kinyara

It shouldn't preclude it, however it was the stated aim of the policy change to stimulate tourist numbers so it's not unreasonable to judge its success against that goal.

Slowly but surely the small group of Thai billionaires that operate protected monopolies in the key consumer sections of the economy are getting their favourable concessions from this new government. I have no doubt a significant proportion of the 10,000 baht handout if it proceeds will end up being spent in the food, convenience store and communications sectors that are controlled by a select few individuals. They are the real winners here in my opinion not the general public, it is after all them that will pay for these changes in the long run.

There wasn't a significant increase in Chinese tourism the first 2 months after introducing the more favourable visa conditions, I think the jury is most definately out on the success of this policy. Sept - 284,989 Oct - 291,323 Nov - 310,266

Thais, returning or otherwise will be on Thai passports and won't be on tourist visas therefore not included in FOREIGN tourist arrivals which is what the figures represent, likewise I very much doubt a significant number of foreign business owners if resident will be on tourist visas . If you're in transit and don't go through immigration you are not counted. It's a sure fire and positive sign tourism is recovering when people resort to claiming the numbers are significantly increased - " by a fair percentage " by those not on tourist visas without any proof that is actually the case in practice.

If anything their targets for the last 2 years have been on the conservative side. They aimed for 10 million in 2022 and they exceeded that with 11 million arrivals, in 2023 they had a range of 25-30 million and 28 million arrived, just above the middle of their expectations.

Yes, because I find it a very simple process that has never taken me longer than 1 hour of my year.

The best approach I find, if you're at all interested - I get that most aren't, is just to look at the official numbers at the end of each month, compare it with historical data and draw your own conclusions. Too much effort for the majority, but I got interested during Covid because I live in a tourist city and wanted to gauge the scale and pace of recovery from a unique zero start point. The articles on here are from numerous different sources with varying degrees of credibility so the last thing to expect is consistency.

Whoosh 😂

LOL, Pattaya's crap who would go there ? , what is there to do ? terrible beach, only attracts fat bald sex tourists. No high season this year, 😁

Always noticeable how few comments there are from the usual peanut gallery when Pattaya's popularity for mainstream events outside of the nightlife scene is confirmed, attracting 10's of thousands. All the 5 star hotels full of wealthier people who have the choice to go anywhere but do in fact choose Pattaya for their festive vacation.

I absolutely see where you're going with it and I totally agree that the real question now is when the Chinese come back to anything approaching previous levels. I was disagreeing with Spidermike's belief that Western markets including the US are not returning to Thailand to any significant level as previous. The only difference I can see is Asia in general was slower to reopen after Covid, not unique to Thailand and its govt, so are slightly behind the recovery curve. The increase between October and November from the likes of US, UK & Germany was significant which implies to me the recovery is continuing and there will indeed be a Western high season, something again there is scepticism about. Let's see both this month and from January onwards when we have a year or year comparison post reopening. But yes it is still all about the level of Chinese recovery in 2024 significance wise.

But they have and are coming back in increasing numbers. in fact in the case of Americans 104,000 of them in November, the largest number since reopening and a level getting close to pre-Covid. Clearly your dislikes as a resident don't apply to shorter term US tourists, I doubt any of them know who Prayuth is or the current Thai PM for that matter.

Over 1.5 million Indian tourists visiting this year, how quickly the sweeping generalised rascism comes out on this forum as soon as there is an isolated adverse news report.

Unless you have a massive monthly pension to cover additional medical bills above insurance I don't see how this can be achieved practically without an element of concern/worry. As a single guy with no direct dependents I think it's sensible planning to sell my condo in later life and rent hopefully in the same complex which I feel comfortable in, running down the assets in Thailand so there is not much here for relatives to have to deal with. I don't mind leaving my maximum 800k to a trustworthy friend to distribute equally amongst a list of the condo staff and particular bar staff in my 2 regular venues that I've known for years. As we know a little goes a long way here to people earning sub 20k a month.

