Expats in Thailand travel far more than I imagined

Understanding Expats in Thailand is vital to me in the capacity of the MD for Thaivisa.com, they are, after all, our readers. It is quite common therefore to run surveys to build such intelligence and the most recent was with regards to their travel habits.

The feedback from the 325 expat respondents bucked many misconceptions that us expats are a bit tight with our money. To be fair for some time now I have been telling people such stereotypical views were misplaced and, quite frankly, completely wrong. At least now I can back it up with data.

The starting point in the survey was frequency of travel. 48% answered that they traveled four or more times per year, that’s a very healthy number and shows an active group of individuals. The average expat traveling 4.3 times per year.

Compare this to those living in the UK:

Baby boomers take an average of 3.3 trips a year, with each trip averaging 9.4 days.
Generation X take an average of 3.6 trips a year. Each trip averages 7.9 days.
Millennials take an average of 4.2 trips a year and each trip averages 6.7 days.
Generation Z take an average of 2.9 trips a year, with each trip averaging 7.4 days.

(source: tourismupdate.co.za)

Typical Room Rates

With the likes of Agoda and Booking.com making hotel expense far more competitive, it means budgets can lower than perhaps expected. 63% of the sample still spend 1k baht or more on a room, with 36% spending 1.5k baht or more and 1 in 10 will spend more than 3k baht on a room each night.

Flying Frequency

It is so easy to fly places now and air fare need not be expensive. 37% of this expat sample said they take 3 or more domestic flights each year, whilst 60% take at least two domestic flights.

When it came to international flights, 42% said they take more than 3 flights a year – higher than domestic and 61% at least 2 flights.

Again these figures are very healthy and show a travel ethos among expats in Thailand.

Other Information

Some quick footnotes from the survey. 46% travel as a couple. When it came to monthly incomes, 60% have 40k baht or more whilst 1 in 5 have 160k baht or more.

All in all, it was a very useful survey and identified the fact that expats living in Thailand are keen travelers both domestically and internationally.