Phuket: More than 40,000 out of work and it'll only get worse if foreign tourists don't come back

[aussienam]

I am stranded abroad like thousands of others caught out for countless reasons.   Living out of a suitcase for nearly 7 months now with all my life's belongings in a rented empty home in Thailand out of reach.  Is financially crippling me and my mental health is making me close to bloody ending my life.  

This is beyond cruelty.  Banning expats but considering well heeled tourists instead. Not increasing intake capacity.  Only 4000 foreigners a month allowed back is ridiculous. 

Obviously life is cheap and suicides are waved off as a mere nuisance.  More Thais will start jumping off buildings, hanging themselves, blowing their brains out with firearms, etc more than ever from financial distress - one of the main factors to suicide. It's already up 22%.  

Edited September 27, 2020 by aussienam

[Cake Monster]

7 hours ago, Somtamnication said:

Most large hotels have already written off the tourists until next year's "high" season. Most are marketing to Thais and some are marketing to expats.

 

Either way, Phuket is screwed, tons of alternatives to Thailand, and cheaper.

The fact that Thailand has now become one of the, if not, the highest costing destination in SE Asia for Tourists is going to be a major obstacle in the Tourism revival of the Country.

Years of good, cheap, easy money flowing into the Economy after the 2007 Financial Crisis has caused a culture of pure Greed and Corruption across the Nation, and this culture was starting to destroy Thailand before the Covid crisis even started.

Globally, there are so many more viable destinations for the limited Tourists that will travel post Covid, and Thailand has priced itself out of the game. 

 

[aussienam]

1 hour ago, RichardColeman said:

In the UK about say 30 are dying every day.

 

If that is 30 healthy people with no underlying conditions then that is very serious.

 

If that 30 people were not healthy, obese, heavy smokers, victims of self choice bad lifestyle, druggies, or people 95+ or people in last stage cancers - or even people run over by buses or stabbed, then people should be told this and allowed to make a reasonable decision of life and the economy choices.

 

Until governments start giving 'actual' death data on real deaths, then the whole thing is complete nonsense.

 

 

 

Majority of deaths in Australia as an example of a place to get reliable stats, are from elderly and with serious comorbidities, close to end of life or could well have died from a bad strain of the flu as well.  COVID19 is no doubt a nasty virus, it develops into SARS.  But death certificates are being written as COVID19 being cause of deaths in some countries where even autopsies, toxicology not even taken.

People die daily in every country. Main causes are heart attacks and strokes.  How many have had COVID19 tagged onto death certificate instead when death was already inevitably very soon for those nearing the end.

[mike787]

For GOD sake, open the borders.

[Chelseafan]

1 hour ago, johng said:

The other day on a  Thai news TV channel they said there where only 800,000 unemployed the highest figure for a decade ! I don't know where these "incredible" figures come from but

maybe they borrowed TAT's calculator ?

 

Why would you think that figure is wrong? I actually believe its higher.

 

[johng]

36 minutes ago, Chelseafan said:

 

Why would you think that figure is wrong? I actually believe its higher.

 

I believe it's much higher too.

If I remember correctly they where giving figures of about 300,000 unemployed before the WuFlu debacle struck.

Maybe should have said they are using the inverse TAT calculator.

[Thomas J]

[madmitch]

3 hours ago, johng said:

The other day on a  Thai news TV channel they said there where only 800,000 unemployed the highest figure for a decade ! I don't know where these "incredible" figures come from but

maybe they borrowed TAT's calculator ?

I believe these are only those that register as unemployed with the social security department. As millions of workers here dont register for various reasons then that figure is vastly understated. Estimates of 4 million have been mentioned elsewhere.

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, connda said:

Better headline:
Phuket: More than 40,000 out of work and it'll only get worse if the government keeps the Thai borders closed to foreign tourist.

Ask Pm Prayut to invest in real economic businesses that can be sustainable.. tourism is not that model.

[scammed]

On 9/26/2020 at 5:51 PM, rooster59 said:

the entire country's tourism industry that has been devastated by the pandemic, notes Thaivisa.

the entire country's tourism industry that has been devastated by the

governments knee jerk reaction to lock down the economy, notes I

[faraday]

According to a somewhat strident member, who hasn't posted on this thread, they more or less deserve it.

 

Nope, I'm not trolling & yes, it's true & the post remains.

 

Never mind.

[khaowong1]

20 hours ago, ChakaKhan said:

I prefer to call it the Maga Cult and self serving GOP politicians....  I wear my mask as science suggests..

Believe the experts, no not those experts, those experts over there that agree with me.  ????

