Post Covid ecomony

[tamada]

Catching a cold? Nonsense. Hospitals are full and health systems are really struggling. The numbers of those with Long Covid continue to climb. This is likely to be so for years. Many many people are not receiving the medical treatment they would otherwise receive if health systems weren't under Covid pressure. The virus continues to evolve. Covid remains a public health disaster.

Love to know the statistics for those hospitalised, and/or dying from colds.

Can you point the way, 93?

Yes, I saw them just after I posted. I read three times as many people in NZ were in hospital from the flu as from Covid. I think that statistic is misleading as to the havoc Covid is causing.

There are calls that NZ should currently go to its highest alert level for Covid. Older people currently tend to wear masks but young people don't. I think the government sees people as simply too unco-operative now to reintroduce compulsory masking in more settings. The deaths will continue. The huge amount of lost work time will continue. The impact of Long Covid will grow.

When I walk past a cafe or restaurant, I think people are mad to be in there. Particularly older folks. I'm not going to sit in a cafe or a restaurant for the next month while, I think it's called the BA 5 variant, sweeps through the country.

It's hell playing catch-up isn't it?

Could be worse, could be Hong Kong or even China.

[papafarang]

Tickets from LHR to BKK hovering around £2000 ,cheapest £1300 via Warsaw - Delhi - Bangkok. You wouldn't want to be a family of 4 doing that holiday.

[tamada]

<double post>

[tamada]

There seems to be a lot of noise about steep one-way fares to Bangkok THIS month.

A few months back, ticket prices for THIS month were average. This spike maybe because a lot of people were triggered by the dropping of the Thailand Pass nonsense 10 days ago which left it too late to try and get away cheaply at short notice. Obviously, working from home allows one to take holidays at the drop of a hat!

Looking at air fares in September onward, they are dropping to seasonal norms. However, one-way tickets are back to the highs last seen maybe eight years ago and well before Covid. I guess airlines are hell-bent on getting travelers bums on their seats for BOTH legs of their summer holiday, like the old days. They desperately need the revenue. No more cherry picking cheap one-way flights unless your want to ride the Scoot bus to/from LGW.

Looking at round-trip travel starting out from UK end of July, the fares are a bit above seasonal average but last Wednesday I saw £659 o/w and £1389 r/t LHR-BKK being quoted by Turkish who have two flights/day via IST with decent layovers but that's been hoovered up already. More recently, Sri Lankan are below a thoosan poon o/w but there's a long layover in Colombo.

[samster]

Just booked my next trip back to UK in September on my preferred airline. Economy was c£900 return. Could have done it £200 cheaper with an extra 2 hours on the journey. Business was around £2600. Normally it would have cost around £500 and £2k respectively.

[pipoz4444]

International flight prices to and from Bangkok, have gone up from the pre Covid days of 2019. I would say they have risen by about 25% for Economy tickets and about 60% for Business class tickets from the ME to Bangkok.

Plus flights are longer due to lengthier stop overs. What was once a 7 hour flight to Bangkok is now a 13 plus hours flight including its stopover time. Same on the way back. An Economy ticket is now USD 1,000 from KSA to Bangkok (Return), whereas pre Covid days, it was only USD 800 (Return). Nevertheless, I am on my way next month, to Bangers


But great news, it is good value for money, once you arrive back to Thailand

pipoz4444

[pipoz4444]

Didn't want to start a new thread

Top 10 Countries with the Highest Inflation Rates (Trading Economics Jan 2022)
Venezuela — 1198.0%
Sudan — 340.0%
Lebanon — 201.0%
Syria — 139.0%
Suriname — 63.3%
Zimbabwe — 60.7%
Argentina — 51.2%
Turkey — 36.1%
Iran — 35.2%
Ethiopia — 33.0%

Top 10 Countries with the Lowest Inflation Rates (Trading Economics Jan 2022)
Rwanda — -2.0%
Chad — -0.5%
Maldives — -0.2%
Gabon — 0.6% (tie)
Japan — 0.6% (tie)
Bahrain — 0.7%
Fiji — 0.8%
Vanuatu — 0.9% (tie)
Bolivia — 0.9% (tie)
Saudi Arabia — 1.1%

https://worldpopulationreview.com/count ... by-country

[FrazeeDK]

data from January 2022? I would think all of it has changed drastically since then.

[parrot]

Maybe more apropos to the folks reading this forum:
(Numbers from June/July timeframe.....Forbes)
US 8.5
UK 10.1
Canada 7.6
Japan 2.6
Aus 6.1
Swiss 3.4
Thai 5.3

[pipoz4444]

Unfortunately, it is still a long way to go before the money from Tourism starts pouring back in, like the old days and I know this issue has been flogged to death, in other posts.

The Thai Tourist Numbers - Total for 2022 was less than that in 2005?

The numbers of Tourists are one thing as is the forecast / hope of an increase in tourist numbers from, countries such as Russia and India and particularly China, and this may well happen down the track.

What is more important is how much each nationality actually spends, when in country, thereby directly contributing to the recovery of the tourism industry, those other industries that support it and especially the Thai people that solely rely on it. Bigger tourist numbers from certain countries, don't necessarily feed the mouths of those Thai people that need it most.

One can only hope that the current monthly Tourist numbers, don't completely drop of the cliff over during the coming months from March to September, so that those businesses that did manage to restart, survive until the end of 2023 when the peak numbers kick off again.

I know it will vary depending on where one goes, what one likes to do or how to love, but I am curious as to much the average Tourists say from the WEST/NORTH/SOUTH (i.e. the Americas, Europe + UK, Australia) vs from RUSSIA vs from adjacent ASIAN COUNTRIES (such as China or India) vs from SOUTH AMERICAS, vs from MORE WEALTHY ASIAN COUNTRIES (i.e. Koreas, Japan & Singapore)

I would suspect those from the WEST/NORTH/SOUTH would spend on average USD 225 plus per day (on Food Drink, Entertainment, Accommodation & Transport) and also spend it for a longer period of stay, probably because they travel further, are likely to get more paid holidays from their Employer and tend to spend as individuals or pairs, and not as groups on tour. Will include the Russians in this bracket as well as the tend to spend a lot on entertainment & drink, at least the ones I know do.

Extract: THE TOURISM Authority of Thailand (TAT) said altogether 913,013 foreign tourists came to the country the first 15 days of 2023 with Russians topping the list followed by Malaysians, South Koreans, Indians and Laotians, Matichon newspaper said today (Jan. 19).

TAT Governor Yuthasak Supasorn revealed that during Jan. 1-15 there were 99,593 Russians arrivals followed by 89,461 Malaysians, 76,057 South Koreans, 47,471 Indians and 41,863 Laotians. Just on Jan. 14 altogether 58,528 foreign tourists arrived.

LINK: https://thainewsroom.com/2023/01/19/ove ... -1-15-tat/

pipoz4444

[rick]

I wonder how many Russians left? I think many intend staying a while.

[Earnest]

I recall being crushed by hordes of Russians in immigration queues when I used to leave Swampy for LHR on EVA...but that was before my agoraphobia developed.
I bet it's dead easy to swan through the airport now the Russian tourists don't fly out at the same time. Lord, I haven't been back for ages.

[tamada]

I wonder how many Russians left? I think many intend staying a while.

According to @Potamoi, on his recent soiree in Phuket, his working knowledge of Russian and Arabic served him well.