‘Thailand’s tourism industry doomed if we don’t embrace nature’, Bensley tells TTF 2020

[Dario]

1 hour ago, DannyCarlton said:

I too live in Pattaya, have had 2 power outages in the last year, neither lasting more than a couple of hours.

I know, we have a home in Pattaya, I should have marked, outside of cities.

 

[no deal]

2 hours ago, Destiny1990 said:

Don’t worry the Chinese are coming to make up thIs high season.

What? Wuhan flue?

i like to know what the thai gouvernement plan to do whit the  Wuhan flue whit all the chines people coming to thailand,this is a serious probleme!

[Jimbo2014]

Pictured... Thailand Tourism in 2025

 

 

[unamazedloso]

Thailand people are doomed if they dont punish the farm burners.

Thais seem completely ignorant about health and well being of others. Its frightening....

[hotchilli]

18 hours ago, webfact said:

BANGKOK: Thailand’s tourism industry stands on the brink of disaster if it continues along its destructive path of unsustainable growth and can only be saved if it learns from nature, the celebrated architect, landscape designer and disruptor Bill Bensley has warned.

While T.A.T can only spout out about increasing numbers of tourists as though that counts for everything, 

while all the time the quality of every destination drops.

Look at all the tourist locations and watch the destruction as they milk every last baht they can while it lasts.

No planning for sustainability just take the profit today and don't worry about tomorrow.

Over one-thousand people who attended the meeting, listened and will go home and do nothing !

 

[micmichd]

1 hour ago, DannyCarlton said:

It never went away. I live in Pattaya and could spend the night with a different attractive lady every night for the rest of my life, if I wished to. The problem isn't supply, it's demand.

 

Why has demand dropped? Price, no other reason. The total cost for procuring a lady for the night has outstripped inflation every year in recent years and, of course, the strong baht has made the total cost, for all visitors to Thailand, very expensive.

 

Thailand is no longer a cheap holiday destination, particularly for the boom boom brigade.

You're obviously not a tourist, but you're right. Any kind of tourism includes sex tourism in a way, though it should (for obvious reasons) better be called "wellness tourism" 

[Flemo]

It will all be falling on deaf ears

[madmitch]

The speaker was talking about protecting Thailand for the future. A couple of problems here:

 

1. Development would have to be reversed. The damage that has been done to the environment and any areas of natural beauty that is deemed to be a tourist attraction somehow needs to be repaired in order to return it to its pristine condition. The only example I'm aware of in Thailand is Maya Bay, which has been closed. Will Thailand embrace the closure of more tourist attractions? More importantly, would those that make money out of such attractions "allow" them to be closed off?

 

2. The majority of Thais have no thought for the future; they are happy to live day to day, hand to mouth, and if there's a dollar to be made today then let's make it and not bother about tomorrow. It needs a total change in general attitude.

 

3. The corruption allows uncontrolled development and disastrous pollution. Again, this is not going to change any time soon.

 

Great vision by the speaker but probably the wrong country!

[Hoppyone]

1 hour ago, dougiemac52 said:

What about all these millions that are coming to Thailand according to the TTF tourist records will be broken this year lol ????????

They will be down in numbers if The continuous smoke pollution gets hold of them, As well as a predicted ever strong baht ,making health and no value for money will kill tourism’s numbers

[FinChin67]

The celebrated architect, landscape designer and disruptor Bill Bensley.

For you Bill, as an architect, talking to a wall must be familiar. I believe you just did that... Welcome to Thailand!

[rodpav]

Thailand is expensive same as western countrys due to the strong bhat, until that gets back to normal thailand will continue its downward spiral

[FinChin67]

1 hour ago, nchuckle said:

The problems which include this one are multifaceted requiring a holistic strategy. There isn’t that level of thinking in government and it will take some kind of catastrophic event to prompt any kind of address. Corona virus anyone?

There's something on the way from China... as the gazillion people fleeing Wuhan (traveling for Chinese New Year holidays) will come to Thailand. Let's see what they'll bring along.

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3047022/wuhan-coronavirus-20-other-cities-china-affected

[ChipButty]

20 minutes ago, Flemo said:

It will all be falling on deaf ears

It did

[Pancho]

Maybe a new constitution?

 

sad to see the land of smiles not......

[bkkgriz]

To be honest, most of the beaches have been destroyed already. Look at the water near the beaches. It is a muck brown color. Who wants to swim in that? When I first started coming to Thailand the water at chewang beach was a beautiful blue. Now, you couldn't pay me to get in that water. It might be great for Chinese tourists who think clean water means there are no pig carcasses floating in it. Unchecked and often illegal development have destroyed most of the natural beauty of Thailand. There is no going back to what it once was. Unless of course you ban all tourism for, oh about 100 years.

[Misterwhisper]

How DARE Mr. Bensley lecture the Thai people????!!!

 

Everybody knows that Thai people were born with a deep, deep love for their country and its natural resources and never (ever!!!) would do anything that could endanger the ecological balance, destroy the environment, or jeopardize sustainable tourism.

 

 

[kiwikeith]

18 hours ago, trainman34014 said:

'Bang Bang'... doomed already thanks to the crazy strong Baht and Tourists needing breathing apparatus !

bang bang up goes the trillion BHT Chinese high speed railway and bang bang the country is on septic tanks that stink and smell and breath foul fumes through the streets of every city or town.

No money to upgrade this disgraceful system that can not take toilet paper, and the disease that can potentially spread from handling all that foul toilet paper.

