Originally Posted by
panama hat
Having worked for TTA, STB, TM (now MoT), Thailand still has an enormous advantage over all of its neighbours and countries like Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambo, PIs, Indon - no-one can catch up let alone beat Thailand in the tourism arrivals and dollar stakes.
Double-pricing structures exist in most countries, here in NZ as well, and the total dollar amount spent in Thailand is still quite small when compared to Spain, Portugal, Greece, France etc... A few hundred baht entry fee, or whatever they want to call it, will not deter people from flying ten hours to enjoy what the country has to offer.
Cambodia is seen as being Angkor Wat
Malaysia is seen as being Sabah/Sarawak and KL shopping
Indon is seen as . . . not much
The PIs are seen as having a few beautiful places but the infrastructure and political crap is obvious - plus it's a few hours more flying
Vietnam . . . not really on the tourist map yet
Myanmar is for intrepid explorers
Singapore - three days stay and a hub to elsewhere.
That's the competition. Thailand wins