newnative

Exactly!

Explaining how something is done is not 'advising'. The pros and cons of using company ownership have been debated extensively on the Forum. Feel free to draw your own conclusions.

I post experiences I have had buying and selling property as a buyer and a seller, not as an agent. For example, from past experience, I have said I would not buy off-plan except from a large, well-financed, experienced developer with an excellent track record of completing projects. I posted that as a buyer, not as an agent, and from experience. Readers are welcome to take that however they want--or avoid my posts completely. It's the same for whatever else I post that is real estate oriented--it's based on my and my partner's experiences buying and selling 20-some properties here. Feel free to ignore, disregard, or skip the posts.

Well, I do know what it's like having vacationed there several times. It's certainly pleasant and I'm not knocking it. I, however, prefer Pattaya--for a variety of reasons, none of which involve the nightlife.

Right, and my post was in response to someone claiming Thailand can be more expensive due to a certain brand of water being cheaper in Europe. Although the main thrust of the thread is focused on Chinese, I don't think it's too off topic to show that other nationalities can find Thailand to be a bargain in comparison, as well. I tell you in my earlier post that Myrtle Beach is in the USA--probably should have said SC stands for the state of South Carolina.

I have no desire to live in either Shanghai or Beijing so I have no need to compare. As an American, I could see myself living in Myrtle Beach--but I'm happy in Pattaya and it's 3 times cheaper.

You can always find this or that product which is cheaper in one country than another country. You've found a brand of water that is more expensive in Thailand. Safeway, in the USA, offers two brands of fish sauce. One costs $5.79 and the other is $8.49. You can buy a bottle of fish sauce at Big C for 33 baht, about a dollar. So, we have a brand of water that's cheaper in Europe and fish sauce that's more expensive in the US. Is either meaningful? No. It's more important to look at the big picture and focus on a wide range of everyday expenses when a comparison is done. I was just on a website--livingcost.org--that allowed me to type in two cities and compare the cost of living. I live in the beach city of Pattaya and I compared the cost of living to the beach city of Myrtle, Beach SC, in the US. The cost of living in Myrtle Beach was 3 times higher than Pattaya. That's a meaningful number, far more important than a small saving on a certain brand of bottled water.

Agree--never asked for when my partner and I visited Phuket, Chang, Samui, Hua Hin, and a number of other places.

As always, way too slow on everything. Whatever happened to gay marriage?

Buh bye bye

Madness to install the very expensive, very permanent-looking current sign if they knew there would be another name at some point.

I guess it must have. I traveled out and back into Thailand in December and was not asked for vaccination proof.

They spent over 500 billion baht all over Thailand in 2019, with the majority of them traveling independently and not in tour groups. How did just the 'gov' and 'a few others' benefit and not all the hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions, entertainments and amusements, shops, etc. that they dropped the 500 billion+ baht on?

I guess we'll see--I think a number of posters made your same points for 2022 and Thailand managed around 11 million--even with a very slow start. I was one of the sceptics who thought, mid-year 2022, that Thailand would be lucky to hit 6 million, given the low numbers for the first half of the year. Recession or not, there's a lot of pent-up demand to travel by many, who have been stuck at home for several years. My partner and I just went to Europe in December and we are planning at least 1 but likely 2 trips out of the country in 2023, trying to catch up some with those lost travel years.

If you're a very small, very upmarket tourist destination like Monaco, the target would definitely be your 'high dollar' tourists. With a large country like Thailand, with a huge variety and number of hotel rooms to fill all over the country--from budget hostels to 5-star resorts and everything in-between--you need a wide variety of tourists at all budget points. Certainly, going after just one market was, indeed, a 'load of nonsense', in my book. If only 5-star tourists come, where does that leave all the non-5-star hotels, restaurants, etc.? It's just common sense. Nissan sells the March model for around 420,000 baht. It also sells the GT model for around 10 million baht. And, a number of models in-between the two price points. Have we seen Nissan's CEO make an announcement that Nissan now only wants 'high dollar' customers for its GT model, and never mind everything else? Of course, not. Thailand Tourism, like Nissan, is a business, plain and simple, with a broad product line, needing a broad customer base at all economic levels. I suspect the whole 'high dollar' thing was just a "Look, we're working!" TAT exercise; that days blah, blah, blah publicity handout.

