‘Back to basics’ tourism urged to restart the economy

By The Phuket News

 

Phuket Governor Narong Woonchiew at the meeting on Thursday (June 25). Photo: PR Phuket

 

PHUKET: Phuket Governor Narong Woonchiew has been told that Phuket should stick to its strengths in restarting the island’s economy, promoting the natural attractions in the area along with the island’s tin mining history and food and culture as the main proponents for initially drawing tourists back to the island.

 

The call for “back to basics” tourism came at a seminar at the Prince of Songkla University Phuket campus on Thursday (June 25), held to discuss and present a “white paper” on strategies to restart the island’s economy.

 

At the meeting, the Governor was told that the pandemic had already cost Phuket B160 billion in lost revenues.

 

Full story: https://www.thephuketnews.com/back-to-basics-tourism-urged-to-restart-the-economy-76531.php

 

-- © Copyright Phuket News 2020-06-28

 

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Sure the new super rich tourists Thailand are wanting will come in the millions for the tin mining tours.

i heard the taxi mafia was also present at the seminar.

Is it just me or do some people in Thailand struggle with understanding to restart tourism need to allow tourists back In the country

7 minutes ago, BestB said:

Is it just me or do some people in Thailand struggle with understanding to restart tourism need to allow tourists back In the country

Same for Cambodia, special ticket prices for Angkor Wat announced, but locals get in free ...... who do they think will buy the tickets? I guess you don't need to be all that bright to get government posts in Asia.

7 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Same for Cambodia, special ticket prices for Angkor Wat announced, but locals get in free ...... who do they think will buy the tickets? I guess you don't need to be all that bright to get government posts in Asia.

plus 30usd for a visa.

Legalize cannabis, gambling and prostitution and Phuket will be ready to rock and roll

26 minutes ago, mr mr said:

i heard the taxi mafia was also present at the seminar.

They organised it

2 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Phuket should stick to its strengths in restarting the island’s economy, promoting the natural attractions in the area along with the island’s tin mining history and food and culture as the main proponents for initially drawing tourists back to the island.

they forgot the main strength: Bars, nightlive, prostitution - when will they ever learn?

1 hour ago, ChipButty said:

They organised it

was the lunch spread any good ? 

I read the associated article, with its comments about the 'white paper' looking into ways to bolster the economy aside from tourism, and it does not seem to be anything more than grabbing words and pretending they have meaning. There is not any apparent external demand for the industries and services the white paper recommends, yet the island economy would need to draw external sources of capital and demand to make any of them viable. It is also nay on impossible to re-invent an economy admittedly "80-90%" dependent on tourism, at least in any proximal time period. As for 'going back to basics' re tourism, that again is just empty words with no actual meaning.  Visits to abandoned tin mines?  I'm going to guess there's a very short waiting list for that.

 

The current problems are not going to be solved in any way if the thinking is limited to what appears in the article. They might have to accept that the best they can hope for is to bring back as much as possible whatever it was that produced their revenues in the past. All of these tourism types are fad-ishly focused on the same target market of 'high value' tourists, apparently completely unaware that they have abundant competition around the world for what is a small, and likely shrinking (due to Covid), demographic.

 

The article is yet another reminder of how Covid has irrevocably changed the world, and economic recovery is going to be years---maybe decades---in the making.

Developing other sectors through public-private projects would help stimulate the economy and help the island cope with other situations that may occur in the future, the report added.

 

Cue a succession of announcements of new hubs being created!

45 minutes ago, Walker88 said:

The current problems are not going to be solved in any way if the thinking is limited to what appears in the article. They might have to accept that the best they can hope for is to bring back as much as possible whatever it was that produced their revenues in the past. All of these tourism types are fad-ishly focused on the same target market of 'high value' tourists, apparently completely unaware that they have abundant competition around the world for what is a small, and likely shrinking (due to Covid), demographic.

The talk about 'high value' tourists, then only want hordes of Chinese that have no value at all.

They want to go 'back to basics' which is essentially white foreigners, but only want the disease spreading Chinese.

 

If they had never let the Chinese in, they wouldn't have lost all their income.

But they seem too stupid to understand.

5 hours ago, rooster59 said:

The call for “back to basics” tourism

This is bars and hot & cold running women..................LOL

18 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

The talk about 'high value' tourists, then only want hordes of Chinese that have no value at all.

They want to go 'back to basics' which is essentially white foreigners, but only want the disease spreading Chinese.

 

If they had never let the Chinese in, they wouldn't have lost all their income.

But they seem too stupid to understand.

Tourism itself is a special kind of disease. It has always created pollution and will eventually destroy places environmentally. Thailand has always attracted irresponsible tourists and the government is complicit in this. The same problem exists in Europe in places like Greece, Italy, and several other countries. False economies, garbage, excessive partying, irresponsible behavior, inflated real estate and hotel costs, Airbnb, and all the other exploiters rising to the occasion. Do you really think the governments want to do anything but raise money? They pay lip service, but little of anything else. You can't exclude the Chinese and welcome the Brits, for example. It won't work. 

13 minutes ago, nightbird said:

You can't exclude the Chinese and welcome the Brits, for example. It won't work. 

