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

[Stevemercer]

I agree with other posters that a positive incentive that can be made right now is to stop the price differentiation for national parks and other nature attractions.

 

Sure, tourists may be able to afford the price. But if they notice they are paying up to 10 times what the locals pay, then it leaves a sour taste in the mouth and is a definite negative for Thai tourism.

 

 

[LawrenceN]

8 hours ago, yellowboat said:

Stop pumping raw, untreated sewage into the ocean would be a wonderful start.   It is important to do more than talk, to do more than tell the concerned agencies to cooperate with one another, and to do more than wave one's hand majestically with a serene, but powerful look on one's face.  The white elephant known as the EEC can wait a few months.

Not just the ocean. The countryside is covered with trash and junk. There should be a nationwide system of disposal and recycling. Rural folks dump anywhere they think they can get away with it, including private property.  Somehow the people need to be convinced that they are harming this beautiful country by dumping indiscriminately.

[elephant45]

I find all of this quite sad. I knew years ago that all the machines and population growth would destroy our planet and now there is hardly a spot you can go that's not overrun by greedy hotel chains and tour operators, airlines etc. People are flying around in circles like maniacs, holidays spent mostly in taxi's and stupid rip off airports. See an elephant in chains, a tiger behind bars. Its not right. Anyways enough.

[DrTuner]

26 minutes ago, Jane Dough said:

My, you are having a grumpy day!

It's the Doom & Gloom thread, what do you expect? The cheese ball was a hard one though, as both lasagne and mozzarella are Italian. 

[Cake Monster]

On 1/21/2020 at 3:27 PM, trainman34014 said:

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

And at times full Body Armour

[Magenta408]

Anyone who has studied management or tourism management will tell you that each area has a carrying capacity. When you triple or even quadruple the carrying capacity, you destroy your resources, you lose your investment and people don't come back. Word gets around and people vote with their bucks. Now the big alarm. A buck for today and nothing for tomorrow. Incredible.

[DrTuner]

Just now, Magenta408 said:

Anyone who has studied management or tourism management will tell you that each area has a carrying capacity. When you tripple or even quadruple the carrying capacity, you destroy your resources, you lose your investment and people don't come back. Word gets around and people vote with their bucks. Now the big alarm. A buck for today and nothing for tomorrow. Incredible.

That barn door was blasted wide open sometime in 2016-17 by Kobkarn and the zero dollar tours. As a saying I grew up with goes, it's too late to fart when you've shat your pants.

[Felt 35]

"If we don’t embrace nature"

Welcomed words but unfortunately not fit in with a country embracing tourist statistics and vehicle manufacturing

[metisdead]

Off topic posts, troll posts and the replies have been removed. 

[Redline]

Very unfortunate that few will listen, and little will get done.

Thailand’s run is over without epic change-something the country has a very difficult time doing.  The entire country is going to collapse, due to lack of motivation to act on common sense solutions on unsophisticated problems-greed prevails 

[curlylekan]

I hope this helps and I like to see leaders making their words heard about this, but I think it will fall on deaf ears. The government puts too much priority on high tourism numbers and too little priority on what those tourists do while they are in Thailand.

[mindfulness]

Just waiting for one of those Indigenous Xenophobic Nationalistic clowns to pop up and say, ‘you no like, go back you’re own country’ ????

[JMSIII]

Maybe, just maybe, if Thai's were to stop fleecing every non Thai at every possible chance they can.  Stop making non Thai's feel unwelcome, stop making non Thai's feel unsafe in some areas.  And of course maybe, just maybe, if the government would stop making the baht so strong....

 

Just maybe, more tourist will come back.  But right now Thailand has got a not so good reputation... 

[SunsetT]

Most Thais have no aesthetic sense or appreciation of nature so they will not know W T F he is talking about!

[garyk]

I look at Thailand the same way I look at the market. It’s had a good run. Now it’s time for a serious correction. But even with a serious downturn It is a tough call due to health concerns. Now you’re putting your health at risk even if it turned into a good bang for the buck destination. Do you want to head to Thailand and pretty much be guaranteed to shorten your life by a few years? 

[Percy P]

13 hours 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 ????????

Thai government doesn't set the exchange rate. The strength of a countries currency is determined by the economic policies ,one is the demand for the countries currency and with the millions  of tourists expected to arrive each with 20,000Baht under the terms of entry that's a lot of Baht wanted and the money (foreign)  all goes into the Foreign Exchange Account makes a country financially strong so with the amount of tourists expected don't expect the Baht to drop in value if anything it could  increase in value. Well done Thailand.

[Sonhia]

It is,already doomed.

 

Thai will not listen. As long as money is involved, Thai will destroy what they can, as they are doing now.

 

I've no sympathy for Thai. Serves them.right. Too greedy, too big headed.

[Gweiloman]

Why are so many posters concerned about and criticising TAT/immigration/the Thai government/hotels/restaurants/taxi drivers/others that I am missing out for the perceived drop in tourism? Personally, the fewer tourists there are, the happier I will be. Less traffic on the roads, less people at immigration, less competition for bar girls, drop in prices of hotels, restaurants etc etc. 
 

If it was up to me, I would make the entry requirements for foreigners at the same level of ease/difficulty as those countries require for Thais. 

[ScotBkk]

On 1/21/2020 at 10:27 AM, trainman34014 said:

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

Why not give tourists a free gas mask at the airport when they arrive

[dallen52]

"High action, quick fire event."

 

Certainly sounds like a "short time" to me.

 

They must have had a good grasp on it when they thought up that. 

 

Not sure how they keep a straight face when they publish these things. 

