36 minutes ago, Leaver said:

There was a recent armed robbery of a 7/11, but that is no evidence of a higher level of crime. 

 

There was also a news thread showing police with long arms patrolling Pattaya, but that is also no evidence of a higher level of crime, but does tend to show the police are aware that during harsher economy times, crime does rise, and so make a photo op' to deter criminals and reassure tourists / residents.

 

There have been many studies on the relationship between economy and crime rates.  You can Google for some information. 

 

What is different about Pattaya / Thailand is a lot of the Thai's here worked in the cash economy, supported solely by tourism.  Also, Thailand doesn't really have a welfare system.

 

I am also of the opinion crime will rise.  The only question will be by how much, and the level of violence used.  

Crime went up significantly in Pattaya after Purachai almost destroyed the farang night scene. Hundreds if not thousands of Thais lost income over that.

No internet forum back then but reported in the Pattaya Mail.

19 minutes ago, geriatrickid said:

 In a few months when we  recover,

Do you really think Thai authorities are doing enough to have Thailand declared as safe for tourism within a few months?

 

I think 6 to 12 months may be more realistic.  

 

All these big companies should be nationalized and taken from their owners to punish them to close in such situation.

 

Do you think that Hilton does not have enough money to keep paying staff even without customers ?

 

no respect to them, only hate, and wish them the worst in the future.

 

Where will old guys now take their Isaan hookers to impress, omg omg

10 minutes ago, rech said:

All these big companies should be nationalized and taken from their owners to punish them to close in such situation.

 

Do you think that Hilton does not have enough money to keep paying staff even without customers ?

 

no respect to them, only hate, and wish them the worst in the future.

 

A business or company should not be used as a government's welfare system.

 

Some countries are looking to give government assistance to businesses and companies that are keeping staff on the payroll over this crisis, but that has more to do with the easier and quicker distribution of money.   

1 hour ago, Leaver said:

Where are they going to take off to? 

 

By "taking off" all they have done is spread it across the country.

 

They most certainly could have.

The government did not think through how lockdowns work.

Ideally they should have had a military presence that locked down Pattaya like an ant's sphincter.

only tourists are allowed to leave...either to airport or back to their Thai residence...thais stay put.

 

The same thing has happened in India where they locked down new delhi and hundreds of thousands of migrant labourers headed to the bus terminals jostling each other...they are probably still there, waiting for a bus to go back to their village.

3 hours ago, Leaver said:

I agree with your assessment.

 

Thailand's tourism industry has bounced back from many things in the past. Eg. tsunami, swine flu, bird flu etc, and it will bounce back from this. 

 

However, it will will not be a quick recovery, and Pattaya 12 to 18 months from now will look vastly different to the Pattaya of pre virus that we all knew. 

Short of bulldozing the city, it'll "look" the same but I imagine most of the bar scene will be absent. Any girls with sense will be on the internet by then.

Anyway, Patong had the opportunity to rebuild itself from scratch after the tsunami, and turned it into a <deleted><deleted>. On Phi Phi, they rebuilt the same <deleted><deleted> it was before the tsunami, and carried on ruining it even more.

With the massive unemployment across the world caused by Corona, tourism may be low for a year plus, also airlines going down the toilet will probably increase ticket prices which won't help tourism.

 

Across the world it's not looking good. I'm in Pattaya and will still enjoy it if i can avoid Corona and restrictions don't last too long and aren't too severe.

 

Let's not forget the financial consequences which aren't fully known yet, most people effected i.e. pensions, savings, rent, debt, cash

No surprise many places closed...apocalypse (Coivid) NOW

1 hour ago, scubascuba3 said:

With the massive unemployment across the world caused by Corona, tourism may be low for a year plus, also airlines going down the toilet will probably increase ticket prices which won't help tourism.

 

Across the world it's not looking good. I'm in Pattaya and will still enjoy it if i can avoid Corona and restrictions don't last too long and aren't too severe.

 

Let's not forget the financial consequences which aren't fully known yet, most people effected i.e. pensions, savings, rent, debt, cash

I am thinking people with pensions are probably the best off, because they have a reliable source of income. It's the people who are suddenly unemployed without income, who have been living from payday to payday, who are between a rock and a hard place.

4 hours ago, Pravda said:

Where will old guys now take their Isaan hookers to impress, omg omg

I always took 'em to my room.

16 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

I am thinking people with pensions are probably the best off, because they have a reliable source of income. It's the people who are suddenly unemployed without income, who have been living from payday to payday, who are between a rock and a hard place.

Potentially all pensions are effected, defined contribution type pensions invested in stocks and shares have taken a big hit. If companies go bust their defined benefit pensions will be under funded now and then theres the impact on state pensions. It all depends how financially it all pans out over the next 6 months

53 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Potentially all pensions are effected, defined contribution type pensions invested in stocks and shares have taken a big hit. If companies go bust their defined benefit pensions will be under funded now and then theres the impact on state pensions. It all depends how financially it all pans out over the next 6 months

Don't disagree on company pensions. Impact on state pensions? In Australia, all politicians know getting too cute with the OAP is an electoral death sentence.

5 hours ago, JHolmesJr said:

 

They most certainly could have.

The government did not think through how lockdowns work.

Ideally they should have had a military presence that locked down Pattaya like an ant's sphincter.

only tourists are allowed to leave...either to airport or back to their Thai residence...thais stay put.

 

The same thing has happened in India where they locked down new delhi and hundreds of thousands of migrant labourers headed to the bus terminals jostling each other...they are probably still there, waiting for a bus to go back to their village.

