Happier Abroad Forum Community

Since we're all debating how much each Asian country has been affected by tourism, I've decided to do some calculations from published statistical figures.

Here are 2013 international tourism arrival statistics for all the major East Asian countries. ranked according to the number of 2013 arrivals.

Thailand: 26,546,725 (7,396,297 from ASEAN countries; 1,106,080 from Laos; 468,366 from Cambodia; 24,972,279 without Laos and Cambodia)
China: 26,290,300 (excluding Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan)
Malaysia: 25,720,000 (2012 statistics; 13,010,000 from Singapore; 2,380,000 from Indonesia; 10,330,000 without Singapore and Indonesia)
Singapore: 15,567,923 (1,280,942 from Malaysia; 3,088,859 from Indonesia; 11,198,122 excluding Malaysia and Indonesia)
South Korea: 12,175,550
Japan: 10,363,904
Indonesia: 8,802,129 (3 million are from neighboring Malaysia (1,565,478) and Singapore (1,335,531), leaving 5,901,120 "visible" tourists)
Vietnam: 7,572,352 (1,907,794 from China, but I haven't excluded China since they're making a real impact in Vietnam)
Taiwan: 5,479,099 (for pleasure; 927,262 for business; 8,016,280 total)
Philippines: 4,681,307
Cambodia: 4,210,165 (1,831,507 from ASEAN countries; 854,104 from Vietnam; 414,531 from Laos; 2,941,530 without Vietnam and Laos)
Laos: 3,779,490 (2,059,434 from Thailand; 910,164 from Vietnam; 245,033 from China; all the rest: 564,859)
Burma: 2,044,307


So I excluded culturally similar neighboring countries, depending on the situation, and divided the "net" annual tourist arrivals by the total population of the country. For Thailand, this would mean that these "net" tourist arrivals in 2013 would be equivalent to 38.74% of the Thai population.

1. Singapore: 208.67% (Major transit point and employment destination)
2. Thailand: 38.74%
3. Malaysia: 35.57%
4. South Korea: 24.24%
5. Taiwan: 23.64%
6. Cambodia: 19.28%
7. Laos: 8.86%
8. Vietnam: 8.38%
9. Japan: 8.10%
10. Philippines: 4.88%
11. Burma: 3.21%
12. Indonesia: 2.41%
13. China: 1.96%

I guess Thailand is swamped with tourists as it is, but I am considering living in Thailand. Singapore is notorious for being a feminist shithole.

Awesome i was right indonesia is the next sexpat destination. Ill be ther ein 5 years though probably after will n dowd has had his way with every woman.

you forgot one stat, how long tourists are there.

Example philippines only has 4 percent but alot of guys are living there for years. so 4 percent is more like 40 percent because these sexpats like will n dowd are screwing 50 women a year. Alot more damage than some rockstar guy going through bali indonesia as a 2 week millionaire.


Thailand same thing.


Indonesia, vietnam, etc a lot of those guys are passing through on their way to thailand or back home its not easy staying long term. Even thailand is now restricting stays so you need a tourist visa for 9 months cause the days of getting on a bus for one day every 1 or 2 months are over now you have to fly out.

These are tourist arrivals, not long-term residencies.

The average stay in all of these countries would be 1-2 weeks.

but thats my point long term stays is what counts. PHilipines has koreans that live there for schooling and americans for sexpatting like will n dowd. The weekend warriors are harmless they mostly stick to bargirls and the lowest of the fruit on the dating site. b ut with such short stays they can't rack up the numbers too high.

Same in thailand for sexpats or backpacker hippy types.

There aint none of that in indonesia, malaysian, vietnam. Those guys are either teaching english or constantly coming and going out of the country to keep their visa going. Im not sure how you do it falcon seems like indonesia is hard to stay longer than 30 days at a time?

newlifeinphilippines wrote:you forgot one stat, how long tourists are there.

Example philippines only has 4 percent but alot of guys are living there for years. so 4 percent is more like 40 percent because these sexpats like will n dowd are screwing 50 women a year. Alot more damage than some rockstar guy going through bali indonesia as a 2 week millionaire.


