Paradise lost: Tourists disappearing from Thai island as jet ski gangs move in

[Ctkong]

17 minutes ago, outsider said:

Let them. Let the entire industry suffer so much there is nothing left for these gangsters and scammers. Alternative destinations already exist and these dinosaurs are still waiting for a boat that has long set sail. Gone are the days when Thailand is a viable destination - strong currency or not. Stories of scams, accidents, lack of safety for tourists and the continued rhetoric against foreigners are too loud and frequent to be ignored. People are going elsewhere. Thailand's tourism industry needs to go through a hard reset - figuratively and literally. Until then, it is "See you again, Thailand."

I think thailand feel quite safe for the moment if you looked at the rest of the countries nearby. Myanmar is still a long way off in the infrastructure though the internet coverage is quite impressive. Cambodia lacks good hospitals but has cheap alcohol. Infrastructure is still way off too. Laos is a no no. That leaves Vietnam as the contender in this part of the world. Vietnam is coming up fast but still lacks services that caters to the west. Philippines lacks infrastructure, has lousy food but speak English a definite plus. The major downer is the public security. 

So thailand still have a good few years left before the other countries pose a serious contender to her. So basically it is not how well you manage the country but the options that tourists have.

[Scouse123]

9 hours ago, mike787 said:

I learned early on coming here.  Avoid, keep exposure minimal, and don't argue with Thais.  The consequences are lethal 

 

And you think that is the way forward for tourists visiting? To be afraid of their own shadow when they see wrongdoing? It's more about the Thai authorities taking control of their country and stop taking backhanders and handing out silly fines for thugs who intimidate tourists, and take law and order seriously.

 

11 hours ago, Kenneth OSHEA said:

Hope they stay away from Koh Chang????

Koh Chang is in the national park and patrolled by the military and Navy. I think this is one area safe from the Jet ski mafias. I hope so anyway, I like it down there.

[Scouse123]

8 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

I think perhaps a few decades from now, they will have tourism classes at university, where they will discuss how Thailand lost the golden egg of Western tourism. They will escort students through abandoned hotels, and tell them these places used to have an occupancy rate of 70%! Now, we are converting them into schools. Those tourists, unlike most Chinese tourists, spent anywhere from $100 a day, to over $2,000 a day. They brought real money into the country, and in exchange, were treated with utter and complete disregard, scammed, disrespected, and abused. Eventually, most said no more.

 

Thailand thought the country was something very special, that it was the center of the universe, that a kind of magic emanated from the sacred land, and that nobody would ever say no, or find alternative places to visit. Once they came, why would they ever go anywhere else? The nation was perfection, no? How do you improve on perfection? 

 

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 (which in turn sustains and encourages a wealthier tourism market - DUH!) better training, and far better english skills. Thailand simply lost sight of the big picture, and had zero vision, with regard to big spending tourists, who need to be catered to, offered quality, public safety, real law enforcement, smart policy, effective immigration services, and responsiveness, instead of scorn, surliness, and denial.  

 

Add on the big expat and regular visitor such as the offshore workers problems with TM30 nonsense, 90 day reports, 37 baht to the GBP, and many other western currencies affected as well, horrendous airport immigration problems, new 800,000 baht rules before and after, the latest idea that 65,000 baht may not be legally acceptable soon, forced insurance,  and you have the makings of a perfect storm.

Edited July 30, 2019 by Scouse123

[DaRoadrunner]

And they wonder why tourist arrivals are down

[whatwasithinking]

42 minutes ago, Scouse123 said:

 

Add on the big expat and regular visitor such as the offshore workers problems with TM30 nonsense, 90 day reports, 37 baht to the GBP, and many other western currencies affected as well, horrendous airport immigration problems, new 800,000 baht rules before and after, the latest idea that 65,000 baht may not be legally acceptable soon, forced insurance,  and you have the makings of a perfect storm.

Now a crackdown on Education visa where you will be interviewed at borders like savarnaket & if they don't think you speak Thai well enough bad luck & a loss of a good 20k baht

[Inn Between]

It seems we haven't had a good jet ski extortion story in a long time.

