Thailand a harder sell for repeat travellers, but local experiences offer bright spots

[Gecko123]

I'm not sure if the type of self-reflection required is in their DNA, but sooner or later, Thailand is going to need to take a long hard look at itself.

[jethro69]

Thailand did work hard to get that far. Seems they finally achieved their goal.

 

[Khaeng Mak]

4 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

My mate came for the first time last month. Apart from other dislikes he was scammed out of 1000k as soon as he got into arrivals. Tour staff for a trip round Bkk that he had paid for claimed he needed to pay the tax on it strangely coming to exactly 1000k. The tour was rubbish apparently with the usual stops at a gem shop having a last day bargain sale.

1000K is 1 million baht.  

[mommysboy]

2 hours ago, Nyezhov said:

Damn I like it here and will be back in the Fall. I think its one of the best places in the world to place to visit, snowbird and/or retire. Its great being happy here without bad experiences. If you had a bad time yourself, or left bitterly, or hate it here, well it sucks to be you.

Ah, well compared with the Isle of Dogs I imagine even the black hole of Calcutta is paradise.????

[Khaeng Mak]

2 hours ago, Puchaiyank said:

I have experienced the beach condo and NE Thailand living...NE wins...more laid back, less people...tourist...pollution...and crime.  Cost of living is good...always plenty of fresh meats and veggies...adequate shopping and entertainment...

 

If you are a whiny bitch...please stay at the beach... ????

I live in a beautiful little rural village on a pristine beach. I don't buy a lot of meat because I catch a lot of my own seafood.  Not ALL beaches in Thailand suck.  

[GoodieAfterDark]

7 hours ago, Khaeng Mak said:

Thailand's USP used to be its culture. But that no longer exists.

I just wonder if Thailand is not changing due to the large influx of foreigners. I am sure all those kids being born from Westerners fathers will have a different education and view of the world, even if they were born in Thailand.

[Nyezhov]

1 minute ago, mommysboy said:

Ah, well compared with the Isle of Dogs I imagine even the black hole of Calcutta is paradise.????

Never been to the Isle of Dogs have I, have you then? Knowt very little about it.

[Khaeng Mak]

11 minutes ago, GoodieAfterDark said:

I just wonder if Thailand is not changing due to the large influx of foreigners. I am sure all those kids being born from Westerners fathers will have a different education and view of the world, even if they were born in Thailand.

Good point.  I had an interesting (related) thought a couple of days ago.  Nearly all of the famous TV and celebrity personalities in Thailand are Luk Kruengs. The white skin and command of English goes a long way in their quest for celebrity status.

 

But having visited Phuket recently I saw very few white tourists.  In fact Bangla was just a sea of arabs and north africans.  Last year I was sitting at a shadow puppet production in a rural village. Sitting next to me where some elderly parents and their daughter who had been "working" in Phuket and had just returned back to stay with mum and dad with her 3 year old boy in tow.  The young girl had a black eye and a broken front tooth. The middle eastern boyfriend had beat her up and that prompted her to flee from Phuket with the kid. The poor little tyke had a somchai like face with the exception of a huge hooked Arab nose and thick black caterpillar eyebrows.  His face was as ugly as a bulldog licking piss off a thistle.

 

And so.  What are the next generation of Luk Kruengs going to look like.  And if, as I suspect, they are ugly little critters. Who is going to fill all the future celebrity spots?

 

[Ulic]

Well, after you come once and experience the truth/reality about Thailand, with garbage and litter everywhere, filthy beaches and waters, road carnage and taxi mafia, expensive drinks and beach road thefts, double pricing, jetski and gem shop scams, its no wonder. Even with the poor exchange rates, if the country was at least clean up, people would return. But with the government willing to invest nothing that they can't get a significant backhander from they don't invest in anything that would make tourists return. They are really missing a great opportunity to expand on tourism revenue. After all, if you try a restaurant back home and you have a fantastic experience, great food, reasonable prices, good service, you will probably return again and again. The same could be true for Thailand. 

[Nyezhov]

26 minutes ago, Ulic said:

you will probably return again and again

well i have been coming for 25 years. That counts as again. And its cleaner that it was 25 years ago.

[bwpage3]

2 hours ago, GoodieAfterDark said:

I just wonder if Thailand is not changing due to the large influx of foreigners. I am sure all those kids being born from Westerners fathers will have a different education and view of the world, even if they were born in Thailand.