Too late now. 

 

Corona Virus has hitched a ride with hospitality staff and hookers from the tourists areas to all parts of the country. 

 

15 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Don't disagree on company pensions. Impact on state pensions? In Australia, all politicians know getting too cute with the OAP is an electoral death sentence.

This is worse than the second world war, countries could go bust

3 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Short of bulldozing the city, it'll "look" the same but I imagine most of the bar scene will be absent. Any girls with sense will be on the internet by then.

Anyway, Patong had the opportunity to rebuild itself from scratch after the tsunami, and turned it into a <deleted><deleted>. On Phi Phi, they rebuilt the same <deleted><deleted> it was before the tsunami, and carried on ruining it even more.

Of course, I was speaking metaphorically. 

 

The buildings will not collapse, and will appear the same.  However, hospitality and retail operations inside those buildings would have changed significantly, and that includes the nightlife, and also the sex trade.

 

Many owners will simply walk away.  

3 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

This is worse than the second world war, countries could go bust

I agree with you. However, permit me to doubt Australia will be among them. After the GFC, the Australian banking system was beefed up to be among the world's strongest.

15 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

I agree with you. However, permit me to doubt Australia will be among them. After the GFC, the Australian banking system was beefed up to be among the world's strongest.

Is Australia bailing out companies and employees who may be fired or have been fired already? Many countries seem to be doing this i.e. paying wages of the private sector for 3+ months, many companies will be closing so tax take will be low for some time with government spending at record highs. Scary time i think, hence the market crash

21 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

I agree with you. However, permit me to doubt Australia will be among them. After the GFC, the Australian banking system was beefed up to be among the world's strongest.

There is no minerals boom for Australia, fueled by Chinese demand, like there was for the GFC, this time around. 

 

Most countries will go into recession.  How long that recession will last, for each country, who knows? 

 

The debt from the Corona Virus will take generations to pay back.

16 hours ago, fforest1 said:

 Heinecke did not get to be mega successful by being stupid......I am pretty sure he saw the writing on the wall and saw profits were headed down the toilet...So he just decided to close shop for a while.....No I have not asked him this in person....But I bet if his hotels were doing well Corona or not they would not have closed...

You talking nonsense My friends daughter and son in law got laid off

and I talk to them every day, the Hilton was busy before they had been forced to close,

I have first hand information and not just rumors you spread.

4 minutes ago, White Christmas13 said:

You talking nonsense My friends daughter and son in law got laid off

and I talk to them every day, the Hilton was busy before they had been forced to close,

I have first hand information and not just rumors you spread.

What section did they work in?  Are you suggesting The Hilton had a high occupancy rate?

1 minute ago, Leaver said:

What section did they work in?  Are you suggesting The Hilton had a high occupancy rate?

I can't tell you about the occupancy rate but they told me they were very busy

when I talked to them.

2 minutes ago, Leaver said:

Are you suggesting The Hilton had a high occupancy rate?

In my experience the Hilton catered to a lot of the business folk "working" in the Eastern Seaboard more so than tourists, not going to be a lot of people visiting factories etc at this time.

2 minutes ago, Leaver said:

Are you suggesting The Hilton had a high occupancy rate?

 @ 5000 +++ baht per night they where at 100% occupancy year round ????

1 minute ago, White Christmas13 said:

I can't tell you about the occupancy rate but they told me they were very busy

when I talked to them.

The bar is popular with some nationalities to get a photo having a drink in a Hilton Hotel.

 

A busy bar doesn't make for a busy hotel.

 

 

1 hour ago, Leaver said:

There is no minerals boom for Australia, fueled by Chinese demand, like there was for the GFC, this time around. 

 

Most countries will go into recession.  How long that recession will last, for each country, who knows? 

 

The debt from the Corona Virus will take generations to pay back.

IMO there could be a second boom on agricultural products. The Chinese know we produce clean food, that's why they are snapping up any farm properties in Australia that come onto the market.

I agree, many countries will go into recession. It's the depth of said recession which is unpredictable for all countries.

6 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

IMO there could be a second boom on agricultural products. The Chinese know we produce clean food, that's why they are snapping up any farm properties in Australia that come onto the market.

I agree, many countries will go into recession. It's the depth of said recession which is unpredictable for all countries.

Isn't Australia currently experiencing a severe drought?  How can agriculture boom in a bad drought?  Also, I saw the fires on the news and the amount of farm land burned was huge.

Hilton, and all the hotels around the world are hemorrhaging cash...NOT able to survive thanks to the mishandling of the chinese Gov....thanks guys for screwing the world...

6 minutes ago, mike787 said:

Hilton, and all the hotels around the world are hemorrhaging cash...NOT able to survive thanks to the mishandling of the chinese Gov....thanks guys for screwing the world...

The rich Chinese, and maybe the Chinese State, will come out and buy up cheap offshore assets soon.   

3 hours ago, Leaver said:

Isn't Australia currently experiencing a severe drought?  How can agriculture boom in a bad drought?  Also, I saw the fires on the news and the amount of farm land burned was huge.

That is on marginal land. Most of the burning occurred in forested areas.

In the marginal areas, it is feast or famine. Most farm/station properties are much larger than anywhere else in the world, they have to be.

So the average property in those areas will have 3-4 years of drought, earning nothing. Fires don't matter, nothing to burn. In 1983, I was on a 44,000 acre property that did not have a single blade of live grass. They will have a couple of years when the property breaks even. But when the drought breaks, farmers make fortunes due to scale.