Still a Buyer’s Market in Thailand
June 22nd, 2009 Posted in Cheap Asia Travel, Destination reports, Travel bargains, Vacation deals
According to the official stats, arrivals were way down in May at Thailand’s airports compared to last year. Declines in passengers averaged 17% across the board, with traffic down 22% at the Bangkok international airport and international arrivals were down 30% at Chiang Mai’s airport. Here’s a full rundown on the stats.
Of course readers of the book Make Your Travel Dollars Worth a Fortune know what this means: a great opportunity for the contrarian travelers out there who know how to read a map and do their homework on the international news front. Taking advantage of opportunities that land in your lap is one of the cornerstones of traveling well for less. When everyone is taking the left fork in the road—or in this case just sitting on a bench—taking the opposite path will pay off bigtime.
Flights to Bangkok are running at rates we haven’t seen for years and since that’s a hub for most of the rest of Asia, this is a great opportunity to jump off to a long Southeast Asia jaunt or a trip around the world for less. Thailand is very dependent on tourism, so this means cheaper hotels around the country as well, whether it’s a beach resort in Phuket, a cheap guesthouse in Chiang Mai, or a great hotel that should cost $150 going for half that in Bangkok. Thailand was already one of the world’s cheapest destinations before all this happened, so it’s an even better deal now.
To get your bearings and find great places to stay that are not listed in the LP guidebook everyone is carrying around, check out Travelfish.org.
4 Responses to “Still a Buyer’s Market in Thailand”
By Ben on Jun 23, 2009
Was thinking of heading out to Thailand in a few months but been put off by the potential rainfall, what do you reckon?
By tim on Jun 23, 2009
When one side of Thailand is rainy, the other side is not. It’s easy to get away from a drenching. Most of the guidebooks give a rundown on when it’s dry where.
By Beijinger on Jun 28, 2009
Well , this is truly beneficial comments . Is Thailand really such a rainy ? The weather of Thailand is uncertain ? Is that true ?but as far as I know , it does have a good air condition .Seemingly I heard it wrong …
By Ben on Jun 29, 2009
Yeah, i’d been looking at travefish.org before about the weather. Had started to sway towards the Philippines as the weather seemed better. I remember from your book that you weren’t too keen on it.