Opposition leader argues Thailand should court other visitor groups other than retirees

[Mywayboy]

19 hours ago, John Drake said:

Get ready. Get set. Go!!

Indians or Chinese another spendthrift option 5555

[Bangkok Barry]

1 hour ago, moe666 said:

Thais already know what is up it is only farangs who think all Thais have their heads in the Sand. Get a grip Thais do not need outsiders for help.

Well, Thailand has needed help in just about everything as they have invented nothing at all for themselves. You name it, it was invented by non-Thais and adopted by Thais. Little things like electricity, cars, planes, tv, phones, internet - the list is literally endless.

[swm59nj]

Thailand does not specifically target retirees.  From what I saw before Covid.  It attracts a very large number of tourists.  A large number of these tourists don’t come here for a cultural adventure.  They come here to get drunk, party, freelancers, and act stupid. A lot of them are cheap Charlie’s, looking for that discount vacation.  And single men that for the most  part women wouldn’t bother with in their own country.. 

This is not cultural.  To me culture  is a countries history, food, religion, music, arts.  Some people have said that  the negative behavior of some Thais is  cultural.  Rudeness, trust, aggression, immaturity , is a mindset of an individual. Not an entire  race of people. 

Edited January 12, 2022 by swm59nj

[law ling]

1. His thinking is  bit jumbled, as long-term "retirees" are not really "visitors" -  which implies short term come and go.

 

2. OK, but he ought to state who the alternative groups are.

 

3. Easy: win an election with a majority (and have all the Senate on side!), form a government, and legislate to your heart's content.

[Caldera]

I think at this point it's fair to say that they've tried to attract all kinds of people.

 

The ones they have succeeded in attracting are the ones who are here, while others simply aren't as interested as the Thais have hoped.

 

It is what it is.

[mran66]

17 hours ago, poskat said:

they love the short term tourists because they just come here, spend their money and go home, and dont really talk to any thais.

 

In contrast, those pesky long term people, such as retirees, get to know thai people and have families and spread all sorts of bad ideas to them, including the concept of honesty, that corruption is bad, asking "why", that a person 1 centimeter "above" you doesn't need to be unquestioningly obeyed in all things.

 

 

What they really want is that foreigners just send the money without coming and disseminating those dangerous ideas.

 

Expect to see TAT campaigns about paid virtual thai holidays soon, bank accounts waiting already with waived transfer fees! 

[Jingthing]

41 minutes ago, Stargeezer said:

 ...

They've never liked israelis

 

 

 

Sounds like projection.

[mran66]

57 minutes ago, Stargeezer said:

 They don't like old people cos they don't spend enough.

They don't like young people cos they spend but want to have fun.

They don't like backpackers cos they spend to long and spend nothing.

They used to like Chinese cos they spent but then pooed and peed on the floors

They used to lke Russians cos they spent but then shouted and went tescos in their speedos and bikinis.

They've never liked israelis

 

 

 

 

Others than the last one true. 

However my experience is for >95%  of thais, Israeli are indistinguishable to Icelandish, Turkish, American, and Lebanese or Italian. All the same!

[Guderian]

It was never my plan to reture here, why would anyone in their right mind settle down for a long and happy retirement in a country that doesn't legally allow it, having no formal retirement programme? My plan was always to end up in the Philippines, but shi(r)t happens and the financial crisis in 2007/2008 messed up those plans, so I stayed in Thailand longer than I'd intended and got more heavily-invested here, making it even more difficult to move on. By the time 2019 came around, I was finally back to planning the move to go and live in the Davao City area in southern Mindanao, intending to send a few weeks there  in 2020 to scout out somewhere to live. Unfortunately, we all know what happened then, and my plans got put on the back burner yet again. I'm now in my mid-60's and am even more heavily-invested in Thailand than I was before, and I'm beginning to think that God and Buddha don't intend allowing me to relocate from Thailand. Well OK guys, if that's how you want it, but please have the decency to get the Thais to formalise our stay here as a legal right, rather than a semi-legal inconvenience.

[Capt Rob]

19 hours ago, itsari said:

Hopefully you become bored soon.

Thailand needs expertise in many avenues to assist  the manufacturing industry that is a way forward to increase the standard of living for a majority of Thai people  .

Retirees and digital nomads are a  help but not a way forward for Thailand.

I think that you and the opposition politician have missed the class day that 'marketing tourism' was taught. If you gain a high rating in one tourism sector there will inevitably be a flow on to other areas within the industry that you hope to get/retain/recoup market share in. It is axiomatic.

[Thaijack2014]

16 hours ago, Gold Star said:

Do they honestly believe they are doing things to promote and targeting retirees to come here at present?

