Phil1964

Is that 4 boat / ferry accidents in a week? Chinese social media reporting these then that's going to hit!!

One Thai kid is enough. My Mrs kid was petulant, argumentative and downright violent towards her mother from the age of 10, assaults, knives drawn, pushed her down the stairs. Only way the mother found any peace and respite was when a child therapist in a Bangkok Children’s Hospital prescribed Prozac for the daughter!! 🤪 And her mother smuggled a 12 month supply back here to the UK to quell her daughter's temperament. Funnily enough giving a child Prozac here in the UK is illegal and not freely adminstered like in Thailand!! But then even English kids would have a job keeping up with some Thai kids moods and anger issues!

Good job the ferry was not full of Chinese 'TikTok'ing tourists', or Chinese social media would have killed TAT's latest tourism projection figures stone dead.

Some of them look like they need to be registered with Weight Watchers.

I think you are being too kind there refering to having the brain development of 10year old, Cordano! (I'd be thinking more aling the lines of a primary school kid @ 7 years of age. 😊

The UK suspended the tax breaks for foreign tourists reclaiming their VAT, (20%), a few years back. Now all the big stores and retailers are lobbying government to restore the benefit as unsurprisingly foreign tourist shopping spend is down, and data suggests it has moved to other European countries where the tourist can reclaim tax / duty.

Chinese urban air is way worse. Perhaps TAT could sell 'Clean Air Tours' - by an aptly named tourism company, "Oxygen Tours"?? 🤣🤣

How to win friends and influence holidaymakers...

Right Thailand listen up. Your country is expensive for us Europeans to fly too. Since 2019 average airfares have doubled after the pandemic and still.remain so, eg: In August 2023 I paid £1,100 to fly Eva LHR > BKK return. In contrast in June and September and November 2019 on all 3 occasions I paid under £600 rerurn to fly with Emirates from Birmingham to BKK, (car parking and fuel to Birmingham airport was half the cost of going via Heathrow for me too). When we get there hotels are similarly 2 to 3 times 2019 prices. Plus many hotels look nice on Agoda etc but when you arrive they are tatty, tired and dirty because Thais don't seem to.understand the point of maintenance and reinvesting, (to keep up with the times)! Food in restaurants is expensive now, comparable to UK prices in 2019, (ok inflation in UK has increased our prices). Tours and excursions are expensive. Driving is bad for your stress as all Thais think.all roads are Silverstone / Le Mans. Thai Beer is frankly awful. I realused how bad in 2023 compared to.all the micro brewery offers we have in the UK now. Okay your girls are pretty but I have had one for 5.5 years and just f****d her off because she and her 11 year old daughter were both schizophrenic utter psychopaths. You can't have a life remotely resembling any independence when you shag a Thai girl and what money you had before she bleeds out of you like a leech, then once it's obvious you are running on empty you will find her swapping phone numbers down the gym, outside the school gates and with the white van.who pips his horn at her when passing. Avoid!

Still has'nt dawned on them the price of flights to Thailand is out of kilter compared to other more inspiring long haul places to venture off to for yours holidays and adventures outside of and away from Europe and North America.

Simply because they're too lazy and too poorly trained to do anything properly and finish a job correctly. Add in Thainess attitudes of it all be okay because Buddha looks after us and hey ho, that's why infrastructure and utilities are so messy, untidy and poorly maintained.

Nail on the head. Especially the Thai variety! Well said Irish Star.👍👍👍

Surprised they did'nt get all frustrated and vented their anger en masse and blamed the pilot before giving him the customary 20 v 1 Thai beating! 🤔

In the same period that Asean News reported Chinese police coming to help Thai police. Oh dear oh dear. Time to think of holidays elsewhere, methinks..

Yep should have waited a bit then tripped the kid back into the pool. Walked over and tapped the dad on the shoulder, "Your daughter's drowning"! Then walk away.

Yep. Seeing as the UK retains the triple lock on pensions then the last two year's of state pension increases, awarded in line with post covid inflation rates, have been a welcome boon to British OAPs. However, in 2 years whoever is in government will need to make some nasty decisions about UK pension provisions, especially while we spend billions sending arms to Ukraine and public services and infrastructure is falling apart / overloaded due to lack of investment over the last 20 years. £1500 / month for full time care is a steal, but it's not the whole cost which the artivcle omits. And 'flocking to Thailand', I'd guess no more than 100 retiree couples a year make such a bold move to foreign care, especially against family wishes etc...

Lack. There's sweet FA empathy or compassion in Thai culture. I'm married to one, abusive and manipulative as f***.

False smiles and false intentions. You wanna interest in me, you need give money me...!! Money their single, motivating interest.

Vetting procedure?? Oh that'll be.... "Sawadee, you got monnneeeee, sir? Ah good, you can stay loooong time if you give money me more. Khrup kuhn khrup/ka"! Sawadee..

What? More utterly corrupt and scheming than your typical Thai??? 🤔🤫 So Gold medal to Nigeria and only a Silver to Thailand, boy Thais will be disappointed!

So from your 'man on the street' perspective in Khao Tao which nationality(s) are the majority tourist visitor(s)?

Same in the UK too. Government printed and threw money around during covid. Then after lockdown inflation started. Then the bloody Soviets kicked off on their war program and hey ho, interest rates and inflation all headed north!

Looks like the international money markets approve then? NOT! https://www.nationthailand.com/business/banking-finance/40031561

You forgot the two key things to add on your list... 1) A skilled labour force for the modern era. 2) Eradicating widespread, top down corruption.

Good points made here by a few posters but in essence China's leadership is controlling it's masses to retain the tourism and leisure spend in their domestic economy as much as possible. Their economy is for China underperforming, (there's been interesting articles online at the level of collapse in exports to USA and Europe), property crisis well documented and if you're one of the rich Chinese I doubt Thailand, (it's virtually China's 'Benidorm'), features high on their must see bucket list??