Thailand wants to lose its reputation for being ‘cheap’, aims to become premium travel destination

[ThailandRyan]

  On 7/6/2022 at 9:59 AM, Joseph98765 said:

I know who is he.... it was a rhetorical question

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Missed it the way you phrased it. Of course my response was sarcastic 

[kinyara]

Never hand this guy the mic at a funeral.

[rabang]

Thailand is simply not appealing anymore. Make it more 'premium'  (=expensive) without giving anything in exchange will just scare away rest of the tourists. Personally I felt the relative easiness and affordability plus a great weather during northern hemisphere winter were Thailand's main benefits. It seems only the last point still stands today.

[Andycoops]

Forget the 40 million then and the huge chunk of GDP that makes up the economy.

No doubt the number crunchers at TAT will have to find other jobs.

It's just hi-so head in the sand thinking.

[portlandtree]

  On 7/6/2022 at 2:42 AM, chuang said:

Goodbye Cheap Charlies...

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Cheap Charlies lol just wait until they are all gone not much sheit to do here anymore of anything too many restrictions dirty stinky too many dogs. You want your country back you’ll move back to 4th world country then cry for yankee dollars ,yuan ,yen , euro etc.

[micmichd]

  On 7/6/2022 at 6:42 PM, rabang said:

Thailand is simply not appealing anymore. Make it more 'premium'  (=expensive) without giving anything in exchange will just scare away rest of the tourists. Personally I felt the relative easiness and affordability plus a great weather during northern hemisphere winter were Thailand's main benefits. It seems only the last point still stands today.

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So, Thailand at least has one unneglible point today. 

[DrPhibes]

  On 7/5/2022 at 5:45 AM, overherebc said:

I can't remember if this beach is in Thailand or The Algarve.

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Or Greece, or Aegean Sea coasts...

[overherebc]

  On 7/7/2022 at 4:51 AM, DrPhibes said:

Or Greece, or Aegean Sea coasts...

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Algarve. It has a few pink sand beaches.

[overherebc]

  On 7/6/2022 at 12:58 PM, ThailandRyan said:

Say what? I can neither concur or deny any speculative posts.  

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Nor should you be prepared to admit that they exist, and you should deny any knowledge referring to the fact that they may or may not exist.

[KhunLA]

Being called the 'cheap' destination is better than ...

 

... the 'racist' destination ... ????

[JimTripper]

Backpackers on gap year. Doing Asia. Cheap women.

[poskat]

this is is just a reflection of thai thinking that if something is more expensive, it must be better.

 

raising the price on something that doesnt have better benefits than a lesser priced product doesnt make it premium, it makes it bad value.

 

I doubt anyone planning a holiday will say, "Honey, I heard that they raised the prices in thailand, so lets go there for our trip"

[berrec]

Da, that why many tourists come to Thailand, it's cheap!

[daveAustin]

Thailand ceased to be cheap a long time ago. You can make it as expensive as you want--and lose massively in the process to neighbouring countries and kill off many locals--but you can't put lipstick on a pig and call it high class.

[Brian Nose]

  On 7/5/2022 at 5:34 AM, rbkk said:

"Cheap" depends on the exchange rate.

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Underrated comment. 

[JCP108]

  On 7/5/2022 at 4:35 AM, LomSak27 said:

Anutin does what he has to do. It is the head PooYai who so wants Thailand to be a destination of the rich and famous. A nation resembling Singapore.

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Isn't Singapore really clean and people follow the rule of law there?

[bert bloggs]

Well it isnt cheap any longer,with a strong baht etc  so they have achieved their objective.

[ChaiyaTH]

They lost the reputation of being cheap 4 years ago already, not that that is gonna help them, the opposite in fact.

 

Vietnam is not complaining of the tourist dollars that moved in that direction, neither does Bali complain about the loads of digital nomads who now spend 2K usd average per month there.

[Daithi85]

  On 7/10/2022 at 2:04 PM, ChaiyaTH said:

They lost the reputation of being cheap 4 years ago already, not that that is gonna help them, the opposite in fact.

 

Vietnam is not complaining of the tourist dollars that moved in that direction, neither does Bali complain about the loads of digital nomads who now spend 2K usd average per month there.

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  On 7/10/2022 at 2:04 PM, ChaiyaTH said:

They lost the reputation of being cheap 4 years ago already, not that that is gonna help them, the opposite in fact.

 

Vietnam is not complaining of the tourist dollars that moved in that direction, neither does Bali complain about the loads of digital nomads who now spend 2K usd average per month there.

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I wouldn't be too sure about your comment on Bali not complaining, do a quick Google Search and  u will see the headlines from a few months ago, no more backpackers only quality tourists wanted. 

