I'm an affluent (but not free spending) American retiree and former Thailand residence, now living temporarily in Australia. I contemplated a return to Thailand to live, but decided against it for now.  Why waste money and time in a quarantine (like they're doing me a favor) when I can remain in COVID safe Gold Coast Australia, where life is normal (no stupid mask wearing) and has been for all but 6 weeks throughout the BS plandemic.  I'll wait it out or if vaccinations become mandatory never return.  I can afford to live and spend time anywhere in the world.  Thai officials are delusional and somewhat comical.!

 

 

I might invest in straws

2 hours ago, rioD said:

Since when did Indians and Russian become big spenders.  Do they know the average wages in those countries are on par with their own in Thailand.  I've dated several Russian girls over there on vacay or 2 who worked there as RE agents. All were very low income. As for Indians ba ha ha ha !! get real !

Was in town at Nana one night and up there in Spanky's and THREE Indian guys next to me in there sharing ONE beer..

26 minutes ago, sydneyjed said:

Was in town at Nana one night and up there in Spanky's and THREE Indian guys next to me in there sharing ONE beer..

 

Nowt wrong with being frugal.

22 hours ago, webfact said:

Russians and Indian high spenders in the plans as Thai tourism minister HALVES 2021 assessment

 

Picture: Thai Rath

 

Thailand's minister for tourism and sports Pipat Ratchakitprakan said that he expects no less than five million foreign tourists to visit the country this year.

 

This is half previous assessments from the TAT in recent weeks. Their chief Yutthasak Suphasorn suggested 10 million would come. 

 

Billionaire Pipat was upbeat talking to Thai Rath about who these tourists might be, promoting the new idea of "Area Quarantine" while a ministerial aide said that 5 million doses of vaccine are being sought to inspire confidence in main tourism hotspots like Pattaya and Phuket.

 

It is felt that vaccination of locals is better than waiting for WHO's vaccination passport ideas to materialize.

 

Pipat said that no fewer than 5 million tourists would come in 2021. For now he was busy working on improving the Certificate of Entry website.

 

He was keen to hype up his "Area Quarantine" (AQ) plans saying it was much better than the "Villa Quarantine" that has already started in Phuket.

 

Under AQ tourists would still quarantine for 14 days but they would only be under lockdown in their rooms for three days. Then they would be free to use the grounds of participtaing hotels for the remaining 11. 

 

He claimed that as soon as AQ gets the nod from the CCSA Covid-19 authorities the tourists would flood in as this is just what they have been waiting for.

 

Thaivisa notes that this may be wide of the mark. Many online are saying that what tourists are waiting for is an end to quarantine entirely in Thailand.

 

So who are these tourists waiting to come to Thailand? No mention was made of British people - hyped up last week by the TAT in a much ridiculed 6 million person assessment of visitors. 

 

No, said Pipat, it was the Russians who would be leading the way. Tour companies had already been following the news and are planning 2 charter flights a day carrying 300-400 people on each flight to Phuket for AQ.

 

Apart from this Pipat said that high spending Indians who wanted to get married in Thailand would be the other group. 

 

He claimed that resorts with a total of 6,500 rooms across five provinces - Phuket, Chonburi (Pattaya in reality), Surat Thani (Koh Samui), Chiang Mai and Krabi were interested in providing AQ.

 

Ministerial aide Phinthorn Srisanphang said that 50,000 doses of the initial lot of vaccine received on February 24th would be mainly used to vaccinate hotel workers to facillitate AQ first. 

 

He revealed that the ministry has applied for 5 million doses of vaccine for the five tourism provinces to be delivered in the third quarter of this year.

 

That would inspire confidence in foreign tourists to visit and get tourism off the ground in the fourth and final quarter of 2021.

 

Waiting for the WHO vaccine passport plan could see the recovery delayed until the second quarter of next year, he noted. 

 

He did however intimate that the aim was to stop quarantine altogether as soon as was possible. 

 

Source: Thai Rath

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2021-03-01

 

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Is that on top of the 6 million brits?

1 hour ago, sydneyjed said:

Was in town at Nana one night and up there in Spanky's and THREE Indian guys next to me in there sharing ONE beer..

That's pretty common with Indians.  Whoever thought Indians would be free spending tourist is simply clueless.  In fact the same applies to Russians who generally don't earn much and primarily buy street food.

