Will tourism in Thailand bounce back from Covid differently?

[webfact]

 

by Michael Bridge

Thailand will never lose its charm with fabulous beaches, temples, cultures, and mouthwatering food.
 

The lure of the land of smiles also attracts golfers, scuba divers, medical tourists, and of course holidaymakers after the crazy nightlife.

That said, it has been clear for all to see that currently during the pandemic life has not been all smiles.

It has been hard to get a drink in a restaurant, nightlife has been closed and everything shuts down at 11 pm.

Ok, these restrictions will eventually be lifted as the country beats the Covid curve, however, will everything be the same.

Nightlife will be back but differently?

Take the nightlife and the hospitality industry which was really hit during the pandemic.

Thousands of hotel staff and restaurant and bar staff lost their jobs, and will they return.

Many go-go bars shut up shop over two years ago with landlords owed massive unpaid rent.

Will enterprising entrepreneurs be willing to take the risk of re-opening, and will their landlords charge reasonable rents?

The bar girls headed back to their families long ago, and may have settled back into country life, so will they be tempted back?

With fewer European, American, and Aussie ex-pats traveling due to the global recession, will the expected Indians and Arabs be able to fill the void as customers?

Where will tourists go?

Bangkok will always exist as it is one of the great cities of the world, however, resorts like Pattaya and Phuket will have to alter their appeal to attract a new type of tourist.

Pattaya is perhaps in better shape in the long run, as it will inevitably benefit from the new high-speed rail links and the expansion of the Eastern corridor.

 

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Already more emphasis is on family-orientated attractions including waterparks and shopping experiences are starting to change the city’s seedier image.

Phuket still has a wonderful coastline and is the second-largest airport in the country, so it should bounce back too.

Massive competition

The TAT now has a huge job of attracting visitors who now have a wider choice when coming to SE Asia.

Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore are now all competing for these vacationers, so Thailand has to work even harder to attract the millions who used to spend time here in the past.

Medical tourism is extremely popular, as Thailand offers a cheaper alternative to many Western hospitals.

Some think with the relaxing of the Cannabis laws, people will be attracted to sit and get stoned on a cup of Cannabis tea!!

Eco back to nature resorts should also prosper, as the world adjusts to saving the planet.

The bottom line is if the Thai baht weakens, then foreigners will return if they get more for their currency.

However it will still be a few years without any more pandemics to get Thailand back on track, so let us hope the government and the country’s hospitality industry can wait that long.

 

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[RandiRona]

Remove any kind of forced registration/quarantine and you will see tourists coming. Anyone who is visiting covid infested Thailand these days is doing Thailand a favor and Thailand need to understand that they arent China who can sustain being closed forever. 

[eggzthaioz]

Thai government officials and decision makers just don't get it.

While all the stupid restrictions are in place tourists aren't going to come.

As a long term visitor over 45 years I'm off to Cambodia to spend my tourist $$$. Then off to Vietnam for awhile.

Thailand won't be getting any of my doe ever again.

Bunch of idiots running the country. 

[Fairynuff]

7 minutes ago, eggzthaioz said:

Thai government officials and decision makers just don't get it.

While all the stupid restrictions are in place tourists aren't going to come.

As a long term visitor over 45 years I'm off to Cambodia to spend my tourist $$$. Then off to Vietnam for awhile.

Thailand won't be getting any of my doe ever again.

Bunch of idiots running the country. 

I’m sure Thailand is devastated by this news.

[Fairynuff]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

The TAT now has a huge job of attracting visitors who now have a wider choice when coming to SE Asia.

What about all the millions of Saudis they said were coming? The Indians? Surely this wasn’t just TAT talking nonsense ?

[bristolgeoff]

Make entry easier for tourist then they will come back.Their neighbour countries are doing it now.So thailand will have be careful or they will lose the tourist

[Rampant Rabbit]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand will never lose its charm

Who writes  this  nonsense

9 hours ago, webfact said:

Thousands of hotel staff and restaurant and bar staff lost their jobs, and will they return.

 this  is  easy  work as  opposed to working on the land

 

9 hours ago, webfact said:

The bar girls headed back to their families long ago, and may have settled back into country life, so will they be tempted back?

Bar girls  slumped  in their  villages  still bleeding their  families  dry ,  polishing their  nails will  NOT be  settled  into county  life,  opening their  legs  and opening their  phone is easy  lazy  work, doubt  many  have done any manual work ever  and certainly wont be starting  now

9 hours ago, webfact said:

Already more emphasis is on family-orientated attractions

Because  Thailand is  so welcoming with all its  paperwork , restrictions,  good  law  enforcement, cleanliness etc etc

9 hours ago, webfact said:

The TAT now has a huge job of attracting visitors

BS  rules  with TAT, do you t hink they really care, sure  will be 10Billion visitors  next week ,  more than the entire  world  population

9 hours ago, webfact said:

Massive competition

Now THERE  really  is  your  problem

9 hours ago, webfact said:

Eco back to nature resorts should also prosper, as the world adjusts to saving the planet.

Yes  as simple as  travel 10.000  km  on a  plane  burning tons of  fuel, pumping it  inot the  uppper  atmosphere, what could  be more  "eco"  what tripe

9 hours ago, webfact said:

The bottom line is

your  screwed

[Homburg]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand will never lose its charm with fabulous beaches, temples, cultures, and mouthwatering food.

Other countries also have fabulous beaches, temples, cultures, and food.  It's a competitive world out there.  If other countries treat their tourists with more respect than Thailand does then the tourists will vote with their feet and take their tourist $$$ with them.    