Trying to think of the last time a 'new' disease originated in the UK, Europe or the USA.

Nope, Spanish flu maybe .......... but that was 100 years back.

6 hours ago, rooster59 said:

strategies to restart the island’s economy

They wouldn't know how to put together a strategy if it kicked them up the @r$e!

7 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Phuket Governor Narong Woonchiew has been told that Phuket should stick to its strengths in restarting the island’s economy, promoting the natural attractions in the area along with the island’s tin mining history and food and culture as the main proponents for initially drawing tourists back to the island.

Might have to rethink that one to pull in the quality tourists.

From gold mine to tin mine... my, how things have changed !!

 

Such honesty can be bad for one's career.  3.5 non-Thai tourists.  If beaches, food and tin museums for an extinct industry are the main attractions, 
why would tourist actually visit?  
However, if ex-pats could stay without all the hassle, in an island paradise, without all the crowds, they'd flock here.  
Why not pursue them?

Back to Basic Scams then !

2 hours ago, BritManToo said:

The talk about 'high value' tourists, then only want hordes of Chinese that have no value at all.

They want to go 'back to basics' which is essentially white foreigners, but only want the disease spreading Chinese.

 

If they had never let the Chinese in, they wouldn't have lost all their income.

But they seem too stupid to understand.

I can not agree with that assessment.

Over the last decade at least Chinese tourists added a huge amount to the overall global industry while western tourist numbers and expenditure generally stalled and waned.

 The impact of this pandemic assuredly means tourism will need to go back to basics but those  "basics" will probably not be a return to any form or source of historical origins.

I do not find any logic or rationale  in saying that if the Chinese had never been "let in" Thailand would have retained it's  tourism income. What nationality currently can happily and freely go touring anywhere in significant numbers when global borders are closed?

At this point in time any discussions can only be speculative at best but in terms of planning and therefore likely  to appease representatives of all concerned .

Aside from the fact that covid-19 undeniably was first identified in China and that the CCP made  some errors in due diligence of reporting there is  growing evidence derived  from retro testing that the virus may have been in circulation in the western arena months before. Interestingly the original blame of source pointed at the Chinese has lost a great deal of credence as time has passed as new but less heralded information has surfaced.

The factual reality is that Thailand was inundated with Chinese tourists many of whom arrived via Wuhan and yet undeniably has escaped an equivalent contagion disaster despite that.

Yet in terms of the core issues there is a lack of discussion about what alternatives there are/will be for the many who have lost employment directly or indirectly in face of the fact that tourism will not recover significantly  for a period of time long enough for people to be in a genuinely desperate economic situation.

8 hours ago, rooster59 said:

natural attractions in the area along with the island’s tin mining history

Pretty sure most people - including Thais - wont travel far for a lecture on tin mining history.

Course Thais might for free som tam and if there is a free seafood buffet all bets are off

Stick to natural attractions?  Does that mean dancing girls—with or without clothes on?

3 hours ago, nightbird said:

Tourism itself is a special kind of disease. It has always created pollution and will eventually destroy places environmentally. Thailand has always attracted irresponsible tourists and the government is complicit in this. The same problem exists in Europe in places like Greece, Italy, and several other countries. False economies, garbage, excessive partying, irresponsible behavior, inflated real estate and hotel costs, Airbnb, and all the other exploiters rising to the occasion. Do you really think the governments want to do anything but raise money? They pay lip service, but little of anything else. You can't exclude the Chinese and welcome the Brits, for example. It won't work. 

Don't agree but Governments would need a different mindset doing this. It this would not be a Thai mindset, where there is money today and not caring about tomorrow.

 

4 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Trying to think of the last time a 'new' disease originated in the UK, Europe or the USA.

Nope, Spanish flu maybe .......... but that was 100 years back.

@BritManTooFoot and mouth disease , 2001.

held to discuss and present a “white paper” on strategies to restart the island’s economy.

 

I am offended by your 'white paper'

 

ALL papers matter

9 hours ago, HerbyJFlash said:

Sure the new super rich tourists Thailand are wanting will come in the millions for the tin mining tours.

Not to mention touring the most polluted city in the world and the annual field burning extravaganza where you can inhale smoke non-stop 24/7 for months on end. Good stuff.

 

“Colorado marijuana tourism is an excellent case study in this new frontier; because it legalized recreational back in 2012, marijuana tourism numbers for the state are finally starting to become available. According to the state department of tourism, Colorado cannabis tourism has grown by 51 percent since 2014. The most recent year that numbers are available is 2016; that year, the state saw 6.5 million cannabis tourists visit its ski slopes, mountain vistas, and dispensaries.”

 

https://www.cnbs.org/cannabis-101/cannabis-tourism/

 

51 minutes ago, Venom said:

Not to mention touring the most polluted city in the world and the annual field burning extravaganza where you can inhale smoke non-stop 24/7 for months on end. Good stuff.

You do realise this thread is about Phuket?    There are no fields and hence no burning.   Methinks you're confusing it with Chiang Mai/Rai.

"island’s tin mining history and food and culture as the main proponents" this sounds like fun 555. Deluded, hookers and partying was the main attraction.