15 hours ago, ChrisKC said:

Interestingly, a sex tourist could be considered a big spender after returning home!! How many commit equal to  B20,000 a month or more for the foreseeable future to the bar girl they think they will meet up again!

Vaccines do not provide a cure, immunity or stop the ability to catch or spread COVID.  They don't even make that claim.  You sound pretty clueless 

WHAT! ......

 no Chinese?

12 hours ago, daejung said:

A joke ?

A TAT suggestion?

10 hours ago, PomPolo said:

Very confused with this change of estimate as they expected 6 million British tourists alone to visit in 2021 in a report last week, can anyone give me the real low down? I want to come back there for a holiday but so many conflicting reports also around vaccine and testing

 

 "can anyone give me the real low down?"

 

Of course not! First of all, estimates given by TAT should be issued on toilet tissue for all the good they are worth. Or elastic bands so they can be stretched to fit. 

Secondly, TIT, and everything regarding entry and visas etc is designed to be confusing and difficult, especially now they have Covid-19 to contend with - it was bad anough before!

10 hours ago, dannyshin said:

I'm Russian myself. Also know many of them. Here minimum wages is  12800 rubles months. Average people make monthly 20,000 rubles. Now a days many are suffering without job and loss of income. Are you joking "Russians are High spenders". In spite having my own shop and saving accumulated while I was working overseas, I would still opt for cheap online booking site hotels. Most Russians never eat at fancy restaurants, but street foods. Yes there are many Russian gold digger girls who tour is sponsered by their foreign or rich boyfriends/husbands.  We are too busy and not have pateince for quarentine <deleted>s 

 

Would make more sense when quoting wages to convert roubles to baht - most people on here (myself included!) won't have a clue about the value of a rouble!  

So, because I was interested, I Googled it and apparently, 1 rouble = 0.41 baht, so 20,000 x 0.4 = 8000 baht a month - less than a 711 employee gets in Thailand.

17 hours ago, ThaiFelix said:

Cmon give the man a break, his numbers are improving coz at least now he knows half of 10 million is 5 million.

Is that the Military Academy education at work again? 

2 hours ago, rioD said:

Vaccines do not provide a cure, immunity or stop the ability to catch or spread COVID.  They don't even make that claim.  You sound pretty clueless 

Your comment has nothing to do with mine. I am talking about High Quality tourists - ie, those "perceived" to spend loads of money

These are the requirements from the Thai Consulate in Istanbul..... Just for a tourist visa...... Note the bit about buying a ticket first before applying for a visa ...... Plus: Fit to fly Cert, C19 test. ASQ hotel, visa cost...   Why would anyone want to go through all this for a holiday ?      Doomed !   

 

TOURIST VISA (GENERAL NATIONALITIES)

·  

·  

 Tourist Visa (General Nationalities)

 Document Requirements

1.       Passport or travel document with a validity of not less than 6 months

2.       1 passport copy

3.       1 Completed application form

4.       2 Recent passport-sized photographs (4 x 6 cm) taken within the past 6 months

5.       Evidence of travel to Thailand e.g. air ticket

6.       ***FOR METV: Roundtrip flight reservation (for at least the first  entry);

7.       Accommodation reservation in Thailand

8.       Evidence of financial flow and adequate finance at least 800 USD

          over the past 6 months. For families wishing to visit Thailand,

          they must show evidence of financial flow and adequate

          finance at least 1,600 USD over the past 6 months.

9.       ***FOR METV: Bank statement with a minimum

          balance of Five Thousand Seven Hundred (5700) US Dollars (with six months record)

10.   ***FOR METV: Employment Letter

11.   Copy of residence permit in Turkey (if any)

12.   Additional documents may be requested as and when necessary

 

REMARKS: Applicant must endorse on each and every page of the submitted copies of documentation. 

 

No. Of Entry	Visa Validity		Period of Stay	Visa Fee
Single Entry	3 months		60 days	40 USD
Multiple Entry (METV)	6 months		60 days / each entry	200 USD
Visa Processing Time
General Nationalities		1 working day

 

REMARKS:

18 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

You know these Indian and Russian traits first hand or just parroting rubbish you read on the internet ?

I would not type nothing if it was true. Worst tourist are people from India and Russia!! Oh! Freaking Chinese too!! 100% lived it and you can Google it.  She knows everything!!!

