Histavia

21 hours ago, stereolab said:

Once again, the village has set up a tent complex for volunteers to sit in and watch Facebook. As ever, cars are simply driving through the cones sited on the road, no sign of a policeman with speed camera or breathalyser.

there is no evidence to suggest that the typical RTP roadside checks have any significant effect on the number of crashes with alcohol involved. 

In Thailand the figure is around 30% all year round. In places like UK, with a totally different approach the figure is about 18%.

Thailand doesn't have a proper procedures for alcohol testing and subsequent prosecution and fine collection or driving ban enforcement

1 hour ago, kingdong said:

Scotlands already been given a referendum and voted to stay,how many eu countries have been given an election if they want to stay or leave?

Virtually every country!

9 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

Thailand tends to see a huge spike in road accidents during long festival holidays because of the large number of people travelling from their places of work or business to their hometowns or to visit relatives.

 

In reality Thailand has usually seen a DROP in crashes and injuries during the holiday periods.

On 12/24/2020 at 10:31 PM, Roadman said:

Congrats to all the Pom Brexiters on here. You got the sovereignty of your country back, and the rights of free trade. Well done.  

Oh that is some kind of different use of the word Brexit and free market....meaning smaller market no change in sovereignty - a word that no Bexiteer can define....... and we never lost our country.....we didn't want it back, we wanted to go forward.

15 hours ago, webfact said:

Govt to revise immigration, business laws to lure foreign investors

By The Nation

 

 

The government plans to revise key laws and regulations covering immigration, foreign business and other sectors next year in order to draw more foreign direct investment.

 

The revisions will also cover foreign workers, excise tax, city planning, biodiversity, the movie and video business, and energy sector including infrastructure and alternative energy.

 

The government aims to achieve at least 85 per cent of the revisions targeted under its “regulatory guillotine” scheme next year, according to a government source. 

 

The Public Sector Development Commission has led the mission to make doing business in Thailand much easier than it is today.

 

Businesses and consumers are currently burdened with high costs from complying with these laws and related regulations, estimated to total Bt142 billion annually.

 

The Thailand Development Research Institute projects that the revisions of laws and regulations would lower annual costs by 55.2 per cent or Bt133 billion for consumers and 22.4 per cent or Bt9 billion for businesses.

 

The government is hoping the revisions will help lift Thailand in the World Bank’s “Ease of Doing Business” rankings from its current 21st place into the top 10.

 

Foreign and local businesses have long complained about cost burdens stemming from complying with Thai bureaucracy, but the government has been slow to deregulate. Foreign investors have pressed for “friendlier” laws on immigration, foreign business and tax.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/business/30400181

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-12-25

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

Reform is needed - but as said, I wouldn't expect too much.

One thing that been overlooked for decades is private language schools aimed at business. The restrictions on employing foreigners in ration to Thai citizens and the 51% Thai ownership laws and employment conditions make it impossible to start an effect school here.

Online teaching has to some extent avoided the problem, but Thailand has a very low level of English in business and needs to address this if they are going to attract foreign investors....so buck up and reform the Language teaching relations.

7 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Incorrect. While it is true statistically that the Chinese are the biggest spenders when it come to worldwide travel, those Chinese rarely come to Thailand. Those wealthier Chinese spenders want quality, great service, fair prices on luxury goods and wine and top end F & B service. They demand it, and Thailand rarely offers it. 

 

So, the general overall model does not apply. 

Talking about Thai tourism.....and you want to check the figures for China worldwide last few years. You are just making assumptions.

OP is no surprise....... they just don't seem to have a clue, do they?

17 hours ago, KhunFred said:

The Thai government has been doing whatever it could to decimate tourism and expat activity for almost five years, so none of this should be surprising.

17 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

 

Over development is an issue. I remember when I lived on Samui, one woman opened 14 fancy massage shops, within a three block radius on the beach road. It diminished the entire trade for nearly every other shop in Lamai. Nobody knows what she was thinking. Within two years, half of her shops had closed. Now, only one or two remain. When I moved there over 15 years ago, there were perhaps 15 massage shops in Lamai. At it's peak, before more than half closed due to Covid, and the tourism shutdown, there were over 70. Same goes for hotels. It was way overbuilt. Same applies to villas, many of which were built on spec, for resale. When they could not be sold, they were rented, and it brought down the entire market.

