DonniePeverley

I noticed how some banks advertised 'gift card' type credits, but when you ask in the branch they say they've never heard of them and 'not have'. But with the country becoming increasingly digital, and also i would prefer the convenience of having my deliveries just left at my condo rather than having to pay cash, i need some form of digital card. Any help ?

They will indeed allow 60-70 millio tourists next year. I predict we will see a massive influx of Indian and Chinese tourists. However, without infrustructure improvements eventually the locals will start to complain. At the moment Bangkok is a nightmare to drive around. Phuket is gridlocked. I see no projects there to say we adding additional roads, new transport models, etc Furthermore, it will make for a poor tourist experience too. Why have they decided to turn Thailand into a tourist state ? It's a massive place to just give up on everything else and put all your baskets into tourism.

Will it be a big year to build alot of infrustructure to accomodate the huge influx of tourists? I see nothing being built in Phuket (eg a tram or further road infrustructure) to cope with the gridlock in numbers. Not seeing much built in other provinces.

All these problems in Thailand ... inequality, pollution, education, poverty, manufacturing, international issues eg Myanmar etc ... and the vast majority of soundbites we here from him is about tourism. He is the Prime minister of Thailand, not the head of TAT.

There is no doubt the numbers Thailand currently experiencing are VERY HIGH. I've never seen the airports this busy. However, not just Thailand - but how do they count the numbers? Is it a case of immigration looks at arrivals / departures? Do they then seperate those who live here, and those with long term visa stays, etc ? Because they also provide seperate numbers for provinces. So how would they could arrivals to eg Phuket ? Would it be flights ? Or say domestic tourism from Bangkok ? I've never really got a definitive answers.

Based on the figures for the first two months, and projections for the year ahead (hotel bookings, flights, etc). It will easily hit 40 million - if not more. You can see it at the airport, provinces the country is VERY busy.

You have TWO COUNTRIES with in excess of a billion people each. And at a whim and panic, you waive all the fees and entry barriers to let in a free for all. I don't even recall a debate, it was just announced. Simply no way they will put the fees and visas back for Chinese visitors now.

What point is too much tourism? 60 million? 100 million? Without the improvement in infrustructure it is a ridiculous high number. Thailand has implemented some very heavy investment in suspending visa fees for Indians and Chinese. If you look at the volume it could be in the billions. The panic to get more Chinese back, and invest billions was short sighted. Chinese tourism was slow all over the world last year, and has only started to resume normally towards the end of the year. There was simply no need for Thailand to stop the visa fees. Then allowing Russians to stay longer term, and now wanting more territories to come. Then in turn they have just let millions of indian tourists too. How do you eventually apply handbreaks when tourism gets out of control ? The country has all these issues - inequality, horrific air pollution, crime, corruption but the leadership just seems occupied with tourism and turning Thailand into a pure a tourist state. Phuket is already seeing complaints from locals and i predict other provinces will soon start complaining. They've started to complain in Japan too and authorities have had to put up curbs. Numbers will continue to go up, especially in my opinion they have waived the indian entry programme.

Chiang Mai lovely place, but the burning crops season isn't great.

There are some surrounding areas that are a bit more chill.

Unfortunately it seems the reduction hasn't yet been passed onto the consumers.

Bar a few months when people were told to remain home, closed tourism, night life, Thailand remained pretty much (domestically at least) open. It was rightly closed to outside tourism bar a quarantine system. Had you lived in the UK you would have seen the true horrors.

A tad confusing this. France, being a part of the EU, does not have the ability on it's own to allow visa free access to a certain country. France would need all member states of the EU, including Germany, Italy, Spain to agree as a collective. The reason being there is free movement around European states - there is the Shengen visa. Even China does not have visa free access to the EU. The UK was the only (former) member of the EU that had access to it's own border controls as it was not a part of the Shengen visa scheme. However, mute point as they've left now.

Formula E is prestigious ?

Following the route map laid by previous influencers .... he's selling a course - "how to work from anywhere via tiktok"

restaurants charging a 20% service charge. What the hell is this all about ?

I had Russian cut my hair. Was she allowed to do that ?

Go on TikTok and there's a raft of these 'influencers' who have popped up around the past few months, all with the same age range, and all with the same rhetoric. It can't be a coincidence which leads me to believe there may well be some paid influencing going on - not that i am saying this guy is doing that. Age range - early 20's. Say your country is boring, dull, and you won't get anywhere there (usually USA, UK, Australia, Europe). Play on the fact it's cold in the western countries. Don't mention the gdp per person in Thailand is a fraction of the western world. Go on endlessly how Thailand is cheap (it isn't). Repeat the mantra how it is cheap a few more times. Mention safety. Explain how easy it is to come. You just leave your job, come here, and it will all be okay. Never mention the visa issue. At no point do you even discuss it, even if 90% of the replies are asking you about it. You ignore this because you are cool innit. Now the bizarre co-incidence, is they all push you to do 'social media' here, and you can make a living to survive. This to me is the 'got ya coincidence moment'. Why would a TikToker want others to do the exact same thing he is doing and creating competition. Only Thailand gains from getting people to come here and post on social media. Never type anything negative. Never mention you are unable to work here. Because remember you have to keep pushing the mantra 'everything is easy' when you get here. Never mention you won't get free health care. Never mention you won't ever really be able to own land to own property. Never mention education can be quite expensive if you settle down with a family. Never mention pollution. Then finish of with a dose 'it's cheap in Thailand'. One of these Tokers (i forget his name), who looks like he is wearing a wig, even turned up a TAT event at a mall and spoke on the virtues of Thailand ! Bit too much of a coincidence for me. Thailand certainly been looking at Dubai's 'soft power' on social media.

I've followed him in the past on TikTok, before getting sick of his nonsense rhetoric. At first i thought maybe he was some TAT paid influencer, as a quite a few guys popped up at the same time, all with the same rhetoric and age range (move to Thailand, it's cheap, your home country is crap, anyone can do it nonsense). But who knows. He posts alot of crap on how bad the UK is, some completely not accurate. He like many others, know they have the safety net of returning to the UK. Some posters have told him to give up his citizenship if the UK is that bad, but he doesn't entertain that idea. He doesn't answer the question on how he is staying their long term. Visa wise, we know their are 'wink wink' routes you can do, but they are a pain to do, and not cheap. But he is never open about it. Infact he is never really that open about certain issues. But he continues to 'influence'. What i do find very offensive about him, is his constant call that ANYONE can do it. It's false influencing, and quite harmful to impressionable idiots who may well be naive enough to just run out here, without realising they are unable to work here easily, long term visa issues, no free health care, and the actual fact Thailand is not that cheap, etc As someone from an immigrant background myself who lived in the UK, the fact he too is from an immigrant background and hates on the UK so much is very poor and an awful look - despite the opportunities it's clearly afforded his family. 99% of Thai's would swap places with his family and move to a western country if they could. The sad part is, this little bit of publicity may well open him up to check what visa status he is actually on here. If i was him, i'd buy an onward ticket just incase. This 'large group tour' he has planned - hmmm 🙄

They're running the prostitution business now on Phuket too. According to my 'research' that is.

I think They've bought the sunbed chair business on Kata beach. Monopoly.

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.