Thai tourism in trouble: And competitor Vietnam is "scary" for Pattaya

[lkv]

So anyways, I am planning a trip to Ho Chi Min soon. Is District 4 ok to stay in, found some lovely places, or is District 1 better?

 

Serious question. Would appreciate input.

Edited August 5, 2019 by lkv

[CharlieH]

More off topic bickering removed.

[Ron jeremy]

[Shalom]

Don't get surprised. If you keep insulting tourists. Urine tests etc.

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎7‎/‎26‎/‎2019 at 5:28 PM, Melbun said:

Come on boys - stop winging about prices in LOS & Pattaya. Do you expect the prices of goods and services in your home land to remain the same forever?? Same, same for LOS. Can't afford to go ?? then put in a bit of overtime at work and save more dosh. Simple ?? right ?? If your exchange rate has changed by 30% - then save 30+% more and you will have a great time in LOS without this petulance.

You quoted my post remarking that Vietnam will be destroyed in the future as much as LOS is now. What has moaning about prices got to do with that?

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎7‎/‎26‎/‎2019 at 9:48 PM, chrissables said:

Maybe, so go have a look now ????

 

How will it look here in 30 years?

Probably as bad as Penang is now. I remember Penang when it was beautiful, in the 70s. Now it's horrible.

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎7‎/‎26‎/‎2019 at 10:49 PM, madmen said:

What's drastic about a free 30 days extendable visa.?

Vast majority of tourists arrive on a visa exempt entry. None of them bitch on forums about how difficult it is to visit LOS.

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎7‎/‎28‎/‎2019 at 11:47 PM, berrec said:

Quote" He said that Vietnam was increasingly a rival of Thailand for tourist cash. Vietnam has lots of unexplored and new tourism locations and many people are choosing to go there instead of Pattaya in particular and Thailand in general"

 

Yes, Vietnam is starting to eat Thailand's tourist dollar. Even on the golfing front Vietnam wants to attract golfers globally that would normally consider Thailand as their golfing destination. Read the following article...

 

https://en.nhandan.org.vn/travel/item/7261902-golf-tourism-to-attract-more-international-visitors-to-vietnam.html

 

Wait till Burma becomes easy to visit. They'll be giving rooms away free in LOS just to get customers in the restaurants. OK that's not true, but it'll be extremely quiet unless they wake up and sort their <deleted> smartish.

[KhunHeineken]

On 8/2/2019 at 8:00 PM, DrTuner said:

The Crimea method: Slowly get your own people in and then claim they are the majority, follow up with military invasion, et voila, Chinese province. Rinse & repeat.

The thing is, it's not happening slowly.  It's happening extremely fast.

[KhunHeineken]

On 8/4/2019 at 6:19 PM, ThomasThBKK said:

That's why they have no retirment visa?

 

Many expats in Vietnam are married to a Vietnamese national.  They get a 5 year multiple entry visa for around $50USD, no other hoops to jump through. 

 

For those not married, a short visa run once a year, which is usually back to one's home country, or a nearby country for a sporting, cultural, festival or shopping event, is a small price to pay for not having to put up with Thailand's bureaucratic, time consuming, and expensive visa crap, and yes, I count the wasted 800k / 400k in the expense, not just the 1900 baht. 

 

The visa run cost is well and truly covered, and then some, by the lower cost of living in Vietnam. 

 

Edited August 13, 2019 by KhunHeineken

[exppenang]

On 7/23/2019 at 3:38 PM, Surasak said:

All true Garybaldy. The thing is, many have strong roots here now and would find it very difficult to up sticks and go elsewhere.

This is why I tried to avoid putting down said roots. When I moved here 7 years ago, I knew things could change over time. And they certainly have.

 

[atyclb]

me thinks vietnam is not only scary for pattaya, but scary for all of thailand. more enticing to all already. the only negative i have noticed is viet is not a great place for scuba diving.

