Thailand faces a decline in British tourists and expats: Causes and Consequences

[quake]

1 hour ago, NanLaew said:

 

 

Crusoe. It's Robinson Crusoe.

 

Caruso was an Italian operatic tenor.

 

Alex Caruso is guard for the Chicago Bulls.

 

David Caruso was a rubbish American actor.

 

What about Inspector Crusoe.

 

[BritManToo]

16 minutes ago, BuddyPish said:

Yes but there are pretty valid reasons for farangs featuring more prominently in the Thai media. 
So many behave like absolute scum.
Beating up women, sexually assaulting their pupils, dealing drugs, assaulting policemen and even sexually assaulting a HORSE . . . . .  

Would point out a lot of Brits are not farangs.

[TroubleandGrumpy]

3 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

 

...and chock-full of more dodgy lowlifes than the bottom-end of Sukhumvit.

Like Thailand was 30 years ago??

[Rimmer]

AN overly racist post and a reply have been removed

[smew]

Staggering statistics:

on a 07:00 48 seat bus airport to pattaya: 3 Europeans(within one Turkish: Asian or European not sure) 2 Koreans, 2 Japanese and remaining: Indians, Pakistanis and or Bangladeshi 

[NanLaew]

17 minutes ago, TroubleandGrumpy said:

21 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

 

...and chock-full of more dodgy lowlifes than the bottom-end of Sukhumvit.

Like Thailand was 30 years ago??

 

Correct. The dregs of humanity will always silt away to the lowest level.

 

As for myself, I'm barely clinging on up here in Ban Dung.

[Tropicalevo]

26 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

How about a 90 day waiver on entry like you give the Russians!

We get 45 days in Vietnam, so of course more long stay Brit tourists are going to Vietnam.

The offerings are usually reciprocal.

How can Thais get into the UK visa free?

 

[lexxy]

IMO From 15 years of coming / living here..

Thais in tourist destinations have westernized to the point they always have an agenda and every second is counted in baht. Long gone are the days where friendships can be forged, care given. Its all about status and the $. It wont be long before im back in the PH to get a taste of what it used to be like here.

[khunpin]

Good news. 

But the mentioned countries like Cambodia or so are even further - and thus more expensive to fly to than Thailand. 

[orchis]

2 hours ago, Driller said:

I always enjoyed reading Robinson Caruso

ah, the world famous tenor. 🥴

[Polaky]

Conversations in bars tend to reveal the truth moreso than media, there are many expats not happy, but the British are not singled out.

[moorebwb]

With many years of rip off exchange rates I'm not surprised.  Until it gets back to 60/70 exchange rates your not getting value apart from the obvious 

[NanLaew]

56 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Well the natural gas vehicles were put into the fleet quite some time ago and obviously the BTS and the MRT are making a contribution to cleaner air. Beyond that, please list the accomplishments of either the current administration or the Prayuth Administration when it comes to cleaning up the air, and the environment

 

I'm anxious to hear them. 

 

Dear Mr. My-glass-is-half-empty-all-the-time,

 

I am deeply concerned with your perpetually groundless anxiety, so here's your starter for ten.

 

https://www.reccessary.com/en/news/th-announcement/thailand-biggest-floating-solar-plant-inaugurated-prachinburi

 

PS: Google really is your friend.

 

Best,

 

Bladdered in Bung Khan

[orchis]

2 minutes ago, khunpin said:

But the mentioned countries like Cambodia or so are even further - and thus more expensive to fly to than Thailand.

negligible difference: one could still take the same flight to BKK and then a low cost short flight at about 50USD to Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia,...
Quite a few people I knew in Bangkok now live in Siem Reap surviving on their pension there.

[saintdomingo]

33 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

 

...and chock-full of more dodgy lowlifes than the bottom-end of Sukhumvit.

I had a few drinks in Chequers the other day, didn't notice any dodgy lowlifes.

[Roo Island]

I'm in the Hua Hin Hilton. Can barely see ChaAm. Air quality is terrible. Not sure Thailand is where we want to be now, after 20 years here. Love the Kingdom dearly, but they really need to focus on cleaning up the environment.

[Oliver Holzerfilled]

17 minutes ago, smew said:

Staggering statistics:

on a 07:00 48 seat bus airport to pattaya: 3 Europeans(within one Turkish: Asian or European not sure) 2 Koreans, 2 Japanese and remaining: Indians, Pakistanis and or Bangladeshi 

 

Sounds like the bus from Heathrow into London. 

[Hakuna Matata]

Because Phuket and Pattaya are being dominated by the Russians and Ukrainians now?

[impulse]

7 minutes ago, Polaky said:

Conversations in bars tend to reveal the truth moreso than media, there are many expats not happy, but the British are not singled out.

 

Maybe.  But a lot of the complainers in Thai bars would be appalled if they went back and saw what their countries have become.  Starting with all the damn foreigners...  Then moving on to crazy prices.  And finally, all the paperwork to stay legal, even as a citizen.

