newnative

The mothers of the dead children should be prosecuted, as well. Why in the world didn't one of them turn him in?

Answered in the fourth sentence of my last post.

921 million Chinese live in urban areas. Only 491 million are your 'rural folk', so your first statement is incorrect. In any case, you're fixated on the present, rather than the future. Regardless of the current Chinese economic climate or current travel policies, when you have 1.4 billion people living a not-too-long plane ride away and only a tiny fraction have visited Thailand so far, to say the 'boom years' are in the past for Chinese tourism in Thailand is also incorrect..

Not much to 'check out'--just a rehash of the current situation and the current efforts to attract visitors from China and India--two of the countries with the biggest increases in tourists to Thailand in 2019, .not to mention the two largest populations in the world. Has nothing to do with my post, which disputed the claim that the 'boom years' for China tourism are over.

Actually, 1.4 billion Indians. So, large numbers of potential visitors, from two countries with budding international travelers, a not-too-long plane ride away--the point of my post. Infancy for both. France is about 7% larger than Thailand, so not too much difference in size. In 2019, France had 90 million foreigners visit. Thailand had a little less than 40 million that year. Comparing the two, it seems like Thailand has some room to grow regarding accommodating foreign visitors without it impacting the 'living conditions' of its own population. If you've done any travelling around Thailand, you'll know that the country has a huge number of tourist-related businesses. These businesses depend on a steady stream of large numbers of international tourists in order to survive. That was starkly, shockingly, on display for me when my partner and I took a number of trips around Thailand--including visits to Koh Chang, Phuket, and Koh Samui--during covid when we were prevented from traveling internationally. Of course, it was on daily display in Pattaya, too. Talk about impacting 'living conditions'. Some Chinese, as you say, want to travel to Europe and the US. Me, too--but I also visit other places. There's no denying, however, that nearly 11 million chose Thailand in 2019. I think it's a bit simplistic, not to mention untrue, to say that Thailand ends up with the 'crap leftovers' when it comes to Chinese or Indian travelers. Certainly, there are budget travelers from both countries--and, thank goodness, since there are a lot of budget hotels that depend on budget travelers, from wherever in the World. True for France, too--not all of the 90 million visitors were high rollers. Fun fact that I was unaware of: In 2019, over 60% of the Chinese visitors to Thailand were traveling independently, and not in tour groups, budget or otherwise. So, around 6 million independent Chinese travelers, going wherever they wanted, seeing whatever they wanted to see, staying in whatever accommodations they chose. In comparison, all of Europe was 6.7 million visitors that year. So, just the independent Chinese travelers that year approached the European numbers. Were all these 6 million visitors 'crap leftovers'? I don't think so. Ditto for the Europeans, come to think of it.

Nonsense. China has 1,4 billion people. Billion with a 'B'. In 2019, 11 million of them visited Thailand. 11 million out of 1.4 billion. China tourism to Thailand is just in its infancy. The 'boom years' are yet to come.

If they ever even find anyone guilty--very doubtful--likely, they will just be assigned to 'inactive posts'. This ridiculous 'inactive post' business should be the first thing eliminated.

Having an ear pierced so he can wear an earring and look even more young and hip.

The first thing my partner and I did when we arrived in 2010 was buy a condo. Some 20 property sales later, we have found, like you, that buying property here has proved to be profitable and we also now live a comfortable lifestyle.

We seem to always get statements like this when the subject is non-Western tourists. China tourist spending in Thailand is always ridiculed and discounted. Now India. I'll use the same argument I use with the Chinese, who, incidentally, dropped over 531 billion baht in Thailand in 2019, the most, by far, of any country. Middle Eastern tourists spent the most in 2019, around 72,000 baht each. Google tells me that Indian tourists that same year spent about 40,800 baht, on average, each. Yes, individually, they don't spend as much. But, there were just under 2 million tourists from India in 2019. From the Middle East, less than 100,000. So, once again, my same question, as with the Chinese. Would you rather have 100,000 checks for 72,000 baht each sent to you or would you prefer 2 million checks for 40,800 baht each? Easy to see why the new PM will be soon trekking off to India in search of tourists. Of course, tourists from all economic strata are important, from budget to high rollers, to match the wide range of tourist accommodations.

