Thai Tourism: On Its Way to a Full Recovery - But Is That a Good Thing? [S6.E61]

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Greg and Ed discuss the current state of Thai tourism and whether
the recovery is behind or ahead of predictions. Ed begins by
citing a chart for the last full pre-COVID year of 2019, when
Thailand came very close to having 40 million foreign tourists.
Shockingly, that number went to nearly zero in 2020 and 2021, and
the recovery began slowly in 2022. So where are we now? Well, in
short, the prediction is that 2023 will see about 25 million
tourists, roughly 60% of pre-COVID numbers. 


The guys admit this is probably ahead of schedule, given previous
expectations, and do their best to explain what's going on. Ed
notes that there are thousands of Russians and Ukrainians fleeing
the war, which has probably boosted numbers somewhat. He even
reads an article about the exploding real estate prices in
Phuket, due to the influx of Russians with money. Greg then
reviews the up and down nature of Chinese tourism, which has
recently jumped due to relaxed visa restrictions. Regardless of
the reasons though, the current outlook for Thai tourism is a
rosy one.


Greg then raises the important question of overall tourism
numbers, and whether that really should be the goal anyway.
"Overtourism" has been an issue raised on the show several times
before, and unfortunately it seems as if the Tourism Authority of
Thailand is still focused on total numbers, to the detriment of
other issues such as the quality of the experience and potential
harm to infrastructure and the Thai environment. The guys finish
with a bat signal to Stuart of Travelfish to come back on the
show and give us his take. Or should it be a fish signal? Either
way, we need Stuart! 


*This is not even remotely true


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