newnative

I think with lots of things in Thailand, it depends. I am required to have photo verification with my Bangkok Bank in order to do money transfers on-line. I just did a money transfer yesterday and in order to do it, I had to snap a photo on my phone, which then verified the photo with the one on file at the bank. The transfer then went through. I also recently did a money transfer using Wise and discovered that Wise now requires extra steps, including uploading a document with photo ID before the transfer would go through. I also discovered that I could only send money over 50,000 baht to Bangkok Bank and one other bank which I can't remember the name of. I don't know if this was always the case or has something to do with the photo verification thing.

No, the Ministry absolutely did not aid with 235,000 baht! Wrong. 200,000 was woefully inadequate, penny-inching cheap insurance. Try a paltry 35,000 baht as the correct figure the Ministry coughed up. Disgusting! Some 'aid'--and let's not even mention the tiny 5,000 baht for the injured students. Hope the families all sue, as they should.

Boo hoo.

What you describe has not been a problem, to my knowledge, with Pattaya luxury condo projects. Royal Cliff Garden, built in 1997, is certainly being maintained and is not a 'slum'. Ditto for Saranchol Condo, built way back in 1994. Or, the even older Garden Cliff condo, built I think in the 1980s. In addition to Saranchol and Garden Cliff, Wong Amat has several other older luxury condominiums that are also being well-maintained, including Park Beach, built in 1997, Silver Beach and Baan Rimpha, both built in 1990, and Sky Beach condo, built in 1992. Somewhat newer Northshore condo, built in 2006 and just a few years from your 'slum' deadline, is also being well-maintained, as is the also somewhat newer Ocean Portofino. More examples abound, including Jomtien Complex, Metro, Baan Haad U Thong, Golden Sands, Coconut Beach, and others. I think you will find that the majority of the non-luxury condo projects in Pattaya, with a few exceptions, are also being maintained adequately and have not become what you describe as slums.

You 'wonder' where the 49,500 baht China spending figure comes from but, apparently, don't wonder where the higher spending figures for Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East come from. A bit selective in your wondering. In reality, even someone on a budget tour contributes to the Thai economy. In regard to the Chinese tourists, the majority of them, in 2019, were independent travelers, not in tour groups, budget or otherwise. So, that was over 5 million Chinese independent tourists in 2019--traveling and staying wherever they wanted, spending wherever they wanted. That's far more than the number of visitors from the Americas, at 1.7 million. It's less than all of Europe, at 6.7 million, but far more than any individual European country.

No.

Nonsense. Several Pattaya roads have median strips in the middle with designated turning areas. I guess you have never been on Thappraya Road or North Pattaya Road or Jomtien Second Road or Sukhumvit Road or . . . I actually think the median on Thepprasit is a good idea but they should have planned designated turning and U-turn lanes and not have them in the thru traffic lanes. This could have easily been done by eliminating parking in those areas and adding another thru lane to have 2 thru lanes and a designated turning lane. But, I know, it is anathema to ever suggest eliminating a parking space, even though that is what needs to be done on heavily congested roads like North Pattaya Road.

Saw the heading with 'Bullman' and thought they had finally nearly caught the Red Bull cop killer.

Explore all you want, risk your life all you want, be reckless and 'rule-breaking' all you want, but not with civilians on board.

Your 15 minutes were up long ago.

What we know is it should never have been allowed to be launched. Period.

Yes, more parking in the form of parking garages and public lots on empty land so parking lanes on major roads can be converted to traffic lanes--especially critical on North Pattaya Road. Instead of the horrible monorail idea, use the money to complete the two underpasses that were planned but never constructed or use overpasses--as they are doing south of Pattaya and have done in Sri Racha.

Isn't that charmingly optimistic, using 'alleged'.

Agree.

Actually, it's more like 2 to 1. According to Statista, the biggest international spenders in Thailand in 2019 were from the Middle East, spending around 81,000 baht each. Spending the least were visitors from ASEAN countries, spending around 41,000 baht each. So, two of them spent about the same as one highest spending visitor. China, by the way, came in at 49,500 baht each. Europe and the Americas were around 71,000 and 69,000 baht. So. less than 2 Chinese to equal the spending of 1 of them. As I've said before, if you're Thailand, do you want a few Middle East visitors spending 81,000 baht each or do you want 11 million Chinese spending 49,500 baht each? In reality, Thailand wants both, and visitors from Europe and the Americas, but the China market is far more important revenue-wise--to the tune of over 500 billion baht in 2019, the most, by far, of any individual country.

