Thailand’s tourism – stormy weather ahead

[marcusarelus]

2 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Unfortunately . until Thai stops treating foreigners as infidels, inferiors and money machines it will continue - unless the baht falls through the floor

 

Why would you think that?  I got here first in 1968 and they treated us poorly then.  Even kicked us out of the country in 1975.  

[taipan1949]

One would think they would be trying to be more attractive to pensioners who want to live and spent their money there? I think 800,000 locked in baht is a little extreme. Showing bank statements of a pension income of 70,000 baht at an immigration office should be suffice without the pensioner having to go to his or her embassy. What if the guy just wants to live without the government being involved?

[androokery]

I don’t think I’m representative of the average tourist, but the experience of encountering a lot of aggressive soi dogs during my first trips made me choose other tourist destinations for many years.

[marcusarelus]

5 minutes ago, Cadbury said:

I disagree, TAT are very effective at their own self indulgence and self interest. I attended the Tourism expo in Berlin in March. ITB is claimed to be one the largest of it's kind in the world. 

At the transiting airport at Frankfurt the tarmacs were literally smothered in Thai Airways planes, mainly old jumbos. Not hard to imagine unproductive TAT people would have been there like flies on sh!t.  All sitting up the front of the plane at discounted or zero prices and then lapping up the 5 star hotels and all that goes with them. TAT is a parasitic organisation and a waste of government money. It had a budget in 2017 of over 7000 million thb. One only has the read the outrageous statistical announcements it makes to realise what a useless organisation it is.

Thailand would have had one of the largest pavilions at the ITB expo and the presentation was excellent and a credit to the individual exhibitors. The virtually bankrupt Thai Airways somehow seemed to have found enough money to buy the most expensive advertisements in the EXPO's daily journal. 

I get the feeling they could do the same at every travel expo in the world but nothing would save Thai tourism from the disaster that is happening right now. 

So you think TAT has been responsible for the increases in tourism from 10 million tourists  - "the British heyday" to 40 million tourists today?

[marcusarelus]

4 minutes ago, taipan1949 said:

One would think they would be trying to be more attractive to pensioners who want to live and spent their money there? I think 800,000 locked in baht is a little extreme. Showing bank statements of a pension income of 70,000 baht at an immigration office should be suffice without the pensioner having to go to his or her embassy. What if the guy just wants to live without the government being involved?

The sight of ancient bare chested stinky men holding hands with young Thai beauties is a real ex pat PR winner eh?  Why would they want "snake heads (Thai expression)" here?  

[727Sky]

I had a friend rather well placed in the military who 3 years ago asked me why I thought tourist came to Thailand. I told him families come for a look around and the Thai culture where as the guys come for the women and maybe a future wife ..

 

"You really think they just come for the women"?

 

I replied, "That is what they tell me" yet he found it hard to believe,, Three years later with all the crack downs on the bars and bar girls maybe I was a fortune teller after all, judging by some of the tourist numbers, No ?..

[visacrack]

I can certainly see the difference between tourists and expats, still the latter contribute to Thailand's coffers too, and when the thai government is ready to admit this fact, then maybe they will be willing to go through all the growing red-tape thicket that makes life hard on us. Because if it's too much we will look for alternatives. And why not get some help from expats during such a process? 

 

Ceterum censeo: Abolish customs duties for imported expat cars, and make sure the whole process lives up to international standards! And this is per definition a european (NOT an anglo) thing, so look how they do it. Follwoing the anglo 'role-model' may at first glance be a suggesting way-out, but it would actually be one of the least intelligent options. 
 
Now please feel free to vote and shout me down! I don't mind, that's you. If I manage to handle the expected sheer mass, I will check if there are arguments worth to be dealt with. Otherwise, I'll just sit it out  .)

 

 

 

 

[Bundooman]

2 hours ago, Snowyrivers said:

Apart from all the nay sayers, Thailand is a great place but not in the rainy season! How stupid do you think the modern educated traveller is? They know half the restaurants are closed, Ko Samui is like its shut shop, the girls in Pattaya and Patong have taken holidays back home in Isan.

They will be back in the high season maybe a little wiser and maybe a fewer number but TAT needs to clean up its act now. Customs clearance times, rip offs with Taxis etc etc.

 

The food, the culture, the magnificent natural attractions and the lifestyle are what tourists want not the bars and girls as much as they were in the past!

 

Time for Thailand to be active in the tourism race or loose the race to Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar or the pacific Islands!

Wow! you're a barrel of fun......

[Winky Wilson]

Thai immigration’s message was for foreigners and retirees to go home or somewhere else, we don’t want you here. This along with currency manipulation, dangerous air pollution, and corruption really setup a black hole for the kingdom. 