[blazes]

7 minutes ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

Bar girls  slumped  in their  villages  still bleeding their  families  dry ,  polishing their  nails will  NOT be  settled  into county  life,  opening their  legs  and opening their  phone is easy  lazy  work, doubt  many  have done any manual work ever  and certainly wont be starting  now

Tbf, there's one kind of "manual work" they can still do in reasonable comfort...

[Willy Wombat]

I can’t wait to lay on the beach with a mask on, then hit the dance floor in the evening fully masked too.

 

Fun

[blazes]

Things are not looking rosy.  Almost nowhere in the world will life quickly return to "normal."

Perhaps Thailand will have to begin a new "cycle"....going back 20 or more years to the days when it was mainly backpackers that dominated the "tourist" trade.

 

In other words, taking the past as a guide, it may be two or three decades before Thailand gets back to what it was in 2019.

[heybuz]

Fabulous beaches,I don't think so.

[martand]

45 minutes ago, Homburg said:

Other countries also have fabulous beaches, temples, cultures, and food.  It's a competitive world out there.  If other countries treat their tourists with more respect than Thailand does then the tourists will vote with their feet and take their tourist $$$ with them.    

They do not respect us in Thailand? Maybe, but I always think of the way Thai people or others coming from not-EU countries are treated in my country. Obtaining a visa, first of all. And they do not come to our western countries to lay on a beach, doing nothing helped by cheap prices (due to low salaries of the labor force), hunting for women, enjoying food and panoramas, etc. etc. Do we really understand how lucky (without reason) we were being born in Western countries?

[Benmart]

1 hour ago, Fairynuff said:

I’m sure Thailand is devastated by this news.

Don't underestimate the collective power of one individual banding together with others of like minds. Unions, boycotts and sanctions are examples. The internet and forums such as this can drive change.

[hioctane]

1 hour ago, Willy Wombat said:

I can’t wait to lay on the beach with a mask on, then hit the dance floor in the evening fully masked too.

 

Fun

Yeah. No one is on the beach nor at a bar or "disco" with a mask on.

[Isaan sailor]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

The bottom line is if the Thai baht weakens, then foreigners will return if they get more for their currency.

So let’s get on with it.  Why wait?

[RichardColeman]

One thing for sure is that if they wait until July to end ALL restrictions, they aint coming this year as they are booking their holidays NOW, not near the summer or the end of the year

[hioctane]

1 hour ago, eggzthaioz said:

Thai government officials and decision makers just don't get it.

While all the stupid restrictions are in place tourists aren't going to come.

As a long term visitor over 45 years I'm off to Cambodia to spend my tourist $$$. Then off to Vietnam for awhile.

Thailand won't be getting any of my doe ever again.

Bunch of idiots running the country. 

Yet you still follow the news like a jilted  ex.

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

fill the void as customers?

Very apt for Thailand.

[jerrymahoney]

1 hour ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand will never lose its charm

Who writes  this  nonsense

Well best guess Michael Bridge is a UK freelance writer affiliated with one of the Thai/Pattaya based golf news websites.

 

But just a more upbeat post for the 'charm' remember there is always this c/o Dharma Davi Hotel ChiangMai   :

 

 

Edited March 27, 2022 by jerrymahoney

[zzaa09]

Different?

From what?

[morrobay]

16 minutes ago, heybuz said:

Fabulous beaches,I don't think so.

Mainland no. Islands yes.  Now in Vietnam central mainland coast there are island quality beaches.

 

 

[Jimbo53]

2 hours ago, eggzthaioz said:

Bunch of idiots running the country. 

Surely its not taken you 45 years to work that one out ????????????????

[Canadian Snowbird]

Get rid of all the unnecessary entrance requirements ... including the Thailand Pass system, the added covid insurance, the test and go then test and capture, and the hospitel scam ... and we might consider returning. Hopefully some of your golf courses will have survived. 

[Blumpie]

One thing that I've noticed about Thailand is it really watches whaat China does and copies it very closely.  In particular, the zero covid theory and lockdowns.  True, Thailand is nowhere near as severe as china but they should have opened up long ago that's for sure.  

I also don't agree that Thailands beaches are fabulous.  I've been to fabulous ones and can't say Thailands is.  

Edited March 27, 2022 by Blumpie

[jacko45k]

5 hours ago, RandiRona said:

Remove any kind of forced registration/quarantine and you will see tourists coming. Anyone who is visiting covid infested Thailand these days is doing Thailand a favor and Thailand need to understand that they arent China who can sustain being closed forever. 

They can come back when the Pattaya pavements are ready..... Covid will be a distant memory then. 

[mikecha]

57 minutes ago, Fairynuff said:

What about all the millions of Saudis they said were coming? The Indians? Surely this wasn’t just TAT talking nonsense ?

Nonsence

[jacko45k]

Just now, mikecha said:

Nonsence

Saw a few about yesterday in Pattaya central. 

[Lacessit]

Tourism in Thailand will never recover to pre-COVID levels until the Thai government gets rid of all the entry requirements created in response to COVID.

I've advised my friends in Australia there is a risk of being hauled off to quarantine at considerable expense for 14 days if they contract COVID while they are here.

Thailand is an attractive tourist destination, it is all the regulations that make it unattractive. A fourth grade kid could see that.

[actonion]

Fabulous beaches ..where? .......I've seen better, cleaner beaches  in south west UK  than Thailand..

..

As for over rated Thai restaurant food, that has too much sugar and salt added , cooked in the cheapest oil, in very un hygienic  conditions