newnative

Just a reminder to AI. Alabama is a state, not a town or city. There is no 'downtown Alabama'. Deadly shooting rocks downtown Montgomery.

Did one last week from US bank to BKK Bank. No problems.

As others have said, way too small a fine and punishment for something this serious.

I got through it but it's probably not a good sign that I found myself almost rooting for the two loan shark guys.

Doubt the natural beauty is more but I was most impressed that Malaysia has buried far more of their electrical and cable wires than Thailand has. It certainly enhances the view not to be staring at an ugly, messy jumble of overhead wires.

You're welcome to provide any stats you have to back up your position. Information compiled by Google and TAT isn't very far apart with the stats they provide. For example, one had UK visitors to Thailand in 2019 at something like 994,000 and the other had it around 940,000. Not much difference. With Chinese spending, I think one had it around 46,000 or 47,000 baht and the other had it at 50,000 baht. Again, little difference. I've never seen a huge difference with any of the numbers. Google has Malaysian spending per visitor to Thailand on the low side, 28,700 baht. Makes sense to me as a lot of the visits are quick jaunts across the border. What stats do you find suspect, and why? I know TAT gets a lot of ridicule but they put out bad news, as well as good. They can't be happy with the Chinese numbers this year but there they are, not hidden. In 2014, the year of the coup, visitors to Thailand dropped. Likely embarrassing to the generals but there's the drop--published by TAT for all to see. No fudging of the numbers that year to curry favor. I'm certainly happy to have my thinking adjusted. For example, pre-covid I was living at Northshore condo on Pattaya Beach Road. I would often see groups of Chinese tourists walking across Beach Road from their hotels, most of them with a matching hotel towel around their necks, off to their day trip to the islands. My perception at that time was that probably 75% of the Chinese tourists visiting Thailand were in tour groups. The reality, however, was that over 60% of the Chinese tourists were traveling independently then, which was pointed out to me by a poster on AN. Google pegs the percentage even higher in recent years. Whatever the exact figure, it's clear that the majority of the Chinese tourists to Thailand right now are independent travelers.

Just do it already! All this endless talk about what they are planning to do, no matter what the topic. Talk ,talk, talk. Planning to do this. Thinking about doing that. Pondering about doing this. Expecting to do that. Hoping to do this. Discussing about doing that. Now we have a new one--vowing to do this. Stop talking and just do it.

Buh bye bye.

6 years of delays--and counting. Total clown show.

Thanks!

Average rental is probably around 20,000 baht a month so that's 5,000 baht a week right there, before adding on weekly expenses for food, gas, water, electric, internet, Netflix, entertainment, restaurants, medical fees, travel, household expenses, insurance, etc. It adds up.

If they are still in business, there was a good frame shop in that small row of shops on the right as you drive into Big C from South Pattaya Road. We used them a number of times with good results.

Information provided by Google and sometimes TAT. By the way, it was 80%, not 84%. You can always find someone to say something bad about something. We've had several posts with an alternative take from yours regarding Chinese tourists. When you have millions of tourists visiting, whether Chinese, Russian, Indian, or whatever, you're going to get some not-so good ones. Cost of doing business. It remains that Chinese tourists, even with their diminished nummbers this year, remain the number 1 revenue source for Thailand regarding international tourists. An astute tourist business owner likely will not be turning away the number 1 revenue stream for his business. I'm curious what exactly was BS with my post--maybe you can be specific. You may not like it because it doesn't fit your narrative but it's a fact that pre-covid, around 64% of Chinese travelers to Thailand were independent travelers. Google says it is now around 80%. No BS there. The rest of my post was mainly regarding running a business--and pretty basic, no-nonsense remarks, at that. BS or not, when I have a property to sell I will continue to welcome all buyers--and I have sold to a wide range of buyers from different countries.

If you have not already done so, you should put a large for sale sign on the land with the size of the land and a phone number. Consider also giving the price. I am not familiar with that area but I would also list the land for sale with all available realtors in the area, with photos. Price it to sell, not sit. Your wife should also try to get the word out as much as possible with locals in that area, including the local municipality. You can also try posting on Facebook and other internet sites. Good luck.

Agree. My Thai spouse and I were charged the same price when we had our annual health checkups.

