madmitch

As most places in Thailand are not even geared up for contactless card payments I can't see this initiative being too successful.

Have you ever flown Ryanair, Easyjet or any budget carrier in Europe? They are much worse than the Asian equivalents. In fact many major airlines are also following this model now.

Soi 3 to Soi 39;is nowhere near 5 km, though it might seem it when stuck in traffic!

If you try and insurance scam you should read the policy. No way would this be covered!

I don't believe this story...yesterday I read that Thailand was the safest country in the world for tourists😕

The exact numbers always amuse me with their projections. Anywhere else they'd say approximately 200,000 tourists generating close to 3 billion baht. But, of course, the TAT calculator is famous for its magical figures!

The hyperbole in that article almost makes me want to vomit.

Didn't they announce new alcohol control laws earlier in the week? Now here's a second batch. Why not do it all in one go?

But remember only to buy if you've encountered a two headed snake, survived an horrendous car crash or a fortune teller has told you you're due for some good luck!

I really don't believe that the number of pedestrian deaths is as low as 500 per year, considering the overall death toll on the roads is close to 20,000.

This is no surprise. Had they properly controlled the number of shops opening and enforced the laws regarding public smoking from the start, this might not have happened. I still have no idea how most of these shops made any money as they were mainly devoid of customers.

Great initiative from TAT. I wonder why it hasn't been thought of before😁. They need to look at the products offered elsewhere: beaches with pedestrianised promenades toilets and showers, no noisy jetskis, parasailers etc, no dogs roaming, no pot smokers. It makes for a far better beach experience.

They only ever state how the THB is faring against the USD, a currency that is less relevant now than it's been in years. What's the forecast against the Euro, CNY and other major world currencies?

They've recently introduced an ETA. Isn't this process supposed to screen for undesirables?

There are thousands of rich retirees in Thailand. It's not all about living cheaply. Have you seen some of the villas and yachts owned by some of the expats?

If you're happy with this lifestyle then fine; you can live comfortably. But many expats require much more than this, such as all their old home comforts, and that's become much more difficult on that amount. I gave up my retirement visa nearly four years ago and am now working back in the UK paying the odd visit to Thailand. I think it suits me better. But we are all different with different needs and different levels of wealth. So difficult to generalise on this subject.

Why repeat the story published a few days ago and attracting exactly the same comments?

At the moment it's a draft regulation (no pun intended). Who knows what it will look like when it finally gets through parliament. Good news but not a done deal yet,

15 minutes of fame? During COVID Dr Yong was in the press every day! He was more recognisable than a Thai soap opera star!

Probably a personal accident policy at that price with minimal cover. The usual criticism of insurance policies here, most of it completely unfounded in the era of consumer duty. Today's policies use quite simple language and are set out in an understandable manner in many countries, including UK. And insurers do not deny legitimate claims. But you get what you pay for. A cheap policy will give less cover than a more expensive one.

There's no link to the original article this refers to, which Richard Barrow posted on Facebook this week. Many of the comments on the post mirrored those here. The article was a mix of truth, personal comment and exaggeration, the latter including the complaint about air fares from the USA rising from $300 to $1200 and a meal for two costing 7000 baht. Thailand is more expensive now but still much better value than many countries in Europe and North America.

It really is about time they changed the law on this. Allow work permits for foreign guides who speak certain languages with the condition they work with a Thai guide, for example. Thai gets paid for not doing much, your group gets a guide that they understand, and that understands them!

Havn't they noticed that tourist numbers drop from the end of March onwards, and this has been the case since I first got involved in the touist business over 20 years ago! Yet every year they blurt out the same old mantra.

Amazing. This was announced a while ago on this site and all the same comments are appearing as they were back then. It brings Thailand into line with other countries in the region and it ts hardly an imposition and I doubt it will stop a single tourist coming to Thailand.

That is about a 1% loss of value against the USD, hardly a plummet. However, the USD has lost ground against the Euro and other currencies so the baht has weakened more against the Euro and GBP.