I was just wondering if the recession has had a big impact on the tourist trade. Are the numbers down? are the prices reflecting this?

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Kiss
God laughs at people who make plans.

In classic Thai thinking, it seems that the tourism related businesses has increased their pricing to take up the slack!

It's hard to get an accurate picture, some reports say that numbers are way down and hotels are half empty, other reports say things are booming. I don't really know.

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The Truly Wise Man Never Plays Leapfrog With A Unicorn

Curts reply made sense as they tend to do that type of thing.

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Kiss
God laughs at people who make plans.

Official figures from Asia Travel News suggest that on a year-by-year comparison, from October 2008 to October 2009, visitor arrivals were down by 16.5%.

However, as Curt correctly points out, many Thai hotels and tourism operators have INCREASED their prices despite the sharp decline in demand.

Never try to put Western logic into the mix with a Thai mind - they are two completely different and separate entities.

Prebookings were way down, which has led to a decrease (believe it or not) in prices. That seems to be attracting more low budget tourists, who are not spending outside of the hotels, and nothing extra's in the hotels as well.

So all in all it looks quite full, but income is way down.

That is my perspective from Kata, Phuket.

Yes, there has been a decline in the upmarket tourists in recent years, and an increase in the low-budget people. I think the upmarket/5-star tourists have grown disappointed with many sub-standard aspects of tourism in Thailand. Many tourists from Samui for instance say they love the resorts but hate it when they walk out on the streets and get dogshit on their shoes and fall down holes in the street and get knocked aside by motorcycles.

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The Truly Wise Man Never Plays Leapfrog With A Unicorn

Funny thing

Visiting Thailand, and living here off and on, I have never stepped in dog ****. Spent 5 days in spotless Singapore, and stepped in it twice!

It has affected Thailand. The whole world is affected. So tourisms affected.

Interestingly today I received an email from Agoda whom I normally use to book my accommodation in Asia. At this time of the year there are usually no specials for the obvious reason . . . holidays.

However, this email from Agoda listed premium hotels in Bangkok, Phuket, and other places with up to 50% off, the average being 33%.

At this time of they year, I have never seen price discounting like that, so that tells me that bookings must be way, way down.

These prices are good from now to March in most instances.
Some examples: Millennium Hilton Bangkok from $US151 to $98. Chatrium Residence from $US72 to $43. Phuket Millennium 29% off. Pattaya Marriott $US149 to $104.

Have a look:
Agoda.com