Thailand strives to elevate tourism industry striken hard by pandemic

[Chris HIckson]

4 hours ago, grain said:

Reminds me of this book I read, written by an Englishman who traveled around Thailand with his English wife in the 1950s. He had a connection with a very high up Thai he had met at uni in England, so everywhere he went he was met by gov officials who took him under their wings and showed him around. He got to see lots of temples and drank lots of Green Spot. He informed us in his book that Thailand is a devout Buddhist country so alcohol isn't available and prostitution is nonexistent, as that goes against the tenets of the Buddhist faith. So I guess the "quality tourist" concept was in play even way back then.

With no offence to my many US friends or the unfortunate soldiers forced to fight a war which was none of the US Governments concern in Vietnam, Kampuchea and Laos, having bomber bases and tens of thousands military personnel with loads of money and a desperate need of R & R in Thailand was going to change the country forever for better and for worse. This applied to all the countries the UK colonised in the past. 

[johnnybgood]

Quality tourists need quality hosts.

 

Put that in yer pipe and smoke it. 

 

Quod erat demonstrandum.

[Phuket Pete]

Sounds Great Thailand ! I share your ambition, although I'm sure I see this soundbite headline released at least twice a year ! You wont mind therefore, if I give my same reply :- 

If you want to attract 'hi-quality' tourists you'd better give the scruffy old place a makeover to show how much you appreciate the outstanding natural beauty that it has been gifted. Please also address corruption amongst Police and Government and Immigration Officials, disgusting toilet facilities ( If at all ) at Bars, Restaurants, Beaches and other tourist attractions, stinking open sewers and piles of rubbish left rotting in the heat attracting Rats and Cockroaches. The dangerous driving often by unqualified drivers in unroadworthy vehicle's, many pumping black smoke in the face of anyone in its trail. Finally - put a system in place to clean the beaches that are so critically important to the Thai economy. Don't just leave it to farang volunteers or wait for the tide to wash it back into the sea !  I'm on your side Thailand, but replace 'if you don't like it go home' with listening to your customers !

 

Edited August 23, 2021 by Phuket Pete
Typo

[gejohesch]

7 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

It will never be a quality tourist destination it does not have that reputation worldwide.  Too many true quality holiday/beach resort places in the world no way to compete for that.

Agree. It's such a profound delusion in Thailand that it is such a "special" place, floating above the rest of the world; "Thailand über alles!"

[bangon04]

9 hours ago, sezze said:

Quality tourists , what does that mean ? We all heard it before , but nobody ever mentioned what a quality tourist actually is . Attracting very wealthy people ? 

Since this is a Xinhua article, I am guessing that the CCP regards "quality" tourists as "Chinese" tourists.....

[FinChin67]

10 hours ago, Benmart said:

This rag is from Xinhua News Agency headquartered out of Beijing. 

Thailand is a province of China. 

[3NUMBAS]

the full moon party is gone for good

[herfiehandbag]

11 hours ago, Gottfrid said:

They will never get more quality tourists than regular visitors. The only way they can get the tourist industry going, is by vaccinating the people in Thailand. Seems like there is a problem understanding such simple facts.

They are desperately looking for a way to avoid having to do that.

They don't have the vaccines, and despite all the announcements, mulling, proposals, intentions and agreements, they simply have no chance of getting enough.

 

To get them they will have to spend money, lots of money. If they have the money they would have to divert it from the large number of spending projects ( all with influential stakeholders/pockets) to which it has been promised.

 

As for the much vaunted foreign currency reserves, they almost certainly cannot get permission to touch them.

 

Back in the late middle ages, in a siege, a "petard" was the name given to a large barrel of gunpowder used to blow open the gates. The person placing the petard was very often blown up along with it - hence the expression " hoist with your own petard"!

 

This bunch are "hoist with their own petard", only this time it does not contain gunpowder but an equally destructive mixture of greed, ego and graft.

Edited August 23, 2021 by herfiehandbag

[DogNo1]

In today's Post, The chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce implied that the country would be able to open up and recover financially by the end Q2 next year when 70% of the population will have had one injection.  By that time, people will need to have had three injections to be fully protected.

[malibukid]

3 hours ago, Chris HIckson said:

With no offence to my many US friends or the unfortunate soldiers forced to fight a war which was none of the US Governments concern in Vietnam, Kampuchea and Laos, having bomber bases and tens of thousands military personnel with loads of money and a desperate need of R & R in Thailand was going to change the country forever for better and for worse. This applied to all the countries the UK colonised in the past. 

i was smart enough to evade the draft.  i could not have  lived with myself if i had to take a human life.  recently i visited Vietnam.  lovely people.

