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From Bloomberg, September 6, 2019: From quiet beaches in Bali to empty rooms in Hanoi’s hotels, pangs from China’s economic malaise and weakening yuan are being felt across Southeast Asia’s vacation belt. A boom in Chinese outbound travel in recent years that stoked tourism across Southeast Asia is now in reverse gear. The abrupt decline of Chinese travelers is becoming a painful lesson for nations such as Thailand and Indonesia that had become overly dependent on Asia’s top economy. “The slump in Chinese arrivals and tourism spending is being felt throughout the region,” said Kampon Adireksombat, Bangkok-based head of economic and financial market research at Siam Commercial Bank Pcl. “There’s always a concentration risk when relying on one market, and many countries may not be able to find a replacement for growth fast enough.” The slump is expected to continue in 2020 if the trade war continues to weigh down the Chinese economy, he said. Rising incomes over the past decade fueled the wanderlust of middle class Chinese consumers, making them the world’s largest outbound travel market, according to a McKinsey report, with the total number of outbound trips more than doubling from 57 million trips in 2010 to 131 million trips in 2017. “Southeast Asia is usually the first destination for Chinese travelers when they opt for farther destinations,” said the report. McKinsey’s 2017 China Outbound Traveler Survey had shown that the highest number of package trips were booked to Southeast Asia. Mandarin-speaking tours, Chinese eateries and Chinese mobile payment services mushroomed from Danang to Yogyakarta, these travelers thronged to Southeast Asian hotspots, lured by their proximity and familiar cuisines. The pullback now threatens the tourism industry with pockets of overcapacity, after companies and local governments doubled down and poured millions of dollars into expanding resorts, hotels and travel facilities. The decline is already showing up in some hotel operators’ results. Thailand’s Central Plaza Hotel Pcl reported a softening of its hotel business in the second quarter due to decreasing Chinese demand, Ronnachit Mahattanapruet, the company’s senior vice president, said at an investor briefing last month. Occupancy in its Thai properties dropped 7% in the quarter, and the Bangkok-based operator has 2,040 rooms in the pipeline to add to its existing portfolio of 6,678 rooms. ‘Unrealistic Expectations’ The Thai capital is also expecting a new Ritz Carlton by 2023 as part of a $3.9 billion development, while Hilton will manage two hotels due for 2022 opening. On Phuket island, a favorite for beachfront weddings and scuba diving, there will be 18% more hotel rooms by 2024, according to consultancy C9 Hotelworks Ltd. International arrivals in Thailand this year so far have grown only 2%, data from Thai tourism ministry show. “The supply was based on people’s unrealistic expectations,” said C9’S managing director Bill Barnett. In Singapore, casino operators Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Genting Singapore Ltd. announced a $9 billion expansion of their resorts earlier this year after the country’s skyline was beamed across cineplexes as the setting of the Hollywood hit “Crazy Rich Asians.” Marriott International Inc. has 140 hotels in the pipeline across the region, with plans to more than triple its portfolio by 2023 in the Philippines, whose white-sand beaches and turquoise waters are such a draw that the island of Boracay had to close last year for upgrades to its sewage system. Thailand - Tourist arrivals from China have declined in five out of seven months in 2019 Indonesia - Mainland Chinese tourists have dropped for six consecutive months through July this year. Share of Chinese nationals among total foreign arrivals fell from 19% in early 2017 to 13% in July 2019 Vietnam - Visitors from China, Hong Kong dropped 3% in the first seven months of 2019, compared to a 34% surge in the same period last year Singapore - Visitors from China dropped month-on-month in March, May and June. The June decrease in Chinese tourists defied an overall pickup in international visitors * Source: Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports, Indonesia’s central statistics agency, Vietnam National Administration of Tourism’s website, Khanh Hoa province’s department of tourism website, Singapore Tourism Board. Enamored with the sights made famous in hit movies such as Summer Holiday -- a 2000 Chinese romantic comedy film set on Malaysia’s palm-fringed Redang Island -- Chinese travelers became the biggest group of visitors to the region, adding $403.7 billion to its gross domestic product in 2019. In Thailand and the Philippines, tourism grew to account for over a fifth of their GDP -- twice the global average. Boom Dissipated The boom dissipated in the first half of this year as China’s economy slowed, its yuan weakened to historically low levels, and an ongoing U.S.