Thais don't want foreign tourists yet - poll says

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Gaybutton
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Thais don't want foreign tourists yet - poll says

Post by Gaybutton »

'Keep foreign tourists out': Poll

14, June, 2020

A majority of people do not want foreign tourists to return soon while the Covid-19 situation in the country is improving, saying foreigners could spread the disease and Thai people should be able to enjoy the country first, according to the results of an opinion survey by the Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, or Suan Dusit Poll.

The poll was conducted online between June 9-12 on 1,116 people throughout the country to gauge their opinions after the government announced the easing of the Covid-19 lockdown and invited the Thai people to visit places around the country to help stimulate the economy.

Each respondent was allowed to give more than one answer.

Asked when they thought Thailand's tourism would return to normal after the Covid-19 situation is resolved, 41.40% said in one year; 25.90% in six months; 20.52% in two years; and 12.18% in more than two years.

Asked whether they wanted foreign tourists to return to visit Thailand soon, 75.72% said "no", with 54.39% saying that they would like the Thai people to tour their own country first before going elsewhere and 21.33% saying that they were afraid the foreigners would spark a second wave of the virus.

The rest, 24.28%, said they wanted foreign tourists to come soon so that they could help spur the economy and generate income for the country.

Asked which provinces they would like to visit the most, the top five were: Chiang Mai (31.00%), Prachuap Khiri Khan (28.14%), Bangkok (19.35%), Chonburi (18.55%) and Kanchanaburi (11.92%).

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... s-out-poll
Jun

Re: Thais don't want foreign tourists yet - poll says

Post by Jun »

This is fairly predictable.
Many people who's income doesn't obviously depend on tourists is going to be against a fast resumption of tourism.

Even in normal times, it's fairly common for residents of a tourist area to prefer it with fewer tourists. It's simply easier to travel, park and so on. We see it on this board with people preferring the initial circumstances with a reduction in the number of Chinese tourists. In some of the regions of the UK that attract tourists, locals not reliant on tourist income tend to prefer fewer tourists.

So, add in an infectious disease and the outcome in Thailand is predictable.

When it comes to decision making, I trust that the Thai government will ignore the poll and consider just the scientific and economic factors.
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Re: Thais don't want foreign tourists yet - poll says

Post by bkkguy »

what conclusions do you think the Thai government should be reaching after considering "just the scientific and economic factors" - two factors that do not necessarily lead to the same conclusions - and how do you think these conclusions will differ from public opinion resisting a fast resumption of tourism, and why do you think the Thai government's conclusions should be different from so many other countries that are being so careful about opening their borders, particularly places reviewing their dependence on tourism like Amsterdam, Venice, Barcelona, etc
I can’t even be bothered to be apathetic these days!
Jun

Re: Thais don't want foreign tourists yet - poll says

Post by Jun »

bkkguy wrote: Sun Jun 14, 2020 8:39 pmwhat conclusions do you think the Thai government should be reaching after considering "just the scientific and economic factors"
I haven't decided what my conclusions are, but they should consider both the science and the economics in order to reach a conclusion.

bkkguy wrote: Sun Jun 14, 2020 8:39 pm why do you think the Thai government's conclusions should be different from so many other countries that are being so careful about opening their borders

At no point have I said the Thai government should reach different conclusions to other countries.
The first part of your post seems to recognise that, so why are you asking me to explain something I haven't said ?
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Re: Thais don't want foreign tourists yet - poll says

Post by bkkguy »

Jun wrote: Mon Jun 15, 2020 4:30 am At no point have I said the Thai government should reach different conclusions to other countries.
The first part of your post seems to recognise that, so why are you asking me to explain something I haven't said ?
the intent of the second half of the post was to suggest that perhaps Thailand, like many other countries, needs to think beyond just the cold hard science and economics - is being overly dependent on international tourism the best option to aim for, sectors and individuals not dependent on tourism deserve consideration, etc

for example the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) reaction to the "growing gap between international and domestic [tourism] revenue"
Filling the foreign void, Bangkok Post, 15 June, 2020

or moves in Amsterdam to reverse the negative effects of tourism on the city
New Future for Amsterdam post-corona tourism with ‘right’ visitors, DutchNews.nl, May 10. 2020

or on a related topic, the ongoing discussion in Australia about the university sector being too dependent on international students, etc
I can’t even be bothered to be apathetic these days!
Jun

Re: Thais don't want foreign tourists yet - poll says

Post by Jun »

bkkguy wrote: Mon Jun 15, 2020 8:29 pm the intent of the second half of the post was to suggest that perhaps Thailand, like many other countries, needs to think beyond just the cold hard science and economics - is being overly dependent on international tourism the best option to aim for, sectors and individuals not dependent on tourism deserve consideration, etc
I see.