 

With all the idiotic visa requirements and paperwork to jump through, rules about keeping funds in the bank or proof of foreign income transfers, useless 90 day reporting, health care insurance requirements even for those uninsurable, forbidding land/property ownership, and double standards, I thought they were trying to drive us all away.

 

I would hate to find out what additional difficulties we would encounter if they wanted to get rid of us.

Well, so far it helps to get rid of those who don't fulfill the requirements. Why should they make it easy to have everybody come to live here. There are enough scumbags as it is. Lowering the requirements only attracts more of that kind. 

[Karma80]

Give overseas remote workers with a provable minimum income a long term visa and watch Thailand become a mecca.

No need for a work permit,  or social security thanks. Just spend all the overseas cash that Thailand can suck up.

Dubai, the Caribbean and other countries are already ahead of the game, but nothing in Asia yet.

[mjakob007]

1 hour ago, wombat said:

Curious asks...what rights do you want as a guest in a country?

Reciprocal to what Thai's get overseas.

 

- No 90 day reporting

- Ability to buy property (not 49% of a condo)

- Not being disqualified for loans, based on visa

- Not pay dual pricing

- When Thailand re-opened in 2020 after initial lock down, Elite visa holders were not among the first lot (7 categories) nor second lot of foreigners allowed back into the country.

[FinChin67]

19 hours ago, itsari said:

Hopefully you become bored soon.

Thailand needs expertise in many avenues to assist  the manufacturing industry that is a way forward to increase the standard of living for a majority of Thai people  .

Retirees and digital nomads are a  help but not a way forward for Thailand.

As an investor they make sure nobody comes here to manufacture or invest in manufacturing with their rules of ownership. With the visas (and taxes) they now offer they almost guarantee that there will be no experts coming over as expats...

[micmichd]

2 hours ago, vandeventer said:

You are so right, after say 10 years of living here they should stop all this paperwork, money in the bank BS that gets all of us <deleted> off. You can call it a permeant resident visa at no cost to us, one that we can leave and come back with no forms to fill out and able to live anywhere without having the 90 day reporting. Letting us feel more human than we do now. 

I don't feel dehumanized by the 90day reporting. It's not so complicated, and you can even send someone else to immigration. 

[ArcticFox]

20 hours ago, webfact said:

Pichai Naripthaphan, the Deputy Leader of Pheu Thai Party, told Thai Enquirer that temporary retirement visitors is a good step but not the main target visitors that the country should target.

So in other words, it's been pointed out in International, non-Thai polls that retirees seeking a place to retire may actually want to retiree in Thailand and spend their retirement funds in Thailand - so - lets ignore them and look for better potential visitors, like perhaps new billionaires.  Heck if Thailand can entice a few billionaires then they can make retiring in Thailand even more difficult as all those billionaires will spend, well......billions.  Who needs retirees?

Thai Logic.

[robertson468]

19 hours ago, itsari said:

Hopefully you become bored soon.

Thailand needs expertise in many avenues to assist  the manufacturing industry that is a way forward to increase the standard of living for a majority of Thai people  .

Retirees and digital nomads are a  help but not a way forward for Thailand.

So you don't like the billions of baht that retirees contribute to the GDP of your Country?  However, I do believe that something has been lost in the translation of this article.  What it should say is whilst the retirees are very welcome in Thailand, it is time the Country started recruiting people from other sectors who are still working.  But there again Thailand is not renown for its comprehension of the English Language or for diplomacy!

[khunjeff]

1 hour ago, law ling said:

3. Easy: win an election with a majority (and have all the Senate on side!), form a government, and legislate to your heart's content.

They've had the majority for decades already, and would be running the government right now if it weren't for multiple coups, manipulated constitutions, and massaged election results. I'm not a big fan of Thaksin and his bloc, and I think this particular diatribe was idiotic, but implying that they're only in the opposition because they don't have the support of the population is just factually inaccurate.

[Eric Loh]

45 minutes ago, mjakob007 said:

Reciprocal to what Thai's get overseas.

 

- No 90 day reporting

- Ability to buy property (not 49% of a condo)

- Not being disqualified for loans, based on visa

- Not pay dual pricing

- When Thailand re-opened in 2020 after initial lock down, Elite visa holders were not among the first lot (7 categories) nor second lot of foreigners allowed back into the country.

You can buy 100% of a condo and foreigners can take loan with conditions. Done both. 

[micmichd]

36 minutes ago, ArcticFox said:

So in other words, it's been pointed out in International, non-Thai polls that retirees seeking a place to retire may actually want to retiree in Thailand and spend their retirement funds in Thailand - so - lets ignore them and look for better potential visitors, like perhaps new billionaires.  Heck if Thailand can entice a few billionaires then they can make retiring in Thailand even more difficult as all those billionaires will spend, well......billions.  Who needs retirees?

Thai Logic.

You're sure adding the word "so" it's not your own logic (aka narrative)? 

