Skål Bangkok’s Wood Warns Of A Deepening Thailand Tourism Crisis

[Inala]

2 hours ago, MasterBaker said:

Did you get tired of all this tourism stuff? easy money are over, nop, nada, kaput. just move on and get people back to work, create products, nobody will come and give your fat bargirls 500 for 10 min

 

I will!!

[Mr Meeseeks]

6 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

It was really all down to Rama V convincing Western powers that they didn't need to colonise Siam to exploit it of its natural resources, but that he was modern/civilised/organised enough to facilitate it.

Not really, it was actually due to the French wanting it and the British stopping them from having it.

 

Little bit of clever diplomacy chucked in.

 

If the Brits wanted it they would have had it, and if they weren't in Burma the French would have.

[Dogmatix]

What is Skal Bangkok and who its Wood when he's at home?

[sahibji]

subsequent waves of corona virus infections are a cause of serious concern, as  evidenced by such waves in hong kong, south korea, US and many european countries. a very very prudent approach is necessary in the opening up of the country to tourism.

[pokerface1]

You need to read between the lines. The TAT are keeping the  dream of tourism alive just so they have a job to go to every day.

[Dogmatix]

6 hours ago, dbrenn said:

I do hope you're right. Hoping that all the budget airlines go bust too, so the vile lager louts and swarming hordes of package tourists have to holiday at home.

 

Ice creams on the pier at Soufend and Essex gels in the evening. Ho Ho.

[PatOngo]

8 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

Well they're proud to say that they were never colonized.

Is'nt that the basis of the Thai education system along with marching, the national anthem and obeying anyone in uniform?

[PatOngo]

37 minutes ago, Inala said:

 

I will!!

Always bargain!

[adammike]

7 hours ago, dbrenn said:

I can remember when Thailand had 4 million tourists per year. That figure became 39 million in 2019.

 

The place was much nicer and more beautiful back then. Thailand has been spoilt by the scourge of mass tourism. I hope that they never return. 

When you visit a city or beach anywhere in the world you are part of the problem,it's like being in a traffic jam and complaining about the traffic,you are the traffic/mass tourist.Rome,Paris, Venice and Amsterdam are,or were struggling to deal with it.When I lived in Amsterdam there were seasons for tourists high and low and none,now it's full on 365 day a year,and it's global.When you stop travelling then you can call it a scourge.

[thaibeachlovers]

8 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Currently any entry to Thailand by tourists involves 14 day quarantine. I am sure I am not the only person to say this but let me say loudly and clearly that tourism promotions with 2 weeks quarantine WILL FAIL.

At least he got something right.

 

Instead of moaning about how there are no foreign tourists, how about reducing hotel prices so domestic tourists can afford to stay. Some customers better than none, yes?

 

Tourist industry has IMO been ripping off foreign tourists for years, so how about using some of the profits to support the unemployed tourism workers?

Here's an idea. How about accepting that LOS has been very lax in providing a good tourist experience and doing something about it so when tourists do return their money is well spent.

 

I went on so many poor quality tours in LOS I have zero sympathy for their problems.

 

Scams like the jetski attrocity were allowed to function for years, Pattaya speedboats ruin any day out at the beach, garbage and filth everywhere, crooked cops scamming over cigarettes, the m'bike helmet scam in Pattaya and Chiang Mai, poor service tourist buses, the national park double pricing and shoddy services in the park ( last time I went to Samet the island was garbage end to end, but the officials were not slow to get the park fees )- the list is endless.

 

IMO Thailand has been living off the 90s legend, when bagpackers that came then return as flashpackers.

The rush for the Chinese tourist has just ruined many tourist destinations like Maya Bay.

 

If Thailand wants tourists back when there are actually people wanting to tour, they need to accept that they were lacking and do something about it, IMO.

It's no longer business as usual. Stop the scams, clean the place up, stop the corruption, stop treating customers badly, and tourists might return, but hopefully in significantly reduced numbers.

[NeoDinosaw]

1 hour ago, Dogmatix said:

 

Ice creams on the pier at Soufend and Essex gels in the evening. Ho Ho.

I remember goin' darn Sarfend on my scooter to play at the bowling alley at the end of the pier.  Those were the good ol' days .........

Later I come to Thailand when is was beautiful. Then the mass tourists came and the back packers were no longer intelligent students on a gap year but out-and-out <deleted> artists. It never really recovered which is why it is no longer attractive to 'nice' ,people   (? like me ).

[soalbundy]

1 hour ago, Dogmatix said:

What is Skal Bangkok and who its Wood when he's at home?

