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

[4MyEgo]

2 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

It's pretty "on message" in Thailand to blame the foreigner.

[Rig Pig]

A "Third World" country advertising itself as Premium Travel Destination?!? Third world countries are usually paired with relatively low levels of education, poor infrastructure, improper sanitation, limited access to health care, and lower costs of living. Do we, here in Thailand fit the bill? I think we can check most of those boxes!

 

[portlandtree]

6 hours ago, sqwakvfr said:

“Premium” and High End Tourist usually come with high expectations.  Based upon my experience if indeed many Premium and High End Tourist come in large numbers,  many will be disappointed.  If you go to a high end hotel or restaurant in LOS the food and drinks could be high end but the service will  not be.  

 

Unless there is some kind of epiphany among service workers in LOS then it will be better to stick with the low end (backpackers) to medium level tourists.  These guests come with low to moderate level of expectations.  I have never been disappointed in LOS when I got into any business with low to no expectations.  

TRUE but even the low end, medium end, and expats get fooled by every advertisement even hotels show pictures of nice beaches but they are like 10 kilometers away and either trashy or rocky.

[BE88]

Mr Anutin you know you don't have to smoke too much marijuana.

[Canuckluck]

1 hour ago, Freddy42OZ said:

 

People who come and are staying in the premium places don't see any of that.  They go by luxury van from the airport to their 5 star hotel or resort, they only leave the resort maybe to go on a nice chartered yacht or out to one of the recommended 5 star restaurants and always in the comfort of a nice chauffeur driver van. They don't see, nor do the want to see, the locals (or any budget style tourists), the local beaches (top resorts have either private beaches or pools that are much better than the sea and they definitely aren't going to be using local taxis etc.  

I know this because that is how my family used to travel.  Went to many countries and didn't leave the confines of whatever luxury resort we were staying at.
 

Sounds boring.

[PEE TEE]

A beautiful photo of a resort in koh samui. they want it to be a premium resort . so would you like to see the photos  of all the rubbish on the back roads and the potholes what never seem to be repaired .... only before someone important arrives . the beach at chawing needs to cleaned of the plastics bottles that people leave .and the boxing promotion vans with very loud speakers ,even louder the annoying boat going along the beach with even louder speakers playing middle eastern music with has nought to do with Thai boxing.so if you do not want it to Cheap then sort out the Cheap appearance not  put super photos to mislead the tourist   

[Nickelbeer]

Thailand wants to LOSE!!!!  That’s it in a nutshell. Experts at shooting themselves in the foot. Why not be happy that Thailand is considered a “budget” destination? 

[Molly Malone]

7 hours ago, 2baht said:

Well try having some respect for tourists and don't view them as targets to rip off!

YES and what a IDIOT IDEA of all idiot ideas. Supermarkets make more money than ma and pop shops, BECAUSE THEY ARE CHEAPER!!!! Basic 

common sense and worldwide proven phenomenon.

Tourists are pouring in now because the rules have been relaxed and it's cheap here! You dummies!

 

 

 

[Molly Malone]

Seroiously, I love Thais, the common folks, but you Gov egocentric dullards are beyond crazy. You have over bloated bank accounts and over bloated opinions of yourselves. When in fact my dog has more sense than all of you.

The airports are full because it's a cheap destination and mostly lovely, but your roads and beaches are rubbish and not to mention all the visa garbage and soaring road tolls.

You are NOT the French or Italian riviera, or even Florida for that matter.

Wake up and be happy !

[Caldera]

Good luck with that. A holiday destination doesn't just become "premium" by talking it up and charging a premium. 

 

The travelers they seek to attract are A LOT more demanding and won't put up with substandard service and all kinds of nonsense often seen in Thailand.

 

Sure, there's a luxury segment, but didn't it max out its potential long ago?

[StayinThailand2much]

7 hours ago, ezzra said:

Yes , replace the 'cheap' with the moniker of the pot hub of SE Asia...

If Thailand wants to be the hi-so tourism spot for drugs, shouldn't they have gone for cocain and ecstacy rather than marihuana?

[473geo]

Casinos will draw the crowds 

[Mac Mickmanus]

Just take away the street food and local rice and noodle restaurants and Thailand would nt be cheap anymore . 

   Those are the only things that are cheap , although accommodation is a lot cheaper than in Countries where accommodation is expensive 

[metisdead]

A post with unattributed content that was copy and pasted from from some site without a supporting link to the information has been removed.

[Mac Mickmanus]

16 minutes ago, Molly Malone said:

 

Tourists are pouring in now because the rules have been relaxed and it's cheap here! You dummies!

 

 

 

Apart from street food and accommodation and public transport, what is cheap about Thailand ?

[crazykopite]

All very good ! trouble is the Thai workers will see no benefit in salary as the wages are well below the cost of living 

[stoner]

7 hours ago, LomSak27 said:

Meanwhile the same guy just made Thailand a destination resort for hopheads & big beat bong huffers. Now he is out stumping for no discounts, charge them full price. I bet his audience would love to, but putting that one over on potheads is going to be one tough sell.

you sound strange with all the name calling. 

[KIngsofisaan]

6 hours ago, vandeventer said:

There goes cheap Thailand, he's going to double or triple the prices on everything a foreigners wants or needs and that's including hotels. If that's the case why would tourist want to come here and why would we want to stay?

No country can stay cheap forever.

 

30 years ago Thailand was cheap, not so much anymore unless you want to live like a pauper.

 

No sure how many people lived in a single room with a fan in their home country before moving to Thailand full-time? Then use that as excuse that Thailand is cheap?