Here's a news flash. If you're running a business you're looking to sell a product, be it a restaurant meal, a hotel room booking, a souvenir, a widget, whatever. Selling keeps you in business, and if you don't sell, you'll soon be out of business. It doesn't much matter where the customer is from, or whether you personally like them or not--you're selling them a product, not marrying them. If you don't get a tourist into that hotel room you have, that day's revenue for that room is lost for good, no way to get it back. When my spouse and I have a property for sale, we could care less where the buyer is from; we're delighted to sell to anyone who shows up with the right amount of money in hand. Again, not marrying them, or likely ever hanging out with them. It's no different if you're an astute business owner, running a business, which can be a challenge. In your clueless post, there was one nugget of truth: 'your partner's business needing chinese money'. Yes, indeed. Needing Chinese money. Needing Indian money. Needing Russian money. Needing American money. Etc., etc. Most tourist businesses will be needing, and welcoming, money from all tourists. By the way, these days Chinese tourists are around 80% independent travelers. They are going where they want to go, seeing what they want to see, staying where they want to stay, and eating where they want to eat. That was also the case, pre-covid, but it was around 64% independent travelers then, and it has been increasing.

China and Malaysia are running neck and neck to be the top country sending visitors to Thailand in 2025. As you say, 3.3 million Chinese visitors this year so far. Reuters says Malaysia is at 3.38 million so far this year. Chinese visitors, you say, spend 42,428 baht each. Malaysian tourists, however, only spend 28,700 baht each, with lots of quick, cross the border jaunts. So, once again, I'll ask my question. Would you rather have 3.3 million Chinese tourists give you 42,428 baht each or 3.38 Malaysian tourists give you 28,700 baht each? Or, how about 1.4 million Russians this year giving you 47,400 baht each, vs. the 3.3 million Chinese giving you 42,428 baht each? I'll choose the Chinese, thank you very much. Even with its reduced numbers this year, China is projected to remain the top country for international tourist revenue for Thailand.

Totally agree.

Thank you. I was just about to respond once again to the terminally clueless. Absolutely true, your post. Some AN posters are fond of spewing the nonsense that Chinese tourists contribute nothing to the Thai economy, when the opposite is true. The majority, as you pointed out, are independent travelers, not in tour groups. This was true in 2019, when it was something like 64%, and even more so today, when it is around 80%. But, even those in tour groups, no matter what nationality, are also contributing, as does any tourist that visits. The fact that Chinese tourists are valuable to the Thai economy is borne out by the mighty efforts of the Thai government to try to win them back. If they were worthless, why would they bother? They would direct their efforts elsewhere. In 2019, 11 million Chinese visited Thailand, spending an average of around 45,000 baht each. That same year, about 950,000 British visited Thailand, spending about 68,000 baht each. Do the math and you'll see what each group contributed to the Thai economy that year. Or, the easier way: I'll ask my usual question once again. Would you rather have 11 million Chinese give you 45,000 baht each or 950,000 British give you 68,000 baht each?

Nicely done! You're ready to pick up the mantle of Raymond Chandler.

Don't remember a story yesterday on AN specifically regarding Pattaya's tourism 'sinking'. There was the one story yesterday on Thailand's tourism 'confidence' falling--which doesn't actually translate to specific tourism numbers but is merely some sort of survey. The last story I saw on Pattaya tourism, in the Pattaya Mail, was one stating that 18 million tourists, both domestic and foreign, have visited Pattaya from January to August of this year. I don't think 18 million would be interpreted as 'sinking' or 'Pattaya dies'.

Are you sure you have traveled 2nd Road between Festival and Dolphin recently? A number of new businesses have gone in along that stretch, which spouse and I were on yesterday. That includes the total re-do of the hotel in front of Centric Sea and some sort of private club with a very large garden area that's been put into one of the large lots stretching from 2nd Road to Beach Road. When you get to Dolphin that whole area is being redeveloped by the Once Group, plus the huge Centre Point 3 Resort also going up. Somewhere on 2nd Road, but likely in this same general area, Raimon Land is planning to spend 3.3 billion baht on it's newest Pattaya condo project, Tait Pattaya. That's a big bet on the future of Pattaya. It's the way of the world that some businesses close. In the case of this part of Pattaya, new businesses are opening in their place, with more to come.

Yes, many projects are packed with amenities. And, the bloke in the 27 sqm studio gets to use them all just like the guy in the penthouse.

You probably need to at least double that '25k per month' to get into 'lavish' territory in Pattaya. We used to rent a small, not lavish, 35 sqm 1 bedroom at The Base for 25k a month.

Your figures are for 2024. I was responding to a post that stated that western tourists in 2025 are in decline. I think the reality is that they are still recovering, as your 2024 figures show. You focused on Europeans so let's see how the European countries that are tracked are doing this year compared to the record year of 2019. January to August, 2025: 2019 UK 788,000 994,000 Russia 1,700,000 1,400,000 Germany 619,000 857,000 France 593,000 740,000 With 4 months of data left to go, and the busy high season months at that, I think it's clear that the European countries that are tracked will likely get close to the record numbers they had in 2019, with some maybe surpassing those numbers, as Russia has already. As I said in my earlier post, 2025's decline in visitors is largely from Asian countries, primarily China.