DonniePeverley

Have you been to Thailand? FLying in and out rarely causes a problem. Even less so if you get a visa again every few months, then renew.

Both the UK and USA have similar number of muslims - roughly around 3.7 million people. Totally idiotic comments.

Nonsense. You could have easily flown to nearby Combodia, Malaysia, Vietnam, etc for a day trip every few months. You never done a day trip before? I enjoyed my little trips. It would have been less than the cost of the visa.

The compressor is inside the hallway of the condo.

The irony of his stupid decisions is revenue from tourism is down despite the fact they're going to break records for tourism this year. Clearly they're attracting cheap mass tourism. So what's the Thai logic - let's get more to crawl back that revenue. Total lunacy. In years to come they will talk about the ecological damage done to Thailand by this PM.

It's not about being over run. It's also caring deeply about friends and relatives i have in Thailand. We have a prime example of the shananigans going on in the Phuket with long term Russians in Phuket. They've caused alot of damage to local thais. Brazenly bought up business, illegal working, buying up the sunbed business on beaches etc, tours - but worst of all they've really bought up alot of property (now we know why this is seen as so attractive to a PM who is a property developer). This has caused alot of Thai's to have to downgrade or move areas. Then you have the erosion of Thai culture. You have the ecological damage that comes with mass tourism. I could go on .... I have seen Indians cause carnage in Kuala Lumpur when visa rules for them were relaxed. Malaysia had to backtrack on the policy. So yes you've saved yourself a little flight out, or having to deal with an extension visa - but you won't want one in a few years time when the place really stinks and is designed for one weeks of miserable tourism.

Embarassing to do this with a straight face.

Disgusting comments from the PM regarding 'protecting the image of tourism' What about the heartfelt condolances to the families first ? Totally disgusting human being.

They are Americans. Why has the PM turned up a live crime scene. He never once went to Phuket when they were flooded or said a word regarding it. It's just tourism and open door immigration for this guy and his cronies.

It is designed as an open door immigration policy. The whole 'course' nonsense is just to keep up pretenses so the population doesn't catch on. Porperty developers in Thailand are giddy like it's Christmas.

You are assuming every no nomad will be using hospitality. Then there is pressure you place on the infrustructure by being in a country, pollution, the mess, the ecological damange, turning away 'quality tourists' who don't want to be surrounded by masses. I have an idea then if you like this approach - open up the UK even more. Let every man and their dog come - because you know there will be jobs for British people. Yeah sounds nonsensical doesn't it ?

So basically to clarify you could literally stay 6 months, leave for a day, then do 6 months again. Leave for a day. Do another 6 months till the 5 years? Insanity for THailand to open the border like this. Totally nuts.

Give over.

100% ... indians are already allowed to do some jobs in Thailand. They will come in mass. GDP per person in India is $2400 GDP per person in Thailand is $6900 That's trippling your wages. Furthermore there is not a single other country in the world (other than slave labour construction in the middle east) that will allow entry like this to Indians. I am not specifically targetting Indians, but i have seen the turnaround by governments in Dubai and Malaysia to know they will exploit this massively. It won't be hard for Indians to falsyfy bank statements, and cash in hand with money going straight back to India i doubt they will pay any tax. But Russians are it too. This for them is astonishing good news. Bad news for the rest of us. You already seeing the changing face in Pattaya, it's become all India.

It won't benefit you when the country you want to stay gives you an awful experience.

When you are citing Mexico and Georgia as the only examples to back up your claim you know you are onto a wrong argument. Mexico incidentally visa system is primarily for the richest country on the world on their doorstep. Thailand is going to cater massively to India - just wait and see. The numbers for India are going to go through the roof, and they will come to work here, cash in hand, and not pay a single tax. Go see Malaysia, UAE (Dubai) what happened when they relaxed rules. Malaysia immediately put a block back up on Indians, and now Dubai has cancelled Indians going through e-gates and more stringent checks to see physical return tickets, proof of funds etc, because (you guessed it) they were overstaying and working. Thailand has gone in the space of a few months, from a course of only allowing Indians to stay in Thailand for 14 days, with a visa on arrival system (where checks are undertaken), fees collected. To basically allowing them to live here with the DTV. Same applies to China, they've gone from needing a visa to basically 'meh just come and live here'. You of course have Burmese, Laos workers - but that's been going on unofficially for years in construction.

You tell me what infrustructure project is planned for Phuket ? The roads are gridlocked, and we have peak season to come. I tell you what is planned, an extension to the airport and nothing else. Misery for tourists and visitors.

A stimulus in cancelling visa fees for Indian and Chinese tourists is a cost to the budget - this would have been an investment in the very high millions. Now visa fees cut for more nations. Who is running this joint ?

How did Strettha become prime minister ?

So we've seen a condo in Phuket, but the compressor unit for the a/c is inside the room. Normally you see compressor units hanging on the outside of the property, but at this condo they are in the hallway as you enter the living room/kitchen. I have not seen them before so i am not even sure what to call them. They resemble a large cylinder, almost like a big cannister of gas. Anyone know what this may be? Agent of condo could not get a proper answer for me, saying she wasn't sure how the air was exhaled out, and she herself hadn't seen this type before. Anyone any ideas? Last thing we want is a pollutant air conditioning unit, the idea of having one near where we sit indoors is off putting. Help plz

You can literally fly out to cambodia or Kuala Lumpur for around £30. What is the nonsense of extreme visa runs?

Horrific news. It was pretty easy to fly out and back - a bit of a hassle, but nothing major. It was worth it to keep the huge masses out. Many countries citizens also couldn't do border runs because it was impossible for them, eg Indians could not fly into Cambodia or nearby easily. When you compare it to the fact this is essentially opening the border to mass immigration to Thailand - you only have to see what the Russians did in Phuket. Only ones it benefits is property developers. What job does the PM do again ? Nothing ever changes in Thailand. The local Thai's will suffer.

If you study the Thai economy ... it's a fine eco system. Rent is affordable at the moment to many Thai's - to even live and work in Bangkok. You have an ambudance of cheap labour in Thailand. You see it yourself, and wonder how they have so many workers around on jobs you would never see in the west. They can do this because of the cost of living for Thai's is pretty low, most importantly homes. This system kept the population mostly happy. You had tourism, but no long term stay was allowed on mass. Now the flood gates are being opened. You saw a taster in Phuket where Russians literally took over parts of Phuket - including buying up mass condos, working illegally, and taking up businesses against Thais. This was just a taster. You will see mass movement of people from India especially working illegally in the labour market. Then you will see long term visitors pushing up the prices of accodomation, which will mean local Thai's will be turfed out. You then have a situation where local Thais will demand more wages, then that cost passed onto consumers. This is not including the ecological disaster, Thailand at the moment can barely cope with its existing infrustructure, and the damage to local Thai culture as it's eroded. When you walk along parts of Phuket it's Russian, and not a single Thai around. The only ones who prosper are property developers. Locals suffer, tourists suffer as the experience becomes crap with mass tourism (See Bali, etc), etc It's as if the country is being ran by property developers.

https://www.outlooktraveller.com/travelnews/whats-new/protests-in-japan-and-europe-against-overtourism

Condo i was staying at. I'd say was around 70% Thai's. Then the Russian invasion, most Thai's forced out. Now 90% Russian. Many of these Thai's were furious that the property owners were putting rents so high on double digit levels. This will only get worst in what is a developing country, now a full blown rich western country. Countries like Spain, Japan, France, where mass tourism is becoming an issue are fighting back actively.