Trying to justify the enormous--and unwarranted--budget increase TAT is asking for.

You and JT should do lunch.

Another answer might be that some people, including me, like a diversified investment portfolio, which might include cash, real estate, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc. You are right that there is lots of development going on all over Pattaya, including the Darkside. Projects continue to be built because buyers, so far, can be found for the product. My partner and I own a house by Lake Mabprachan and this area is booming. Just down the street from us, a small enclave of 5 homes is being built--starting price is 35 million baht, or around 1 million dollars. Contrary to what some AN posters would like you to believe, there are a number of people with money in Pattaya. We often hear, anybody with money would not be living in Pattaya, or Thailand, for that matter. Also not necessarily true. Fortunately, there are lots of new projects being built at more reasonable price points. We are buying a new home at one of the new projects being built in this area. Prices range from around 6MB to 10MB, in the first 2 phases. We bought in the initial phase of 5 houses. You asked who is buying. In our first phase, there are: A Russian buyer. An Irish buyer with Thai partner. 2 American buyers with Thai partners, and a Chinese buyer. So, buyers from Europe, America, and Asia in the first phase. With the first phase about done and the houses sold, the developer has started the second phase of around 20 homes.

He'll be back.

Those 1,700 Generals should be able to handle any border skirmishes. 555

Pretty much sums it up. Thank you.

Looks good.

Nothing new. Been that way for sometime. In 2019, visitors from Asian countries made up over 29 million of the 39 million tourists that year. The 'Americas' and Europe, just 8.3 million, although Russians that year were almost 1.5 million.

I certainly like the idea of reducing the Army's size to 600. Sounds just about right to have 600 troops for a country never at war with anyone. Unfortunately, I imagine they were actually talking about reducing the number of Generals to 600, from the current 1,700. 600 Generals still seems way too many. 1,700 of them is positively ridiculous.

Yes, it's the places you frequent.

Or, even worse case, possibly the worst, you could have the Supreme Court step in and decide that counting every vote isn't really that important and, instead, 5 Supremes will award the presidency to one candidate over another one. God forbid that would ever happen. Oh, wait.

555 Or, did you mean 'posterior'?

Well, so much for all the news reports stating it was 'destroyed' by fire, 'devastated' by fire, 'severely damaged' by fire, etc.

5% is usually standard but can sometimes be negotiated to get a deal to work or, perhaps, with higher-priced properties--not something I'm too familiar with. Since late 2010, my partner and I have sold 22 properties in Thailand, so close to 2 properties a year. Likely #23 before this year is done. Some we sold ourselves, but most were sold with the assistance of an agent. Selling that many in that time period meant they did not sit on the market for years and years, waiting for a buyer. I, for one, am quite thankful for all the help we have received from agents over the years--some of our properties might still be sitting for sale without their help. I've responded a number of times when posters have asked--or, in some cases, accused me of being an agent. My ready answer is I am much too lazy--not to mention too impatient--to ever consider being an agent. Do I want to do all the work to maintain a real estate website? No. Do I want to drive out to some property, using my gas, in the blistering heat, to take photos and get all the information on a property for sale? No. Do I want to then drive back to the office and spend my valuable time putting the property on the website, choosing photos and composing good, descriptive copy to help sell the property? No. Do I want to do advertising, send out emails, do monthly newsletters, and other marketing to help find buyers for my property listings? No. More work. No, thank you. Do I want to make numerous calls trying to reach people to arrange a time convenient for all the parties involved, including the buyer and sometimes tenants, to show their property? No. Do I want to then drive the buyers around, again for free, for hours in the blistering heat, showing them properties they may or, more likely, may not buy? No. A thousand times no on that one! I could go on--with all the work involved with handling deposits, contracts, explaining procedures to the client, the closing at the land office, etc., but you get the picture. The bottom line, it's a lot of work--and certainly not for lazy, impatient me. Something to remember. With those 22 property sales I mentioned, lots of good agents did lots of work--for free--but only one, or in some cases two agents, earned any money from all the work they did on each property.

You're welcome.