 

Always good for a laugh. 

[micmichd]

4 hours ago, Gweiloman said:

Why are so many posters concerned about and criticising TAT/immigration/the Thai government/hotels/restaurants/taxi drivers/others that I am missing out for the perceived drop in tourism? Personally, the fewer tourists there are, the happier I will be. Less traffic on the roads, less people at immigration, less competition for bar girls, drop in prices of hotels, restaurants etc etc. 
 

If it was up to me, I would make the entry requirements for foreigners at the same level of ease/difficulty as those countries require for Thais. 

Guess the EU will make flights to Thailand so expensive pretty soon that nobody except Green influencers will be able to afford them. 

[dallen52]

20 hours ago, Grumpy John said:

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......

Good on you.

Looks like you have a keeper. 

I thought that too.

But almost 7 years later.

And going from 33 to the Aussie $ in 2009 and a six figure salary. 

Now on a reasonable pension and 20 baht to the Aussie $, she pulled up stumps. 

Took the chanote for the land, about 40k of loose change, the gold, and trundled off to her village. 

 

Thai women eh!!

Gotta love them.

 

(She cannot get her head around the almost 20k a month less I now get, mainly because of the exchange)

 

Nothing is going to push it up to the halcyon days we once enjoyed here...

 

[mikebell]

On 1/21/2020 at 3:59 PM, Surelynot said:

Doomed already. Political instability, ridiculously strong currency, poor safety record, rubbish everywhere, no gun control, corruption is rife, running out of water, poor infrastructure, little concept of customer care, Chinese zero dollar tours and the back up to falling Chinese tourism? Indian. Well I guess they've tried the cowboys they may as well give the Indian's a go.

I think you have covered most of the bases here; I would add 'ineffective inactive police.

[micmichd]

11 hours ago, Percy P said:

Thai government doesn't set the exchange rate. The strength of a countries currency is determined by the economic policies ,one is the demand for the countries currency and with the millions  of tourists expected to arrive each with 20,000Baht under the terms of entry that's a lot of Baht wanted and the money (foreign)  all goes into the Foreign Exchange Account makes a country financially strong so with the amount of tourists expected don't expect the Baht to drop in value if anything it could  increase in value. Well done Thailand.

A strong Baht is bad for exports, don't forget. 

[natway09]

Some 23 years ago I said : put in very good infrastructure & stop chasing numbers,

stop building cheap hotels & concentrate on looking after the "better tourists" by minimising rip offs & scams

Nothing !!!

[globalspark]

Surelynot is spot on.Recent stay in Pattaya in a 4 star hotel could not serve me bacon openly as it would offend Indians who are Hindu generally speaking.

One word sums up Thailand is a boring destination these days.

[bbbbooboo]

Hmmm.... I suggest it’s doomed unless they start showing tourists respect. From my perspective maybe the horse has bolted already?

[simon43]

On 1/22/2020 at 12:58 PM, Rocket Hawks said:

Baht doesn't have much weight on tourism in my opinion but the AQI certainly does. The main reason I left Bangkok for Phuket is because of the air quality. Living in Bangkok is essentially a death sentence. I have no idea how people can live in Bangkok long term, let alone raise a child there. Phuket is about the only place in Thailand that is safe to live but even then, you need to check your water, fruit and food for pesticides and heavy metals. I found teflon (  C-8 ) in a watermelon I was eating which is insane. Good movie about telfon here:  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9071322/ I only buy organic now from Villa Market. Happy to pay 4x for food that isn't loaded with deadly cancer-causing toxins. Thailand can be awesome but you definitely need to invest in quality water filters, air filters, and food testing apparatus to make the cost savings worth it. Otherwise, you're just shaving decades off of your life.

 

I highly recommend moving to Laguna in Phuket. Super clean air, access to high quality water, high quality organic food, and high quality restaurants.

 

Ah yes, Laguna.  That's the place built around the scores of old lakes left over from the tin mining era, full of heavy metal contamination.

[DannyCarlton]

3 hours ago, globalspark said:

Surelynot is spot on.Recent stay in Pattaya in a 4 star hotel could not serve me bacon openly as it would offend Indians who are Hindu generally speaking.

One word sums up Thailand is a boring destination these days.

They were winding you up. Hindus do eat pork. It's beef they generally don't eat.

 

Or, maybe, you're winding us up?

[Grumpy John]

23 hours ago, dallen52 said:

Good on you.

Looks like you have a keeper. 

I thought that too.

But almost 7 years later.

And going from 33 to the Aussie $ in 2009 and a six figure salary. 

Now on a reasonable pension and 20 baht to the Aussie $, she pulled up stumps. 

Took the chanote for the land, about 40k of loose change, the gold, and trundled off to her village. 

 

Thai women eh!!

Gotta love them.

 

(She cannot get her head around the almost 20k a month less I now get, mainly because of the exchange)

 

Nothing is going to push it up to the halcyon days we once enjoyed here...

 

Not a nice girl doing that!  That's why I didn't get hitched up to one of the cute little spinners I  had the good fortune to play with in Pattaya.  Part of my success with avoiding a future disaster was to be tight with money.   I didn't work my Rs off to waste it on some flibbedy jibbet who only saw a walking ATM!  They came and went.  My wife wasn't young when we met, mid 30's.  After 11 years together I  have to right one for me.  She was a manicurist and I never saw her till a friend recommended her salon.  After that we have been rarely apart!

Married 7 years........seems like yesterday we tied the knot!  Now I  live up country.....and there are so many sweet young things for some young lad (young of heart) to play with I  really don't see why so many go to Pattaya???