Thailand same thing.


Indonesia, vietnam, etc a lot of those guys are passing through on their way to thailand or back home its not easy staying long term. Even thailand is now restricting stays so you need a tourist visa for 9 months cause the days of getting on a bus for one day every 1 or 2 months are over now you have to fly out.

interesting thread, Falcon.

bang on about how Philippines 4% punches above it's weight, Newlife. All those US service men that were there for years.

Guys, the point here is the overall tourism trend. These are short-term tourist arrivals. Every country has long-term residents, and they wouldn't be counted in the short-term tourist arrival counts if they're on an education, work, investment, or other kind of non-holiday visa.

I'm not talking about bar girl cities. Most of the Philippines is an entire world away from bar girl cities. These long-term sexpats nearly all stick to a few select places. If you often step outside the foreigner comfort zones, you'll have no reason to worry about these issues.

If you venture out into the Filipino countryside, you'll find that foreigners are very rare. I was in the rural Visayas and only saw a few white guys here and there. Everyone would turn their heads when they saw one.

Falcon wrote:Guys, the point here is the overall tourism trend. These are short-term tourist arrivals. Every country has long-term residents, and they wouldn't be counted in the short-term tourist arrival counts if they're on an education, work, investment, or other kind of non-holiday visa.

I'm not talking about bar girl cities. Most of the Philippines is an entire world away from bar girl cities. These long-term sexpats nearly all stick to a few select places. If you often step outside the foreigner comfort zones, you'll have no reason to worry about these issues.

If you venture out into the Filipino countryside, you'll find that foreigners are very rare. I was in the rural Visayas and only saw a few white guys here and there. Everyone would turn their heads when they saw one.

yeah but most of us stick to cities for convenience especially with online dating. no one wants to go head off to the province for some girl they only talked to online. that may be your thing but its not mine. so ill stick with my theory that philippines is overinflated due to the huge amount of will n dowd sexpats racking up huge numbers of women.

newlifeinphilippines wrote:yeah but most of us stick to cities for convenience especially with online dating. no one wants to go head off to the province for some girl they only talked to online. that may be your thing but its not mine. so ill stick with my theory that philippines is overinflated due to the huge amount of will n dowd sexpats racking up huge numbers of women.

Where are you mostly based? You're describing only Angeles City, and very small areas of Manila and Cebu City. You can walk around many parts of Manila for hours and not see a single foreigner among huge crowds of Filipinos.

I was in Manila and the provinces to experience the culture. I was always fascinated by the local history, language, landscape, traditions, music, cuisine, and so on. Girls were just something of a side effect of my solo adventures. I met many potential dates through ordinary day-to-day interactions. Trust me, you'll find life a lot more rewarding if you do things like this. This is what Everdred and many other happy forum members do. Because of this, they find that not only are their lives are very satisfying, but they can also enrich others' lives as well.

Falcon wrote:

newlifeinphilippines wrote:yeah but most of us stick to cities for convenience especially with online dating. no one wants to go head off to the province for some girl they only talked to online. that may be your thing but its not mine. so ill stick with my theory that philippines is overinflated due to the huge amount of will n dowd sexpats racking up huge numbers of women.

Where are you mostly based? You're describing only Angeles City, and very small areas of Manila and Cebu City. You can walk around many parts of Manila for hours and not see a single foreigner among huge crowds of Filipinos.

I was in Manila and the provinces to experience the culture. I was always fascinated by the local history, language, landscape, traditions, music, cuisine, and so on. Girls were just something of a side effect of my solo adventures. I met many potential dates through ordinary day-to-day interactions. Trust me, you'll find life a lot more rewarding if you do things like this. This is what Everdred and many other happy forum members do. Because of this, they find that not only are their lives are very satisfying, but they can also enrich others' lives as well.

waste of money i have a residence (hotel) if i move around it will cost lots of money and the location im at is probably 2 to 3 times cheaper than a daily rate at most hotels. plus i have a day job all day every day so i can't be prancing around from hotel to hotel or location to location unless its for a very brief time (like visiting country for the first time ever). i wonder if your a trust fund baby lol