[gearbox]

4 hours ago, jaiyen said:

Another reason the white tourists don't go is because They have had enough of the Thai rip off merchants, Rude and arrogant hordes of Chinese idiots and a pathetic exchange rate.  Its got to the stage where I can have a cheaper holiday here in Australia. 

 

You mean cheap like this one?

 

https://www.discoveryholidayparks.com.au/caravan-parks/western-australia/kimberley-broome/1496-unpowered-site-tent?dates=31+Jul+2019+-+4+Aug+2019&adults=2&children=0&infants=0

 

Unpowered tent site in a caravan park nearly $50 AUD a night....

 

[Percy P]

6 hours ago, Lingba said:

Thailand is long past immediate repairation...it will take at least 2 generations and a lot of re education to get back to being attractive

But at the same time other Countries are being upgraded too.

[Bundooman]

1 hour ago, shackleton said:

this will be made in heaven  for the Thai bashers 

looking at the photos of the huge queues at Thai immigration Suvamabhumi airport and in Vientiane Laos

people the same queuing up for visas for Thailand  no shortage of people wanting to come to Thailand 

not everyone comes to drink in bars in Pattaya or Phuket who are no doubt are the ones  feeling the pinch  

And then I woke and looked around me.........

 

Maybe the queues of people at Suvamabhumi aren't 'floods' of tourists at all - rather hacked off tourists who are kept waiting in long queues for hours on end for fingerprinting, stamps, the lazy Imm. Officer to speed up? Maybe....

 

Maybe the queues at Vientiane are just those expats/tourists queueing for a variety of diffent reasons other than just 'entering' Thailand? Maybe......

 

Maybe there are thousands more of expats, tourists, visitors who just enjoy having a few beers in pubs, restaurants or other innocent places where they can relax and enjoy themselves - not just those who wish to sit in dubious bars in Pattaya or Phuket? Maybe......

 

Maybe it's nothing to do with Thai bashing - I've been here 15 years and am quite happy. However, every comment, every criticism of Thailand is quite rightly expressed and justified and we have all seen it first hand. 

[Mavideol]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

He predicted that tourist revenues for 2020 would reach 3.7 billion baht with a 10% growth. The authority is, officially, still holding out hope that 2019 can rebound.

tremendous words here "predicted" and "hope".......they forgot another word "dream on"

[Cadbury]

28 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

So you think TAT has been responsible for the increases in tourism from 10 million tourists  - "the British heyday" to 40 million tourists today?

You either need to get reading glasses or take the time to read my post. I am agreeing with you for heaven's sake. I must have used too much subtlety for you to be able to understand my message; if you even bothered to read it that is. 

I am simply saying that TAT are only efficient at taking care of themselves and nothing else. I repeat ...they are unproductive parasites.  

[Percy P]

6 hours ago, LongTang said:

 

Rubbish !!! 

 

The MAIN reason they are no longer coming is that they are NO LONGER FEEL WELCOMED !

 

The high Thai bath is definitely not helpful, but its not the main reason.

From 2006 till now it was about 30 to 35 Bath for a $, So no drastic changes there !

 

But at the same time now can the Thai Baht not be anything but strong when western countries money has almost clasped. Euro , £ .you can't have something for nothing. Malaysia is a better deal 

due to the Baat being strong and their own money problems . One Baat 13.3 RM . 3-4 years ago it was less then 10 RM. I'll be their next month.

[Peterphuket]

4 hours ago, wreckingcountry said:

Prices go up when business is bad


Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

That's Thai Logic.

[johng50]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

‘There are hopes that Asian and Australian travellers will take up some of the slack in July and August. But that is all they are, hopes. Most people are expecting July to be just as bad as June.”

Exact, the only thing they have got right "Hope". Because thats all they will

get from Aussies, Hope. With 20Bht for 1Aud, then you have to endure being treated like

crap from smiling thais, all the rip offs, scams, prices etc etc, we all know, its all on

other posts time and time again, thailand have put too many nails in

the tourist coffin lid, now its time to bury the coffin and thailand tourism

with it.

[Cobby]

The Thai government for  years has said to the western and Europe tourists we do not need you we have chinese and Indian and Asian tourists 

now they need us to come back 

well it’s not going to happen 

with the high bht and tough visa rules 

and we do feel unwelcome 

thank god 

vietnam ,Cambodia, Malaysia Philippines

and other Asian countries do want us and make us feel welcome 

I have been coming to Thailand for 20 years but now I only visit on my way sometime to visit friends 

but not worth staying there now 

I feel sorry for the nice Thai people who are suffering due to the poor decisions 

bye TAT and the government 

its so sad

Edited July 15, 2019 by Cobby
Spelling

[Knocker33]

Being greeted by sour faced immigration officers who seem to be treating every legitimate tourist like a criminal these days isn't helping either.

