dunroaming

2 hours ago, smedly said:

I wish they would stop embarrassing themselves with this nonsense 

 

 

The one coke and 5 straws brigade from India are not going to save Thailand 

 

There is no doubt there are some nice foreign built hotels here but step outside into the filth and garbage and it's a whole different picture from the marble floors of the hotel

 

I have fond memories of the pristine holiday destination in Spain Portugal Greece Italy and generally around the med - you could eat off the footpaths and general infrastructure it is so clean and engineered - absolutely spotless and not a tile out of place 

 

Thailand has had huge tourism income for decades and what did they do with it ?  - stuff it in their greedy corrupt pockets instead of spending it on infrastructure - they only have themselves to blame for the mess

"Tourism" is a massive subject and incredibly subjective.  I can certainly nod along to many of the comments here.  I first passed through Thailand when I was a student on my gap year, although I can't remember it being called that at the time.  In those days my travelling companions (who tended to change from country to country) and I certainly fell into the one coke and five straws category. But that was part of what made Thailand an attractive destination.  Easy to get drugs, cheap booze and food and (at that time) a truly exotic location.  It soon became an absolute must as part of the whole gap year scene.

It was many years later that I returned to Thailand and by then I was wearing a very different hat.  It was a business trip with five star hotels with marble floors and courtesy hotel cars.  It couldn't have been more different from my earlier adventure there.  My next trip was a holiday with my then wife and again a different experience.  Beaches played a part, a couple of "cultural" trips and a lot of pampering by attentive resort staff.

Eventually when my business meant spending many months of the year in South East Asia, I moved there permanently.  Initially in Hong Kong and then Thailand which was more affordable and very user friendly.  At that point I became an expat and that gives a very different view of Thailand.  You become very defensive about life there (or at least your justification for living there) whilst also moaning and complaining about all the irritating things that make up life in the "Land of Smiles".

I also enjoyed many holidays in Europe although I would find it hard to compare that to Thailand.  Living in the UK made holidays in Spain, Italy and Greece an easy call.  Short, cheap flights, good beaches, guaranteed sunshine and inexpensive hotels.  Plus the advantage of just about everyone speaking English.  Admittedly those things can also be found in Thailand (apart from the short flights) but somehow, the 11 hour flight and the fact it offers a very different culture , makes Thailand seem more like an adventure. At least for the first couple of trips. 

And I think that is really relevant here.  After those first couple of trips, people will start to wonder if it is worth the more expensive, long flights and associated jet lag.  If you are going to put up with that, do you want to just re-visit  what you have already experienced?  It's a big world and pretty much all of it is accessible these days.  Thailand isn't really exotic anymore and let's face it, there is a Thai restaurant on almost every street in Europe these days so you don't need to go there for the food!

So given that Thailand has been the top Asian holiday destination in the west for many decades, it is understandable that the Thai Tourist Board will have to look to new markets and with India and China being the new rising economies, that is a no brainer!

17 hours ago, Maybole said:

I saw a clip of an interview she did for the BBC last year. She is seriously dense and had no grasp of her subject. Some advert for a UK government!

Problem is with Johnson's government, nobody keeps their job for more than a few weeks  before being moved on to another post that they have no experience in.  Hunt and Raab being a couple of examples.  They all screw up but instead of them being dumped (as they should be) they just continue in the same game of musical chairs.

Johnson has to do this because he is seriously short of people he can keep on side.  Truss is one of them....for now anyway.

5 hours ago, BritManToo said:

But none were foreigners as another story points out.

No incoming foreign flights and ZERO bookings in the 100+ SHA/+ hotels.

Chiang Mai has always attracted a lot of domestic tourists.  Before I moved there and lived in Bangkok, the locals would rave about Chiang Mai with it's cooler climate and clean air.  Not sure that still is the attraction concerning the air ????.  I do know that many of them head for places like Doi Inthanon when the temperature drops and there is hint of frost on the ground.  My in-laws do it every year. 