The higher figure was from the Statista website, the lower figure was posted by another member and I can't remember the website, feel free to search it out. In any case, if you feel the numbers are inaccurate, please post your hard statistical data backing up your claim, not nonsense about tool sizes. Seeing 'Chinese tour groups around the world', while perhaps interesting, isn't relevant and doesn't back up your claim in any way. And, remember, the majority of Chinese tourists to Thailand in 2019 were not in tour groups. Again, provide some hard data, not personal observations. With 6 million Chinese tourists traveling around Thailand independently in 2019, it seems physically impossible that they could have all stayed at the 'same hotels, restaurants and tour companies.' Did the 6 million all get together and say 'let's all stay at this Chinese-owned hotel and eat at this Chinese-owned restaurant'? Again, it seems ludicrous that 6 million independent tourists, not to mention the other 4 million in tour groups, would benefit just a 'few businesses', as you claim.

Yes, it's less per person than other groups. For example, European tourists spent, if I remember correctly, around 68,000 baht per tourist. Tourists from the Middle East spent the most with around 72,000 baht. So, why does Thailand want Chinese tourists if they don't spend as much? Well, if you're Thailand, heavily dependent on tourists, would you want: 10.9 million Chinese tourists spending 532 billion baht, or: 857,000 Germans spending 59 billion 100,000 from the Middle East spending 7.2 billion 532 billion baht might not 'seem that much' to you but it sure beats 59 billion, or 7.2 billion.

In 2019, Chinese tourists in Thailand spent over 500 billion baht. One site pegged the figure at 543 billion baht, another said 532 billion. With either figure, it was the most, by far, of any country. Over 6 million of the nearly 11 million Chinese tourists were traveling independently, not in tour groups, budget or otherwise. To compare, UK tourists were less than a million in 2019. Any hard statistical data to back up your statement that only a 'few businesses' benefitted from that 500+ billion baht?

In a nutshell, there's no problem, there will be no problem, but if there is a problem, I'll pass the problem to another department to handle and take the blame. While likely thinking, "Wow, this job's a breeze."

In 2019, there were 10,995,000 Chinese visitors to Thailand. While the popular myth, which you seem to subscribe to, is that most were here on budget tours, that is not the reality. The reality is that over 60% of them were traveling independently on their own, not with tour groups. That equates to 6,597,000 Chinese choosing on their own where to go, what places to visit, what hotels to stay at, what tourist sites to see, what restaurants to eat at, what entertainments and amusements to stop at, what shops to shop at, and everything else each and every day of their visit--which they also independently controlled the length of. If you're wondering, that above figure of independent travelers is more than all the 2019 tourist visitors from Russia, Australia, the UK, France, Germany, and the US combined--your 'regular ones', I suppose. So, even if not a single tour group from China visited Thailand in 2019, the Chinese market of independent travelers would be more valuable to Thailand, and to all the many businesses associated with and depending on tourism, than the tourist market from any other country--far more valuable. Just taking one example, 6,597,000 Chinese independent travelers vs. 994,000 of your 'regular ones' from the UK. I think the real 'few in comparison' is staring at you right there. Whether traveling independently or in groups, Chinese tourists in 2019 were spending more per day in Thailand than any other country--again, far more.

As always, I am not and have never been a real estate agent, here or anywhere else. As I have stated before, I am far too lazy and far too impatient to do all the hard work involved with being an agent. I certainly appreciate them, and have benefitted from the hard work many have done on my behalf. See my previous post regarding my thoughts on your 'advice' and 'advising' comments.

Where exactly in that sentence am I 'advising'? Stating a fact is not the same thing as 'advising'--except, apparently, with you. If I say, 'Some people use agents to facilitate their retirement visas.', would that statement of fact also be interpreted as 'advising' people to use agents?

As always, 'satisfied'.

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If outbound Chinese are being tested, how did a plane land in Italy with 52% of the Chinese passengers infected with covid?