I really dont see this as a problem for TAT.  People are willing to pay huge amounts of money to fly into outer space.  TAT can now say the same thing about Thailand.  Pictured below new TAT tourism poster.  

18 hours ago, webfact said:

Vichit would like to see the government give stronger support to the Tourism Authority of Thailand on marketing and entrepreneurs develop new goods and services that are reasonably priced.

I can not see how that could make tourists feel safer or  how that could lower the Baht.

18 hours ago, Hayduke said:

 

Fewer tourists? No problem...just raise the rates for hotels, goods, and services to make up the difference.

 

 

And crank up immigrations rules and razzias.

45 minutes ago, simtemple said:

How do you think Thailand would cope with a full blown Coronavirus epidemic? You want to holiday in a place where you'll have to step over the dead? 

Already did that in Mexico once.

Since they've tried everything else to revive tourism--why not try to bring the Baht down to a competitive level?  

And the regime's pro-China stance doesn't help, either.

3 minutes ago, Isaan sailor said:

Since they've tried everything else to revive tourism--why not try to bring the Baht down to a competitive level?  

And the regime's pro-China stance doesn't help, either.

People .... listen.

It's not sinking ships, dangerous roads, or the Baht.

Now pay attention.

It's Thailand, itself.

Why would tourists want to come again after the first visit?  What does Thailand offer that can't be had in other countries without the hassles?

 

Thai tourism is a joke, but someone has to earn the big money,as we know wrong figures are so easy to find, but in the end the truth will prevail and heads will roll, the Baht sitting on its bubble is going to have an effect when it drops, next year according to the bank, until then it is going to keep going up OMG

Quote:-

"Vichit doesn’t believe the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China, will hamper Thai tourism during this weekend’s Lunar New Year festivities"

 

Does he (and TAT) not realize flights are now banned to/from Wuhan and other Chinese cities? China itself is entering a "lock down" situation prior to the New Year to stop the spread of the virus. Will any Chinese be able to visit Thailand??

The Bloated Baht, the Filthy Smog, Government Sanctioned 

Dual Pricing and the “Rip Off The Ferang” Mentality have all become known to Tourists and Expats alike.

 

Not only will the Tourists find better alternatives, but so will the much maligned Expats, who pour Massive amounts of Money Monthly, into the Thai economy.
 

How many Thai Families will be left destitute once the

Benevolent Expats are finally driven out of what was once, a Beautiful, Pristine and Welcoming Country ? 

 

 

 

 

Maybe just too many complacement know alls been in the same job too long and don't want to lose face, its much better to let the country go to rack and ruin of course. The reality is that TRhai tourism is now dead, the heydays are never coming back. Vietnam Cambodia, Laos, and Malaysia, all blow Thailand out of the water in all aspects now at 30 to 50% of the price. The way it was is NEVER coming back.

5 hours ago, GinBoy2 said:

 

Nowadays people don't go to a travel agent, they look online, read others reviews and decide where to go

 

An example of what goes around can be found here:

 

https://www.inafarawayland.com/2014/11/13/7-reasons-why-we-won-t-be-returning-to-thailand/

This description of quality tourists was amusing

 

On Koh Phi Phi, one of the many islands in the south, famous for snorkelling and diving, we went for a walk along the beach at night. I still haven’t decided how I feel about what I saw, which makes it incredibly hard to write about. We witnessed, in no particular order, a girl getting fingered, a guy getting a <deleted> and a young male lying trousers down on the sand furiously masturbating. Countless drug dealers, countless prostitutes, a woman so intoxicated she was talking to her flip flops whilst performing, what looked like to me, an African rain dance. Too many passed out tourists in tattoo parlours and far too many people, both men and women, publicly urinating. The whole place stunk of <deleted> and reeked of shame and what’s even more alarmingly, no one looked as if they were having a good time (apart from African rain dance woman, she was loving life). 

18 hours ago, Beggar said:

"It’s been report that the Malaysian government has already waived visas for Chinese and Indian tourists. If that’s true, Thailand will lose an enormous amount of income because the Chinese are our main customers.”

 

"If that's true"

 

Is it so hard to find this out?

Apparently, the Chinese have isolated the area from where the flew is supposed to be coming from ,quarantined a whole city. 

However there has been a small outbreak here in LOS,

This could spiral out of control as cases are reported in the USA as well.

Their are thousand of Chinese pouring in at the moment going all over LOS.

An outbreak is very plausable.

An outbreak from Malaysia would travel up from the south through LOS.

Waiving visas will encourage this.

The high BHT is not helping the country only helping money launderers cash in.

Exports are in trouble, tourism is down and the country is in for a major correction, when that happens look out, financial forecasters are saying we are heading for a bigger event than what happened in The USA.

Turn your cash to gold before it is to late.

 

 

 

16 hours ago, DLock said:

Is it just me that wants to see a complete capitulation of the tourism market?

 

Maybe it's schadenfreude, maybe it's just the years of incompetence and lying and taking tourists and ex-pats for granted in the chase for the Almighty dollar that wants me to see them enjoy some challenges and pain for a few years...

 

Bird in the hand Cha Cha...bird the hand...

I've been wishing for this for years. Aside from the bad effect it would have on a few friends in the tourism industry, in general, it would be well deserved. In 1987 when I first came here there were 3 million tourist arrivals, now over 40 million. They've kind of ruined the place in many ways.

17 hours ago, DLock said:

Is it just me that wants to see a complete capitulation of the tourism market?

 

Maybe it's schadenfreude, maybe it's just the years of incompetence and lying and taking tourists and ex-pats for granted in the chase for the Almighty dollar that wants me to see them enjoy some challenges and pain for a few years...

