What is average spending by tourists in Thailand

[gera]

There is something in Thai statistics about tourist spending which I do not understand. Perhaps somebody can explain this discrepancy. From one side
TOT is saying that , say, Chinese tourists spend on average 200 USD per day. On the other hand, when regional numbers are given these numbers are much much lower.

Previously I saw statistics regarding Phuket and now similar statistics regarding Chiang Mai. It says (among other things) that for the first
8 months of 2019 6.38 million of tourists visited Chiang Mai which resulted in total local income of 64.7 billion baht. In other words, about 10000 baht per visitor which is very roughly 330 USD per person. However, it is total spending not daily one. Assuming 5 day stay it would amount 60 Dollars per day. This number sounds much more realistic than 200 USD and includes cost of housing. According to TOT statistics , say, Chinese tourists spend 9-10 days on average in Thailand. Just food for thought...

https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/17 ... ren-hotels

[Gaybutton]

Chinese tourists spend on average 200 USD per day.

What does that spending include?

I have no idea how much the average Chinese tourist on all those tour buses actually spends per day, but US$200 per day? On what?

As they might say in Spain, "El toro caca . . ."

[Undaunted]

What does that spending include?

Does it include lodging and how much of their trip is paid for in China?

[Jun]

I have no idea how much the average Chinese tourist on all those tour buses actually spends per day, but US$200 per day? On what?

The scope of the discussion is narrowing rapidly in this thread.

The thread title is "average spending by tourists in Thailand". So, I presume all tourists.
Then it focused on Chinese tourists.
Then Chinese tourists "on all those tour buses". Focusing on the low end of the Chinese tourist market is definitely not the way to calculate an average.

I would expect a below average spend by Chinese tourists on the buses and an ABOVE average spend by Chinese & other tourists visiting luxury stores in Bangkok and high end stores.

Rather than looking at tour buses, I suspect the best way to get an average is to use official Thai data. Even this might be unreliable, as, for example, if I were invited to answer a few questions, I might be reluctant to disclose tips paid to bar boys.

[gera]

The thread title is "average spending by tourists in Thailand". So, I presume all tourists.
Then it focused on Chinese tourists.

Since you like to concentrate on statistics, it is not unreasonable to concentrate on particular representative groups of tourists and Chinese are about the third of all tourists visiting Thailand. There are absolutely no reasons to expect that , say, Russians or Indians or Malaysians spend on average more that Chinese. If you combine tourists from these countries , you will get a significant chunk of total amount of tourists. But the point of my post was a DISCREPANCY between regional data (and earlier I saw similar numbers from Phuket and Pattaya) and official numbers of Tourist Authority of Thailand regarding tourist spending. So, what official numbers you suppose to believe? The point of my post is that TAT numbers has nothing to do with reality.

[Gaybutton]

Then it focused on Chinese tourists.

Why not? That's what the OP focused on.

I don't think it matters very much which specific groups tend to spend how much. Tourism in Thailand accounts for a substantial amount of money. I'm more interested in how much tourists spend as a whole, not so much on who spends it. The problem is trying to figure out which source, if any, is really accurate.

Meanwhile, Thailand seems to be making it more and more difficult to attract tourists. As far as I can tell, that's because of this paranoia that some may be criminals and some might skip out on hospital bills. Along with how much tourists spend, I would also be interested to know how many turn out to be criminals and how many skip out on hospital bills.

[Jun]

Meanwhile, Thailand seems to be making it more and more difficult to attract tourists. As far as I can tell, that's because of this paranoia that some may be criminals and some might skip out on hospital bills. Along with how much tourists spend, I would also be interested to know how many turn out to be criminals and how many skip out on hospital bills.

If criminal behaviour and skipping hospital bills are the issues, then they probably need to compare the incident rate for these problems amongst tourists with the incident rates for the domestic population. Also, look at the net benefit of tourists to the economy after these costs.
I'm fairly sure the net benefit would be very positive.

Also, the government probably raises far more in taxes from tourists than it spends on law enforcement and medical care. If that's not the case, then they should look into some modest taxes on something like airport arrivals, hotels and particularly tour buses (tax per bus, not per occupant).

[Captain Kirk]

Ok, I'll play. I'm about 6-7000B a day including hotel costs when I'm there.

[Dodger]

TOT has no way of calculating average tourist spending. It's all smoke and mirrors used to create an illusion - not statistics.

Just using my own two eyes I can see that the average Chinese tourist spends closer to $20 a day...not the illusion of $200.

Sex tourists undoubtedly have the highest average daily spending. It would take a million Chinese to spend as much as a dozen horny farang.

[ISAC69]

TOT has no way of calculating average tourist spending. It's all smoke and mirrors used to create an illusion - not statistics.

Just using my own two eyes I can see that the average Chinese tourist spends closer to $20 a day...not the illusion of $200.

Sex tourists undoubtedly have the highest average daily spending. It would take a million Chinese to spend as much as a dozen horny farang.

Yes I agree the TOT statistics are completely unreliable there's no way an average Chinese tourist is spending $200 a day maybe this is correct for Western tourist but as advised by Gaybutton I also believe that the latest paranoia of the Thai government will reduce drastically the number of Westerns coming/staying at Thailand .