armchairlawyer wrote: ↑Sun Nov 07, 2021 8:21 am Some data on the first four days of arrivals under the new opening that began on 1 November.
The top 4 nations were: USA, Germany, UK and Japan. China came in at number 10 with a total of 345 visitors.
The only Asian countries in the top ten were Japan and Korea. As I suggested earlier, Malaysia and other hoped-for Asian (eg India) nations in the OP article did not figure.

This new article also says that airlines have given up 70% of their Swampy slots and 100% (?) of their DMK slots for the next 4 months. Well, that takes us through to the end of high season.
Also, some negative comment on how easy the new Thailand Pass is to use.

https://loyaltylobby.com/2021/11/06/who ... eir-slots/

As Test and Go nears the end of its brief run, here are the data on the source countries,

Germany with 18,434 arrivals up to December 24 this month. Then the UK with 15,321, Russia with 9,667 and the US with 8,871.

Beyond the top 4, contributors to Thailand’s December tourist mix…

5. Singapore 8,402

6. France 8,268

7. Sweden 7,737

8. UAE 6,961

9. South Korea 5,593

10. Norway 5,059

https://thethaiger.com/news/national/th ... ds-brewing

A new report from McKinsey on the future of tourism in Thailand. I hope McK provided this as a freebie because it does not contain much of any obvioius value. I have added my comments in italics.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/travel/2239 ... ry-by-2024

Thai tourism revenue may recover to pre-pandemic levels by 2024, though attracting "quality" travellers from new source markets is essential for a pronounced rebound, according to new research by McKinsey and Company. So, what are these new source markets exactly?

"Projections are always challenging from the evolving nature of the pandemic (in other words we don't know) , however, international visits and spending in Thailand could recover by 2024, assuming some virus recurrence, slow long-term growth, muted world recovery, and minimal changes to global tourism strategies," said Steve Saxon, partner at McKinsey & Company's Shenzhen office and leader of the firm's travel practice in Asia. Lets dream up some numbers that should get the Thai govt to hire us, thinks Steve.

International travellers are predicted to generate US$68 billion by 2024, compared to $62 billion in 2019, if Thailand can maintain a low infection rate, according to the latest report "Reimagining travel: Thailand tourism after the Covid-19 pandemic". Very specific numbers from someone who says projections are challenging.
Overall tourism receipts from both international and domestic markets are forecast at $111 billion in 2024 from $96 billion in 2019. Domestic tourism rates have held up bcs of the 40% subsidies given by the government, isn't that the key to the future of the domestic market? But no mention of it.

Mr Saxon said Thai tourism can develop new tourism sources to compensate for the lack of Chinese visitors by focusing on markets where travel demand recovers more rapidly. Oh, so they've decided China is not returning until after 2025. And we're talking again about unspecified new source markets.

The US, the UK, Germany and Japan are among the top countries after Thailand's reopening on Nov 1. Meanwhile, India is also considered a potential market for Thailand. Sorry, none of these are new source markets. Still waiting to hear about those. India did not feature in the top 10 of recent source markets.

The industry has to promote different travel offerings such as ecotourism and cultural tourism as well as expanding to new lesser-known destinations like Chiang Rai, Ratchaburi and Loei to attract the mass-affluent segment, especially younger tourists who prioritise travel experiences. Young mass affluents, mmm.

He said operators have to balance quality and quantity of tourists as supply in the country still needs to be fulfilled, while the domestic market remains vital to sustain the industry. Thailand lackls supply of what exactly?

In addition, operators have to stay agile in order to keep up with rapid changes in Covid-related measures in each country. How do thay do that exactly. Operators have no control over whether a tourist can depart from his country and enter Thailand.

After the country's reopening, the key lesson learned is that all sectors can jointly work together to support tourism recovery by forming partnerships across the ecosystem, said Pipavin Sodprasert, partner at McKinsey & Company's Bangkok office. What????

Apart from the government's stimulus and guidelines on health and safety policies, medium-term support for small and medium-sized enterprises on digitalisation, such as online travel services and digital marketing in the form of a one-stop tourism platform can maximise benefits for the sector. Oh really.