Looking at November's arrival detail larger long haul markets such as US, UK and Germany all experienced increases to levels close to pre-pandemic rates, goes against the theory that higher flight prices and other negative economic factors would stop people coming at similar levels to before.

They won't hit 2019 levels in 2024 with the continued absence of the Chinese market, however as the November 2023 monthly figure shows, non-Chinese arrivals were almost back to the pre-pandemic level. Nov 2023 - Non Chinese Tourist Arrivals 2.3 million Nov 2019 - Non Chinese Tourist Arrivals 2.5 million

You're in denial because the historical figures don't support all the personal and political complaints you have about the country. The idea that somehow the authorities go to the bother of altering arrival numbers monthly from over 100 countries for the last 20 years to fool a few disgruntled foreigners is the stuff of a deranged conspiracy theorist. Why don't they just add in a couple of million ficticious Chinese arrivals to make themselves look better rather than reporting the large shortfall currently being acknowledged ?

I don't think being in Jomtien as opposed to Pattaya will increase your chances of finding and building a successful long-term relationship, a 10 minute baht bus ride between either place doesn't remove the fundamentals which are the same anywhere, quite possibly harder here when you throw in language and cultural differences. Just curious how you are planning on managing your visa situation long-term in your 30's ?

A little bit of forward planning by bringing in enough money pre-Dec 31, 2 months before normal, to satisfy my annual extension timeframe and thereby not requiring any transfers in 2024, effectively means for me that any tax I would be likely to pay would be due in January 2026. That makes me relaxed about the situation, time for the dust to settle, the situation to be clarified/formalised/officially organised, and enough time to plan for viable future alternatives if I find the impact does actually have a significant financial impact on me.

Japan is an interesting one to me as the decline in their arrival numbers this year are probably the worst with the exception of China, yet we've heard very little about it from the authorities which is surprising given its relative importance. In 2019 it was the 6th largest market with 1.8m arrivals, this year to October it had dropped to 12th with a mere 0.6m. Not surprised to see the PM on a trip out there banging the trade drum.

Not supported by the arrival figures, Vietnam is running at exactly the same rate relative to Thailand this year as it was back in 2019 - 45%, which suggests to me they face similar problems such as reduced Chinese travel, higher cost of travel and general worsening global economic factors.

A few years ago I drove past the architectual business on Thappraya Road heading to the Pratumnak light intersection when the authorities raided it, quite a big story at the time as the couple were fairly prominent.. They were keeping all sorts of exotic creatures in the showroom and cages out back. A couple of hours later I was watching TV in my condo, 4th floor, and movement caught my eye to the left of me on the balcony 10 foot away from the sofa. Looked left and here is this massive monkey/baboon on the railings looking straight at me, luckily all the sliding doors were shut. I'm sure the timing wasn't a coincidence if you know the forested area running at the back of that road down to Thepprasit.

" Fancy a Chinese Leo ", imagine the fallout for tourism 😂

It's a perfectly sensible approach that I employ only when paying a 1,000 for something under 100, a situation where a 1 note exchange allows for the most significant loss, ie 900+ change. There is no need to raise your voice above normal polite conversation levels, I'm just looking for eye to eye or verbal acknowledgement, and my own approach is to say " Sorry I only have a 1,000 ", thereby not implying I think they're going to scam me. Personally I'd rather minimise the albeit remote prospect of an awkward situation afterwards by approaching it this way when paying. I would have thought a rogue employee in a 7-11 would get caught out quickly by their own staff , i.e. 2nd or 3rd time it happened, unless they were all in on it which seems highly unlikely.

That's just peachy, we were due to check on him next month but since he's already qualified for home release under the totally coincidentally newly introduced Dept of Corrections guidelines the matter is now closed. A lot of talk recently about the Democrats joining the coalition and getting the 2 vacant cabinet posts, I wonder who else is on that House Committee on Police Affairs other than the Chairman who is a Democrat. Going through the public motions perhaps but working to a perfectly orchestrated mutually beneficial outcome. Kind of reminds me of the rather predictable course the outcome of the election took.