[moontang]

On paper, Vietnam looks like a winner, especially pub prices.  However, I just don't see the photos floating around of cheap food and hot ladies.  I have watched too many of the videos..something is missing.  Seen a number of teachers go there with high hopes, only to be back in LOS within a few months working illegally for some dodgy agent.  Heard stories of slow pay, no pay in VN, too.

[atyclb]

2 hours ago, moontang said:

On paper, Vietnam looks like a winner, especially pub prices.  However, I just don't see the photos floating around of cheap food and hot ladies.  I have watched too many of the videos..something is missing.  Seen a number of teachers go there with high hopes, only to be back in LOS within a few months working illegally for some dodgy agent.  Heard stories of slow pay, no pay in VN, too.

 

tons of great cheap food everywhere. if you want pricey you must look for it.

 

vn does not have the huge girly industry at least out in the open. hcm and other places do have girly bars just not an entire city dedicated to it as pattaya.

[Max69xl]

On 8/4/2019 at 5:12 PM, DrTuner said:

Not really retirement visa in Thailand either. All you need is to be is over 50 and have 800k. In the west most retire in their 60's. It's just a temporary stay category they made up to get the money from the older geezers.

>50 and 800k are one method to obtain the 1 year extension for the Non-O retirement Visa. The other method is >65k monthly. If you apply from your home country you need to show proof of retirement. So,of course it's a retirement visa,and you also get the "Retirement" stamp in your passport. 

[ThaiBunny]

4 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

If you apply from your home country you need to show proof of retirement.

Not sure which "home country" you're referring to but there's no "proof of retirement" required if you apply at Sydney or Canberra. All you need is to be 50+ and have the money (plus the other bureaucratic nonsense)

[DrTuner]

22 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

 So,of course it's a retirement visa,and you also get the "Retirement" stamp in your passport. 

Yeah? Can you show me an immigration entry stamp that says "Retirement"? As the ones I've seen are the box stamps with "admitted until" and visa class handwritten in it, i.e. Non O or O-A. Nothing to do with retired or not, just that you pass the rules set for a certain visa class. 

[Brigand]

Thailand and it's tourist hot-spots are going to have to realise that they will have to compete for visitors in the future. The entitled nonsense they have got used to won't fly much longer and is showing signs of not doing so now. Thailand, you have lost your edge and you need to roll back the constricting nonsense you have introduced in the last 10 years and destroyed your once internationally beloved country on so many fronts. You have competitors now and will soon have even more ... times they are a changing and the killjoy discriminatory BS will have to go if you want to prosper. 

[Max69xl]

17 minutes ago, ThaiBunny said:

Not sure which "home country" you're referring to but there's no "proof of retirement" required if you apply at Sydney or Canberra. All you need is to be 50+ and have the money (plus the other bureaucratic nonsense)

Several countries in the EU. I had to show a so called "Retirement Certificate",stamped and signed. The requirements are not same all over the world or in Europe (western countries),and that's very strange in my opinion.

[moontang]

My extensions say RETIREMENT, but the visa was simply an O-A.

[bkk6060]

34 minutes ago, Brigand said:

Thailand and it's tourist hot-spots are going to have to realise that they will have to compete for visitors in the future. The entitled nonsense they have got used to won't fly much longer and is showing signs of not doing so now. Thailand, you have lost your edge and you need to roll back the constricting nonsense you have introduced in the last 10 years and destroyed your once internationally beloved country on so many fronts. You have competitors now and will soon have even more ... times they are a changing and the killjoy discriminatory BS will have to go if you want to prosper. 

Yes.

And your post is the same type that was posted 10 years ago.

[Max69xl]

2 hours ago, DrTuner said:

Yeah? Can you show me an immigration entry stamp that says "Retirement"? As the ones I've seen are the box stamps with "admitted until" and visa class handwritten in it, i.e. Non O or O-A. Nothing to do with retired or not, just that you pass the rules set for a certain visa class. 

