Leaver

So, you have been a victim of crime on Walking Street. This is not what you claimed in an earlier post.

I doubt it will matter too much what happens to Walking Street in the future, as all the adult night life gravitates to LK Metro, Soi Baukhao and Tree Town.

"nicer" - Pattaya Beach is rubbish. "easier" - no more easier or difficult than walking into any brothel in the west. "affordable" - yes, but once you add on flights etc, then maybe it's not as affordable.

"Vaccinate all" is the problem they have here. The Thai government is not used to doing ANYTHING that benefits ALL Thai's.

Which are available in most countries.

I would say what Thailand is now, is all Thailand is ever going to be. Thailand will continue to slip further behind as the years turn into decades. It's a shame, because it's a country with a lot of potential.

You've been going to Walking Street for 20 years and never been scammed / robbed. NEVER had a bill padded, for example? Really?

Fair to say, after recent government announcement/s, the coming high season is not looking good for bar owners.

English teacher celebrating salary day. ????

Only 442 new cases. What could possibly go wrong? ????

Interesting, but it's still perfectly fine to invest in property here. ????

It's a non event.

You had to earn them. He just paid for them. ????

When you apologize the the thieves that scam / rob you here, what is their reply? Is it, "You jaidee farang." ????

Doesn't just have to be for the whole 2 weeks, can just be for the night. Afternoon drinks, dinner, live music, nightclub, hotel room. Same again tomorrow night, with a new one you had only started chatting to online at lunch time. ???? The bars still sell alcohol to two people, just not at lady drink prices, and no bar fine revenue. As online gets bigger, I can't see how many bars here will be able to sustain so many salaried bar girls.

In my opinion, the bar scene isn't doomed, but the bars that rely on the traditional lady drink / bar fine business model will struggle. Thus, I can only see them raising their prices, which is the downward spriral. How is a bar owner going to tell his Thai landlord that the sex trade that allowed him to chare high rent has been digitally disrupted, and the income from traditional means is no longer. Interesting times ahead.

What positives do you see for Thailand's tourism industry in the future, post covid? What major infrastructure projects are planned to benefit tourists, and the tourism industry here? There's a train line that might be built by 2050. What major infrastructure projects have been built that benefited tourists and the tourism industry here in the last 10 years? Here's what their competition next door are doing, which is the equivalent of say, Samsung, in the mobile phone industry. Record breaking cable car. Note, later in the video FREE hammocks and beach chairs, and 20,000VND local beer. That's 30 baht beers on the beach, after taking a world record breaking cable car ride to the island. How can Thailand compete?

Yes. I alluded to this in a subsequent post. I don't think it's an unreasonable expectation. For some of my working life I was paying tax in the UK, despite not even living in the UK. Even now, after retiring, with property and investments in the UK, I am still paying tax.

The girls are already on websites arranging the "2 week girlfriend experience" with guys, for money. Same Same, but he choses the hotel, and the money goes straight to the girl, and no lady drinks or bar fines for the duration of the 2 week holiday.

From the moment I step off the plane at Heathrow, am I still an "expat?" I disagree. In my opinion, if one lives and works all their working life in the UK, retires, and lives abroad, they should be entitled. Employed people pay their taxes, but not all employed people will be sick at any one time. In effect, healthy tax payers are paying for those needing medical, and if / when the tax payer needs medical, other tax payer will be paying for them. I blame a lot of Brit's on welfare as well. They are British, and also will never pay tax their whole life, but get free medical. Yet, you refuse medical to those who have worked all their life in the UK but chose to live in the sun for their twilight years.

It became more popular in the lead up to covid, I can only see it getting bigger when mongers return.

So, you live and work in the UK all your working life, paying tax, a lot of tax, then retire to Thailand and 6 months later get diagnosed with an illness that needs surgery and you think that because you left the UK 6 months ago you should not be entitled to medical treatment under the NHS. Really?

Exercise.

Question is, how exposed are the Thai banks?

As another member mentions, every country has issues, but if we look at Thailand's tourism industry separately from other issues, then yes, Thailand's tourism industry had problems pre covid. Marketing to emerging economies, just to inflate tourist numbers, is a downward spiral. Where Thailand differs to most countries, is it relies on tourism for around 20% of GDP. At that level, Thailand's economy is pretty much reliant on tourism, and you would think the Thai's would nurture the industry, but no, it's rape, pillage, price gouge, tax, extort, assault, rob, rip off, scam etc, and then wonder why all the independent western tourists are no longer coming back, meanwhile, whilst outpricing themselves in the South East Asian tourism market. As I have said before, unless things change, Thailand's tourism industry will go the same way as the Nokia phone company. They had a huge market share, but ultimately went broke.