3 minutes ago, scorecard said:

Yes and stowaways and cockroaches on tour.

At last!  A serious answer to a serious question.  Thank you!

2 hours ago, khunPer said:

Wonder how many of the passengers that arrive onboard the "100 cargo flights"...????

 

7,000 international passengers arrives on 110 international flights, which are in average 64 passengers per flight...

I know this has been raised in the past but do we know if arrival figures quoted include passengers in transit?

11 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Should be a law that says you have to give full details on figures , not fear pushing half information.

That's fair enough as much of the time in Thailand they try to talk down the amount of cases, so a law forcing them to be truthful would be good but as we all know, is never going to happen!

It is the same old story.  The right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing and the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. Plus the right hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing and the left hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing. Best for the right hand to stick to the up and down movement that they seem to do so well!

16 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Was not looking where she was going and was allowed out on a motorcycle by her parents (who possibly paid for the bike).... 

 

Sad, tragic even... But, it is quite the social norm for children to be riding around on motorcycles without helmets. 

 

Blame the parents for letting there kids ride their motorcycles... But blame the police for their culturally ingrained apathy towards enforcing any road safety measures whatsoever. 

 

 

For many poorer families in Thailand (or anywhere else for that matter) choices are very limited. The motorcycle is often the only form of transport they have and as we know in most of Thailand, bus services are pretty much non existent.  Whilst we can all get very stuffy about children riding motorcycles, you only have to get into close proximity  with any school in Thailand to find hundreds of young teens (and younger), with two or three other kids on board, weaving their way through traffic trying to get to their classes.  Truth is it is the only way they can get there.

Of course in other countries there are all the school buses to do the job but in rural Thailand it doesn't exist, unless it is a private school for the rich kids.  I know, we did that with our boy in Chiang Mai when he was young.

So as in this case you can blame the parents and shout "Lock them up!"  After all they have only lost their child and have to deal with all the guilt that comes with.  And surprisingly in the west we don't tend to lock up parents when their children are killed in road accidents.  Strange that.

1 minute ago, Cherrytreeview said:

Because the UK has a high vaccination rate and the vast majority of people in hospital are not vaccinated or elderly and frail.

The only thing similar to Wuhan is the complete lack of honesty and transparency as illustrated by posters like yourself.

Not correct.  44,370 new cases in the UK and yesterday 223 deaths.  Many people being admitted to hospital have already been vaccinated.  They are also from all age groups.  Booster jabs are being administered as fast as they can and hospitals are reporting that they are struggling already.  I very much doubt there will be another lockdown, but compulsory wearing of masks again is very likely.

6 hours ago, smedly said:

I wonder how many cops got a message 30mins before the raid - leave now

Not too many I would imagine.  No Karaoke, no strippers or bar girls so I doubt it would attract that many cops. 

2 hours ago, John Drake said:

When I worked at a certain prominent Thai university, my Thai Chinese students (and that was about 99 percent of the class--a few Thai Japanese were there as well) expressed open contempt for "pure Thais." They claimed that were it not for them, Thailand would look like Laos. Must say that I found much better attitudes from my Chinese Chinese students than my Thai Chinese ones. Usually, when 10 to 15 percent of one ethnic group owns 80 percent or more of a country's wealth, that is a problem. Interesting to see how the Malays dealt with a similar issue in their country.

I have been doing business in China for since the early 90's and I can confidently say (????), that the majority of Chinese citizens consider the Chinese to be superior to most (if not all) other races.  Whilst we are welcomed with open arms for the trade we bring them, that is as far as it goes.  And yes, Thai's also look down on many foreigners, especially the older population.

Then again who are we, as westerners to point the finger when it comes to racism. 

Thailand is still an easy call for most Europeans when it comes to vacations.  The more adventurous will head for other South east Asian destinations but anyone with younger kids may think twice about that.  If you go into any pub in the UK and say "Anyone here been to Thailand?" , at least 50% of the people will raise their hands.  It's a safe bet for most people who will put up with the long flights.

