NOTE --  The article goes on to describe the financial boom gay travelers bring to the country but of course omits reasons majority of readers here keep returning.

========

From The Nation

Thailand’s LGBTQIA+ community is fast becoming an economic force to be reckoned with, with a new study projecting a 152 billion baht boost to the nation’s GDP this year, fuelled by local spending and a surge in LGBTQIA+ tourism.

According to research from Mahidol University’s College of Management (CMMU), more than 5.9 million LGBTQIA+ persons, around 9% of Thailand’s population, are driving a new wave of economic growth.

expected to welcome four million LGBTQIA+ tourists, contributing significantly to the economy and raising GDP by 0.3%. With Thailand ranked among the most LGBTQIA+ friendly destinations globally, this figure is set to rise even further.

Continues at

https://www.nationthailand.com/news/general/40049355

 

That's fabulous - Land of smiles, fun and beautiful people......I love it so much 🥰💖🥰💖🥰

7 hours ago, reader said:

NOTE --  The article goes on to describe the financial boom gay travelers bring to the country but of course omits reasons majority of readers here keep returning.

 

 

yes , markets , temples and museums

Boom! Boom!

Funny that the headline mentions overseas tourists but the study describes nothing about them. Only the sub-heading mentions a total estimated tourist spend. Before we get carried away, let's realise that that article is almost all specifically related to Thais. For example -

 1. How many overseas couples would plan to have a wedding with between 50 and 100 guests in Thailand? A handful perhaps?

2. Annual travel budgets of Bt. 20,000 - 30,000? That wouldn't even get more than a tiny fraction of couples into the country let alone spending anything here.

3. Roughly 45% plan to buy houses. Foreigners cannot!

4. 86% will seek mortgages. Foreigners cannot! 

5. Half plan to spend Bt. 20,000 - 30,000 on annual health insurance. Good luck on foreigners finding rates that low!

5. 77% of lesbians spend between Bt. 2,000 and 5,000 per month on dates. How many gay foreigners get away with anything like as low as that in a month? A couple of nights maybe!

6 hours ago, PeterRS said:

Funny that the headline mentions overseas tourists but the study describes nothing about them. Only the sub-heading mentions a total estimated tourist spend. Before we get carried away, let's realise that that article is almost all specifically related to Thais.

Agree. The "research" may be accurate when applied to locals but the key benefit it's describing is foreign currencies that come from tourists and expats who are arriving for reasons not cited above.

The powers to be have obviously been scanning these pages and calculated the future growth based on all the @Olddaddy pending business ventures!

12 hours ago, PeterRS said:

 

 1. How many overseas couples would plan to have a wedding with between 50 and 100 guests in Thailand? A handful perhaps?

 

I read somewhere that Indians  find good value in organizing their lavish weddings there. It may be some truth in that as last year I spent only few days in Pattaya and saw two big and boisterous Indian  wedding receptions in Beach Road hotels .