[khaowong1]

And what's sad is, not a single big cheese Govt. honcho is saying, wow, we really do depend on those pesky foreigners for a lot of livelihoods.  When we get them back, lets all try and treat them a little better this time, OK?  

[AdamTheFarang]

20 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

Netherlands have spikes too yet there are no more in hospitals and no more dying either, the real difference; they test even its known to have 30-50% mistakes on results. Anyway, much more jobs will be gone soon enough, as a lot of money indirectly comes from foreigners and tourism related business. 

 

Actually most of Thailand seem to only consist of endless repeats of optical stores, motorbike and car shops, 7/11s and maybe a few more. Sometimes I wonder if there is a conspiracy behind the population count of near 70 million here, as you almost never see any of them at all. I mean even central Bangkok is like a ghost town at night nowadays, the capital with millions of people....

Credit where credit is due optical stores, motorbike and car shops, 7/11 and a massage hole in the wall shop with a room behind as a knocking shop. When I lived in Thailand I had to visit many "massage" places not to get a happy ending. My girlfriend did not believe me and told me, all man want it. I said "Tiruk" only with you. She never believed me. 

Edited September 27, 2020 by AdamTheFarang
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[AdamTheFarang]

20 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

Netherlands have spikes too yet there are no more in hospitals and no more dying either, the real difference; they test even its known to have 30-50% mistakes on results. Anyway, much more jobs will be gone soon enough, as a lot of money indirectly comes from foreigners and tourism related business. 

 

Actually most of Thailand seem to only consist of endless repeats of optical stores, motorbike and car shops, 7/11s and maybe a few more. Sometimes I wonder if there is a conspiracy behind the population count of near 70 million here, as you almost never see any of them at all. I mean even central Bangkok is like a ghost town at night nowadays, the capital with millions of people....

Credit where credit is due optical stores, motorbike and car shops, 7/11 and a massage hole in the wall shop with a room behind as a knocking shop. When I lived in Thailand I had to visit many "massage" places not to get a happy ending. My girlfriend did not believe me and told me, all man want it. I said "Tiruk" only with you. She never believed me. 

[ChakaKhan]

3 hours ago, khaowong1 said:

Believe the experts, no not those experts, those experts over there that agree with me.  ????

Or deny science and yet preach about a vaccine, created by science minded chemist.....oh the humanity!

 

Refuse to wear a mask around the living but be sure to wear one when paying fake respect to a dead one..

 

Create a problem then swoop in promising to fix the problem that in fact, you created to begin with.....sigh

[ChakaKhan]

13 hours ago, toolpush said:

Which science would that be?

The one that keeps me alive so that I may reply to your delightful questions.....keep pushing those tools ????

[Stargeezr]

I wish Phuket and Thailand the best of luck.  Next Winter , like Noveber 2021

will likely be the earliest to expect some international travelers coming

back to Thailand and Asia in higher numbers.  Write off this Winter and

plant lots of gardens to survive until then.

Geezer

[Naturesway]

You all just crying and complaining about tourism then why the hell don’t let everything to go on normal way? Don’t you wake up this is not going to work this stupid way? Everywhere in the world the overpopulation is a big political issue and they must act towards it, so what is your problem here is the big time chance for it and the same time not to control and restrict people so what’s your problem? I know your problem is just that alongside solving the overpopulation issue you want to fill up your pockets without that the plan is not round isn’t it?

[Reigntax]

On 9/27/2020 at 1:17 AM, TheFreqFlyer said:

The Thai economy is the WORST performer in ASEAN this year and all sheep like you want to do is keep it closed. Before you know it, locals out of work will start rioting, crime will go up and law and order will collapse.

 

Why? For a "virus" that is no worse than a normal flu. A virus that you need a test to know you even have, and a very faulty test at that. 

This is crazy.

 

Let's end this madness and open the floodgates. Be fair to the Thai people. They deserve better. They need jobs so they can put food on the table, pay their mortgages and loans and put their children through school. 

 

With fewer tourists, Thais normally reliant on tourism (more than 20% of GDP including indirect sources) will have less money to spend in the local economy. Less money to buy cars for example. This will have a knock on effect, which could lead to the closure of more Thai car factories (GM already left earlier this year) and in the worst case scenario, the complete collapse of the automotive industry in the country. 

 

Not to mention, investors will flee if they aren't allowed to easily enter the country to oversee their operations. New investors won't come at all. 

Without tourists and foreign investors, Thailand is doomed and the standard of living will drop. Poverty will go through the roof and the country will go back to 1980s standard of living. 

It cant go back to the 1980's standard. It barely reached the 1880's yet!