to Feb is high season, especially for westerners

Expand  

Yes, I am well aware of that.............just interested to see how it is this year vs the other peak high seasons I've been to Thailand

[Manu]

  On 11/4/2022 at 1:53 PM, Marc26 said:

I am very interested to see how it is at Xmas time, I land on Xmas day

Will be a good comparison to when I was there in May/June

Expand  

It will be Christmas in Thailand as if Covid ever happened. Beautiful.

[Marc26]

  On 11/4/2022 at 5:38 PM, Manu said:

It will be Christmas in Thailand as if Covid ever happened. Beautiful.

Expand  

Yeah we are booked for 18 people for Xmas buffet in Bangkok

Couldn't do that for a very long time

[HolyCowCm]

  On 11/4/2022 at 8:23 AM, Havana said:

Can't comment on amount of tourists in Bangkok but the number is pretty low in CM, it's like a ghost town compared to 2019. What restaurants that have survived are struggling to put bums on seats. Any number of Hotels way below 50% capacity plus the ones that have closed their doors indefinitely.

A good number of Spanish and Italian tourists hopping around Thailand (CM for a couple of nights). Some of them told me they were just desperate to get away.

Expand  

CM is actualy doing good right now. How much of the city hsve you been going around to? Only big difference is no huge Chinese groups thank goodness. In Pattaya now and there are quite a few tourists here. 

[Havana]

Well excluding the Chinese, the Hoteliers, Restaurant owners, taxi drivers, Tuk Tuk drivers, shop owners, they feel they are still suffering. I've visited a few 'old haunts' well outside the Old City and it's a sad  state of affairs comparing it to 2019. Numbers have picked up for Loi Kratong but Christmas is unlikely to be similar to pre Covid but on the bright side, New Year looks more promising. There is a fair number of Europeans doing 'province hopping' for a couple of weeks, couple of nights here and there and a week in Pattaya, Phuket or Krabi. Things can only get better (hopefully), preferably without a deluge of Chinese, but that's purely a personal opinion.

[cowslip]

  On 11/5/2022 at 5:53 AM, HolyCowCm said:

CM is actualy doing good right now. How much of the city hsve you been going around to? Only big difference is no huge Chinese groups thank goodness. In Pattaya now and there are quite a few tourists here. 

Expand  

Do you have any figures for this apart from an apparent racist take on Chinese tourists?

the truth is that they accounted for over 30% of tourist income and that is a significant chunk out of the Thai economy.