connor6063

I really have to laugh at their figures for tourism. My wife has a cousin who works for Immigration, although I'm not sure what he does, but his family was here one day and I managed to ask him some questions about how they come up with their figures for tourists. His English is surprisingly good, and here's what he told me.

Everyone getting off a plane in Thailand, who passes through Thai Immigration, even if they are only waiting to board a plane to somewhere else, is counted as a tourist.

Every weekend at the border with Malaysia there are bus loads of people who come to Thailand for a 1 day shopping trip. They are counted as tourists.

Every "border runner", as soon as he comes back into Thailand, is counted as a Tourist.

I can't speak for the rest of the country, but here in Chiang Mai I know of two 5-Star Hotels who have had to close off half their rooms in order to stay open. At one of them they lost all of their Thai Massage girls (6) in one day when they all up and quit. The reason is that a "free massage" is included in the tour package, which is fine, except that the people on the tours never bother to tip the girls, who work for tips and do not have a salary.

I know of two people who had fairly successful booths at the Night Bazaar who had to close due to lack of business.

I see a number of tour bus's that are filled with Asians, but almost never with Westerners. Friends in the tour business say the Asians, mostly Chinese & Korean, are all "packaged" tours, stay only at certain hotels, travel in arranged and managed groups in the mini vans to their destinations, and are extremely cheap.

As mentioned above, there are now countless websites devoted to the scams and ripoffs by Thai on foreigners, not to mention the seemingly increase of deaths, that people are becoming more and more aware of. Those of us who live here do so because we love the country, and the people to some extent, but we also see what Thailand is, and what it COULD be if not for completely misplaced "Thai pride" and a seriously endemic case of "National Stupidity".

TAT can spout all the fictitious numbers they want, and tell the general public anything and will be believed, but the reality is very much the opposite of what they are saying. With all the scams, ripoffs, declining world economy, strong baht, and other contributing factors, Thailand is not the "value for money" they would have people believe.

If the mods will allow it, here's something interesting from the Vietnamese Tourism web site:

nternational visitors to Vietnam in July and 7 months of 2011International visitors to Vietnam in July estimated 460,000 arrivals, increasing by 12.2% over the same period last year. Total international arrivals in 7 months reached 3,425,820 representing a 17.3% growth over the same period of 2010

Their numbers are increasing dramatically, much more so than Thailand's. Why? much better "value for money" for starters, and you don't have all the negatives that Thailand is so well known for.

"Miracle Thailand". ??

It would be a miracle if they got rid of the tuk--tuk and taxi mafia.

It would be a miracle if they cleaned up and regulated the jet ski operators.

It would be a miracle if you could actually get off a plane and not be hounded by 50 touts.

It would be a miracle if you could find a taxi at the airport that actually used their meter, and took you to the hotel you booked and not tell you it "burned down last night" and take you to another where they get a commission for bringing you.

It would be a miracle if you could walk down the streets of Pattaya & Phuket with your family without having porn shoved in your face, including kiddie porn.

It would be a miracle if something happened and you went to the police and they actually did something about it.

The list is endless.

Bottom line, despite all their slogans and advertising, Thailand is NOT tourist friendly anymore they way they once were. Greed and corruption have taken over where short term profits and a "quick buck" far outweigh the long term picture. Where foreigners, especially Western, European and Australians are viewed as "cash cows" to be fleeced in every way possible.

Sad, because there really is a lot to offer to visitors to this country. Unfortunately, the Thai don't have a clue as to the right ways to go about it.

I agree, I went down to some huge waterfall in the area near Trat. The only problem is Thai people got in free and Farangs were 400 baht per person which i thought was outrageous. Luckily i had a student id so i got in free also but there are so many scams in Thailand. Also at Kao Kiaew Zoo in Sriracha there is this ziplining exepedtion called flight of the gibbon. I went with my girlfriend and because she was thai her ticket was like 1200 baht instead of 2500.

Idea for a new T-shirt sloagn to kick off the campaign:

it's a

MIRACLE

I survived

THAILAND

with its electrocutions, muggings, tuk tuk drivers,

jet ski operators, drownings, corrupt police, bad drivers,

balcony dives, drink spiking, drugs, angry bar girls, lady boys,

poisonings etc

LOL so true

If you're searching for a miracle on your holidays you need to go to Lourdes not Thailand.