It's a morning thing

[TKDfella]

TAT says one thing others say another. Who do we believe? Ouch, Oomph, Ahh...okay, not all at once eh? Haha

[billd766]

2 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

 

Because he has a vested interest, as have the foreign workers at the resort I am currently staying at. They should surely be worried that their contracts will be terminated soon. The situation will surely worsen in the next few months as mass tourism is over for the foreseeable future.

I was working for Motorola in Thailand on the DTAC cellular network during 1993 until 1997. When the crash came we carried on until our contracts were due for renewal DTAC simply told Motorola that the expats individual contracts would not be renewed and when they ran out we packed our bags and left. Motorola was charging DTAC in $USD and after the crash they ran out of $ and the baht wasn't worth much.

[Pancho]

Wouldn’t it be nice if 250,000 backpackers showed up in Jan?

 

then 250,000 more in feb?

 

and...............

 

it appears that the authorities are putting their head in the sand, doubling down on a loosing hand.

 

the ailment is no more than a flu. It’s treatable, why not focus on a positive.

make Thailand the easiest country to visit , and if somehow if you need medical attention, we’ll Thailand is known for excellent/ inexpensive health care.

typo- Thailand has the most severe medical dual price gouging in the world.

 

Sources Say ❤️

[GinBoy2]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

At least he got something right.

 

Instead of moaning about how there are no foreign tourists, how about reducing hotel prices so domestic tourists can afford to stay. Some customers better than none, yes?

 

Tourist industry has IMO been ripping off foreign tourists for years, so how about using some of the profits to support the unemployed tourism workers?

Here's an idea. How about accepting that LOS has been very lax in providing a good tourist experience and doing something about it so when tourists do return their money is well spent.

 

I went on so many poor quality tours in LOS I have zero sympathy for their problems.

 

Scams like the jetski attrocity were allowed to function for years, Pattaya speedboats ruin any day out at the beach, garbage and filth everywhere, crooked cops scamming over cigarettes, the m'bike helmet scam in Pattaya and Chiang Mai, poor service tourist buses, the national park double pricing and shoddy services in the park ( last time I went to Samet the island was garbage end to end, but the officials were not slow to get the park fees )- the list is endless.

 

IMO Thailand has been living off the 90s legend, when bagpackers that came then return as flashpackers.

The rush for the Chinese tourist has just ruined many tourist destinations like Maya Bay.

 

If Thailand wants tourists back when there are actually people wanting to tour, they need to accept that they were lacking and do something about it, IMO.

It's no longer business as usual. Stop the scams, clean the place up, stop the corruption, stop treating customers badly, and tourists might return, but hopefully in significantly reduced numbers.

I tend to agree with this.

 

I think Thailand has been living off, at least for the Western tourist, the image of Thailand as this exotic destination.

 

The problem is that over at least the past decade it's turned into a rather grubby and overpriced 'exotic' destination.

 

The Chinese will put up with a lot more filth and garbage than the average Westerner, which says a lot.

 

The idea that you spend 10-20 hours on a plane to get to a place where whatever beautiful vista you want to take a picture of, probably has a pile of trash in it, tends to dull the idyllic experience.

 

Then there is the cost. It just ain't that cheap anymore, unless of course you are on a Chinese tour package being shuttled around the local ceramic factory.

 

I won't even start on those that come to Thailand for the seedier sides of the tourist experience!

 

If ever there was a time to make a seismic shift in the tourist experience, this would be it.

 

But I fear Thailand doesn't have the self awareness to understand the fundamental problems

[GeilGeilertzen]

Actually I enjoy

watching Thais going through this.  They need to to get the <deleted> down from their big white horse and learn again how to appreciate people and money like in the past. 
Nowadays so many Thais in Bangkok and tourist areas are greedy <deleted> that thinks the world evolves around only

them.  
I hope the future of tourism is reduced in Thailand to only 10-20% of what it once was.  That’s enough visitors in my my opinion. Often Thailand feels like an infested place with tourists everywhere you turn.  

[terryofcrete]

4 hours ago, MasterBaker said:

Did you get tired of all this tourism stuff? easy money are over, nop, nada, kaput. just move on and get people back to work, create products, nobody will come and give your fat bargirls 500 for 10 min

and spend time cleaning the kip ! Sleaze and dirt may go together but wealthy tourists and dirty street and beaches and sanitation do not. 

[Samui Fan]

Andrew Wood is correct in everything he says. There are too many mixed messages from the government - don't the relative ministries ever speak to each other?????? 

 

FACT: Thailand's tourism industry  is on its knees. That is people employed in the industry and the ancillary companies that provide goods and services to it.

 

I am astonished by the vitriolic responses here and wonder what from which planet the people commenting so darkly come from. Did those people originally arrive here as tourists or are they locals? If they are expats, then they themselves arrived as tourists at some stage in the past. 