-China trade war weighed on consumer confidence. The decline is also affecting China’s economy at home, as big-ticket purchases like cars and luxury goods slow. While China’s domestic problems are key, factors in each Southeast Asian country are compounding the decline. The Thai baht has strengthened the most against the yuan this year among emerging-market currencies, making travel more expensive for Chinese tourists. A boat accident last year that killed 47 Chinese tourists off the island of Phuket also damaged confidence. In Bali, the tourism promotion board’s deputy chairman, Ngurah Wijaya, sees the hotspot as a victim of its own success. “Internal problems like traffic jams are among the main causes of the decline of Chinese tourists,” he said, adding that those who are still coming are staying fewer days and spending less. “It also seems like they have started to get bored with Bali.” Chinese ship Bilateral tensions after a Chinese ship surveyed underwater oil-and-gas blocks claimed by Vietnam in July may have contributed to the decline in tourists from China, said Vietnamtourism-Vitours’ deputy general director Le Tan Thanh Tung. To be sure, not every country is facing a sustained decline. Malaysia’s number of Chinese tourists grew 6.2% in the first half of the year to 1.55 million, according to official data. In the Philippines, tourism infrastructure and facilities are relatively under-developed, so it’s not seeing any pull back in hospitality projects, said Richard Laneda, gaming and property analyst at COL Financial Group Inc. Still, the slowdown in tourism weakens another growth pillar for Southeast Asia at a time when exports are taking a knock from the trade war. The International Monetary Fund in its July outlook pared back its forecast for growth in the region’s top five economies to 5% from 5.1% in its April report, signaling a further slowdown. Countries are now trying to diversify their outreach efforts to lure visitors from other nations. Thailand waived visa fees for Indian tourists earlier this year and airline and hotel operators are trying to boost connections between the two countries. Vietnam, where Chinese tourists accounted for a third of 15 million foreign visitors last year, is setting up tourism promotion offices in the U.K. and Australia, while direct flights between India and Vietnam are being planned for October. But in the short to medium term at least, the hole left behind by Chinese travelers seems too large to fill. “Chinese tourists are the largest group of visitors by numbers,” said the Bali Promotion Board’s Wijaya. “Even the rise in holiday makers from other countries cannot compensate for their absence.”

I hesitate to call this a trip report as it's much less detailed than many, but here are my observations from a trip to Pattaya earlier in May. Typically I only frequent gogo bars - massage is not generally my thing (I'll make an exception for a stunner), and host bars are usually a last resort. I spent a week in Hua Hin, one of my favourite places to unwind, before hitting Pattaya for 10 days. The transfer was hellish, for some reason known only to herself the driver decided a route via central Bangkok was best. The motorways were gridlocked on a Friday afternoon, so instead of the usual 5 hours the journey took 7.5 hours. It will be the ferry next time for sure. In Pattaya, Boyztown was subdued with very few customers in the outside bars. Panoroma in particular was very quiet, Castro and Serene seemed to be busier. A-Bomb, one of my regular bars, was closed for a long overdue refurbishment. I was disappointed as I'd been hoping to find a lad from my last visit. I found the A-Bomb barman working as a waiter in Dreamboys, along with several of the A-bomb lads. The waiter explained a couple of other A-bomb boys were working at Cupidol, including the lad I was looking for. He headed over to Cupidol, and brought my lad over to Dreamsboys for me. Now there's good service! I caught the Dreamboys first show, which is pretty much a copy of X-Boys and BBB minus the Bboys dancers. They started with a candle show, which I thought was extinct in Thailand. The candle boy was not really my type, pleasant looking but not a stunner, but as I watched he grew on me - the waiter helpfully explained he was "number 1 big cock" in the bar. However, it was his big chunky ass that capitvated me, especially when I saw him naked later during the big cock show. The waiter was talking about a 700 Baht off fee for the show boys, plus tips of "2000 Baht up", so I didn't off him. Later in the trip I saw the Dreamboys 2nd show, they seemed to have many more boys in the big cock show who I hadn't seen previously in the bar. It was fun. I spotted an exceptionally handsome older guy who I'd offed years ago - frustratingly I couldn't remember from where. It must have been BBB, or Dreamsboys in Bangkok, I think. I had a quick grope for 100 Baht. It was pity this was my last night and I already had a boy from Dreamboys sat with me. X-Boys had a good selection of boys. I always find the staff here a bit odd, other than asking if you want to off anyone they don't seem to want to engage or help you choose a boy as they do in other bars. Maybe their English is not up to a conversation. I did off a good looking lad, I wasn't sure he was gay when I saw him on stage but he soon convinced me he was. He'd already had a few drinks, and was in fact slightly drunk. This didn't really affect his performance. in Cupidol, other than my former A-Bomb guy who I offed a couple of times, I didn't find any boys my type - but then I rarely do. I ventured into BBB several times. I'm not a fan of the way the boys are generally fully dressed. The muscular ones who do take their tops off invariably have an unimaginative tattoo in the style of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, across one pec and a half-sleeve down the arm. Twice I offed one of my regulars, a cute gay lad from Chiang Mai with an unexpectedly large cock. One evening when he wasn't there, one of the muscular guys caught my attention. He's cute but distinctive looking with a great body. He was from Cambodia, which surprised me given his build. When he worked out what I liked (which is not