[malibukid]

3 hours ago, Phuket Pete said:

Sounds Great Thailand ! I share your ambition, although I'm sure I see this soundbite headline released at least twice a year ! You wont mind therefore, if I give my same reply :- 

If you want to attract 'hi-quality' tourists you'd better give the scruffy old place a makeover to show how much you appreciate the outstanding natural beauty that it has been gifted. Please also address corruption amongst Police and Government and Immigration Officials, disgusting toilet facilities ( If at all ) at Bars, Restaurants, Beaches and other tourist attractions, stinking open sewers and piles of rubbish left rotting in the heat attracting Rats and Cockroaches. The dangerous driving often by unqualified drivers in unroadworthy vehicle's, many pumping black smoke in the face of anyone in its trail. Finally - put a system in place to clean the beaches that are so critically important to the Thai economy. Don't just leave it to farang volunteers or wait for the tide to wash it back into the sea !  I'm on your side Thailand, but replace 'if you don't like it go home' with listening to your customers !

 

you forgot the smoke.  and yes the cables that run in front of the beautiful Temples are disgusting.  put them UNDERGROUND!

 

Edited August 23, 2021 by malibukid

[malibukid]

41 minutes ago, FinChin67 said:

Thailand is a province of China. 

Kamala Harris is about to find this out.

[JimmyJ]

"Thailand strives to elevate tourism industry...".

 

According to a Facebook forum post today:

 

The Phuket Sandbox arranged a bus for people who had finished their 14 day Sandbox quarantine and wanted to escape Phuketraz for Bangkok.

 

14 hour trip 

1800 THB

 

The bus toilet not working.

 

2 -  15 minute rest stops.

No tp at toilets.

Toilets at 1 of the rest stops  had no bum gun either.

 

45 minute meal break - at a gas station.

 

Just another day for Thailand's glorious tourism industry.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 23, 2021 by JimmyJ

[geisha]

The greater number of the 2020 figures were from January to end March , still high season and everything was open . 

[GStewart70]

28 minutes ago, JimmyJ said:

"Thailand strives to elevate tourism industry...".

 

According to a Facebook forum post today:

 

The Phuket Sandbox arranged a bus for people who had finished their 14 day Sandbox quarantine and wanted to escape Phuketraz for Bangkok.

 

14 hour trip 

1800 THB

 

The bus toilet not working.

 

2 -  15 minute rest stops.

No tp at toilets.

Toilets at 1 of the rest stops  had no bum gun either.

 

45 minute meal break - at a gas station.

 

Just another day for Thailand's glorious tourism industry.

 

 

 

 

 

Wonderful. Back into the 7-11 shop for bog roll.

Hope they didn't have diahrea!!!!

What a great holiday. Did the f*ckwits not know that Bangkok's closed?

 

[cape]

The TAT sits in its bunker

Edited August 23, 2021 by cape
Corrections after google

[cape]

The TAT sits in its bunker and makes its marketing projections and plans. They won't happen because the pressure is to be always positive and optimistic, not realistic.

 

But the deeper problem is there is no coordination. They sit alone in their bunker making their nowhere plans.

What could happen is:

 

- Make an inventory of the things tourists come here to see and do and send to the Ministry of Public Building and Works.

 

- The Ministry assesses the condition of the country's tourist infrastructure and what work is needed to create first class world appeal.

 

- This rehab plan is sent to the Ministry of Social Affairs to work with the Ministry of Finance to mobilise all those people unemployed in the tourist industry, to get to work and renew the tourist infrastructure.

 

- The TAT needs to put pressure on the Ministry of Health to get those people in the top 12 tourist destinations vaccinated. This is urgent, firstly for the people themselves.

 

- The TAT also needs to pressure their bosses at the Ministry of Transport and Tourism to properly organise low cost quality flights and accomodation. 

 

 - And finally, the government must accept that with or without covid, the current bureaucratic demands on visitors will always ensure that there is no viable tourist industry anymore in this country.

Whatever other countries do or don't do, Thailand must cut all the bureaucratic requirements: expensive insurance, long stay quarantine in dirty expensive government hotels, complex expensive visa requirements and so on ... all must go.

 

The culture of the people is wearing thin with outsiders - not happy kind, but increasingly seen as greedy clawing. This needs to be reversed and ex-pats encouraged to return too, so that tourists and foreign residents feel safe and that they are genuinely getting value for money.

 

In summary, we need a joined up approach to mass tourism and if it is high quality tourism attracting wealthy tourists, then a considerable effort must be made to upgrade the infrastructure on offer. 

 

Fear is that this is way beyond the abilities and resources of the country and so it will lose its tourist industry and 1/5th to 1/4 of its GDP. Civil unrest will follow on a hitherto unimagined scale.

[Deli]

Ain't it a bit funny that a Chinese paper reports about it, whilst the Chinese brought this misery to the world ?

