2 hours ago, webfact said:

and not taking advantage of tourists.

Really? They need to make up for lost income so tourists will be fleeced more than ever before.

2 hours ago, webfact said:

A so-called ‘Expat Card’ was also touted as a possible solution to ending dual pricing. 

 

They’ve talked about this for ages, and that’s all they’ve done...talk

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand’s tourism industry will focus  on four key points: Safety, cleanliness, sustainability and not taking advantage of tourists.

So they do admit that normally they do focus on taking advantage of tourists ................!!!!

1 hour ago, gunderhill said:

What's  the matter with just using the PINK  one we can already get,they sure  like to dream up dumb ideas.

Because our pink one costs a few baht. The new one will probably cost about 5,000????

59 minutes ago, Aarin said:

Better start by looking at the prices the hotels in Bangkok are charging fur quarantine. The room is a double room but they charging per person. So instead of me and my wife paying  30.000 for the room you must pay 60.000.Its a disgrace and they will continue to Rip off the farangs until irs too late and Vietnam and Philippines are going to reap the rewards

I’m not saying you’re completely wrong and not denying it’s expensive, but don’t forget that included in the price are all the tests etc. I agree that the price shouldn’t be a straight double though.

More pie in the sky... telling Thais not to take advantage of tourists is pretty imaginative though, perhaps the government would do better to try seriously to resolve the societal (psychological) problems which create the lying, cheating and stealing which exist out there in population land.

 

In the meantime, jam tomorrow. By which time the population will likely have forgotten what jam is.

If they were really serious about not ripping off tourists the government could immediately drop its dual pricing and force businesses like hospitals to do the same. If they were serious they could do it TODAY.

Thailand's wanting to get into a "4 step program"...1. "“We admit  we are powerless over greed and that our incomes had become untenable.” maybe rebranding? Easier.... hmm who in neighborhood already doing those steps? Ah, yes, new name "Singapoor"...

2 hours ago, webfact said:

...and not taking advantage of tourists.

????

... talk is always cheap. 

Regarding safety: Instead of the occasional zip line incident, better start off with racing minivan drivers and unlicensed, macho speedboat "captains".

Cleanliness and sustainability: Krabi, where I live, is all about (marine) national parks. Garbage piles up here and there around the tourist town of Ao Nang and filthy water is disposed off straight into the ocean. The same goes for Phi Phi.

For not taking advantage of tourists, you indeed might want to go after dual pricing. But also do not forget about gang banging taxi mobs and the jacked up restaurant and bar bills.

Message me, Mr. Pipat, when you're done with these, and I'll mail you the rest of the list. ????????

 

2 hours ago, gunderhill said:

Cobblers about  ripping people  off, Wife was  just back from James  Bond Island, all the boats on the main pier wanted 2000 baht she told them it was  too  much, none would  budge from their  little  cartel so her and her friends went down a  bit and asked another guy on his own away from  the main pier  cartel. 1500  baht, off they went.

Next shop on the Facebook sites.  We got ours for 1200.

 

 

                                          An Expat Card?  What`s the point in that?

                                          Just treat anyone, wherever they are from,

                                          with the same respect, one price, for whatever

                                          it is you are bying. In my small village, one woman

                                          charged me extra for my byings. One woman (thai)

                                          said "you are paying too much". I got my money back,

                                          with an excuse "sorry, a mistake". Sure!!  It`s endemic

                                          in this country. They just can`t help it. They just have to do it!!

 

                                            Cheers1!

56 minutes ago, nerjaron said:

The fact that they now openly admit that rip-offs, dual pricing etc. actually exist is a step in the right direction. I won't hold my breath for anything to happen soon though!

The Taxi- and TukTuk rip-offs in Phuket, have actuelly been approved by the Phuket Governor. They had to lower the price for a 5 minute tuktuk ride from 300 to 200 Baht, but it is still a f*****g rip-off.

The prices a Thai pays for a concession or property, has always been set very high, because of the possibility to fleece foreign tourists. Will these price all have to be re-negotionated now?

Ripping off tourists? Maybe a quick memo to the police and taxi drivers would be a start as they seem to be experts!!

i do think that, at the upper ministerial levels, that’s truly the goal ... and with the (assumably) handpicked data that’s given to them, i’m also sure it’s seen as a very doable and attainable goal ..

 

but... i simply think that there isn’t enough true transparency and accountability for real actions to be taken and (most importantly) a sustainable plan implemented at the local “boots-on-the-ground” level.

 

To be fair, Thailand is by by no means the only country where is say this applies ... but i do think that it tends to be pervasive here. 

5 a.m. before the Chinese bus tours arrived

11 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

5 a.m. before the Chinese bus tours arrived

And this is how I remember it:

2 hours ago, sahibji said:

Not taking advantage of tourists is more easily said than done. Usually it starts right from the taxi that picks you up from the airport and ends only when you are back in the plane for your flight home.

It goes a bit further up the chain... when the government is doing it in the national parks and museums and palace, then it must be acceptable thinks the taxi driver, the cafe and the beach vendors...

2 hours ago, sahibji said:

Not taking advantage of tourists is more easily said than done. Usually it starts right from the taxi that picks you up from the airport and ends only when you are back in the plane for your flight home.

It can start with the immigration before you get in a Taxi

3 hours ago, webfact said:

not taking advantage of tourists

 Unbelievable - how about taxi/tuk-tuk drivers and entrance fees to National Parks for starters!!

Must be typo... Should be:

 

Thai tourism industry not to focus on safety, cleanliness, sustainability, but to taking advantage of tourists

All things a normal country making billions from tourists should have done as standard.

Piphat making this very statement says to the whole World that essentially Thailand Tourism Industry is not -

1. Safe

2. Clean

3. Sustainable

4. Fair to the Tourists.

All these things have been widely reported for Years now, and always downplayed by the Government and TAT, but now a Minister finally accepts the truth at last about the state of Thai Tourism.. 

Bolting stable door...I was in Krabi last week and saw this:
 

 In a Fish restaurant Chiang Mai id just used their toilet before eating with the Thai in-laws.As I'd just emptied my bowels I came back to the table and kindly asked if they had some soap to much laughter from waitress and in-laws.After a 10 min search she came back with a bar of soap on a plate like she was presenting me with a bar of gold to more laughs from everyone eating at tables.Anyway a couple year later my Thai g/f says you remember you asked for soap that restaurant.Yes I replied.She says that was the soap for the dog..haha..cleanliness in not in their DNA.

one good start would be to scrap the double tier price, we have a lot of guests from abroad, but when they ask me about places to go and visit, I am consequently refusing to show those places with the infamous double pricing, when will the Thais understand it is ruining their tourist industry in the long term, tourists are only coming to visit the beaches, they will very seldom visit e.g. parks and discover that khun Thais pay 30 bht but they have to pay 300bht

How about the mafia that wear tight brown uniforms will they be complying with the order not to rip off Tourists?

Sorry just couldn't get past the not taking advantage of tourist part ive not laughed this much in years ..oh my oh my !!!!

I nearly fell off my bed laughing when I read the last point.