[scorecard]

  On 7/10/2022 at 12:32 PM, JCP108 said:

Isn't Singapore really clean and people follow the rule of law there?

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Yes, and more, especially in quality of education.

 

At least 100 years more maybe some progress here.

 

[Blumpie]

I know that i'm adding to the rest, but honestly it just won't.  IT's impossible.  The infrastructure, sewers that smell, the rats, and everything else... it just won't happen.  

It's fine that they want to go that way.  I disagree with it but then things change all the time.  Everything does.  

[Blumpie]

  On 7/10/2022 at 2:27 PM, Daithi85 said:

 

I wouldn't be too sure about your comment on Bali not complaining, do a quick Google Search and  u will see the headlines from a few months ago, no more backpackers only quality tourists wanted. 

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I agree with you - but if you want to go elsewhere in Indonesia then there is so much more to see and go.  

Even backpackers now, the new ones don't want to live in rat trap places necessarily.  All the young people that I hear talk about Bali, certainly not Thailand.  Thailand isn't what it used to be and it never will again I feel.  

Could certainly be wrong, have been wrong in the past once or twice!

[Jotho]

What a bunch of delusional people that want to decide for alot of good thai´s that never get listened to what they want...  Thailand is nowhere close to being a world class destination with all their open severs, dual pricing, corrupt taxi system and in way too many places dirty streets...
I wish Thailand actually could be a world class destination that offered security and where tourists could feel totally safe, but there are way too many things that need taken care of before they even get close to that.

[Daithi85]

  On 7/10/2022 at 4:11 PM, Blumpie said:

I agree with you - but if you want to go elsewhere in Indonesia then there is so much more to see and go.  

Even backpackers now, the new ones don't want to live in rat trap places necessarily.  All the young people that I hear talk about Bali, certainly not Thailand.  Thailand isn't what it used to be and it never will again I feel.  

Could certainly be wrong, have been wrong in the past once or twice!

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When  I first arrived in Thailand everywhere I went the place was full of backpackers, bus stations ,train stations backpackers everywhere. Like u say it has changed unfortunately.I for one miss the old Thailand.

[Rhys]

... Awh, the 90's KaoSan Road were such a welcome back then.

[greeneking]

  On 7/10/2022 at 4:09 PM, Blumpie said:

I know that i'm adding to the rest, but honestly it just won't.  IT's impossible.  The infrastructure, sewers that smell, the rats, and everything else... it just won't happen.  

It's fine that they want to go that way.  I disagree with it but then things change all the time.  Everything does.  

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Thailand is a country happy with private wealth and public squalor. It can not be high class. 

[WhatsNext]

After living in Thailand for a few years i can sum up the pro's and cons easily :

 

- rubbish, dogs, unsafe everything, traffic deaths, double pricing, corruption, silly visa rules, hot, rice with stuff is not a world class kitchen

+ Good affordable houses, cheap gasoline (i come from Europe), nice people, no income tax in my situation.

 

For Mr. Anutin : Higher prices for mediocre stuff has never ever worked, if you want tourists Thailand has only 2 cards : Lower prices and girls. Without those no one would come.

 

If one of the plus item's is no longer true, i'll be out of here. 

[garyk]

Confused, why would anyone want to go to a polluted cesspool if not cheap!

Come live where air pollution alone kills millions and shortens life expectancy by years and pay a premium for that... Difference strokes I guess. 

[garyk]

I think I will buy some land over a garbage dump in the US and build a premium resort. 

It will have three different themes.

1:  Issan theme, every morning and evening I will set fires and blow the smoke over the Issan room.

2: Island theme, I will dump all the sewage into the lake around the rooms.

3: BKK and city theme, I will set up diesel engine belching black smoke and carbon monoxide and blanket the rooms.

 

And of course have one 10 story balcony for the people that want to escape and jump...

 

And charge a hefty price for the Thai experence.

 

 

[JCP108]

  On 7/11/2022 at 3:37 PM, garyk said:

I think I will buy some land over a garbage dump in the US and build a premium resort. 

It will have three different themes.

1:  Issan theme, every morning and evening I will set fires and blow the smoke over the Issan room.

2: Island theme, I will dump all the sewage into the lake around the rooms.

3: BKK and city theme, I will set up diesel engine belching black smoke and carbon monoxide and blanket the rooms.

 

And of course have one 10 story balcony for the people that want to escape and jump...

 

And charge a hefty price for the Thai experence.

 

 

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For realism: Be sure to vent the gas coming off the garbage into areas like the deck for the pool or where people walk to go to the breakfast buffet.