[Pedrogaz]

Like the chaos on the roads with the thousands of deaths caused by easily addressable problems, nothing effective will be done here.  The Thais are incompetent to fix this problem. It requires a multi-institutional approach where immigration cooperate with hoteliers, with bar owners with restauranteurs with their own brother in the RTP. 

 

Instance, I saw within the last few days on TV that Pattaya or Phuket, I forget which are going to start sending motorbike drivers with no licenses to jail. How is this going to help tourism? A couple come over and want to rent a scooter for a couple of days, and wind up in jail? 

 

All this nonsense about health insurance....I read again on Thai Visa that the terrible problem farangs with no insurance were causing was costing private hospitals 300 million baht a year.....yes, $10 million stinking dollars, and for that you want to put every long stay farang under the evil grip of profit seeking insurers? A sledgehammer to crack a nut doesn't even come close.

 

Let's face it Thailand could be a really pleasant place if it weren't run by a bunch of idiots only concerned with 'face'.

[poohy]

59 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

Anecdotal evidence is absolutely worthless.  https://www.glassdoor.sg/Salaries/thailand-salary-SRCH_IL.0,8_IN229.htm?countryRedirect=true

Hardly anecdotal i want some of my money i spent on her education back

So  you find her job anywhere over 50k per month starting salary in a Thai bank and i will be very pleased

[Bundooman]

55 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

The sight of ancient bare chested stinky men holding hands with young Thai beauties is a real ex pat PR winner eh?  Why would they want "snake heads (Thai expression)" here?  

Wow! you sound really envious, pal.

Maybe the ancient bare chested men aren't so stinky .......

And what about you....?

[Burma Bill]

quote:-

"He hoped that European and western travellers are still more likely to arrive at high season"

Yes, because they are easier to rip off than the Chinese and Indians!

[marcusarelus]

11 minutes ago, poohy said:

Hardly anecdotal i want some of my money i spent on her education back

So  you find her job anywhere over 50k per month starting salary in a Thai bank and i will be very pleased

I could have helped you if you asked before she went to college.  My wife's college networking system is the reason all of her friends have high paying jobs.  Like Yale in America.  

[Percy P]

6 hours ago, madmen said:

Tourists stay for a few days up to 2 weeks on visa exempt and then leave and have nothing to do with immigration ..Who cares about desperado ex pats that can't meet the bare minimums? Nobody wants them ! sorry but that's life

Other countries are happy to welcome you with a month's stay . I will be going to Bali. No visa required .Just a 30day stamp.

[madmen]

Utter piffle and balderdash
Should get rid of all the Thais that can't meet the bare minimums too ?? 
Nobody wants them either?? 
Average salary is 14k, expats need 65k.
If you got rid of everybody under 65k there wouldn't be many people left
 
 

Ozzie expats barely scrape in at nearly half the 65 k
These men have destroyed their own family's by building a house of cards around pretend stat decs

I speak the truth. Go Google
Stop blaming immigration!

[Bundooman]

4 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

I lived on Soi Buakhow for 3 years.  I showered three times a day and washed my clothes daily but think I was in the minority.  Thai people normally don't smell bad.  

Soi Buakhow? Where's that? Is that a Bar girl hangout area? Bangkok? Pattaya? Phuket?

Western people don't normally smell bad either.

They also launder their clothes.

However I have passed many westerners and Thai men who smell bad.

Many old Thai men have young beauties on their arm as well.

What's your point?

 

[moe666]

6 hours ago, lamyai3 said:

Perhaps their wives and kids who depend on them do? The income requirement for a UK expat is now 7-8 times the minimum wage here. Fall below this, and you're a desparado? I'll never understand the apologists...

Please enlighten us exactly whose fault is that the pound has taken a dump aganist all currencies not just the Thai Baht.The bank of Thailand doesn't like the current high baht either but when you have outside currency pouring in to invest in your currency only a few things can be done to slow it down.

The income requirement is the same for over 10 years.Apologist nah just a realist

[DrTuner]

6 hours ago, marcusarelus said:

Average with a degree is 84,000  https://www.averagesalarysurvey.com/thailand

Sure. On an English language survey site which only a few dozen western expats have put their likely inflated figures in. 

 

Try this one for a better picture: https://adecco.co.th/salary-guide

[fishtank]

7 hours ago, LongTang said:

 

The high Thai bath is definitely not helpful, but its not the main reason.

From 2006 till now it was about 30 to 35 Bath for a $, So no drastic changes there !

 

Not everybody is an American.