 

Remember when Thailand used to get alot of well heeled Western tourists? They brought real money into the country, and in exchange, were treated with utter and complete disregard, scammed, disrespected, and abused. The issues pertaining to the air, the environment, the road safety, the corrupt cops, the scammers, and others, were never addressed. Eventually, most said no more. Thailand thought the country was something very special, the center or the known universe, and that nobody would ever say no, or find alternative places to visit. The fact is that there are countless other spots, many in this region, that offer better service, more expertise in food and beverage (especially wine service and selection at fair prices, which rich tourists demand), reasonable import duties to sustain a luxury goods market, better training, and far better English skills.
 
Thailand simply lost sight of the big picture, and had very little vision, with regard to big spending tourists, who need to be catered to, instead of scorned.

So, what happened? The Western tourists started to decline in number, and the genius minds at the TAT decided it was time to "lure" the Chinese and Indians. They came. They came in droves. However, very few of the wealthy ones came, for so many good reasons. The ones who did come, they did not spend much money. Hotels, restaurants, gift shops, jewelers, galleries, spas, massage shops, bars, and countless other businesses suffered, from this extreme myopia, on the part of the officials in charge of tourism.
 
Oh well. Can't say they were not warned. Zero baht tourists are the vast majority who were visiting Thailand, prior to Covid. Sure, they spend some money in restaurants, at Tesco, and in 7/11. But, that is about it, for most of the super low budget Chinese and Indian tourists.

Practically 100 % incorrect. Western tourists have not declined their share of an exponentially increasing market had reduced... they ate not the big spenders... oer diem the Chi see are overall the biggest spenders...inevitably UAE and neighbours can exceed this but only in small numbers 

I dont agree in the unregulated way Thai tourism has been run...they have been pooping in their own nest for years and allowed the business to become a much too big a part of the economy.

This has made them very vulnerable to such world events as pandemics.... the recession that will follow may bring about a similar crash  to the 1990s.

The west will not save tourism in Thailand, it will be China and Asian countries who are nearby.

Vaccines will deliver but those in the public who believe they shouldn't have one will extend the Covid pandenic for months. There is no guarantee that we wont be still waiting to come to Thailand this time next year.

Bit early to say really....Covid is going to be around for another year - around the world many people won't be able to afford holidays etc, so Thailand, however open to tourists they become may have little say in the matter.

20 hours ago, webfact said:

This must be as worrying for property developers as well as investors. If the 39 million tourists that Thailand received last year in 2019, is never to be repeated, why do we need to continue building and investing in new hotels?

Development was too unregulated and way over what's needed anyway.

On 12/17/2020 at 12:51 AM, fangless said:

That is what I said so why say I am not in full possession etc?

 

Ha-ha! I have no idea - you need to fread up more  about the topic I guess?

7 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

Not if it's the only licence you hold.

a UK licence is valid in 2 sections - the plastic bit is about 10 years but the paper bit is until you are 70. Any country that gives long licences would be subject to this.

13 hours ago, webfact said:

It has been of benefit to places near large population densities, like Bangkok, and tourism areas like Chiang Mai where they are frequent and cheap flights. 

So one could conclude that the Bangkok Air monopoly over both flights and the airport have contributed significantly to Samui's troubles. A case of shooting oneself in the foot.

On 12/15/2020 at 2:33 AM, brewsterbudgen said:

As has already been established, a 5-year Thai DL is accepted everywhere.

You may find that if you use it in your home country, you are braking the law.

On 12/15/2020 at 8:57 AM, fangless said:

You are correct "there is no limit on the time after the crash" but they never update the daily road casualty figures after the daily release. 

They only ever quote deaths recorded at the scene.

 

eg;" So far this June 423 have died at the scenes of traffic incidents. It is unknown how many more later died of their injuries. The death toll is believed to be much higher than these figures suggest with even government leaders accepting it surpasses 20,000 per year."

 

Thai road deaths surpass 6,000 for year to date | The Thaiger

 

 

 

It looks like you're  not in full possession of the facts as regards who and how stats are gathered collated and analysed for Thailand. You need to find out who "They" is ......the police are not the main source of stats .... they are gathered from many other sources - insurance, hospitals and local government. Outside Thailand WHO has a huge stat department that attempts to make sense of the stats offered by countries all over the world.

