Spilornis

The loss referred to in the article is customs revenue. It's not that the shops themselves are making a loss.

IIRC there was an article some months ago about the Government buying out the duty free concession holder. It may also have been linked to the reduction in the wine tarrifs.

Strange move...

Nothing wrong with trying to be a hub but look at all the places you could define as hubs and think about how they have become so. Short of being a natural destination (Heathrow, CDG etc) what makes them special.

In the case of the Middle Eastern hubs they established mega international airlines. Can Thailand do this? Maybe.. Singapore a much smaller country has but it has taken them 50 years of superior (expensive) performance.

Can it be like Schipol that is a world hub with a less than stellar national airline (KLM)?

Then there is the Air Asia play. How does this work if KL is a competing hub for Air Asia.

Finally how does Thailand deal with competing hubs in China and soon India.

Perhaps just start small and make the airport as welcoming as Changi and please never build a dysfunctional airport/shopping complex like KLIA2.

One way might be to make Bangkok the hub for a number of very fast trains to neighbouring countries. Probably way too expensive but imagine if Bangkok was connected by rail to Kolkata for instance

Malaysia is now rolling out dengue vaccinations for all (not free).

This is a new vaccine that is suitable for people who have not had dengue. The previous vaccine had problems for non sufferers.

Worth a look perhaps

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2024/06/12/dengue-vaccine-is-now-available

The vaccine can also be safely taken by those who have not had a prior dengue infection.

This was an issue with the first dengue vaccine licensed for use in 2015 in a number of countries.

It was found that this vaccine, produced by the pharmaceutical company Sanofi, actually increased the risk of hospitalisations and severe dengue disease in those who had not previously been infected at the time of vaccination.

Dengue Prevention Advocacy Malaysia chairman Prof Datuk Dr Zulkifli Ismail explained, “The second dengue infection is invariably more severe than the first – it’s caused by two different serotypes.

“If you get the vaccine, that will be considered as the first infection, which is not severe.

“If you get infected by a second infection, that is the one that causes severe disease. That is what happened with the previous vaccine.”

However, the consultant paediatrician and paediatric cardiologist said that this effect showed after two years of the previous vaccine being administered.

“This vaccine (Qdenga) has been tested for four-and-a-half-years and there have been no red flags as far as this is concerned.

“So it is quite hopeful and I don’t think we will see it,” he said.

The vaccine is administered by injection and is given in two doses, three months apart.

33 minutes ago, ujayujay said:

Nonsese....train tickets cost a fraction of flight tickets

Have a look at the UK US or Australia where long distance train travel is not subsidized. They are often a factor of two or three times the price of a cheap discounted airfare. Railway maintenance isn't cheap.

In Malaysia Air Asia is often under the price of the train on the KL-Penang route and in Malaysia the price is subsidized.

Kolkata to Dhaka train is about the same as the airfare whereas a train within India is very cheap.

Someone pays in the end... the passenger or the taxpayer

19 hours ago, KannikaP said:

Rice paddy fields?

Because the mosquito has a limited range it's unlikely to pose a risk to most. It's more the village or condo with a nearby rubbish dump or deserted house that pose the risk

21 hours ago, connda said:

As far as getting it.  The Aedes aegypti mosquito can bite you all day long and you'll never get Dengue unless it has bit an Dengue infected person.  So we basically keep track of anyone who has Dengue in the village and where they are in relation to our house.  That's pretty much our level of caution.

This is the big thing. If you can reduce the number of carriers as well as the mosquito numbers then outbreaks are less likely.

As I understand it the range of the mosquito is very short.

Even Singapore has outbreaks so it's hard to eradicate

2 minutes ago, Shocked farang said:

This whole thing only shows that they live in a state of complete delusion. They have no means of enforcement of this new foreign tax regime. The only country on the planet that can do this is the US, due to the fact that the USD is the reference global currency, if a bank decides not to comply they just cut it off from USD transfer, all USD bank transfers have to go through the US. 

The US is the biggest advocate for exchange of cross border financial information. It's just a matter of running cross checking computer programs. If there is a problem it's with cross identification. For example Thailand won't necessarily have tax identification numbers for foreigners resident in Thailand

11 minutes ago, freeworld said:

Probably means companies and online platforms earning income of 1 billion baht. Probably just a term tax and accountants used when speaking as the reporter has written it.

 

Becoming a common approach. If you buy a Microsoft licence for example it is sold to you from Ireland so Microsoft pays zero tax. Countries are now insisting on a slice for sales to their residents.

Youtube ad revenue and the like is also under review

On 6/1/2024 at 5:58 PM, Purdey said:

If Disney were to receive BOI privileges and own 100% of the investment, I think they could be trusted.

Disney's largest cruise ship will be based out of Singapore from 2025. Singapore gov't has invested big time in the venture.

Would have been a great investment for Thailand.

Theme park revenues rely on local attendees for a fair proportion of revenues which could make the numbers for Disney like theme parks tough to stack up. Legoland in Johor Bharu just across the border from Singapore isn't exactly a gold mine from what I've read.

19 hours ago, NicoBKK said:

I have been living some recent years in both Countries.

