Stew41

18 hours ago, DLock said:

 

That little quip is certainly very telling of how Thailand see's the vaccine being distributed.

 

...but fortunately other countries are a bit smarter than old Somkiat, and the vaccine will go to healthcare workers and the vulnerable first...not the wealthy.

 

Calculation may be incorrect slapnuts.

 

Fail.

Yes what a classic Thai response......it's hardwired into most of the population that money and power puts you at the front of the line for everything. Must be hard for them to understand that properly developed countries put some emphasis on humanitarian needs.

Far out....where to start?

The concept of being able to actually 'guarantee' a safe tourism experience is deeply flawed due to 3 major issues - cultural, the heavy impact of corruption in the tourist sector and the demands of the tourists themselves.

Some observations / experiences had over the past 5 years in the context of a tour boat operator in Phuket (operating at the premium end of the market) so of course I don't assume all the issues are relevant across the country.

1) As everyone is well aware the typical profile of tourist has changed dramatically for Phuket. A combination of price sensitive customers (Eastern Europe, India) and ultra low budget package tours (Chinese) has forced the tour price down dramatically. After paying agent commissions many operators have very little to commit to safety systems, boat maintenance, staff training. In my dealing with many customers from these regions I have given up being surprised at how often people will trade knowingly safety for price.

2) 90% of Phuket boat crews are males from Southern Thailand. As a generalisation (don't bother pulling the 'racism card' on me) the crews don't like to be told how to drive a boat and operate safely. They sure as sh(&(*t won't like hearing it from a farang even if he is the boss. It has taken me years to get the right people into the business who understand how important safety and reputation are. Notwithstanding a steady stream of fatalities over the past 4 years the general standard of boat operating safety across the industry is well below par with zero sustained effort from authorities to improve.

3) Many regulation costs associated with safety still remain horribly corrupt. These include boat safety inspections due when annual registrations are renewed (just send picture of boat, cash payment, no receipt), registration fees themselves (cash payment, no receipt, no paperwork) and the mandatory purchase of poor quality life jackets from National Park officers (bank transfers to personal accounts, no receipts).

4) Weak law enforcement (just the roads I guess). One of the operators involved in the recent accident (2 Russian kids died) has killed multiple times over the past 5 years. Why are the allowed to continue to operate (I think we know why).

None of this will be a surprise to anyone in a position of power yet the ability to sit back, acknowledge mistakes and put in place real planning and systems will always take a back seat to pride and short-term financial 'incentives'.

As noted 5 knots is the limit in that channel but it is very standard issue for most boats to come in at 25+.

Our company has an instant dismissal clause in the employment contracts if it is identified that the speed is exceeded and each boat has a GPS tracker so thankfully the crew threat this threat seriously.