difficult, I'm easily pleased), he was quite the dirty devil in bed. Unfortunately his cock, while looking good when soft, never got even slightly hard and was so pumped full of fillers and silicone it was quite off putting. After my usual short time I gave him 1500 Baht. He looked at it pretty disdainfully and asked for another 500 Baht. He hadn't mentioned it earlier in the bar, but I reckoned he probably thinks of himself as one of the stars in the bar and deserving of a minimum 2000 Baht. I gave him the extra 500 without any argument as I don't want any bad feeling. I made a mental note to check prices with "star" boys in future. I don't normally discuss tips in the bar, and rarely have a problem like this - it's happened 3 times in 20 years. With the 1200 Baht charge to the bar (2 drinks at 350 plus 500 off fee), it made for quite an expensive evening. He won't be joining my list of regulars. Toy Boys is the best run bar in Boyztown. My regular waiter knows what I like and works hard to find a suitable boy for me. I offed two boys from here - one was a sightly older guy with a great body I'd offed previously. He's straight but does everything. The other was a newly arrived young lad, straight but cute as a button. He was pretty useless in bed however, lying there like a sack of potatoes. I ventured over to Sunee once when inspiration in Boyztown was lacking. Sunee is a shadow of it's former self of course, with many bars closed and those that were open had very few if any customers. I went directly to Winner, in the hope of finding a boy from my last trip in February. He was new then, and unlike the typical Winner boy he's compact and muscular. I was slightly surprised to see him still working in the bar, he didn't really seem cut out for it. He remembered me and was pleased to see me. He'd grown in confidence and his English had improved, so he was a chatty companion. He was below average in bed, but I knew that anyway, and I find him attractive enough not to mind. Overall my tally in the gogo bars was 4 new boys and 6 repeats from previous trips. Next time I'll be on the lookout for more new boys - I'll aim for a 50:50 ratio.

Opening of a new Gay massage parlour in Cha am near Hua Hin M- Man Massage guy https://www.facebook.com/oyc3774h/

In my January Trip to Thailand, I spent some time in Hua Hin. I wrote a bit of a report about it for the other gay board. I usually post there, but as I have got useful information on this board in the past too, and there doesnt seem to be much info on this board on Hua Hin, I thought I would do a cross posting here. I will write about my getting there in this post. I will add a bit about a day trip I took while I was there and the nightlife in another post. Getting there - On the ferry from Pattaya to Hua Hin Several times in my previous trips to Thailand I had meant to get to Hua Hin. But I never quite managed it. As the new ferry service from Pattaya to Hua Hin had come into being since the last time I travelled to Thailand, I decided that this trip I definitely would go in the new ferry. I bought the ticket at their offices in Bali Hai pier a few days before sailing. I nearly came a cropper a that point actually as I hadn’t thought bring my passport which you need to book a ticket, but luckily after a bit of begging the saleswoman accepted the photocopy of my passport I had instead. There was a choice of an ordinary ticket for about 1200 baht or a VIP ticket for about 1500. A VIP ticket means that you are allocated a larger seat in the upstairs deck and get a snack. Sailing time was 10 in the morning but I was told to be at the pier at 9 o’clock. I turned up by five past nine - was not sure what you need it all this time for but I thought I had better. As it happened I think if you had turned up by 9.30 it would be plenty of time. The ferry left as scheduled at 10 o’clock. It was meant to take two hours, and as it got into Hua Hin around 12.20 it was pretty much on time. One thing to note, if you are booking. I was allocated a seat on the left hand side of the vessel but as that side is facing south on the way to Hua Hin and I was beside the window the sun was beating down right on the side of my head. Luckily as the upstairs deck was only two-thirds full on my trip, so I was able to move seats once we were underway but in case it is full I suggest asking for seat on the right hand side of the boat, when heading to Hua Hin. The pier the ferry arrives at in Hua Hin is about 5 miles south of the town. Once the ferry got in there was a bunch of songthaws there. Basically what happened was they asked where you’re going and you are more or less unceremoniously dumped into a songthaw with people going to hotels near you and charged 300 bat for the privilege. Some British guys baulked at the price and were just left there beside the pier. I don’t know how they got to town after. I am sure if you have Uber you can make your own arrangements. The Baan Manthana Hotel I stayed at the Baan Manthana hotel in town. This was about 15 minute walk from the beach and about the same from the main gay bar. It was a cheap and cheerful option but the room was clean and it had a pool.

Has anyone stayed in Hua Hin recently? I have a friend that has just returned (not gay so no good info) that says it's a great place. Good food, clean beaches not as tourisy as Pattaya ( ie no touts for massage etc) I can only see a couple of gay bars (old info). Whats a good area to look for accommodation? Any recommendations? Anyone had luck on hornet etc? I might like a couple of nights there next trip. Near the beach and gay bar if possible