I didn't see any 'new strategy'--or any strategy at all.

A kiss is just a kiss.

Boo hoo

Over 500 billion baht spent in Thailand in 2019 by Chinese visitors, the most, by far, of any country. Not exactly 'zero' baht and a good reason why Thailand wants them back

Given the choice between official data and 'facts flying in my face as I walk down the street', I'll choose official data, because I know what I am observing as I walk down the street is just a snapshot of a particular point in time, at a particular place; and an hour or a day later the snapshot might look entirely different, and certainly could in different areas. Questioning something as being accurate or inaccurate doesn't imply lying, rather it questions whether information is actually correct or not. It's only human nature that observations will color our thinking. If someone had asked me sometime ago if I thought there were more Chinese visitors to Thailand in 2019 in tour groups rather than independent travelers, I would have said yes, more in tour groups. That was based on my observations of seeing a lot of tour buses and a lot of Chinese walking around in tour groups following a guide with a flag on a stick. In reality, as I have since found out, there were more independent Chinese travelers in 2019--they just weren't 'flying in my face' and not as visible. I wasn't lying with my answer, I was just inaccurate in my observations, which lead to an incorrect answer.

Yes, we were talking about 2019 statistics, which you disputed in your original post. Which led me to ask for any hard data you had to back up your statement that the statistics were incorrect. Your answer: None. Just observations and a 'memory' of what TAT might have said about travelers visiting the North, temples, etc.--which has nothing to do with the actual tourist numbers for 2019. And, once again, observations of empty bars, restaurants, hotels, etc., in your 'neck of the woods'---wherever that might be and whether accurate or not--cannot be used as a gauge for Thailand's overall tourism in 2019. In my 'neck of the woods', Pattaya, 2019 was a good year for tourists. Does that mean that every single bar, restaurant, and hotel was also doing well that year? No. Demographics are ever-changing and that was certainly true for tourist demographics in 2019. Supply and demand often takes awhile to kick in. Meanwhile, some empty businesses can be observed--true any time, anywhere. One thing to remember--there's a big difference between observations and predictions from this or that tourism official or business person, whether local or national, and actual, published official statistical data. TAT has made several numbers predictions for 2023 as more data is received as the year goes on, but they are just predictions, subject to change. I suppose these would be your 'U turns', when TAT 'U turns' and revises its predictions--rather meaningless in the long run. The official numbers when the year is over are far more important.

I'm using a Fujitsu. Main reason I bought it is the weight--it's super light and I use a laptop to read books and sometimes watch tv shows and movies, as well as surf the internet, manage my stocks, email correspondence, Facebook, etc. Main complaints: No touchscreen, which I miss a lot. When I'm typing on an unstable surface, like my lap, the cursor sometimes jumps around when I am typing and I end up typing over what I've already typed. Sometimes the fan is noisy. I've had it about a year and the power cord it came with has malfunctioned and no longer charges the laptop. Luckily, I bought a lighter backup power cord for traveling and I'm using that until the problem with the other one is handled. Although it's a Fujitsu laptop, it seems like Lenovo is involved as that shows up on the screen when I power up.

Yes, it certainly would for me. But, maybe not for a desert person who rarely sees rain on a short visit to Thailand.

So, no actual data, just some observations from you and some others. In 2019, 10.9 million of the 39 million international visitors to Thailand were Chinese. The majority of them were independent travelers, going wherever they wanted all over Thailand. There were also large numbers of Asians from other countries in 2019, as well. Visitors from Asian countries were the majority of the international visitors in 2019. It's likely that many of these Asians were not in your favorite western bar or bars--so, you're possibly correct when you say that 'they ain't here"!!!' You can't, however, make the leap that if 'they ain't here' they must not be anywhere else, either, and, hence, the data must be wrong because you're looking at an empty bar. An empty bar is just that--an empty bar--and not an accurate gauge for a country's overall tourism. Ditto for this or that person complaining about his tourist business being slow. Certainly could be for his or her business but, again, that doesn't equate to anything more than that. You may not like or agree with the data and that's certainly up to you but it seems accurate to me. TAT recorded the dip in tourist numbers in 2014, the year of the coup. In 2021, it posted less than 500,000 international visitors. Talk about 'they ain't here!!!'. Very true that year! That must have been a very bitter pill for TAT to swallow but there the numbers are in black and white for all to see.

He and Pattaya's mayor should do lunch--Pattaya's mayor could regale him with stories on the unfinished stadium, years and years late. The service center sounds like complete waste of money.