 

In short, the statistics tell the story, whether one takes note of the editorial or not. The local people rely on tourists in Samui - and believe me they cannot wait for them to come back. They are suffering, and so are their families.

 

 

[Purdey]

Seems a pity that Thailand seems to rely on only one industry. Just kidding. Agriculture is there, but it doesn't make the majority wealthy.

Perhaps more investment in education, leading to investment in high tech companies. But that takes a generation as the teachers need training first. And to get smart teachers, you need a decent basic education to make people, including teachers, intelligent not just educated.

Oh well, it is a process that should have started 20 years ago. Hope it starts soon.

[geisha]

Thousands have said it before me, but if I could say a few words to the government, I would say, clean up Thailand , fix the appalling infrastructure, the lack of pavements and proper draining is incredible, bring in real hygiene rules, stop building all these monstrosities, educate your kids , and clean up the government act. Then you might get well off travelers.As it is now, you’ll only attract backpackers, cheap package tourists and people looking for cheap available on every street sex. Yes, that’s Thailand today, and the world knows it.

[sharecropper]

I wonder what would happen if Europeans started doing zero dollar tours too. If they're so fantastic for the industry, why not? (so long as the authorities get their backhanders, of course).

[phantomfiddler]

What these clowns just do not realize is that it is VERY easy to lose a customer or tourist, but EXTREMELY difficult to get them back after they have found new and more friendly pastures ????

[Per Norstedt]

Think its way too late to wish for same number of tourists in the future. 

Clean up your infrastructure, and hope for the best. Good luck ????

[lungbing]

4 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

Not really, it was actually due to the French wanting it and the British stopping them from having it.

 

Little bit of clever diplomacy chucked in.

 

If the Brits wanted it they would have had it, and if they weren't in Burma the French would have.

It was a stitch up between France and Britain to keep Siam as a buffer between  British Burma and Malaysia and French Indo-China.  Those bits the British wanted, they took, eg the states that are now in Northern Malay and those bits France wanted it took, like Battambong, now in Cambodia.

And as for Thailand never being colonised, what were the Japanese 1941-1945 then, armed tourists?

[mr mr]

3 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

IMO Thailand has been living off the 90s legend, when bagpackers that came then return as flashpackers.

 

i wish to give this 100 thumbs up........ super sayan power level achieved.  

 

 

[mr mr]

6 hours ago, Helmet Grunter said:

8 hours ago, JomtienRay said:

Perhaps the establishment are keeping the borders closed to cleanse the country of the disliked yobbo foreign tourists and backpackers, and to close down the seedy red light areas of Pattaya and Bangkok, and take the opportunity to redevelop these places.

The economy is not suffering as much as people forecast, and Thailand is strong enough economically and structurally to ride this out and push through a serious redevolpement.. 

At last, someone sees the real picture 

 

the overwhelming majority of the sex trade here is thai on thai. 

[SupermarineS6B]

10 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

Well, they say that, but they still had a Chinese Opium War style exploitative treaty situation, as well as giving away a lot of land that they captured from Laos, Cambodia, Burma and Malaysia.

 

It was really all down to Rama V convincing Western powers that they didn't need to colonise Siam to exploit it of its natural resources, but that he was modern/civilised/organised enough to facilitate it.

The Bowring Treaty......  It was Britain that stopped the colonization of Thailand, nothing to do with Thailand being strong or smart, Rama V was chuffed to bits that he had the worlds super power as his heavy and he often used them to do his bidding, including a few British gun boats down the South......... Even his Admiral was British..... Sir John Bush, Chief of Police, Ships Captains, mercenaries, etc,etc,etc,.......  A part of Thailands history not known by most........

[SupermarineS6B]

51 minutes ago, lungbing said:

It was a stitch up between France and Britain to keep Siam as a buffer between  British Burma and Malaysia and French Indo-China.  Those bits the British wanted, they took, eg the states that are now in Northern Malay and those bits France wanted it took, like Battambong, now in Cambodia.

And as for Thailand never being colonised, what were the Japanese 1941-1945 then, armed tourists?

Honoured guests i believe....... The same ones that marched / peddled down to Singapore knocking off an estimated 90,000 Chinese on their way....... 

[Bkktodd]

12 hours ago, dbrenn said:

I can remember when Thailand had 4 million tourists per year. That figure became 39 million in 2019.

 

The place was much nicer and more beautiful back then. Thailand has been spoilt by the scourge of mass tourism. I hope that they never return. 

Hate to break it to you. Expats are tourists too. Careful what you wish for.  You are always a visitor in the kindom no matter whats stamped in your passport