Thailand is still a great holiday destination but it isn't the cheap, exotic, tourist friendly country it once was nor is it a classy up market destination either. Another problem is that whilst the people are welcoming that doesn't always go for the officials.

What will be a miracle is if Thialand's endless ambitious visitor projections ever come to fruition.

Thats a good point. But even if you can speak a little bit of Thai people respect you so much more. Personally when i was living in Thailand i felt more free than here in the Us. Also Thailand is so fun.

And why exactly was there a 70 year old bomb in Malaysia? Also why would one try to smash a bomb open? Didnt they think it would explode maybe. Haha

Im sorry, but who cares if people change genders. It doesnt mean they are crazy. Starting to sound like the us

This is new? Then what is the little yellow man you use in google earth? Isnt that street view?

Whats the bulge in your pocket. Oh its 3kgs of heroin.

Thailand has police? Since when?

Well this is true. When i was attending a public thai highschool in choburi nobody read books. Even my girlfriend who was raised in a wealthy family and went thru private school up until international university and she has never read a book before. This is more about education than reading but thai schools dont do anything to be honest.

Im in America but i saw an ad on tv where people get the stray dogs from Thailand shipped to america to be pets. Seems a bit expensive for such a thing.

Well, we can use the thousands of stray dogs to kill birds all over Thailand. Kills 2 birds with 1 stone. =D

Wouldn't legalizing marijuana dramatically decrease the levels of inmates in thai prisons, violence along the borders, and couldn't it potentially help the Thai economy? Deal with the dangerous drugs.

In 2009-2010 i was in Thailand living in Laemchabang for 1 year as an exchange student. I hope to return in the summer of 2012 from june to august because i will just be graduating from highschool. I was wondering how difficult it would be to get a visa for traveling to thailand and if it is very exepensive. Does having connections in Thailand or being able to speak thai help determine this? Thanks!

Btw, im from america.

When will people learn?

Okay, so how fast was this bus going? It looks like it got hit by a train or something.

Heres the real answer to this. The Thai government should legalize and decriminalize the use and production and sale of weed. But also start selling it and put a tax on it. They should then use the tax towards education. Weed is good.

Good Job Guys! It only took 2 wars and 10 years to find and kill 1 person........................................

Well you cant blame thai people for not liking farangs. Alot of creepy old horny men coming to thailand for sex.

20k Euros at home in the safe? Is the Majestic Residence a higher end complex? I would be extremely nervous about keeping that amount of cash in the home in any country.

TheWalkingMan

it's not the amount of cash as 20k in 500 euro notes can be well hidden, it's who knew he was holding that amount

majestic residence was touted as a high end estate and they certainly charged plenty for the land, i'd be gutted if I had purchased in there to be fair

maybe the wife was in on it and it was planned O.O

Which forum is that?

Hey i was a rotary youth exchange student 2009-2010. My girlfriend from thailand is coming this summer as an exchange student to the us where i live. Apparently she has to have an interview before she gets her visa and i was wondering what she should expect for her interview. Does anybody have an idea?

Well this could very well be untrue. back in march-may when alot of redshirt stuff was going on alot of the stuff in the news in different countries like the us was false. i was in chonburi at the time and my family wanted me to come home because the news said that everywhere in thailand was very dangerous which wasnt true at all. Also the yellow shirts control the media so you never know whats true.

So im 16 i just got back to america from thailand 2 months ago. i studied matteyom 4 in laemchabang for 1 year as an exchange student. i became a monk at a thai temple. for 2 weeks. Wat si vana ( laemchabang -banglamung) i learned to read thai pretty well in 2 weeks because of becoming a monk. it was a wonderful expirience and i woul recomend that anyone who lives in thailand as an expat or for business u should definatly try it.

You are joking guys... but once again -this year- I missed my white Xmas delivery

Ain't no funny at all...

555+

look she is with him so she can collect his will when he dies in 10-20 years leaving her 30-40 yrs old still young. so she can go start a new family with someone she likes.

At least that is what i think.