Is this the end of Thailand's Tourist Industry?

[Liverpool Lou]

Is this the end of Thailand's Tourist Industry?

 

 

No.

[Mac Mickmanus]

8 minutes ago, sandyf said:

Exactly, as far as visa exempt is concerned nothing much has changed.

The OP has a bee in his bonnet as he found the E-visa system a bit challenging.

Whether people like it or not it is no longer the 1980s and many only want to move with times when it suits them.

How many would be prepared to throw away their smartphones and go back to the days when all you had was a vandalised red box on the street corner. 

 

The E-Visas are rather difficult to get online .

The stated requirements are vague , like "Upload your medical certificate" and it doesn't state exactly what medical certificate they want .

  Also you have to state your flight number and hotel booking , so you need to book a hotel and buy a flight and then hope you get given a visa so you can go . 

  The website is dated and often cuts out .

Its not an issue about going back to telephone boxes , its about the cumbersome and outdated website when applying .

   I also had concerns about providing my bank details online , just how secure is their website ?

[kinyara]

If Thailand can still attract miserable whingers who invent non-existent obstacles and conditions of entry, imagine how well it will continue to do in attracting people who are actually looking forward to coming here and enjoying themselves on holiday.

[Lemsta69]

30 minutes ago, steven100 said:

my thoughts are Thailand made their bed ... what with all the quarantine and who knows how many folks were cheated out of their money because everyone wanted a piece of the pie. 

I wouldn't believe half of their test results as it's always about cheating and getting money. 

sounds like you're describing Australia.

[Kwasaki]

14 minutes ago, kinyara said:

If Thailand can still attract miserable whingers who invent non-existent obstacles and conditions of entry, imagine how well it will continue to do in attracting people who are actually looking forward to coming here and enjoying themselves on holiday.

Been no trouble for my uk family coming in Oct all Thai flights booked from UK and internal flights. 

[The Hammer2021]

16 hours ago, MrJ2U said:

How is Soi 7 and Soi 8?

 

During the height of COVID I was amazed at how it had almost completely folded except for a smattering of bars closer to beach road.

 

I felt like one of those urban explorers with everything closed up and dusty pool tables and overturned barstools.

 

Such an interesting time exploring Thailand when there virtually no tourists. 

The Pratumnak  people were ingenious during bar closures. At the end of soi 5 people set up a mini gym, watched by people  drinking cold beers. A hundred yards away at the other end of Yim Yom Beach  people had picnics watching the kids Skateboarding or the 'running of the parrots'

[3NUMBAS]

back then DM  had less than 1million arrivals and look at it now ...how things    have changed  from an exotic  destination 

[sungod]

13 hours ago, pomchop said:

i suspect that eventually nearly ALL the bar beers between beach road and second road will get shoved out, bulldozed to make room for more hotels/condos/shopping centers etc....won't happen over night but much of that land will become too valuable to support anything but highrises...just a matter of time..."good news:" is it will take a while and bars etc will get shoved further away from ocean but  will still be around in some form or another.

To be honest, I think that was always the plan. I laughed 15 years ago when someone told me they wanted to shift everything back from the front to Soi Boukhao, seems its happening.

 

The bar area around soi 2 near Dolphin looks like a nother victim along sois 7/8. Naklau main street at the bottom is open, should pick up around the end of the year I think.

[Tropposurfer]

To paraphrase a now deceased Vietnamese monk; 'If you carry poo around with you everywhere you go all you will see, smell, and know, will be tainted by the stench of poo.' 

I live here and I love it. But hey what would I know I have severe TBI frontal lobe damage lol ????

[Celsius]

Wow this thread opened my eyes...as did the previous 357 threads on the same topic.

[ChaiyaTH]

It's the end of the overkill in tourism in Thailand, 20M tourists a year is much better than the previous high of 40M tourists a year (talking TAT numbers, we know a lot of that is BS).

It is just that there are so many mushroom copy businesses of each thing, specially since like 2015-2016 at the peak, that it now looks empty as the fewer tourists are more distributed. 

In the next 6-12 months a lot of those business owners will be rooted out, then it is more full again in the sustainable ones that keep to be alive, as well more fun too.

 

My reasoning for the end of the mass overkill tourism is:
1) Higher costs and inflation
2) System war and proxy wars globally
3) Green insanity policies lowering flights, increasing costs
4) The agenda of the a holes at WEF etc.

 

Even I hate all above, I do like it for tourism in Thailand. It wasn't exactly fun with 100 tour busses at mountains or 100 speed boats at beaches etc etc etc.

[ukrules]

23 hours ago, Robin said:

How many people are going o jump through the hoops set up by the current Junta, when there are plenty of other destinations much easier to get into?

Millions less than they think....

 

I don't put up with any visa nonsense when travelling - those days are long gone. If there's any hassle then I simply don't go there.

[ChaiyaTH]

11 minutes ago, ukrules said:

Millions less than they think....

 

I don't put up with any visa nonsense when travelling - those days are long gone. If there's any hassle then I simply don't go there.

Not sure what the 'junta hoops' mean either, there is no real issue at all. You can easily make things work within the options available, even as a visa runner.

This has always been the same in the past already too, the only real change there is they now sometimes complain + the limitation of 2 border runs a year. 