 

Bird in the hand Cha Cha...bird the hand...

Seems like it. They already let rough immigration officers at BKK and DMK stop legitimate tourist visa holders from entering the country and spending money in Thailand.

Edited January 24, 20206 yr by bbi1

7 minutes ago, kiwikeith said:

Apparently, the Chinese have isolated the area from where the flew is supposed to be coming from ,quarantined a whole city. 

They put it in a glass bell?

No, of course, so the virus is free like air;
air which also moves freely;
they quarantined wild animals too?

 

All this is smoke 

16 hours ago, madmitch said:

Most hotels realise that we are in the year 2020 and not 1999.

 

I wonder if the ATTA members still use fax?

It made me think back to a several years ago when i was thinking of going back to India for a trip, i checked out the cheapest scruffiest place i stayed in Delhi on the net, good old 'RINGOS' i could not believe it was bookable online.

6 hours ago, Teee said:

Too many bloody fillipinos that screw you.

How do fillipinos (Filipinos) screw you in Thailand?

Add the killer virus to your list of excuses, too.

 

36 minutes ago, kiwikeith said:

Apparently, the Chinese have isolated the area from where the flew is supposed to be coming from ,quarantined a whole city. 

However there has been a small outbreak here in LOS,

This could spiral out of control as cases are reported in the USA as well.

Their are thousand of Chinese pouring in at the moment going all over LOS.

An outbreak is very plausable.

An outbreak from Malaysia would travel up from the south through LOS.

Waiving visas will encourage this.

The high BHT is not helping the country only helping money launderers cash in.

Exports are in trouble, tourism is down and the country is in for a major correction, when that happens look out, financial forecasters are saying we are heading for a bigger event than what happened in The USA.

Turn your cash to gold before it is to late.

 

 

 

I am really scared in the meantime. Just before I went to Tops in the Central Mall here in Pattaya to suffer under the bag-less shopping again and again. It gets on my nerves. But what really scared me was to see VERY many people with masks. Many of them Chinese. Not sure if they do it because of the virus or because of the air pollution. I wished I had at least a plastic bag that I could pull over my head to protect myself too. 

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

I wouldn't bring my family to a place with air pollution this bad.

I want clean air, clean beaches and clean sea.

And that is really not too much to ask, is it? 

 

If you build high quality waste management facilities, to discourage resorts in Phuket or Samui from dumping waste into what was once a gorgeous sea, and then educate the people about the hazards of polluting the sea, you have a shot as clean water. If you demonstrate some pride, clean beaches are a easy deal.

 

If you have a competent administration that cares, even one iota for it's people, and is both progressive and creative, you can come up with a dozen effective ways to clean up the air. The current situation is a volatile mix of sheer and gross incompetence on the part of the army, zero creative juice, extreme nepotism and cronyism, massive corruption, and the wrong leaders at the wrong time. 

 

Unless the youth rises up and demands change, I fear Thailand is going to get far, far worse, before it gets better.

Edited January 24, 20206 yr by spidermike007

Tourists will stop coming, the ones who come first time will not be coming back.

Massive queues in immigration 

Rip off taxi drivers

Hotels that won’t take your credit card

Hotels and businesses that charge you 3% more if they do accept credit cards

Garbage strewn streets

Stink from sewers everywhere

Smoke no the air all the time

Not as cheap as your friends told you

Polluted beaches

This is from a friend first time visitor who won’t be coming back

20 hours ago, webfact said:

“The PM2.5 dust in the air is another concern for many tourists. They’re not going to feel safe if the locals are wearing facemasks.”

 

Expect a new ruling prohibiting facemasks in tourist areas starting soon.  The usual bribes will be enforced.

the old saying "" anything that goes up has to come down"" they had 10 or more good years of high tourism, reaping tourists & expats, after that it's all the way to the bottom, they just reached the middle point, it will keep going down faster and faster because they are slow learners

Perhaps this been said before a few times, but wouldn’t this would be a golden opportunity to initiate some nation wide effort to restore places that’s already been trashed by way, way more visitors than the natural setting can handle. Cleaning the beaches that literally turned into sandy garbage dumps probably would help a lot too, and do something about that sewage water flowing into the sea on the beaches around the kingdom. Maybe set up a national yearly schedule as how to keep the kingdoms natural beauty clean and well maintained at all times?

 

food for thought. 

I would stay away from Chinese tourists. Don’t know who are carrying these dangerous viruses.

Whats that abbo song Yopo yimdi.... Dream yeah dream yeah. They should play that in parliament with the toad on a podium.

Come to Thailand, Land of Smiles

Happy to see reporting here is just like USA.  Day 1.  Tourism hits record number Day 2. Hotels in Thailand down 40%.  Day 3  Officials greet the record breaking tourist at airport Day 4. Strong THB and smog curb tourism around Thailand. etc. 

The junta is tone deaf and only understands the language of money. Foreigners should stop spending money and boycott Thailand until they get the message. The government needs to start treating people with dignity and respect, and stop scapegoating foreigners for every ill. Get rid of the oppressive TM-30 reporting requirement. These comments are directed at the military government, not the Thai people who I still love and respect. I just had my visa photos taken for my upcoming renewal, and compared them to last year's photos. Unmistakable note of sadness in my eyes, almost all of which I would attribute to having my freedom of movement restricted through the TM-30 and the sense of impermanence and being unwelcome which immigration has instilled in me.

 

Edited January 24, 20206 yr by Gecko123

I dont think most people know what 2.5 polution really does to them?
It can be very severe!
Cardiovascular, respiratory, blood system, reproductive systems, etc.
Wear a mask!