I am on the beach and there are plenty of Thais visiting as the long weekend starts. It is nice to see those beach vendors who are open with an influx of customers. No booze today but they are still here in big numbers.

Let's hope it continues to be busy over the whole weekend.

The south of soi 18 section of Wong Amat was packed yesterday.

Big Buddhist holiday yesterday.

But besides that, domestic tourism has been going on strong during the whole covid thing. I've made trips to pretty much every provinces East and North of Bangkok in the last year (and a couple to the West and South) and every where I've gone there have been hordes of local tourists. Whether it's Khao Koh in Petchabun or 3 Whales Rock in Bueng Kan, camping in Nan or laughing at the top of Phu Ruea in Loei (labelled as the coldest place in Thailand despite being far warmer than other places I've been). I just came back a few days ago from a trip to Ubon and Amnat Charoen that I went on specifically because I'd never been to those 2 provinces before (I did manage to visit 23 ancient Khmer temple sites in 3 days along the way as well).

Scads of tourists everywhere. Well, except for the Nam Nao Ancient Cave in Petchabun. Seems it's been so quiet there, they don't even bother opening the gate or manning the booth. (One of our guys found someone there and got permission for us to enter. We had to open the gate ourselves but we didn't have to pay for entrance. 

We've gone to the beaches in Jomtien and North Pattaya a couple times over the same period when there hasn't been any events and there are still quite a few people going there as well. Not the massive hordes you'd see when the foreign tourists are here, but still quite a few.

We've also gone "camping" at a couple spots nearby (in Rayong, like EOD beach) and it wasn't unusual to be the only people at the campsite at 1 in the afternoon and see the place packed by the time it got dark (with some people showing up after dark to set up a tent, have something to eat, sleep then get up and be gone first thing in the morning). All Thais (except for me).

I was actually surprised when we went to Phrae and Nan last Dec and saw the number of people also travelling. Crappy little campsites kms up crappy dirt roads but full of people. Stopped at a small restaurant by a small river, by the time we left there were probably 60+ other customers (mostly fellow big bikers also travelling around). 
At Sapan we camped in a crappy site up above a river. A couple guys made a run to a number of other camp sites and found they were all full so we were stuck there. Next day we went up the steep hill to the scenic lookout and there was a campsite on a steep grade (in front of the Buddhist temple that is being built) and it was full. They actually had to control the number of vehicles going up the hill due to limited parking space.

But most of the places we went to are not on the "foreign tourist" list of destinations. As a result, most foreigners have no idea just how much domestic tourism is going on all the time. They often think that, if there are no tourists in the "foreign" tourist areas (like Pattaya) that must mean there are no tourists anywhere else either.

Of course, domestic tourism is a fraction of the total percentage of the GDP (about 4%, with total tourism, domestic and international, being between 16-20% of the GDP). Still, it's going pretty well in places outside of the "foreign" tourist destinations.

Pretty busy here on the islands as well.

Lately, I would be lucky to see one dive boat heading out to the dive sites. As I type this, I can see that there are six boats on their way.

We have been busy with check ins as well. Expats and Thais.

Domestic tourists are back.

Both of them?

Sorry for posting this here but I need some help.

 

Where do i go on this site to pose a question?

 

Many thanks in advance.

7 hours ago, Nurseynutcase said:

Sorry for posting this here but I need some help.

 

Where do i go on this site to pose a question?

 

Many thanks in advance.

Home page top right click on "start a new topic"

3 minutes ago, petermik said:

Home page top "start a new thread"

Thanks for that buuuuuut - clicked on home page and could not find anything that said 'start a new thread'

 

PS i am alot thick when it comes to computers

1 minute ago, Rimmer said:

 

That link doesn't work...

 

 

(just kidding)

An off topic post has been removed, very sorry but this Pattaya Forum not Chiang Mai forum

7 hours ago, Nurseynutcase said:

Thanks for that buuuuuut - clicked on home page and could not find anything that said 'start a new thread'

 

PS i am alot thick when it comes to computers

and femail....

4 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

 

That link doesn't work...

 

 

(just kidding)

You ain't kidding tried it a couple of times and it didn't work!!

4 minutes ago, petermik said:

and femail....

Is that a typo or intended?