technoronin

For me, the increasing restrictions & regulations in addition to the threats of becoming more restrictive have made me change my mind about visiting Thailand.

I'm not going to be one of those tourists. It's not the dual pricing that has driven me away, it's all of the other restrictions and paperwork that have been added just this year. The BS about "quality tourists" never seems to actually define what a quality tourist is. Someone who stays in the Hilton and only eats in steakhouses? That really doesn't help all of the middle of the road restaurants or ordinary hotels. When I visit I spend between 100,000 and 200,000 baht per month for 4-6 months at a time. Not a big spender, but not a cheap charlie either. Thailand doesn't seem to want visitors like me anymore, so I will spend my money elsewhere.

All of these new restrictions are going to drive some tourists to go somewhere else. How many is yet to be seen. I suspect this will have a negative effect on the Thai tourist economy as well as the growers and small shops. Since Thailand is still recovering from the economic damage caused by the scamdemic, this sounds like a self destructive idea.

Nope absolutely true. Now I don't know what to do with the bottles of barbecue sauce I bought for a friend of mine.

That isn't really the issue, it is just one issue among many. At some point there will be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back. There are a number of negative things about Thailand and different people will have different levels where they will say enough is enough.

I guess you aren't talking to many Americans. I am not experiencing any hardship even though my income has dropped dramatically over the past year. Gas prices are down. Food prices have become lower. I just live a very middle class lifestyle.

Given the cultural differences between south Asian and Western cultures, I suspect a number of Westerners will stay away. Enticing lots of Indians to visit may be a financial loss overall for Thailand.

The changes in Thailand earlier this year caused me to not spend the summer there. My suitcases were 80% packed and I was planning to leave for Thailand in a few weeks when the bank change caused me to change my mind. That cost Thailand at least 300,000 baht of my money. Unless Thailand becomes welcoming again, I'm not planning on visiting again.

Whenever an academic criticizes President Trump I just remember they are an academic. The entire "ivory tower" crowd hates Trump and will say anything to tear him down, It's part of their culture.

Do the bureaucrats have the authority to make this change? Doesn't this change require the legislature to pass legislation? The current instability around a number of issues has made me reconsider moving to Thailand.

Is that a python in your pants or are you just happy to see me?

I see your point, but I want you to consider that the Dutch built many dykes and recovered quite a bit of land without the use of electricity, steam engines, or internal combustion engines. Technology has marched on, but they did it with shovels and windmills to start with.

Great, Thailand is still trying to recover economically from the scamdemic so they are going to put tens of thousands of people out of work again. This is while the government and the banking sector is working hard to chase farangs out of the country. This sounds like a set up for a Marxist revolution and power grab. Who is going to be this century's Josef Stalin?

They really need to talk to the Dutch. I'll bet they could not only solve the problem, but reclaim all the land that has washed away.

I spent 3.5 months there last summer. Having a bank account made it much easier to transfer money, gave me access to "scan to pay" and Bangkok Bank has cardless withdrawals so I didn't have to carry my debit card. There's also the fact that I already had a bank account that was working fine. If you want to accuse me of money laundering, there are the Thai defamation laws. Do you want to run into that kind of criminal trouble? Also, there are countries where I can easily open a bank account, I know someone who has an account in Mexico. It's really handy for taking advantages of exchange rate variations.