Russian Tourists Visiting Thailand Down 70%

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Russian Tourists Visiting Thailand Down 70%

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

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Sanpetch Suppabawonsathien, president of the Thai Hotels Association, said the Russian tourist market in Pattaya was slumping for the first time in 12 years.

"Hotel room reservations from the Russian market have already dropped by 70% for this high season," he said.

Pattaya hoteliers are facing a difficult time due to pressure from travel agents to cut surcharges and gala dinners from tour programmes in the peak season and to sell special packages for Russian tourists.

With the impact from the weak rouble, the number of Russian visitors to Pattaya should drop by more than 50% this year, Mr Sanpetch said.

Pattaya hoteliers need to shift their focus to the Asian market, especially China, he said. But most Chinese travellers prefer to stay in two-star hotels rather than luxury ones.

Chinese visitors have overtaken Russians as the biggest market for Pattaya.

Russian travellers prefer to book hotel rooms or package tours at the last minute.

Some Pattaya hotels are operating at only 30% capacity in high season.

Sisdivachr Cheewarattanaporn, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA), said the association is very worried and closely monitoring the economic crisis in Russia. Bookings from Russians remain sluggish even in high season.

Russian arrivals to Thailand through ATTA's member tour agents are estimated to average about 80,000 a month but negative factors, especially the weak rouble, will lower that number to only 50,000.

Mr Sisdivachr said arrivals from Russia to Thailand through its member tour agents would drop by at least 30% for the whole year. As of Nov 30, arrivals through ATTA members had declined by 26% to 410,325.

The economic downturn in Russia has affected demand for overseas holidays. While Thai travel agents mainly rely on the Russian market, the big players have moved to promote other destinations instead of Thailand.

In the first 10 months, arrivals from Russia to Thailand decreased by only 0.03% to 1.262 million visitors. The negative trend of the Russian tourist market started in May and sharply worsened in October as the economic crisis deepened.

The Department of Tourism recently revealed that arrivals from Russia continued to drop in November, falling by 21% to 181,888 visitors.

At present, the Russian market is the third-biggest market for Thai tourism.

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frank lee bent
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Re: Russian Tourists Visiting Thailand Down 70%

Post by frank lee bent »

Good News!
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Re: Russian Tourists Visiting Thailand Down 70%

Post by Soi Dog »

Now if they could only lose the other 30% of the Russians, and then all the Indians. :thumb:
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Re: Russian Tourists Visiting Thailand Down 70%

Post by Bitte_Kein_Lexus »

Soi Dog wrote:Now if they could only lose the other 30% of the Russians, and then all the Indians. :thumb:
Haha, yep! Typical Russians... Since soviet times, a vacation for Russians equals spending as much money as you can in the shortest amount of time possible, then heading back home. Hopefully this means fewer Russkies here as well.
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Re: Russian Tourists Visiting Thailand Down 70%

Post by wackyjacky »

A friend lives up on Pratumnak Hill which is little Moscow and he says they're missing this year. There's still plenty down here in SHV, but it's a lot cheaper than Pattaya. If the ruble keeps cratering they'll have to find a nice beach resort in Bangladesh to hang.
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Re: Russian Tourists Visiting Thailand Down 70%

Post by Cowshed Cowboy »

I thought at the time the decision to relax visa rules for the Chinese was a shrewd move on the junta's part. If there was a drop in numbers due to the adverse political decision they could fill the void with the Chinese and those key headline numbers would look like business as usual. As it turns out it looks like they may be relying on them to take up the Russian slack.

I'll be interested to see if has an effect on the condo market as I can only assume it has been Russians that have been the main buyers. Pratumnak as you say Wacky, and also Naklua.
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Re: Russian Tourists Visiting Thailand Down 70%

Post by phuketrichard »

GF works at a pre school and over the last week, 4 of the 7 Russian parents have pulled their kids and their heading home
Cant afford to stay,

Going to get worse for them as time goes on, Putin is really fucking things up
In a nation run by swine, all pigs are upward-mobile and the rest of us are fucked until we can put our acts together: not necessarily to win, but mainly to keep from losing completely. HST
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Re: Russian Tourists Visiting Thailand Down 70%

Post by wackyjacky »

No fan of Putin, but the problems are almost entirely due to the dramatic drop in oil prices. Their economy has not been diversified at all (I guess that is his fault) and is entirely resource based.
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Re: Russian Tourists Visiting Thailand Down 70%

Post by sigmoid »

The economic downturn in Russia has affected demand for overseas holidays...
This is just their excuse. The truth is...
...the big players have moved to promote other destinations instead of Thailand.
Many nationalities have been warned to avoid Thailand due to pending civil unrest. Plus, as noted above, it's cheaper and better in neighbouring countries.
4 of the 7 Russian parents have pulled their kids and their heading home
Cant afford to stay,
Is that what they said? If so, it was their way of being polite. Most likely they're moving to Vietnam and didn't want the Thais to 'lose face'.
Some Pattaya hotels are operating at only 30% capacity in high season.
So, it's not just the Russians that are leaving then. Where's everyone else?
The negative trend of the Russian tourist market started in May...
That was, just coincidentally, the month that the coup occurred.
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Re: Russian Tourists Visiting Thailand Down 70%

Post by Soi Dog »

Cowshed Cowboy wrote:I'll be interested to see if has an effect on the condo market as I can only assume it has been Russians that have been the main buyers. Pratumnak as you say Wacky, and also Naklua.
Don't you live in Jomtien? That is Ruskie central. Half the business signs there are in Russian, as I recall.

Anyway, oil never stays cheap for very long. In a few months it will be back to $100 per barrel and it will be business as usual. Enjoy the somewhat-cheap gasoline while you can. Those who buy into Russian stocks or currency near the bottom will be very happy in a few years.
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