Interesting thought.

 

Our son is graduating US High School this May and off to college.

 

He never, and I mean never, wants to visit Thailand.

 

Even though he still speaks Thai at home with his mother, I don't think you could drag him on a plane to Thailand.

 

 

[bwpage3]

1 hour ago, Nyezhov said:

well i have been coming for 25 years. That counts as again. And its cleaner that it was 25 years ago.

Huh?

 

Thailand is cleaner that it was 25 years ago?

[Nyezhov]

32 minutes ago, bwpage3 said:

Huh?

 

Thailand is cleaner that it was 25 years ago?

Hell yeah dude. I used see rats as big as my ex wifes lawyers ego, swarms of them, now I hardly see a rat. And there aren't as many steamy bags of garbage in the street. You used to get the buttdribbles from the air around the food carts. Damn, dude, the place was ridden with AIDs for a while. It was dustier and dirtier.

[Essecola]

Immigration hell. And fear of flying into an airport if you already have a few stamps from Thailand in your passport already. It is NOT the nice and happy place it was before. 

[wisperone]

11 hours ago, ChipButty said:

I've had guest comment how dangerous the roads are, tourist do like to feel safe 

Wholeheartedly agree.  That's the number one reason I have no plans to return. There is nothing in Thailand worth the high risk of a traffic fatality. And the continuing list of reasons is quite long, but I won't bore with those.

[dcnx]

14 hours ago, keith101 said:

If for some strange reason (probably immigration) i had to return to Aus i would not come back rather if i could i would holiday in Bali or Malaysia .

I’ll be leaving hopefully by the end of this year, and have zero plans to return to Thailand. It’s a big world out there, no reason to beat this old dead horse.

[GinBoy2]

14 minutes ago, dcnx said:

I’ll be leaving hopefully by the end of this year, and have zero plans to return to Thailand. It’s a big world out there, no reason to beat this old dead horse.

Many of us are a little invested in the place, house etc.

 

So I'm not giving up on it entirely, but to live? 

 

Nah done with that.

 

For vacations there are a lot nicer place to drop your vacation $$

 

Hawaii, is great, beats any Thai beach by far.

And OMG we went to New Zealand last year, that is by far an undiscovered jewel. Loved it

[bojo]

I likened the place to the Wild West before. I'd say that was it's appeal and quite possibly that's what makes it a 'harder sell', now that it's not......

[RJRS1301]

16 hours ago, grego49 said:

Thats what my mates that used to come here do now plus Vietnam,they are tired of all the rorts and its cheaper,,

Vietnam and Cambodia great human rights records

[neeray]

That's a pretty sad 4 page read. I'd be tempted to say stick those 4 pages in the face of the junta government's faces but they would probably just think "we won, we chased the westerners out of 'my' country".

[Puchaiyank]

5 hours ago, Nyezhov said:

Hell yeah dude. I used see rats as big as my ex wifes lawyers ego, swarms of them, now I hardly see a rat. And there aren't as many steamy bags of garbage in the street. You used to get the buttdribbles from the air around the food carts. Damn, dude, the place was ridden with AIDs for a while. It was dustier and dirtier.

The dirty rats you speak of have evolved to have only two legs and speak repeatedly...handsome man... 

[mikebell]

18 hours ago, BobbyL said:

Apart from my parents, nobody I know who has been here on holiday

This is another reason why driving long-stay ex-pats out is a bad idea.  Over the years my family/friends have made Thailand their holiday destination on numerous occasions.  Why can't Immigration see this now instead of waiting for Vietnam to fill up?

[SuperTed]

This whole thread is based off an article interviewing a package tour operator with ONE package for Thailand. It tells us nothing about actual return visit numbers. Who uses tour operators anymore?

 

It is true that bad press travels fast now, and Thailand has, what, 5 million tourists a year? So there are lots of unfortunate bits of news, esp those go fund me campaigns, to make the rounds.

 

And it is true that the current generation of middle aged and up travelers have grown up with cheap air travel - they want to see more of the world, not the same bits repeatedly. That’s just human nature.

 

And pollution and scams are really unattractive.

 

But for all its problems, Bangkok is absolutely booming. Go out on a Saturday night and witness all of the young, beautiful international, hiso and new middle class people having the time of their lives. The clubs are heaving and the bubbly and money are flowing.