The fact is that Thailand does not have a good or complete system for gathering road safety information, and that is the foundation of tackling the problem, one needs to understand every inch of evy crash that takes place. Thailand simply doesn't do this.

For example - The main areas of personal injury that are the standard for road crash analysis are 1 - minor injury, 2 serious injury, 3 - Fatalities. This has been carried out for decades in most countries but Thailand only has a few spasmodic attempts at this.

you also find that reports on crashes only concern themselves with DEATHS per 100k - if you just take a cursory glance at the WHO annual reports, you'll see that there are several other criteria for assessing road safety around the world and under many of these headings the figures from Thailand just don't exist.

The Thai police are neither trained nor equipped to analyse a road accident. If you don't know what happened, then you can't plan a change.

23 hours ago, fangless said:

I don't believe anyone knows as they only appear to record deaths at the scene of the accidents and not subsequent hospital/en route deaths.

In the short term they only record deaths at the scene (obviously) - when yearly road deaths are recorded there is no limit on the time after the crash.

18 hours ago, CorpusChristie said:

 

   That question can only be answered in the future .

Once all the dust has settled , all the trade deals with other Countries have been signed  , see how that works out , then you can answer whether there was economic rational in the UK leaving the E.U 

THat's not true - anyone can make an educated forecast - and no-one is forecasting economic success.

Already we have seen a decline in the economy outside of the effects of Covid and the future - well 2+@ will always equal 4 no matter if it's past present or future.

9 hours ago, transam said:

You made sure that Labor ruled for 20 years until the late 70s ????

I think you need to look at your history book. Eden, Macmillan, Heath for example

9 hours ago, Loiner said:

 

Is it because you are new to this?

I have followed Brexit from the start and have yet to hear anyone articulate a benefit  You posts seem to imply you think there are.  Clearly not.  .

1 hour ago, billd766 said:

Now how did you come to that conclusion from my post.

 

I did not say anything like that at all, so stop twisting MY words to suit YOUR agenda!!

 

Join the others of your ilk on my ignore list.

I'm sorry what ARE you saying? I think you need to be more clear.

25 minutes ago, Loiner said:

Not as many as Remaining in the EU would, or staying shackled to the EU rules would. Better out than in, as they say.

so you are saying that the majority of people in th EU want out? Where is that coming from?

9 hours ago, webfact said:

Extension of tourists visas from 30 to 45 days set for Cabinet approval 

 

Picture: Bangkok Biz News

 

Bangkok Biz News reported that the Thai Foreign Ministry was acting on calls from the Prime Minister to increase the number of foreign tourists by relaxing entry requirements. 

 

No visa is required for three groups, said spokesman Thanee Saengrat of the Foreign Ministry.

 

1. Those from 56 countries (P30) who can stay up to 30 days.

 

2. Others permitted under an agreement to stay up to 30 days from Hong Kong, Laos, Macao, Mongolia, Russia and Vietnam.

 

3, Nationals of Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Chile who can stay up to 90 days visa free. 

 

Due to quarantine requirements VoA is still restricted until December 30th and applies to nationals of Cambodia and Myanmar. 

 

The Foreign Ministry has now asked the Interior Ministry to consider extending the visa free stay for nationals of the 56 countries from 30 to 45 days. 

 

This proposal will last until the end of September 2021 if agreed.  

 

A list of those 56 countries on the BBN site shows that it includes nationals from the US, Canada,Japan, New Zealand, Australia, South Korea as well as the UK and most European nations. 

 

The proposals are expected to be formally approved by Cabinet next week.

 

Source: Bangkok Biz News

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2020-12-11

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

So the headline is wrong? They are talking about visa-less entry requirements.

although 45 days is an improvement - most countries off 90 days - even Brits entering France get that.

2 minutes ago, billd766 said:

Now how did you come to that conclusion from my post.

 

I did not say anything like that at all, so stop twisting MY words to suit YOUR agenda!!

Bit of a cliche, isn't it?

You seem very dissatisfied with the way Brexit has gone. Are you happy with it? If so how?