Notable changes in Thailand in the last few years.

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[zzaa09]

Less and less Farang.

Which can only be a plus.

[StayinThailand2much]

15 minutes ago, zzaa09 said:

Less and less Farang.

Which can only be a plus.

For every Westerner who left, probably 10 Chinese came...

Edited February 22, 2023 by StayinThailand2much

[spidermike007]

Alot less tourism. Though it must be hard on alot of Thais, many who are no doubt unemployed, it sure is nice as an ex-pat. I don't expect tourism to EVER rebound to it's former levels. Too much has changed around the world, and too little of what should have, and could have changed and improved here, has not. 

[zzaa09]

The local distillers have much improved on their graded quality of Lao Khao over the last couple of years. 

[RamenRaven]

4 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Alot less tourism. Though it must be hard on alot of Thais, many who are no doubt unemployed, it sure is nice as an ex-pat. I don't expect tourism to EVER rebound to it's former levels. Too much has changed around the world, and too little of what should have, and could have changed and improved here, has not. 

2015-2019 were definitely the years of overtourism in Thailand.

Let's hope that things don't get back to this.

 

Thais are resilient. They always just find something else to do. It's not like the US where people call the cops on illegal street vendors all the time, so the only people doing street vending are typically undocumented migrants. Everyone else either has to survive on welfare or become homeless.

 

[thaibeachlovers]

The changes over the many decades I visited/ lived in LOS would have to include the loss of the smile, much fatter women, the destruction of every nice beach I visited, Thaksin and the yellow/ red conflict, more difficult visa regulations and the end of back to back indefinite visa exempt visits.

[thaibeachlovers]

PS the loss of "sanuk", that left the building about the same time as the smile.

[swissie]

On 2/24/2023 at 12:50 AM, thaibeachlovers said:

The changes over the many decades I visited/ lived in LOS would have to include the loss of the smile, much fatter women, the destruction of every nice beach I visited, Thaksin and the yellow/ red conflict, more difficult visa regulations and the end of back to back indefinite visa exempt visits.

That sums it up nicely. In a nutshell.

Plus some inflation took place over the  years. Unfortunately the inflation rate concerning "Nightlife/Party/Ladies" has doubled or tripelt. Something like this I call "hyper inflation".

Sad, as Pattaya visitors can not live "from bread alone".  

[mstevens]

On 2/23/2023 at 12:39 PM, spidermike007 said:

Alot less tourism. Though it must be hard on alot of Thais, many who are no doubt unemployed, it sure is nice as an ex-pat. I don't expect tourism to EVER rebound to it's former levels. Too much has changed around the world, and too little of what should have, and could have changed and improved here, has not. 

I am currently outside of Thailand but friends who live there tell me that all of the tourist hot spots in Bangkok are over-run with visitors. One friend was in Pattaya recently and said similar, saying it was as busy as he could ever remember it. Photos online at Immigration show crazy queues and a quick check on Booking.com plugging some random dates in shows some hotels are full. The Chinese made up 1/3 of all international visitors before Covid and they are just starting to return. How many Chinese will visit over the course of this year? Next year? The year after? And flights from airlines which stopped flying in to Bangkok during Covid are coming back all the time. I'm sorry, but I don't know how you can possibly say tourism to Thailand won't rebound. Thailand is a fantastic place to visit and the world knows it. I strongly disagree with your comments. Record high tourist numbers are coming very soon!

[thaibeachlovers]

2 hours ago, mstevens said:

I am currently outside of Thailand but friends who live there tell me that all of the tourist hot spots in Bangkok are over-run with visitors. One friend was in Pattaya recently and said similar, saying it was as busy as he could ever remember it. Photos online at Immigration show crazy queues and a quick check on Booking.com plugging some random dates in shows some hotels are full. The Chinese made up 1/3 of all international visitors before Covid and they are just starting to return. How many Chinese will visit over the course of this year? Next year? The year after? And flights from airlines which stopped flying in to Bangkok during Covid are coming back all the time. I'm sorry, but I don't know how you can possibly say tourism to Thailand won't rebound. Thailand is a fantastic place to visit and the world knows it. I strongly disagree with your comments. Record high tourist numbers are coming very soon!

Perhaps tourist numbers will rebound but the nationalities will change. First time I visited White temple it was a delight, second time it was over run with Chinese tour groups and I didn't even bother waiting to rush through in a massive q. I can't see westerners being keen to stand around in long q's or sharing beaches with thousands of tourists, like Maya Bay was before it was closed because of the destruction caused by too many people.

[473geo]

Thailand has changed in last few years, I've changed in the last few years, which one of us has changed the most, for better or worse, difficult to say, but we appear to continue to get along ????

[BritManToo]

All the tourists in Chiang Mai disappeared last week.

Only long term change I can think of is cannabis everywhere.

 

OP is right about QR code payments, even the market stalls accept QR.

Edited March 5, 2023 by BritManToo

[LaosLover]

My fave cannabis bar in Nimman is shuttering soon. They take in about 3K baht in the average very long day day -and they are doing better than most.

 

No Thai person is paying out 900 baht for a spliff, nor are the backpackers. The Chinese tourists I see are looking for cupcakes to instagram, not weed.  People expect Thailand to be cheap and balk when it's not.

 

And people like me quickly found the wholesalers and buy pot at 70% off.

[scottiejohn]

On 3/5/2023 at 8:00 PM, BritManToo said:

All the tourists in Chiang Mai disappeared last week.

A bit of an overstatement, to put it mildly!

Did they ALL disappear for an instant and then instantly return because there are many around now!

[BritManToo]

4 minutes ago, scottiejohn said:

A bit of an overstatement, to put it mildly!

Did they ALL disappear for an instant and then instantly return because there are many around now!

I usually have coffee at 'Hom Coffee' on the moat of a morning.

Loads of backpackers/tourists walking past until last week when there were none.

[scottiejohn]

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

I usually have coffee at 'Hom Coffee' on the moat of a morning.

Loads of backpackers/tourists walking past until last week when there were none.

That is one hell of a scientific basis for saying that ALL have disappeared!

[CharlieH]

18 minutes ago, scottiejohn said:

That is one hell of a scientific basis for saying that ALL have disappeared!

Sometimes, in coversation, things are said as general term of reference or turn of phrase and not intended to be takem literally .

[BE88]

On 2/28/2023 at 1:44 AM, mstevens said:

I am currently outside of Thailand but friends who live there tell me that all of the tourist hot spots in Bangkok are over-run with visitors. One friend was in Pattaya recently and said similar, saying it was as busy as he could ever remember it. Photos online at Immigration show crazy queues and a quick check on Booking.com plugging some random dates in shows some hotels are full. The Chinese made up 1/3 of all international visitors before Covid and they are just starting to return. How many Chinese will visit over the course of this year? Next year? The year after? And flights from airlines which stopped flying in to Bangkok during Covid are coming back all the time. I'm sorry, but I don't know how you can possibly say tourism to Thailand won't rebound. Thailand is a fantastic place to visit and the world knows it. I strongly disagree with your comments. Record high tourist numbers are coming very soon!

Many of these so-called tourists are those who in cold places it was expected that there would be cuts of electricity and heating as well as a sharp increase in the expected inflation so many have improvised tourists in Thailand but I am convinced that they will not return when the situation will be calmed down in the West.