The real reason is purely the costs, it is way cheaper in Vietnam, before covid you could see the big crowds we used to have in khao san, but now in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city. For digital nomads, they do left due to the hassle, and frequent Bali and Vietnam instead.

 

Then we have the retirees, anyway, still putting all those people together, they are small numbers in terms of 'arrivals per year'. Their spending might be good but that is not the subject if talking about tourist numbers. The reason tourists stay away is due to my points / comment above.

 

In Vietnam you get 10 beers at 5 dollars, a room for 5 dollars more. In Thailand you lost 15 dollars just to take a minivan ferry combo to the Islands.

That is a lot on the theoretical 1000 baht a day budget of backpackers (assuming the old 30-33 baht per usd forex).

[NoshowJones]

22 hours ago, gearbox said:

Not sure what hoops the OP is talking about. Most tourists enter visa exempt only showing their passport, stay 1-3 weeks and go back. Can't be any easier.

The under 50's who do not want to marry but stay in Thailand in the longer term get a very raw deal. Something should be done there.

[Mac Mickmanus]

6 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

The under 50's who do not want to marry but stay in Thailand in the longer term get a very raw deal. Something should be done there.

Those kinds of people are unwanted in Thailand .

 

[NoshowJones]

7 hours ago, steven100 said:

Is this the end of Thailand's Tourist Industry?

 

I certainly hope so ..... 

Says the guy with the unelected PM avatar. Too much to drink today Steven? 

[NoshowJones]

3 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

There immigration policies are good they should have the same in UK.

In the UK anyone can buy houses and land in their name. Try that in Thailand.

[NoshowJones]

3 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

The people who want to come to Thailand will, but, which "hoops"?

Buying houses and land in their name.

[DUNROAMIN]

Now they have made cannabis legal, watch all the low lifes visit Thailand. High end tourists I think not.

[Thingamabob]

Been coming to Thailand since the 1960's, worked here in the 1980's, retired and lived here since 1993. Not that much has changed, although the behaviour of some tourists has become markedly worse since flights became cheaper. Also,Thai immigration officials are less easy-going these days, but that's pretty much the same all over the world. Personally I am still very happy here.

 

[NoshowJones]

2 hours ago, steven100 said:

my thoughts are Thailand made their bed ... what with all the quarantine and who knows how many folks were cheated out of their money because everyone wanted a piece of the pie. 

I wouldn't believe half of their test results as it's always about cheating and getting money. 

A sensible post condemning the guy in your avatar, looks like you have over done the drinking again Steven. Oh! wait! it is well after 5pm now.  

[NoshowJones]

26 minutes ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

Those kinds of people are unwanted in Thailand .

 

That's true, but why??

[Mac Mickmanus]

7 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

That's true, but why??

They seem to just hang around and not doing much , earning money illegally and tourists wouldn't want to go to Thailand to see lots of young unkept westerners hanging around 

[billd766]

3 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

What are those "monthly Immigration formalities" that you suggest are in place?  

I spend about 30 minutes every 3 months doing a 90 day report and about 2 or 3 working days once a year to complete my marriage extension (2 copies).

[Lorry]

5 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

monthly Immigration formalities

No monthly immigration formalities,  but spending on average 2 days per month for immigration if I honestly add up all the time I spend for them. 

 

This includes things like asking my landlord for a signed copy of his ID card,  traveling 20 miles to a post office to post 90 days notice,  getting multiple papers from Bangkok Bank for immigration (neither Bangkok  Bank nor the IO had the slightest ideas which papers were needed so i just got everything the bank offered), printing emails confirming appointments,  small things that add up because there is no end.

 

And, of course,  reading up on the requirements du jour.

[Lorry]

5 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

What are you talking about?  As it has always been, if you meet the requirements your application will not be rejected.

I have never been rejected.

But I have been sent home several times, to come back another day.

Of course I meet all the published requirements. But IOs can make up requirements on the spot.

 

There are threads here about CoR that give good examples. 

I got CoR twice in the last couple of years, the first time it was 3 trips to immigration (each time a whole day), the second time 2 trips. 

[GeorgeCross]

3 hours ago, possum1931 said:

The under 50's who do not want to marry but stay in Thailand in the longer term get a very raw deal. Something should be done there.

two and a half years of back to back covid extensions for instance?

 

sounds heavenly compared to the monthly slog to the border and back i had to endure back in the day! (travelling from samui, grrrr)

 

????

[talahtnut]

Mass tourism is finished thanks to the WEF.

Brits even have trouble getting a plane to Europe.

None of it is really worth the aggro.

 

[spidermike007]

7 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Woe indeed, with visitor numbers increasing, how bad is that?

It is like saying the GDP of Burkina Faso is growing quickly. Of course numbers are up. Easy to rise up from zero. It is the quality of tourist and the real numbers that matter. Let us wait and see. I hope it improves, for the local Thais. 

[SAFETY FIRST]

I never have any issues, no jumping through hoops etc. 

Your post is very negative, doom and gloom stuff. Even your post title is negative. 

 

It's never been so easy for me to obtain an extension every year, a little bit of money in the bank and bingo my extention is granted. 

If you're a British citizen you'll be given 1 month visa on arrival and this can be extended. 

 

BTW, get yourself a positive attitude you'll be far better off, things will go smoothly.