 

Half of those people won’t spend their lives in Thailand, but they will all be back for holidays and with plenty of spending power.

 

[DLock]

Pretty much any topic on visas, insurance, bars closed and bar fines illicit the same old Crusty ex-pats to vent on their sad life that they can't get out of.

 

Just walk away. She will find someone else before your plane has even taken off.

 

What a miserable bunch of old fools.

[Nyezhov]

7 hours ago, Essecola said:

Immigration hell. And fear of flying into an airport if you already have a few stamps from Thailand in your passport already. It is NOT the nice and happy place it was before. 

There is no such hell and I have no such fear. And its a nice and happy place today, little smoggy here in Bangkok but its just a lazy errand day for me (pharmacy, optician, market, bank). Going to have to take a cab and a Motocy too. What a wonderful day! its great to be happy! I may even have a small kanom today! Cool. Kanom hunting!

 

Its fabulous to have a life where you wake up happy and have a splendid day in a beautiful place and your only dark spot is the fact that your Thai purchased toenail clippers broke. Heavens. What shoddiness. Cost me 20 baht and only were good for like 6 months! O, the horror. Im going to leave!

 

Morning boys, how is Thailand treating you this morning? Bad? Awwwww, sucks to be you.

 

[ChipButty]

My biggest problem in the morning is what to wear 

[DLock]

31 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

There is no such hell and I have no such fear. And its a nice and happy place today, little smoggy here in Bangkok but its just a lazy errand day for me (pharmacy, optician, market, bank). Going to have to take a cab and a Motocy too. What a wonderful day! its great to be happy! I may even have a small kanom today! Cool. Kanom hunting!

 

Its fabulous to have a life where you wake up happy and have a splendid day in a beautiful place and your only dark spot is the fact that your Thai purchased toenail clippers broke. Heavens. What shoddiness. Cost me 20 baht and only were good for like 6 months! O, the horror. Im going to leave!

 

Morning boys, how is Thailand treating you this morning? Bad? Awwwww, sucks to be you.

 

 

Sorry to hear about you clippers.

 

But you continue to have an awesome day...

[MartinL]

Once it's been pointed out to them, differential pricing for foreigners has annoyed many of the few visitors I've had from UK, as it does me.

 

I've just got back from my first trip to Vietnam - Nha Trang and Dalat - so my experience of the place is very limited. We had a really enjoyable trip. Almost no hint of differential pricing except at one location where the sign said, in English and Vietnamese, "5% discount ... (for) ... VinID card". Over-60s got in for the same price as children between 1m and 1.4m.

 

I could easily live with that level of differential pricing.

 

A number of my friends and relatives in UK want to visit ME and my family here but they're not really interested in visiting Thailand itself. It has a poor reputation with them.

[boonrawdcnx]

Nothing lasts forever. That's what Buddha said two and half millenniums ago. Thailand's economy is export based economy. It is not a consumer economy. What Thailand needs is to increase its consumer economy, educate its people and develop their skills Three decades of dependency on foreign tourists and retirements did not achieve it and unless Thai people gear up to participate in ASEAN market, they will be left behind. 
 
The is no shortage of tourists from India and China. China only has 9% passport holders. There is huge opportunity for its growth. The same goes for India also that is raking more than 7% growth per year. Thailand should focus on other 21st century economy not the decadent economy of the 20th century based on Tourism and retirement money only.

We would all agree to that it’s long overdue that they gradually switch to a consumer economy - it’s just that the 1% who own this country want to keep the other 99% uneducated and enslaved.

They have created monopolies and conglomerates for themselves and have a wonderful life - so let’s keep the peasants in their place!

Bread and Rice for the world !!

Champagne and caviar for us!

Actually the entire world is moving into this direction!

They do not understand that if people make good money - they spent good money!



Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[MRToMRT]

Normally I would say the TV haters are out - downing Thailand at every chance. BUT I agree with nearly all the opinions here.

 

As another long termer, Thailand is not what it was, and in general things seem to get worse, more expensive, more polluted, more populated, less "culture", less trustworthy and generally a bit seedy. An internationalisation is coming to the once quaint and exotic. And thats not to even add in how years of successive governments have not really done much to attract long termers such as land ownership reform.

I have been here 20 years, I said I would never leave BUT I am now seriously investigating a move. Its not what it was thats for sure..