[Stargeezr]

During my many trips to Thailand, I have been on tour buses with the rich, and normal tourists, visiting

temples at Ayuthaya, as well as many in Bangkok. . I have stayed in many guest houses as well as fancy

hotels and have always been treated well by the staff of all of these places. The only difference I noticed

between the rich tourists and the regular tourists was the high end cameras and accessories that the rich

tourists had. We all ate the same food and drinks aboard the cruise boat on the river returning to Bangkok from Ayuthaya, 

and other places.      Thailand has been locked up without any tourists, and should be happy to get any foreign

traveler who choices to come to their country.   I will be happy when the restrictions and the many forms required

to visit Thailand have ended. I do not mind a temperature test on arrival, or even a throat swab, but the rest of their

demands should be gone. I have had 2 shots of COVID vaccine and may be getting a 3rd booster to help my immunities,

  so until 80 percent of the Thai population  have had 2 vaccines, I will not be returning to their country, period.

    Over to you TAT, what is your intentions?

Geezer

[cjinchiangrai]

What nonsense. TAT needs to shut up and get to work getting vaccines in so we can reopen. They just announced yesterday the addition of 35,000 new hotel rooms, Somebody is not thinking about boutique tourism but it is not going to happen until everyone is vaccinated.

 

[johnnybgood]

22 hours ago, 3NUMBAS said:

the full moon party is gone for good

Now that is progress.  Finally the euro students will have dropped this from their 'to do' list.

Our two teens were allowed to go to Wonderfruit at Siam Country Club a few years ago.

I was into the festival scene in the 80's 90's.

Wouldn't let anyone I cared for go to those Thai islands.

[ChipButty]

16 hours ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

During my many trips to Thailand, I have been on tour buses with the rich, and normal tourists, visiting

temples at Ayuthaya, as well as many in Bangkok. . I have stayed in many guest houses as well as fancy

hotels and have always been treated well by the staff of all of these places. The only difference I noticed

between the rich tourists and the regular tourists was the high end cameras and accessories that the rich

tourists had. We all ate the same food and drinks aboard the cruise boat on the river returning to Bangkok from Ayuthaya, 

and other places.      Thailand has been locked up without any tourists, and should be happy to get any foreign

traveler who choices to come to their country.   I will be happy when the restrictions and the many forms required

to visit Thailand have ended. I do not mind a temperature test on arrival, or even a throat swab, but the rest of their

demands should be gone. I have had 2 shots of COVID vaccine and may be getting a 3rd booster to help my immunities,

  so until 80 percent of the Thai population  have had 2 vaccines, I will not be returning to their country, period.

    Over to you TAT, what is your intentions?

Geezer

I have told my own daughter and her husband and my little grand daughter who I have not met yet to stay away to many risk, she would be here tomorrow with the baby if she could, Thank god for whats app and FB

[RobU]

On 8/23/2021 at 1:00 AM, smedly said:

there were for sure hidden gems in Thailand most of which have been ruined through poor planning, greed and corruption, many places need serious infrastructure improvements - a lot of them are long past recovery and need flattening and starting over.

 

walk (or try to without breaking a leg) around Pattaya and take a long hard look at the place, run down buildings - no footpaths and any that exist are a health risk, rubbish everywhere, the place is an eye sore, yes some lovely hotels inside but step outside and you are in the 3rd world country that Thailand is, earning huge tourist money for decades quickly stuffed into greedy pockets instead of spending on improving the place - what a waste. 

My impression exactly. Pattaya is dilapidated a place of 'projects' but no maintenance whatsoever. Take your life in your hands trying to cross beach road or 2nd Road The only traffic light controlled crossing on 2nd road out of action for the month I was there (and probably still out of action 18 months later). They must be mad expecting 'High End' tourists to visit such a dangerous place. Tourists walk and gawk, yet walking on the 2 man drags of the city is almost impossible, narrow badly maintained sidewalks where people can only pass in single file with telegraph poles in the middle of them so you have to step on the road. Major works near Walking street which force pedestrians to cross the dangerous road twice at the corner in order to get to Walking street Stupid scooter riders and cars mixing with pedestrians expecting pedestrians to get out of their way accidents waiting to happen. No person in their right mind would take their family to such a dangerous place

[TechnikaIII]

Until they demonstrate respect for both the Thai people, and the tourists who comprised the earlier large numbers, the industry is doomed. The PM is deluded.

"Quality Tourists" ... what an insult. 

There's one thing that could save Thailand, and that's another virus:

bovine spongiform encephalopathy, otherwise known as 'Mad Cows Disease'.

[billd766]

On 8/23/2021 at 7:55 AM, inThailand said:

Me too.

Its come full circle. 

In the early days treated better than Thais. It was embarrassing. 

Then tolerated. 

Now hated and despised.

And now everyone charges a falang price, or at least tries.

Perhaps they charge a falang price where you live, but here in Kamphaeng Phet province where there are not so many farangs and even less tourists, we farangs pay the same price as Thais, even at the open markets and shops.

 

After you have been to the places a few times, at least IMO, I get genuine smiles and in the pharmacy I use in the big village, the lady plays tricks on me all in good fun.