And Thailand has always been a good starting point for long haul travelers.  Cheap flights and a good infrastructure with  hotels coming in all budgets with different levels of comfort.  And of course tourists and travelers are not the same thing.  For a family with kids looking at their annual holiday, they will have different priorities to travelers looking for adventures.

32 minutes ago, StayinThailand2much said:

At least they bring € and £, not yuan...

But it all ends up as Baht in the end.

6 hours ago, steevjee said:

US and UK ? purely aimed at the money factor, otherwise why no mention of Australia and New Zealand?  2 of the safest Covid countries on Planet Earth

It's always about the money.  However now the news is that they will open up to 27 countries including New Zealand, Macao and China!

11 hours ago, meechai said:

Man with a gun entered another mans house

 

Owner beats him to death...where is the problem?

 

Who cares what dead man's mother claims he may or may not have had cash wise? That he previously "had" 300k baht does not mean  a thing in this story. This story is centered around an armed intrusion into another mans home period.

 

Bottom line any intruder found with a gun in my house at night will be found there in the morning (albeit motionless)

 

Side Show: This Thai man was supposedly having an affair with the Swiss mans wife....Now he shows up after midnight with a gun in the Swiss mans house? Guess what the plan actually was at that point?

 

Now dead Thai man's mother makes a claim the dead man had 300k baht & what?? Udon Police visit Swiss man why? They think maybe he set it all up? Had Thai man appear at his home with gun & 300k so Swiss could rob him? Amazing Thailand

All this really confirms is that when it comes to it,  nothing anyone says in these situations can be taken at face value. Lie after lie after lie and rarely ever a glimpse of the truth.

2 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

And "most of us know" would have been just as much garbage.

I think you do the ex-pats down.  Most are savvy enough to see things for what they are.  Of course there are still some naive enough to believe all the bull manure.

22 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

"As we all know..."

Such garbage.   Just get so sick of posters saying "as we all know", as though what follows that is ever accepted or substantiated fact, eg.  "the truth has little or no value in Thailand".

Fair comment Lou.  Should have said most of us know.

9 hours ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

so what  happens if I cross the border to Malaysia from Thailand and get a flight on to the UK? is the border  open to Malaysia? 

Probably get stamped out of Thailand when you leave and that will flag up on arrival in UK.  Might be better to simply fly to a European country and then overland and get a ferry to the UK.  But is it really worth all the hassle?

18 hours ago, Nojohndoe said:

So what happens if wealthy Indians do not present as salvation ?

Hmmm. Lack of  Westerners. Look to "Westernized" Chinese and Indians. No conundrom in that?

How would you like me to phrase it?

5 minutes ago, Paul Christian said:

These so called 'wealthy tourists' if they do happen to visit Thailand, most do not for all the reasons in other posts, but if they do then they spend money in the big resorts and higher end malls. This accrued wealth then stays in the usual hands.

 

The mass tourism, which does in fact visit a mid-tier destination like Thailand, does spend all they can in local restaurants, franchise stalls at regular markets, 7-11s, beach hut bars, diving schools, small bars and clubs... and all the regular local Thai businesses that provide a living for the multitudes of Thais that operate or own these small businesses.

 

It seems the government are more concerned with filling already fat fingers whilst ignoring the tourism that supports the majority of Thais that just about get by. I've lived around Thailand for close to thirty years for at least part of each year and have many Thai friends who just about get by, even in better times. I know who I'd rather be spending money with.

Good and logical post and I agree on all of your points.  The problem is that there has been a decline in western tourists for some time now and it is usually them that use the facilities you mention.  Whether it is possible to get those tourists back in the same sort of numbers as before is doubtful.  Certainly in the foreseeable future.  It is certainly going to be tough for many ordinary Thais who rely upon tourism for their living.

However, many young Chinese and Indians are getting westernized in their views and outlook so maybe they will fill the gap!  I truly hope so.