 

Compare apples to apples. If you owned a decent home, cars, your own western food, in your home country and tried to replace that lifestyle in Thailand, it would not be so cheap. However, when you sell up in your home country to come spend your golden years in a 1 room flat with just a fan, no car and eat off the street every meal, that is the reason people think it is cheap.

 

Thailand is not cheap, however, people can SURVIVE cheaply. Same as you could SURVIVE cheaply in any other country if you had to.

 

Lots of folks stay in Thailand because they are financially trapped by the initial cheapness when they first moved here.

 

Some pensions do not keep up with inflation and now there are some folks with no money and no where to move home to.

 

What I would predict, if I could, is that cities and tourist areas WILL get expensive.

 

Getting to Thailand via air will get expensive due to rising cost associated with fuel.

 

Is the Thailand experience of increased air-fare and 4/5 star resorts going to be worth it?

 

Tourist might come and be a one and done due to the cost and the experience not living up to the price due to all the reasons mentioned in this post?

 

The only place I do not see increasing much is rural, backwards Isaan. Hard to raise prices when there are no jobs, no tourists and villages have people still working manual labor in the fields as their only source of income.

 

PS Don't get rural Isaan confused with Khon Kaen or Udon Thani. 

 

 

[KIngsofisaan]

1 hour ago, portlandtree said:

TRUE but even the low end, medium end, and expats get fooled by every advertisement even hotels show pictures of nice beaches but they are like 10 kilometers away and either trashy or rocky.

Agreed. False advertising is running rampid. There are NO resorts or holiday destinations that show the real photos, because if they did, there would be zero tourists.

[Lacessit]

When Thai ladies are available at low cost to the average foreigner, permit me to doubt Thailand will lose its reputation for being cheap.

[Mac Mickmanus]

1 minute ago, Lacessit said:

When Thai ladies are available at low cost to the average foreigner, permit me to doubt Thailand will lose its reputation for being cheap.

They can find prostitution for the same price in their home Country (although the 500 Baht street walkers wouldn't be available)

[freedomnow]

DEMAND and SUPPLY curves elasticity - GO !

 

 

[KIngsofisaan]

4 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

 

It is a broken windows issue.

It is generally an uneducated society with little English.  Even at some of the high end resorts, English can be a problem. 

 

Start from scratch Mr. Auntin.  Retool your education system maybe in 20 years the 3rd world thinking and mindset will slowly bleed its way out.

 

The education system will NEVER be retooled.

 

An educated populice is the last thing the government wants.

 

They want an uneducated populice to they can get away with their ridiculous corruption scams and not be questioned.

[KIngsofisaan]

4 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

 

It is a broken windows issue.

It is generally an uneducated society with little English.  Even at some of the high end resorts, English can be a problem. 

 

Start from scratch Mr. Auntin.  Retool your education system maybe in 20 years the 3rd world thinking and mindset will slowly bleed its way out.

 

The education system will NEVER be retooled.

 

An educated populice is the last thing the government wants.

 

They want an uneducated populice to they can get away with their ridiculous corruption scams and not be questioned.

[KIngsofisaan]

4 hours ago, martin81 said:

This is just talk from Anutin. He does not control prices at hotels, restaurants and private hospitals.

They are privately owned businesses and set their own prices.

 

Last year I staid both at tourist palces and not tourist palces over most of Thailand and even at Phuket Pating I could get a good hotel room with breakfast for 500 to 800 baht. Which is very cheap compared to most of the world.

 

Prices are low at many hotels as there are still too few tourists and also too few local Thais travelling around.

The good hotel room you mention 500 to 800 baht is certainly not the type they are after.

 

 

[Lacessit]

9 minutes ago, KIngsofisaan said:

 

Thailand is not cheap, however, people can SURVIVE cheaply. Same as you could SURVIVE cheaply in any other country if you had to.

 

Lots of folks stay in Thailand because they are financially trapped by the initial cheapness when they first moved here.

 

 

 

 

Compared to Australia, Thailand is a dead-set bargain.

 

Pensioners in Australia who do not own the roof over their head have to shell out 50-60% in rent. Unfurnished. Here, I am paying 15% of my pension for a fully furnished condo with a swimming pool. I could buy the apartment for 1 million baht, there are mid-market cars more expensive here. Impossible in Australia.

 

I live as well as I want to here, Thailand is still very cheap.

[ThailandRyan]

4 minutes ago, KIngsofisaan said:

The good hotel room you mention 500 to 800 baht is certainly not the type they are after.

 

 

Of course not it's the 6k to 10k a night like we stay in.

[Mac Mickmanus]

4 hours ago, Boomer6969 said:

Thailand attraction is mostly sex with exoticism. Make the sex bit expensive, which is more a more the case, and you'll see what happens. Because what's will be left will be worth one or two weeks of a not too exciting holiday.

How many people actually go to Thailand just for prostitution though ?

Single men used to go to Thailand for prostitution 30-40 years ago, there's not  many go solely for prostitution theses days 

[stoner]

24 minutes ago, KIngsofisaan said:

Agreed. False advertising is running rampid. There are NO resorts or holiday destinations that show the real photos, because if they did, there would be zero tourists.

and the kicker.....

 

even though what you have said is true....someone here would want to sue you for it because they lost face or......zzzzzz....oh i fell asleep there.

[stoner]

21 minutes ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

They can find prostitution for the same price in their home Country (although the 500 Baht street walkers wouldn't be available)

come to my home town lol