She said data collected from 30 million users of "We Travel Together", a hotel subsidy scheme, has to be effectively analysed to offer personalised tourism products that meet locals' demand and allow stakeholders to connect with the information through an integrated digital ecosystem. If yoiu give Thais a subsidy, they will come - if you don't, not so much - it's not complicated, dear. But I think she's really pitching to get hired to do thousands of chargeable hours going through all that data

In addition, operators have to stay agile in order to keep up with rapid changes in Covid-related measures in each country. Er, yes you already said that and we still don't know what they can actually do about that.

After the country's reopening, the key lesson learned is that all sectors can jointly work together to support tourism recovery by forming partnerships across the ecosystem, said Pipavin Sodprasert, partner at McKinsey & Company's Bangkok office. More meaningless tosh.

Apart from the government's stimulus and guidelines on health and safety policies, medium-term support for small and medium-sized enterprises on digitalisation, such as online travel services and digital marketing in the form of a one-stop tourism platform can maximise benefits for the sector. We already have online travel services, it's called booking.com and agoda - what else can the government do to enhance this exactly?

She said data collected from 30 million users of "We Travel Together", a hotel subsidy scheme, has to be effectively analysed to offer personalised tourism products that meet locals' demand and allow stakeholders to connect with the information through an integrated digital ecosystem. Sorry, I've lost the will to live.

ExPenhMan wrote: ↑Wed Dec 29, 2021 10:17 am LOL. Enjoyed your comments. I think the whole article is a paid ad, or pitch for business, as you point out. It's posted in a different typeface and arranged on the page in a completely non-news way, why, almost like an ad! All it needed was a border and photo of VVIPs gripping some "meaningful" official document and grinning. However, I think McKinsey would be too expensive for these country bumpkins and they'd never understand the results.

And all this management-speak and bullshit-bingo was cobbled together before Omicron had reared its head.

From the current news Omicron ranges from nothing more than a cold for some people to nothing whatsoever for most people. It is kicking Delta into the dust and is now 90% in the UK with a grand total of 407 people in hospital with Omicron (but not necessarily from it, there are incidental findings in that number).

The most dangerous aspect of Omicron is that 75% the population might have it in a week and nobody goes to work for a while. However, we could be out of the woods by the end of January, 2022

Hopefully governments will grow a pair and declare an end to all this nonsense before the public do it for them.

Doc67 wrote: ↑Wed Dec 29, 2021 11:39 am

ExPenhMan wrote: ↑Wed Dec 29, 2021 10:17 am LOL. Enjoyed your comments. I think the whole article is a paid ad, or pitch for business, as you point out. It's posted in a different typeface and arranged on the page in a completely non-news way, why, almost like an ad! All it needed was a border and photo of VVIPs gripping some "meaningful" official document and grinning. However, I think McKinsey would be too expensive for these country bumpkins and they'd never understand the results.

And all this management-speak and bullshit-bingo was cobbled together before Omicron had reared its head.

From the current news Omicron ranges from nothing more than a cold for some people to nothing whatsoever for most people. It is kicking Delta into the dust and is now 90% in the UK with a grand total of 407 people in hospital with Omicron (but not necessarily from it, there are incidental findings in that number).

The most dangerous aspect of Omicron is that 75% the population might have it in a week and nobody goes to work for a while. However, we could be out of the woods by the end of January, 2022

Hopefully governments will grow a pair and declare an end to all this nonsense before the public do it for them.

I'm terrified of agreeing with you, being the superstitious weirdo that I am, but I think you're right. With the rapid spread of omicron and the ever decreasing hospitalisations it seems to be causing makes me more and more confident that we're finally coming to the end to all this at last. It seems to have already got to the point where it is far less dangerous than many other viruses and diseases that are out there, which we don't take any particular precaution over - we just accept that they exist and hope we don't fall prey to them.

It wouldn't be in my pessimistic nature however to leave things like that, so I'll just add that there's always the possibility that omicron just happens to be the current mutation which just happens to be a less severe one, with further mutations to come that might not happen to be quite so forgiving. Just a thought...