[tjo o tjim]

The Opposition Party might do well to look at the 10 countries ahead of Thailand on the list and the good and bad things that come with it.  Spain, Portugal, and France don’t seem to be that impacted by retirees on the whole, although I will acknowledge it depends on where and what you do.  Costa Rica and Panama gain different things from retirees than the first three, and might be more like Thailand in the end; from what I can tell they generally come out ahead with them.  Mexico is more of a special case than Panama and Costa Rica; they are more like France or Spain in it not really impacting their culture or values much, but the economic contribution is valued like Panama and Costa Rica.

 

The others… I don’t have enough personal experience to say.

 

As for the contribution retirees give… maybe stop trying to lable and stereotype everybody.  What is the difference between a backpacker, retiree, digital nomad when you get right down to it? 

[The Hammer2021]

8 hours ago, soi3eddie said:

I know probably about 30-40 retirees living in Thailand. They support the economy by renting property, eating out, taking trips, enjoying entertainment and often supporting a loved one and their family. Take that away or make it more difficult and how does that help Thailand? Thailand and most countries need all possible revenue streams right now. Enough of this nonsense spouting and just make easier for anyone to come to Thailand. It's not like foreigners are a drain on the country's finances due to all the rules. All foreigners, from backpackers to the elite, spend money in the country and sustain jobs and livelihoods.

 

It's used to be easy, welcoming  and profitable.  Just look how KSR changed from a poor suburb into a wealthy area and now see what the authorites  have done! And how they bleached Sukhumvit..and we foreigners  know about these  but there are other communities  being  destroyed  in acts of short sighted  cultural  vandalism all over. Its not unique  to Thailand.

[itsari]

1 hour ago, robertson468 said:

So you don't like the billions of baht that retirees contribute to the GDP of your Country?  However, I do believe that something has been lost in the translation of this article.  What it should say is whilst the retirees are very welcome in Thailand, it is time the Country started recruiting people from other sectors who are still working.  But there again Thailand is not renown for its comprehension of the English Language or for diplomacy!

I never said i dont  like the contribution retirees like my self contribute to the Thai economy .

My opinion is that the Thai economy would benefit far more to encourage  skilled workers in  manufacturing and provide more well worth jobs than what retirees create . 

Thailand is shooting themselves in the foot with there draconian immigration policy on foreigners working and living in Thailand .

 

[milesinnz]

I thought the solution to all Thailand's economic woes where wealthy tourists.. I guess that was yesterday.. " but not the main target visitors that the country should target"... "country should focus more on potential visitors including business visitors". I am not sure how much money "business visitors" would bring. They come for a few days for some "business meetings" and then spend ??? I am lost on this one... I think Martians are a much better idea, they will not have Covid...

[itsari]

2 hours ago, Capt Rob said:

I think that you and the opposition politician have missed the class day that 'marketing tourism' was taught. If you gain a high rating in one tourism sector there will inevitably be a flow on to other areas within the industry that you hope to get/retain/recoup market share in. It is axiomatic.

I see no correlation between tourism and industry .

Tourism creates  a low paid work force .

Edited January 12, 2022 by itsari

[paul1804]

If Thailand can get over its anti Farang posts & feelings that would be the single biggest plus for pending retirees and visitors alike. They just don't see the woods for the trees!!!

[Chongalulu]

21 hours ago, itsari said:

Hopefully you become bored soon.

Thailand needs expertise in many avenues to assist  the manufacturing industry that is a way forward to increase the standard of living for a majority of Thai people  .

Retirees and digital nomads are a  help but not a way forward for Thailand.

To realise that way forward embracing a new higher skill set is not feasible for a country with such an appalling education system- PISA educational tables - . That will take at least a generation to fix even were they to immedunwind the dreadful structure in place. No,the relatively low skills of a tourist industry is what sits comfortably with Thailand. 

[NoshowJones]

22 hours ago, John Drake said:

Get ready. Get set. Go!!

11th best place to retire???? Does that include immigration issues?? I bet not.

[Millcx]

22 hours ago, JonnyF said:

They should target any group that is prepared to come here.

 

They need all the help they can get. Pretending to have such high standards that you court only specific groups is hubris in the extreme. They should also drop the 50 year minimum age limit for retirees. Plenty of people retire before that. If you can afford to live here and contribute to the economy why have an age limit?

Standards !!!!!! They have No Standards

[itsari]

3 minutes ago, nchuckle said:

To realise that way forward embracing a new higher skill set is not feasible for a country with such an appalling education system- PISA educational tables - . That will take at least a generation to fix even were they to immedunwind the dreadful structure in place. No,the relatively low skills of a tourist industry is what sits comfortably with Thailand. 

I understand your point which currently is the way it is in Thailand. However if the Thai government  encouraged immigration for skilled workers it would hasten the transformation .