madmitch

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.

The end of March always sees a drop in tourist numbers.

SIngapore have a similar system now. Works fine...but that is Singapore, not Thailand 😉

Just bought an annual travel insurance policy for my daughter. Cost £29. Up to £10m medical expenses. OK, she's young with no pre-existing conditions but that is an extremely good deal with a top name company. I looked at the wording (as that's what I do!) and it's in clear language. Motorcycle provisos: Uk licence required and all local safety laws complied with. I am not going to speculate on this particular incident, but despite having insurance, so many people will be breaching the terms and conditions and they won't be covered in the event of an accident. It's easy to blame the insurance companies for not paying out but those terms and conditions are there for a reason.

Can anyone translate the OP please, as it doesn't actually say anything?

There are a number of "freebie" "travel insurance" policies out there that are nothing more than basic personal accident coverages. Airlines, credit card companies offer them among others. People are sometimes mistaken into thinking that these policies would cover the full deal. Many of them don't. Know what you're buying (or being given)!

All UK and EU consumer insurance products, which includes travel insurance, by law must include an Insurance Product Information Document (IPID), which should contain, in simplistic terms, all the major risks covered and all the major exclusions. If you don't find what you're looking for on this, there is the insurance policy. If it's stated as covered on the policy, it's included. If it's not covered on the policy, or appears in the exclusions, it is not included. Consumer policies are now written in relatively simple language in order to make them understandable by members of the public with no knowledge of specialist insurance terminology or legalese. I'd like to know what you mean by stating that coverage info is not forthcoming. It's right there in front of you, written in the policy.

I don't know where you are from but in the UK under the 2015 Insurance Act this practice is no longer permitted and insurance companies that attempt to decline a claim due to a breach of a clause or warranty that has no bearing on the claim will have problems from the regulators. If you haven't declared high blood pressure and have a totally unrelated accident for which you are hospitalised, your insurance will pay out (subject to no other breaches occurring of course).

They may have a case but the amount is a joke. King Power have continued to trade since the death of the founder and any loss of earnings during that period is most likely down to COVID and the fact that airport use was minimal UK courts don't offer these sort of amounts; that sum, not would Italian courts; that amount would even be excessive in the USA! And I doubt they would purchase insurance to that level. I'm no aviation liability expert but I doubt there's market capacity to write £2.5bn.

First of the year but how many more will there be? RIP to those unfortunate souls.

Love it!

Anything remarkable about this? Sound like the expected crowd!

What, Thai cooking classes?

mThe fact that you already have a Thai bank account and are here at the moment, you know the answer to your original question, Definitely a troll thread.

The OP is so cringeworthy, with every cliche about Thai tourism incorporated.

I thought we were going to see some investigative journalism when I started reading the article, but,as usual, it was just superficial tripe with no facts, no quotes, no examples a bit pathetic really as, like many have stated, this is hardly a revelation.

20 years ago I set up a cmpany using Thai nominees. I had no idea that what I was doing wasn't legal but I think every year since then there has been a crackdown on the practice. I closed the company long ago. I doubt I was ever on the radar of those policing this but who knows. In the digital age it should be quite easy to track farangs who appear to own 49% of a business and the rest being split across various Thai persons but I'm not sure Thailand has an easily accessible database ot its companies. Looking forward to next year's crackdown already.

We had a similar incident at our guesthouse a few years ago when a British tourist fell through a window. Apparently he decided to sit on the external a/c compressor unit to have a smoke. He fell feet first through the roof below and landed in a twin tub washing machine! The roof was repairable, the washing machine was a write- off! But he and his friend did agree that paying for the damage was a better option than us calling the police. The guest was pretty much unscathed apart from a few minor scratches! Lucky man!

Not quite sure why a motorbike taxi is complaining; who is going to take a motorbike to the airport? It's also a fact that many of the so- called taxi mafia have now signed up as drivers with the various apps, realising it's actually more lucrative than joining a queue, waiting to get a ride. Finally, it's great to see all the Phuket haters out in force whenever they see a headline like this. If you don't like it don't go there.

Isn't Mafia-like intimidation is on the list of jobs reserved for Thais?

They announce this the week before it's due to start yet it must have been in the pipeline for some time. Let's hope it's been properly tested. Hope it's a bit more state of the art than the ancient webcams used at the immigration desks.