kinyara

Case solved, poor old georgegeorgia's latest career plan scuppered before it even got started. Looks like it's Mop till you Drop GG.

" Thailand is no longer attracting very many Western tourists for a dozen very good reasons " There you go again stating this falsehood without actually looking at the data. In 2024 4 out of the top 5 Western tourist markets - UK, Germany, Australia and France - were either just over or just under the 2019 peak numbers. None of those markets have ever been in the top 10 numbers wise, so nothing has changed in that regard. As usual your post relies more on your borderline racist outlook without any reference to factual information

There are premium individual private sector venues all over Thailand but no area is premium. That is down to the public sector and its institutions which unfortunately appear to be untouchable reform wise.

They are big in horse racing in the UK, if that side of things is going as well as their football team perhaps they need an injection of cash.

Who really knows whether someone is lonely other than the individual themselves. These types of thread are invariably started by individuals not living here who try to project an impression that those who are are unhappy. I think it's a form of envy/jealousy because they are stuck elsewhere, discontent with their lives.

I wonder if staff at higher end establishments be they hotels, restaurants or exclusive retail outlets get paid much more than those working in mid-level places and chain stores. I tend to think the wealthy customers benefit the already wealthy owners in the hospitality/tourism sector with not so much trickle down effect as a higher volume of mid range customers.

Most likely from information gathered from/supplied by the banking sector. The foreign exchange companies, credit card providers etc.

Effectively killed over a 1,300 baht dispute.

I doubt hundreds of millions extra could afford the cost of holidaying in Europe and Australia regardless of the tourist visa situation, I find trips home ridiculously expensive compared to here. I still don't see you can implement a guaranteed spend via a visa system, especially when you've spent 20-30 years developing a tourist industry to cater for all.

Or tourists across the board are also spending less than they used to due to the economic situation in their home countries. Tourism like every other industry isn't a smooth guaranteed upward trend of increased revenue, in many ways the opposite since it's discretionary spend. What are you suggesting : 1) Stop admitting tourists when you hit a certain arbitrary number that somebody thinks is enough 2) Only let people in if they promise to spend a certain amount per day HIstory tells us Thailand is very proactive at adjusting its visa policy when economic necessity dictates. Is it the least bit surprising given what COVID reaped tourism wise and the general economic situation here at the moment, which isn't great, they are trying to get tourism numbers back to previous levels. What is the alternative employment wise when you are trying to stimulate the economy ? Seems to me I've read quite a lot lately about factories closing in traditional big employment industries like car manufacturing, laying off several hundred workers at a time on the one hand, whereas the MOU's signed for the new tech they are trying desperately to attract will take time to develop.

We all know there are negatives that comes with tourism anywhere but throwing in sweeping derogatory generalisations of long-stayers and tourists for effect definately ignores the bigger picture. 1) Draft dodging Russians - ( long-stayers who can afford to acquire property has nothing to do with your original post of tourists and a lack of spend ). They have as much right to be here as you. 2) Drunken sex tourists 3) Visa type abusers

Easy for you to criticise when you are not one of the millions of working class Thais servicing the tourist industry who rely on customer volume to scrape a living. Vendors, restaurant & bar staff, moto & taxi drivers, housekeeping staff in guesthouses, 2 star hotels etc etc.

Rather than the usual Festive photo opportunity of hundreds of cops on Walking Street, I'd be far more reassured safety wise if they actually report and publicise a heavy lock up sentence in cases like this. Bordering on attempted murder.

Which is exactly why Thailand wants and needs high tourism numbers. It absorbs a less skilled, less educated workforce.

Must admit I didn't realise Japan was a mass tourist market attracting even more numbers than hopelessly tourist overrun Thailand

Peaceful as ever in my well run low rise condo. No short term tourists as they enforce the regulations re AirBNB/short stays. We get snowbird owners arriving now but they tend to be older respectful couples who appreciate the peace and quiet. Very rarely get kids around. Plenty of choice of cheap places for the tourist riff raff thankfully.

As usual from that author, painting a pretty inaccurate picture for the paper's clickbait narrative. He quotes the 2011 figure as the peak of UK tourism at 900k, and said it halved in the mid 2020's. In 2023 as we came out of COVID with available airline capacity still not back to normal 817k UK tourists came back, and with 739k to October this year it's highly likely 2011's figure will be exceeded. Thailand looks as popular as ever with UK tourists in 2024.

Nice cheery article to get us in the Christmas spirit.

Is there a 1 year retirement visa option in Vietnam yet ? Surely that's the major consideration for a retiree, all the rest is pretty pointless if you can't actually stay there long-term.

If I wasn't already retired in Thailand but dead set at making the move, if I was planning on bring in the money to purchase big ticket items like a condo and a car, that would be the year I managed my time in country to less than 180 days.

I was talking about those on retirement visa status. The Japanese would certainly have been the biggest community of working foreigners back then and are probably still significant in the business community but they would already be taxpayers under income tax regulations. I seriously doubt the Japanese figure significantly in the currently retiree population affected by this tax law change

As you say it is hard to generalise, if they have all the above are they really likely to uproot themselves and potentially family to save what in reality with personal allowances a relatively small amount of tax.

I don't even think there is even a couple of hundred thousand retired expats in the country. I'm sure I read a figure of 60,000 quoted by the head honcho a few years ago. I think we generally overstate our importance.

They are likely attracting a lot of new longer term stayers under the new DTV visa, more flexible/mobile under 50's staying up 180 days as opposed to the over 50 retirees who may alter their personal spend. They may lose on one policy change and gain with another.

I agree with your approach if that works better for you, I'd do it myself if it became too significant a liability or too onerous admin wise. You can shout it from the rooftops for your personal satisfaction, but I doubt your local immigration officer or government official gives a monkey's about your decision. You and maybe even a few thousand expats departing pale into insignificance in the grand scheme of things especially with tourist numbers growing by millions each year again.