 

Maybe these are the old operators who can't pull there "repair bill" scam anymore and have decided to invade businesses at nice quiet islands and beaches with their machinery, holding the business people ransom -- pay us a lot of money, or we'll stay and keep chasing all your customers away. ????

 

 

[mike787]

1 hour ago, Scouse123 said:

 

And you think that is the way forward for tourists visiting? To be afraid of their own shadow when they see wrongdoing? It's more about the Thai authorities taking control of their country and stop taking backhanders and handing out silly fines for thugs who intimidate tourists, and take law and order seriously.

 

Koh Chang is in the national park and patrolled by the military and Navy. I think this is one area safe from the Jet ski mafias. I hope so anyway, I like it down there.

Thais can do whatever they want with "their" country....I DO NOT CARE!  NOT my business.  I am staying out of their way, avoiding conflict, being careful not to piss them off.  Now if you still don't like my answer you can call my lawyer.

[CygnusX1]

To give Thailand a bit of credit here, the buoys at Jomtien beach do an excellent job of protecting swimmers from jet skis, especially the long line of buoys at Dongtan beach. They’re respected by jet ski users, and I’ve never seen a jet ski used within an area marked by buoys.

[Dustdevil]

I'd be surprised if the Chinese tourists vanished. Those of the nouveau middle-class variety equate lots of noise as "lively" and associate peace and quiet with poor village life.

[soistalker]

I was down on Dongtan Beqch right down from immigration last week in the morning. There were about 15 Russians in the water swimming, with jetskis operators dangerously close to them and speeding. One jet ski guy did a circle around them. The Russians didnt seem to mind, and I wasnt involved, so I drank my beers and watched. 

Bunch of <deleted>.

[brianthainess]

19 hours ago, Kenneth OSHEA said:

Hope they stay away from Koh Chang????

They are illegal on Koh Chang as its a national park. a few rich thought they could get away with it at Siam Royal View,but to my knowledge they got fined and Jet Ski confiscated. Unfortunately the law does not include jet boats. Trat rescue are the only ones allowed.

 

Edited July 31, 2019 by brianthainess
add content

[Jiggo]

21 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

The jet ski operators on Samui, Phuket and Pattaya have long been a plague on the land. Most of the operators are surly, many are armed, and willing to commit violence and threats against their customers, at the slightest sign of resistance to their scams. Plus, they are a nuisance, a danger to swimmers, and benefit nobody expect the operators, and the local police franchisees. The often claim damage to their equipment, and extort large sums out of tourists, who unwittingly get the police (the local franchisee) involved, who then "negotiate" down the fine. All of it is very unseemly, and despite proclamations by the weak and hapless army, nothing has ever been done about this ongoing criminal enterprise, for more than a two week period, without any follow up (which is typical of everything the army does). 

 

This is just one more nail in the coffin of Thai tourism. These scams that remain addressed after all of these years, remain a blight on the land. 

Som Nam Na, to them

[Galactus]

jet ski tours for chinese and other tourists?

sad,

[MartiniMan]

Just require mooring license 100k baht to use jetski in the area - great money earner for local municipality and will keep the degenerates out of the area as they wont be able to afford the license

Very easy to clear up an area just put a fee on doing it and they will soon find some other place to go or just sell the jetskis because they cannot do it anymore.

[Fred white]

On 7/30/2019 at 1:18 PM, holy cow cm said:

I personally hate jet skis. Noisy, dangerous to swimmers and abusive to everything in the water. Ban them all.

in the right places they are ok but not around swimmers or populated beaches

[captpkapoor]

When I was still new to Thailand, I paid 10,000 baht to this jet ski mafia in Pattaya, who claimed I had damaged (paint scratched). I called the police who did not help at all. Much later, I saw a notice in our Embassy warning of this scam. Too late! The warning should be on the beaches!

[wreckingcountry]

The jet ski operators on Samui, Phuket and Pattaya have long been a plague on the land. Most of the operators are surly, many are armed, and willing to commit violence and threats against their customers, at the slightest sign of resistance to their scams. Plus, they are a nuisance, a danger to swimmers, and benefit nobody expect the operators, and the local police franchisees. The often claim damage to their equipment, and extort large sums out of tourists, who unwittingly get the police (the local franchisee) involved, who then "negotiate" down the fine. All of it is very unseemly, and despite proclamations by the weak and hapless army, nothing has ever been done about this ongoing criminal enterprise, for more than a two week period, without any follow up (which is typical of everything the army does). 
 
