DonniePeverley

You clearly haven't been to Dubai. Sri Lanka have recently moved to suspend long term visas for Russians for this exact sort of behaviour. They were literally taking over the island.

He is correct. Kata / Karon has now been over taken by Russians. Restaurants, nightlife, massage shops, tourist shops, boat tours, even getting a hair cut is all now Russians. Yes they may employ the odd Thai upfront, but these businesses were run by Thai's in the past. Putting aside the moral issue of letting Russians stay so long - they simple have to address the issue of local Thai's been hurt by their behaviour. They've also pushed rents so high, that local Thai's have had to move out. One reason for short term visas historically was so Thai's would always have places to live and not be outpriced. In a whim it's been tossed aside. A once beautiful paradise island has been ruined by them. Furthermore, if you want a free for all and invite the whole world to Thailand, you must make sure you have the infrustructure in place. Phuket roads are at a standstill at the moment because it cannot cope with the gates just being opened like they have over the past few months. I often go on tripadvisor, and even though they do their best to remove any negative comments, that vast majority of complaints are against Russians and their behaviours.

Here on O visa. Have income in Scotland. We are taxed there. We bring savings to Thailand, to help pay for fees for condo/utilities/schooling etc. Will we have to file taxes ?

At the risk of scouring 232 pages, can someone give me a VERY brief description as to what is going on ?

He loves tourism. What about all the other problems in Thailand ?

Patong area needs a congestion charge.

Dubai is packed with Russians too. Seems the elite have headed there.

Russians in Phuket. What happens when the war is over. Will they go back ? What happens to the market then.

Phuket has to be careful. Once the Russian colonise they may well claim the country as their own. lol maybe

I think probably you'll see stricter rules regarding licenses, so you can't get tin pot foreigners just opening up shops on a Thai mates name. License's will become more expensive - the gov't will want a cut of that billion. Furthermore tougher penalties for misuse etc, advertising and what not.

How many 'refugees' from Russia ?

They've just dropped visa fees for their biggest tourists.

Nonsense. 28 million tourists last year. On course to hit 40-50 million this year, if you look at how busy January and February were. Of course cheap over tourism creates problems.

He loves tourism doesn't he ?

They had massive tourist numbers last year, when you compare it to the rest of the world. The first two months of the year show they are going to be back and break pre pandemic visitors. Getting rid of visa fees and waivers was done in too much of a panic, and has been a needless massive cost that is barely been spoken about. Chinese visitors have began resuming to normal all around the world over the past few months, the visa waiver has made no difference whether they would have come or not. Of course it will be spun as 'the visa waiver' is the reason they are returning, but that is just not the case. How many visitors are Thailand looking at ? They will smash through 40-50 million this year. What do they want - 60-80 million ? You try to move around the roads on Phuket and it's a gridlock. You better then make sure you do some prior investment in infrustructure before allowing this. Airports are jammed to the queues. Furthermore, what happened to quality tourists over quantity ? It seems the leadership is purely focussed on the overrall number, regardless whether it's good spending tourists or not. It's a very naive approach, i predict within a year the locals will start to become angry at the volume of tourists taking over. You already have local thai's furious they are being priced out of flights to move around the country as tourists take over. The decision to allow Russians to stay longer is deeply controversial. Again, it's barely mentioned by the media, but they've pushed rental prices up so high, creating a bubble. Will they return nack to Russia after the war? If so, what happens to these properties they are renting out and have inflated the prices. It's meant many local Thai's have been pushed out further in the housing market. There are so many issues in Thailand - inequality, education, pollution, policing, exports, yet the overall focus on tourism is just far too much.

They're an absolute nightmare. We have the same problem in our condo. Most are inviting extended families over, and despite the condo warning you aren't allowed to short let your room, i am assuming there is no rule to prevent extra family members staying with you. As a result the population of the condo has balloooned up. The pool area is now a nightmare as it's just packed with Russians.

Japan is worst. They've actually suffered stagnation to their economy for decades, an ageing population, but they refuse to let any immigrants in. Old British guys in Pattaya would love to hear that.

The new leader has bascially just opened up the doors to everyone. The state of Phuket is awful at the moment. What happened to quality tourists over quanity ? Never learn.

It's pretty clear imo that airlines are in cahoots together to price guage.

So how many visitors is the head of TAT Stretta looking at ? They are set to smash 40 million this year. How many more do they want ? At what point will they say 'this is too much'. Or is there no such thing? What happened to quality tourism ? Giving long term visas is going to push rents up and hit Thai's who will find life unafforable - like what is happening in Phuket.

Last thing you want to do is ask a taxi driver. Mine took me to a brothel.

Okay i'll bite, because ir remember your deranged ramblings on Tripadvisor. How did that go by the way? You can live in one area of Thailand, and travel to other areas. For someone who hasn't been to Phuket in nearly a year, you seem to want to argue a rather sensless point that the island indeed has alot of Russian tourists. The official figures don't lie.

I have been there for the past 3 months, before leaving back to the US last week. Being there in April LAST year was a different situation. But having seen your previous posts, if EVERYONE said the world was round, you would argue the world was flat just because you like your own intellectual arguments at pointless debates. Good day to you, and won't be replying further to you if you don't believe Russians have literally taken over Phuket.

How out of touch the politicians are .... i mean has Stretta even been to Phuket ? Go there and look for yourself how miserable life has become there due to the influx of Russians. And he is wanting more ?!?!!?! Life in unaffordable for most Thai's there now due to the practises and colonisation by the Russians.

Is he running the country or TAT tourism ?