THAILAND must focus on attracting quality tourists instead of the mass market or risk straining the country’s infrastructure to breaking point, said the permanent tourism and sports secretary.
Suwat Sidthilaw said that an arrival growth rate of around three per cent would be more sustainable in the long term than the current 20 per cent.
“Income is more important than numbers,” he said. “That means (attracting) quality tourists should play a key part in our strategy.”
“Ideally we don’t want more than 20 to 25 million tourists (annually). We only have limited resources and we are already facing infrastructure and capacity problems.”
Suwat, who opposes the current proposal to waive visa requirements for Chinese tourists, said Thailand started experiencing problems when visitor numbers exceeded 20 million last year. The country received 21.7 million tourists from January to October, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand, and is targeting 28 million international tourists next year up from 22.3 million in 2012.
“We don’t have enough buses, guides or hotels. Hotels are not happy with the situation. Tour operators are (the only people) really benefiting,” said Suwat.
Thailand’s hotel market is struggling to keep up with the demand for low to midscale accommodation, as over 70 per cent of properties coming up in the next few years are in the upscale segment, according to STR Global.
Jesper Blomqvist, Asia-Pacific area director at STR Global, said: “There are not enough mid-scale hotels coming in to meet demand…Where are the mass tourists going to stay?”