I see the country encouraging Chinese , they are building gold shops and money exchanges everywhere.

In Chiang Mai they have pulled down many bars that were there for years and turned them into money exchanges and Chinese restaurants. Chinese guest house everywhere, gold shops in Tachilek casinos on the border that are illegal.

 

Money laundering going on big time., while the country goes to rack and ruin.

It is obvious the high Bht is driving expats out , the visa rules are blatantly saying go home falaang.

They don,t want you here, they wan't every venue and hotel Chinese Thai owned .

Meanwhile the place is in a Police state busy trying to catch falangs for anything.

They are spending huge amounts of borrowed Chinese money to achieve this

Thai have lost their country, in five years there wont be any falangs here and the place will be a mad house of unemployment and crime.

[Jack Cook]

Over priced and overhyped. Why why why why why would any sane rational person even consider holidaying anymore in the land of false smiles scams and rip offs. For people interested in visiting SEA Cambodia and Vietnam and Laos offer huge amounts more for a lot less. Too late for Thailand now, the tourism sector is getting exactly what it deserves. Leave it for the Chinese and Indians to weakly prop up for a couple of years, then watch it slide into the black hole.

[Grumpy John]

Interesting!  Pessimism by the container full.  Look at the bright side, when the big crash comes the Baht to Aussie $ ratio maybe in the high 30's.   Because I  am married to a Thai I am here for the duration.  So yer,  no hope I'll be bringing money here at 20-1 but at 39-1 I'll be getting that new Chevy Colorado I  been hanking for......

[spidermike007]

The insatiable appetite for yet more lower income Chinese and Indian tourists, is decimating the industry. And there are a dozen good reasons why wealthy, or well to do tourists who visit Thailand once, never return. I have seen it with my own eyes, over and over again. They have not only killed the golden goose of tourism, they continue giving it an acid bath daily. Tourism will continue to decline. I recently saw a world bank report that estimated that this industry could be responsible for up to 22% of Thailand's income. Though, that is the highest estimate I have ever seen, it is possible. Millions of jobs will be lost. Thailand is in for a world of hurt.

 

The army needs to resign. Prayuth needs to resign. Admit defeat guys. You really blew it. On your watch, the nation was reduced to a shambles. Get out now!

[shackleton]

And yet no matter what smog water shortages ect

The Tourists keep coming numbers improve every year

Cant be that bad .?

[perconrad]

1 hour ago, Dario said:

I know, we have a home in Pattaya, I should have marked, outside of cities.

 

I live in the countryside in far off Isaan and we have had 1 black out in 4 years

[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, Oziex1 said:

In Phuket they're putting Tigers in small parks for tourists to look at, is that protecting nature?

 

Thais think that beats selling the dismembered bodies to China !!

[Sydebolle]

What the scholar does not realize is, that 50% of those attending his lecture most likely did not understand, what he was talking about. 

It's not only nature, its the currency situation, the screwing around by the immigration which promptly resulted in hundred of thousands leaving Thailand for other shores as they just had it with this racism on TM28/TM30, the 90 days certification, the unannounced ransacking of residences to "check" on the alien while blunt crime takes place literally everywhere else. 

Thailand has not realized it but the gravy train has left the station; now the last attempt with Indians and Arabs is under process and will result in where everything else ended. Good bye Charlie ???? 

[BobbyL]

I doubt people understood or cared what he said. Faraaang tink toooo muttt. 

[hotchilli]

46 minutes ago, Misterwhisper said:

How DARE Mr. Bensley lecture the Thai people????!!!

 

Everybody knows that Thai people were born with a deep, deep love for their country and its natural resources and never (ever!!!) would do anything that could endanger the ecological balance, destroy the environment, or jeopardize sustainable tourism.

I would have loved to have seen the faces of the audience if those set of photo's had been screened... then asked the question "why are tourists staying away" ?

[DannyCarlton]

1 hour ago, FinChin67 said:

There's something on the way from China... as the gazillion people fleeing Wuhan (traveling for Chinese New Year holidays) will come to Thailand. Let's see what they'll bring along.

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3047022/wuhan-coronavirus-20-other-cities-china-affected

Already on national news in UK that there are confirmed cases in Thailand. Shure to put people off travelling here.

[hotchilli]

19 minutes ago, shackleton said:

And yet no matter what smog water shortages ect

The Tourists keep coming numbers improve every year

Cant be that bad .?

Only T.A.T spouts those numbers as being tourists.... they count every possible number of movement. Immigrants working, then traveling home & returning, Thai citizens leaving for vacation and returning, anyone who enters for any reason is counted as a new figure... the numbers are massaged.

Tourist are at best 50% of what they quote, which is about in line with what hotels etc are saying their occupancy is!

[ThomasThBKK]

1 hour ago, FinChin67 said:

There's something on the way from China... as the gazillion people fleeing Wuhan (traveling for Chinese New Year holidays) will come to Thailand. Let's see what they'll bring along.

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3047022/wuhan-coronavirus-20-other-cities-china-affected

 

No.

 

No one is allowed to leave Wuhan, all travel tickets have been canned.

 

Communism has some merits i guess lol. But effectively no chinese from Wuhan can travel out of Wuhan right now.

[manta]

the one thing I hate about it now is the limited access to the beaches, the way they have allowed the build of hotel closing the views and having to walk miles to get access, security stopping you walking through the hotel, prime example is Chaweng koh samui, before it was all open and a beautiful site, now you wouldn't know there was a beach....