10 hours ago, kiwikeith said:

Russian and Indian high spenders are as scarce as rocking horse sheet 

that's I have written "High spenders are coming from all over different countries".

but india and russia are right behind thailand (who is the first) in the world in classification for disproportional wealth.

so they do have billionaires, millionaires and people suffering from malnutrition.

for the last few years there were 1.5mln russians per year, so they would be able to send daily charter flights. But I don't think it would happen within a year or two

10 hours ago, daveAustin said:

 

Indeed, Mike, though, incomprehensible as the article is, it is likely his high rollers are midrange. Plenty of moneyed up Indian and Ruskie folk in that bracket, but of course they would not go all that way to be hemmed in to one specific spot.

 

True that. The real fat cats avoid Thailand for three dozen reasons. I remember a friend of mine telling me about this friend who flew into Samui on his private jet. He was able to land at the airport, but he was told in advance, that he would not be able to park his jet there, so it had to be flown to, and kept at Surat Thani airport, perhaps 90km away, until he was ready to depart, then the pilot could fly back, and pick him up. 

 

Saw an article recently by the TAT, that was stating they were hoping to attract rich foreigners who were willing to spent 3,000 baht a day while here. That is presumably their version of a rich tourist. That is a decent lunch, for a rich tourist. The fat cats spent 30,000 to 100,000 baht a day, or more. To say these tourism clowns do not have a clue, would be quite an understatement. 

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

True that. The real fat cats avoid Thailand for three dozen reasons. I remember a friend of mine telling me about this friend who flew into Samui on his private jet. He was able to land at the airport, but he was told in advance, that he would not be able to park his jet there, so it had to be flown to, and kept at Surat Thani airport, perhaps 90km away, until he was ready to depart, then the pilot could fly back, and pick him up. 

 

Saw an article recently by the TAT, that was stating they were hoping to attract rich foreigners who were willing to spent 3,000 baht a day while here. That is presumably their version of a rich tourist. That is a decent lunch, for a rich tourist. The fat cats spent 30,000 to 100,000 baht a day, or more. To say these tourism clowns do not have a clue, would be quite an understatement. 

I honestly believe that TAT is just a cozy posting for well heeled/well connected  family members from the Thai Government hierarchy..There just seems to be no  common sense or accountability in anything they do or say..Thai 'logic' yes..and we all know how stupid that is!

6 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

True that. The real fat cats avoid Thailand for three dozen reasons. I remember a friend of mine telling me about this friend who flew into Samui on his private jet. He was able to land at the airport, but he was told in advance, that he would not be able to park his jet there, so it had to be flown to, and kept at Surat Thani airport, perhaps 90km away, until he was ready to depart, then the pilot could fly back, and pick him up. 

 

Saw an article recently by the TAT, that was stating they were hoping to attract rich foreigners who were willing to spent 3,000 baht a day while here. That is presumably their version of a rich tourist. That is a decent lunch, for a rich tourist. The fat cats spent 30,000 to 100,000 baht a day, or more. To say these tourism clowns do not have a clue, would be quite an understatement. 

Anyone who's been to the Bahamas, Maldives, Mauritius, the Seyscheles, Bermuda or a dozen other beautiful paradises wouldn't give Thailand a sniff.....  Thailand always was, and always will be just as good as the local level of service....... Which is more often than not, pretty basic......    My eldest brother was responsible for the building of the Peninsula on the Chao Praya, i asked him why Bkk as it's not that flash ?...... He just replied, "We have to"........   Certainly not one of their better destinations to be offering Hi-so living......  That's unless you stay in the hotel for your entire stay.......  

If he thinks that high spending Russians and Indians are going to be coming to Thailand in great numbers during 2021, he is going to be very disappointed.  This is not going to happen.

The only way my wife and I would return - and we spend a decent-ish amount - is if Thailand allows vaccinated people like us to skip the 14 day quarantine, or at least allow us to quarantine at home.  

On 3/2/2021 at 10:14 AM, tonysilly said:

I would not type nothing if it was true. Worst tourist are people from India and Russia!! Oh! Freaking Chinese too!! 100% lived it and you can Google it.  She knows everything!!!

Load of <deleted>. You have zilch idea about anything. You meet the low spenders coz those are the places you go to, so you're meeting the package tourist from the Indian hinterland.