This is just one more nail in the coffin of Thai tourism. These scams that remain addressed after all of these years, remain a blight on the land. 

Death to Thai tourism!! Love it


Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Fred white]

16 minutes ago, captpkapoor said:

When I was still new to Thailand, I paid 10,000 baht to this jet ski mafia in Pattaya, who claimed I had damaged (paint scratched). I called the police who did not help at all. Much later, I saw a notice in our Embassy warning of this scam. Too late! The warning should be on the beaches!

If the warning was on the beach the cops and mafia couldn't scam people

[wisperone]

Well that Bravo video shows who and what you are dealing with when you rent a jet ski. Unfortunately most people aren't aware of it until after they have rented.

[lesmac]

On 7/30/2019 at 11:59 AM, spidermike007 said:

The jet ski operators on Samui, Phuket and Pattaya have long been a plague on the land. Most of the operators are surly, many are armed, and willing to commit violence and threats against their customers, at the slightest sign of resistance to their scams. Plus, they are a nuisance, a danger to swimmers, and benefit nobody expect the operators, and the local police franchisees. The often claim damage to their equipment, and extort large sums out of tourists, who unwittingly get the police (the local franchisee) involved, who then "negotiate" down the fine. All of it is very unseemly, and despite proclamations by the weak and hapless army, nothing has ever been done about this ongoing criminal enterprise, for more than a two week period, without any follow up (which is typical of everything the army does). 

 

This is just one more nail in the coffin of Thai tourism. These scams that remain addressed after all of these years, remain a blight on the land. 

Koch Chang has never allowed them

 

[Billy The Kid]

Jet ski gang wasn’t the main cause of the empty tourism on the beach , it was the strong baht that caused it .  Of course , I agree with jet ski gang  being a nuisance to the beach and to tourism. 

[mercman24]

REPLY POST 47, i think maybe it was that loony Canadian guy, cant vouch for it, but it has been quiet since he got caught .

[sunnyboy2018]

On 7/30/2019 at 5:59 AM, spidermike007 said:

The jet ski operators on Samui, Phuket and Pattaya have long been a plague on the land. Most of the operators are surly, many are armed, and willing to commit violence and threats against their customers, at the slightest sign of resistance to their scams. Plus, they are a nuisance, a danger to swimmers, and benefit nobody expect the operators, and the local police franchisees. The often claim damage to their equipment, and extort large sums out of tourists, who unwittingly get the police (the local franchisee) involved, who then "negotiate" down the fine. All of it is very unseemly, and despite proclamations by the weak and hapless army, nothing has ever been done about this ongoing criminal enterprise, for more than a two week period, without any follow up (which is typical of everything the army does). 

 

This is just one more nail in the coffin of Thai tourism. These scams that remain addressed after all of these years, remain a blight on the land. 

They are noise machines driven by idiots.

[sunnyboy2018]

On 7/30/2019 at 4:03 PM, Ctkong said:

I think thailand feel quite safe for the moment if you looked at the rest of the countries nearby. Myanmar is still a long way off in the infrastructure though the internet coverage is quite impressive. Cambodia lacks good hospitals but has cheap alcohol. Infrastructure is still way off too. Laos is a no no. That leaves Vietnam as the contender in this part of the world. Vietnam is coming up fast but still lacks services that caters to the west. Philippines lacks infrastructure, has lousy food but speak English a definite plus. The major downer is the public security. 

So thailand still have a good few years left before the other countries pose a serious contender to her. So basically it is not how well you manage the country but the options that tourists have.

I cant think of a safer place than Thailand. Just as safe as it was 30 years ago.

[Uptooyoo]

If you want to go to the water, try an inland lake. Most are remote and peaceful, jungled and green, with virtually no foreign tourists and no motorized watercraft, a rare experience in noisy Thailand. So go ahead, drive deep, deep into the mountains and find yourself a tranquil place to recover. Return to sanity, return to nature. Enjoy a place where soothing breezes blow and gentle waves lap. Don't forget your hammock.

Edited August 4, 2019 by Uptooyoo