 

I got a life sized smack in the face when I was a Covid refugee in the USA.  It's not the same place I left 25 years ago.

 

 

[globalspark]

I think the Government  was thinking the Chinese and Indian  tourist are better value and hence Western tourist have dropped of. I stay in Pattaya or Jomtein and all the hotels are overrun with those tourists who have no consideration for the way we think people should behave.My wife is Chinese and she even hates going to Thailand.

Once my Dental treatment is complete we will not be going back in the near future.Something I did not mention it is no longer a cheap destination and many hotels have failed to keep up maintenance. Last hotel in Jomtein  we changed rooms 4 times due to sewerage smells. To the hotels credit they kept  changing us rooms but the fact is   a 4 star hotel should be better.

[soalbundy]

2 hours ago, Misty said:

 

So where are British going instead?

Most are staying home, in case you hadn't noticed the UK is in a financial bad place. Inflation throughout the West is taking a toll on discretionary spending so holidays at home are cheaper, especially when the air fares are taken into consideration.

[Henryford]

Maybe it's because Thailand is starting to crack down on illegal workers or people who try to avoid the (rather easy) immigration procedures. Thailand is still an easy, cheap destination for legitimate visitors.

[BritManToo]

18 minutes ago, Tropicalevo said:

The offerings are usually reciprocal.

How can Thais get into the UK visa free?

 

Thailand has nothing to offer tourists, Vietnam is better in every way.

The Viets don't hate white folk, they don't put the wrong stamps in your passport, the beaches aren't infested by sand flies, there is more to see.

 

If I didn't already have a Thai house, wife, kid, I'd not be here.

[Mark Nothing]

Yes in my condo building the UK residents who bought in at 75 baht to the pound are all selling out.  They are ageing now and don't like the changes occuring here. 

 

The long haul flights are a nuisance, they are no longer party animals, they need to be around constant affordable healthcare. They used to come to thailand for 6 months.  Now they come for 2 weeks.  If tgey come at all.

[ChipButty]

2 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

Sad, who will be English teachers?

Nigerians 

[moe666]

I love the deflection from a few of the posters. How about the fact that Britian has become a third world country in it own right. But every country has there issues no one is above a hard look at their problems.

[madmitch]

I'm in Thailand now for a short time, having been back in Britain for over two years, and I have realised how much I miss the place. 

 

However much I miss it though, I won't be returning full time, even if my pension, when I finally retire, will go a lot further in Thailand. Bureaucracy, the way farangs are treated differently and, yes discriminated against, the stifling heat I'm currently experiencing, language difficulties (my fault for not learning anything other than basic Thai), the changing demographic in Phuket, where I was based, pollution, the cost of health insurance. I could go on but other aspects have been covered in the initial post. 

 

Despite this, I still anticipate being a regualar visitor on a tourist visa with travel insurance. My partner is still in Thailand but our daughter is with me in England, where career prospects are so much better than in Thailand. She already earns more in a day as a part time waitress than many Thais earn in a week. And, apart from property, there's not that much differential in the cost of living.

[Sydebolle]

Increase the bureaucracy with all your TM forms even more, in duplicate, to be signed with pink or lime green ink. Photocopies may not be made two-sided and you cannot copy a photocopy and sign it then, i.e. it has to be from the original. 

In addition, keep dragging your feet in clear and present dangerous environments like Koh Tao where countless dirty farang got suicided and, upon tremendous pressure from the entire planet, two Burmese were thrown into the slammer on death row while nobody really believes that these two kids did it. 

Carry on the good work and you will be celebrating your entire tourism industry for the semi-divine Khon Thai, who leaves a fraction of money without any inspiration to quality improvement and standard. 

Next please; this subject is soooooooooooo worn out already and the TATs and all those unqualified ministers passing the revolving door of the tourism ministry are absolutely clueless. Well done; you had the goose laying the golden eggs in the late 80s and did nothing but starve the goose to a slow death. Enjoy the avalanche of the zero-dollar tourists from the red North or the so-much-smarter South Asians you do not like either due to their black skin. Laotians and Cambodians will not fill up your tourism statistics for the time being - me thinks! 

[topt]

56 minutes ago, TroubleandGrumpy said:

And here is the kicker - Malaysia received 12.6 Million tourists from Singapore in 2023 (real high end big spending tourists) - Thailand received 1.9 million from Singapore. 

Relevant only if you make a comparison to how many Singaporean visitors there were before.

Here is a quote from a 2016 article (a quick search couldn't find anything more recent) about Singaporeans visiting Malaysia - 

Quote

According to official figures from the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board in Singapore released to The Straits Times, Malaysia recorded 12,930,754 tourist arrivals from Singapore last year, a 7 per cent drop from 13,932,967 in 2014.

https://www.nationthailand.com/international/30286726

 

So even those numbers are still down.......hardly a "kicker".......

[charleskerins]

3 hours ago, Ben Zioner said:

The devastating effect of Thai street food. 

 

that's what humans are supposed to look like