It's not the entry stamp which has the Retirement stamp. It's next to the Non-immigrant O visa. Also Retirement stamps next to every 1 year extension. And the type of visa "O" is not handwritten. It's actually a stamp done by Immigration in Jomtien. Check out the stamps yourself. 

[DrTuner]

1 hour ago, Max69xl said:

Several countries in the EU. I had to show a so called "Retirement Certificate",stamped and signed. The requirements are not same all over the world or in Europe (western countries),and that's very strange in my opinion.

Sounds like embassies and consulates making their own rules. Typical. They are supposed to follow MFA's governance: http://www.mfa.go.th/main/en/services/4908/15385-Non-Immigrant-Visa-"O-A"-(Long-Stay).html

 

But Thais are Thais even when abroad. Expect nothing but chaos while they "fix it".

Edited August 22, 2019 by DrTuner

[Destiny1990]

Well at least i got no trouble crossing the second road now near central festival.

Nearly any vehicles just once a while an empty Song Teaw drives by.

In DaNang the crossings will be busier.

[DrTuner]

2 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

It's not the entry stamp which has the Retirement stamp. It's next to the Non-immigrant O visa. Also Retirement stamps next to every 1 year extension. And the type of visa "O" is not handwritten. It's actually a stamp done by Immigration in Jomtien. Check out the stamps yourself

 

Your visa class is still O or O-A, regardless of why the temporary stay was extended, the O in the visa class meaning "Other". They just record the reason why the extension or visa was given, mine said in Thai panrayaathai, i.e. Thai wife.

 

All of this stuff is just made up categories by MFA (visas) and immigration (extensions). It's all Temporary Stay, as in the immigration act. "Retirement" or "Marriage" "Visas" are just what the IOs tell farangs because they can't be arsed to speak enough English to explain what it's really about. And they do love their stamps.

[Max69xl]

4 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

Your visa class is still O or O-A, regardless of why the temporary stay was extended, the O in the visa class meaning "Other". They just record the reason why the extension or visa was given, mine said in Thai panrayaathai, i.e. Thai wife.

 

All of this stuff is just made up categories by MFA (visas) and immigration (extensions). It's all Temporary Stay, as in the immigration act. "Retirement" or "Marriage" "Visas" are just what the IOs tell farangs because they can't be arsed to speak enough English to explain what it's really about. And they do love their stamps.

Type not class, and mine is Non-immigrant O based on Retirement. Period. 

[DrTuner]

4 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

Type not class, and mine is Non-immigrant O based on Retirement. Period. 

It's based on being over 50 and having no intention of working in Thailand. Comma.

Edited August 22, 2019 by DrTuner

[Max69xl]

2 hours ago, Brigand said:

Thailand and it's tourist hot-spots are going to have to realise that they will have to compete for visitors in the future. The entitled nonsense they have got used to won't fly much longer and is showing signs of not doing so now. Thailand, you have lost your edge and you need to roll back the constricting nonsense you have introduced in the last 10 years and destroyed your once internationally beloved country on so many fronts. You have competitors now and will soon have even more ... times they are a changing and the killjoy discriminatory BS will have to go if you want to prosper. 

In my opinion the biggest problem is the way to strong baht. That makes people stay at home or look for cheaper places to visit. The Thai government seems to believe that a strong baht is good for the economy. Hopefully they will wake up.

[Leaver]

1 hour ago, Max69xl said:

The Thai government seems to believe that a strong baht is good for the economy.

No, not really.

 

The Thai Government is too busy buying up property, businesses and shares, offshore, which is a lot cheaper for them with a strong Thai baht, to worry about the Thai economy. 

 

Just the usual Thai elite looking after themselves.  Nothing new about that. 

[Leaver]

4 hours ago, moontang said:

My extensions say RETIREMENT, but the visa was simply an O-A.

A lot of expats place a lot of faith in the word "Retirement" in their passport. 

 

Not much point, really, when they can change the goal posts, at a whim, to be able to obtain the word "Retirement" in your passport.