Well, Thai tourism was accounting for approximately 20% of GDP prior to the crisis. Now even if Thailand wanted to replace that section of the economy with something higher value, like software or financial services, that won't happen quickly. In fact they probably would need to start by fixing the education system, reducing corruption and increasing incentives to invest in whatever sector is deemed preferable. Whilst it's taking 20~30 years to make that change, Thailand probably needs some of it's tourism revenue. No country can turn into another Switzerland or Singapore overnight.

So the economic benefit of tourism needs to be considered alongside the science.

Incidentally, parts of southern Europe are opening up to Tourism again, so when Thailand does so, it will not be the only country doing that.
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Re: Thais don't want foreign tourists yet - poll says

Post by gerefan »

75% do not want farangs back in the country yet.

So the other 25%, who presumably work in the tourist industry, do.

Figures!
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Re: Thais don't want foreign tourists yet - poll says

Post by Gaybutton »

gerefan wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 3:59 pm 75% do not want farangs back in the country yet.
While the result likely includes farang tourists, that doesn't mean it's necessarily exclusively farang tourists. They were asked about foreign tourists, which means anyone not Thai, not just farang. I kind of hope they mean hordes of misbehaving Chinese tourists and the typical Sunee Plaza area motorbike maniacs. It's not farang who race around on motorbikes or wash their shoes in public sinks or act like out of control pigs at buffets.

One good thing, as far as I'm concerned - if the Songkran holiday does take place in July, there won't be those heavily tattooed, drunken farang ruining the holiday for everybody. They'll still have to act like morons in their home countries.
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Re: Thais don't want foreign tourists yet - poll says

Post by bkkguy »

Jun wrote: Mon Jun 15, 2020 11:50 pmWell, Thai tourism was accounting for approximately 20% of GDP prior to the crisis. Now even if Thailand wanted to replace that section of the economy with something higher value, like software or financial services, that won't happen quickly. In fact they probably would need to start by fixing the education system, reducing corruption and increasing incentives to invest in whatever sector is deemed preferable. Whilst it's taking 20~30 years to make that change, Thailand probably needs some of it's tourism revenue.
I never imagined this was going to be easy :( but I am seeing more and more articles from many countries seeing post-corona recovery as a good re-boot point - if governments are going to spend millions or billions then spend some of it on short-term recovery but don't forget to focus on long term changes for the better. The Bangkok Post had an interesting op-ed piece today on why we should not be returning to the "old normal"
Normal was obtaining 85% of our energy from fossil fuels and losing seven million people a year to air pollution. Normal was careening toward a global temperature rise of over 3.5 Celsius by the end of the century, with island nations facing obliteration. Normal was one in eight species threatened with extinction, continued squeezing of wild spaces into smaller and smaller corners, and the rampant illegal trade in wildlife.
Lets not return to the old normal, Bangkok Post, 16 June 2020

tackling climate change and related issues seems to be another recurrent theme in the press for post-corona recovery!

but this is perhaps getting off topic for this thread - to stay on topic, there are I think two limiting issues relating to tourism

- even if the Thai government opened up international tourism with no restrictions tomorrow, most of the rest of the world is not ready to travel yet - to start with who has the money, but also which airlines are connecting which countries, what are the restrictions/conditions imposed by airlines and who considers it "safe" to travel, how do you get travel insurance when so many governments still advise "do not travel", etc - this is not a one country ball game!

- if the Thai government opens up international tourism too quickly and the result is a significant "second wave" of infections, the long-term affect on the tourism industry and economic recovery will vastly exceed the delay to recovery from a slow opening up of tourism
I can’t even be bothered to be apathetic these days!
gera

Re: Thais don't want foreign tourists yet - poll says

Post by gera »

It does not matter who wants what. If one follows the discussions within Thai government , it is quite obvious that international tourism will restart in July or early August, albeit slowly. Depending on the current outbreak in China , it may or may not be China first. But I do not see why Thailand cannot create "travel bubbles" with countries like New Zealand or Vietnam where epidemiological situation is not dissimilar to Thailand. They are talking about perhaps just 1000 foreign tourists per day to start with. With priorities to business travelers and medical tourists first.
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