Philippines have been under Spanish colonization for centuries and -similarly to Indonesia under Dutch colonialism- they did not develop properly unlike the rest of SEA, being more crushed and exploited rather than developed. The Japanese and American did add the cherry on the cake in more recent times.

Furthermore the Country is scattered in thousands of islands and very mountainous, battered by earthquakes and typhoons hence, agriculturally and industrially, more difficult to develop. Thailand is more fertile, flat, stable and peacefully developed into a powerful rice and fruit farming Country since centuries.

People in Thailand also feel themselves profoundly and proudly Thai - one language, one Kingdom, very old traditions. Filipinos until 1900 did not even have a single language.

All this led to very slow development pace, unemployment being still high, double digit in some areas if compared to less then 1% in Thailand which is actually importing labors from neighboring Countries. Manila has been for decades a collector of unemployed desperate people and is now filled by shanty towns (anyone ever heard about HappyLand in Tondo?) around a super wealthy CBDs (Makati and BGC).

I also see Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia much faster in decision making especially on infrastructures - still somehow corrupt (Th and Vn) but with stronger decision making leaders in charge.  

PH have a great potential as the Country is super beautiful for tourism, language never a barrier and people are friendly, happy, smart and educated (great Universities there), will surely improve giving some time.

 

Just to add.

A little discussed story.

Arthur Wellesley long before he became the Duke of Wellington was despatched from India to Penang at the head of a small invasion army/fleet. His mission was to invade the Phillipines and take it from Spain. When the mission was conceived France and Spain were allies in the war against Britain. Before he could leave Penang Spain changed sides and history took a different turn.

On the flipside Raffles of Singapore fame took over Indonesia (key cities) but post the Napoleonic Wars Britain gave it back to the Dutch so Raffles who died almost destitute went and founded Singapore.

9 hours ago, Jiggo said:

The seller will add the tax onto the final bill 

Just like Amazon and eBay 

Exactly... happens now in most countries.

Alipay into Australia is another example

I suspect it's the sale platform who remits the tax rather than the end seller. The seller would get paid net of tax and platform commission

Toyota has been working on the "famed" solid state battery for a long long time. They still have some huge technical obstacles to overcome unfortunately. It will give a range of around 1200 kms on a 10 minute charge

The break through battery has not eventuated but it may

2 minutes ago, Olmate said:

Australia is having similar discussion, recently  announced that Thais could apply for 5yr multi entrytourist visa as can citizens of China! 

Multi year visas make more sense than one off. If you are going to vet people then it would be rare that they became "undesirable" within five years.

India has a five year visa for US$80. China offers a ten year visa to Americans. Both are multi entry and have a maximum stay per entry cap

My favourite threads were the rubber farming and the pig raising.

Hope they are finally seeing some rewards

How about removing all the vehicle paperwork

Just pay for an insurance stamp and you're away instead of the multi step process

15 hours ago, Cabradelmar said:

SIN, KUL and BKK are already THE hubs for air travel in SE Asia. Announcing a goal that has already been met (prior to the current PM taking office) are the only goals this PM can achieve.

Agree but BKK has to improve its immigration and baggage delivery time to catch up with Changi where it's a slow arrival if you're not in a cab, bus or train within 15-20 minutes of your plane reaching its gate. Check in and immigration on leaving is also a breeze with everything fully automated.

These things aside it offers far better value than Singapore for a stop off.

The use of two airports while making sense may not help the hub concept

Wow.. I thought ....but it's just Chiang Mai via Taipei... not exactly earth shattering as I assume Eva already does it.

Looking at international flights from Chiang Mai it seems well connected to the usual South East Asian hubs.

Will be interesting to see if direct flights to India or the Middle East are introduced

1 minute ago, daveAustin said:

Dunno if this potential merger would be a benefit though. 

The traditional AA model was multiple companies that allowed for maximum loan leverage and an IPO of each business.

High interest rates and tougher lending covenants make that model a lot harder these days.

Fare wise Scoot seems to have kept its fares lower on the long haul flights by comparison to AAX. Flying through Singapore can however be inconvenient and its relatively high airport charges mean the short intra SEA flights can often seem expensive

14 hours ago, HighPriority said:

A Darwin stop would be appreciated. 

They (AAX and Jetstar IIRC) tried a Darwin hub for a few years but they couldn't make it work. If the Australian government had allowed foreign airlines the right to pick up passengers and take them to the Southern capitals and return it might have been a game changer.

It also might have made much of Asia reachable with narrow body jets which would possibly result in opening up more destinations.

Alas it seems very much off the cards these days

10 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

It will not work.. How are they going to check all the information they get?? Even a new application as Mor Prom can't go smoothly and that is only for Thailand.. Now they have to deal with 138 countries and thousands of companies ....

Computer matching is rather easy and cheap these days. It's massive and within countries the Tax authorities have been doing it for the last 50 years. The problem will be matching names and identifying numbers across jurisdictions. The good news is that it won't be all done at once and I think that running a match on activity in Thailand will be a relatively low priority for the main Western tax authorities

19 minutes ago, Derek B said:

It would make sense if the Chinese were allowed to cleared Thai Immigration in China thereby reducing the strain on Thai Airports and possibly giving them more Thai airports to arrive at.

Great suggestion...