Farangs Impact On Thailand

[A_Traveller]

actually I can think of a few farangs that are Thai nationals, and therefore are not foreigners at all.

I presume you are referring to a farang who has established Thai citizenship, which is a very small group indeed. Does the word obfuscation have any meaning herein I wonder?

Regards

/edit typo //

Edited July 27, 2007 by A_Traveller

[chiang mai]

Just so that you don't make the mistake again, a farang is a foreigner and vica versa.

No, a farang is a Caucasian foreigner.

Regards

I stand corrected and my other half stands chastised - I did, unusually, ask her before posting - extra duty tonight methinks.

[roietjimmy]

Just so that you don't make the mistake again, a farang is a foreigner and vica versa.

No, a farang is a Caucasian foreigner.

Regards

Sincere thanks for grabbing the baton!!

I'd hoped my posting had made it clear TAT Stats were used and the % was based on the farang (Caucasian), Europe, America and Oceania tourist contribution to GDP. I also made it clear that there were many other factors to determine the overall contribution of farangs to GDP.

If we really want to find out the total contribution of farangs (which I believe was the intent of the Post) to the Thai economy, it will be people like you who actually spend the calories needed to find the facts then post them for comment.

[think_too_mut]

An extract from a {translated} paper conducted by Fiscal Policy Research Institute (FPRI) Roengboon Klongkumnuankarn (TISC) [Thailand Investor Service Centre]

OVERVIEW

Tourism has played a significant role to Thai economy by appealing foreign revenues of about four billion baht a year.

Four billion baht? It's rather closer to 400 (four hundred) billion baht per year. 10 billion US$.

Unless they are talking some specific segment of the tourism industry.

[Alfonso]

Excuse me for stepping in on this economic lesson...Mellow is taking this into the area I like...dump those statistics and listen to the heart.

Some months ago the American embassy threw out a figure of 34,000 or 45,000 or maybe even 54,000 American expats living in Thailand full time (Maybe it was 38,000). Add to that all the other expats living here. Now add in all the houses purchased...guess at that. Then add the moto-sigh purchases, guess again...the cars, the private schools for the nephews....add it all up then sit back and be proud...but don't slip off your bar stool...

[think_too_mut]

Excuse me for stepping in on this economic lesson...Mellow is taking this into the area I like...dump those statistics and listen to the heart.

Then, listen: from the highest possible place and heart it was said "Thailand needs a self sufficient economy".

In that statement, I did not read any need for any foreigners to be there.

[roietjimmy]

Excuse me for stepping in on this economic lesson...Mellow is taking this into the area I like...dump those statistics and listen to the heart.

Then, listen: from the highest possible place and heart it was said "Thailand needs a self sufficient economy".

In that statement, I did not read any need for any foreigners to be there.

I couldn't agree more. We are were we are now so your suggestions on how to become self sufficent would be welcome.

[bendix]

Excuse me for stepping in on this economic lesson...Mellow is taking this into the area I like...dump those statistics and listen to the heart.

Some months ago the American embassy threw out a figure of 34,000 or 45,000 or maybe even 54,000 American expats living in Thailand full time (Maybe it was 38,000). Add to that all the other expats living here. Now add in all the houses purchased...guess at that. Then add the moto-sigh purchases, guess again...the cars, the private schools for the nephews....add it all up then sit back and be proud...but don't slip off your bar stool...

For every farang who buys a home here, there are tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of Thais doing the same. For every car bought, guess what? Same again. For every purchase we make in Central, same again.

We're a small - but self-delusionally important - part of the picture that is Thailand.

[think_too_mut]

Excuse me for stepping in on this economic lesson...Mellow is taking this into the area I like...dump those statistics and listen to the heart.

Then, listen: from the highest possible place and heart it was said "Thailand needs a self sufficient economy".

In that statement, I did not read any need for any foreigners to be there.

I couldn't agree more. We are were we are now so your suggestions on how to become self sufficent would be welcome.

Mine? It came from the top. Ask them.

[qwertz]

To get a fair idea, check out all the lands that kicked out the whites.

Not much changes IMO.

[steveromagnino]

actually I can think of a few farangs that are Thai nationals, and therefore are not foreigners at all.

I presume you are referring to a farang who has established Thai citizenship, which is a very small group indeed. Does the word obfuscation have any meaning herein I wonder?

Regards

/edit typo //

There is a very small group of Thais that have New Zealand citizenship. So therefore according to your logic is saying someone is a New Zealander therefore meaning that they cannot have Thai ethnicity or is it an obfuscation?

Look forward to your answer on this one :-) After all, it highlights the importance of understanding the difference between descriptions of ethnicity and nationality. Or shall we discuss the word 'kaek' and how it is used to describe Thais of Indian descent and Indians from India (in fairly insulting terms)?

Incidentally, including the mixed race people I would guess that we are talking in the tens of thousands - many of whom would be described by people who didn't know them as 'farang'; straight farang Thai citizens perhaps in the low thousands maybe higher (quite a few farang wives of Thais, quite a few farang children with a Thai passport through being born to expat parents). Personally I guess I must know in excess of 50 purely farang people with Thai citizenship at a guess, and I know very few people.

I've yet to see any evidence that there is a wholesale movement to kick foreigners, farang or otherwise, out of Thailand. Just introducing some controls, standards and restrictions. Whether these are too much or too little remains to be seen.

The issue of sufficiency economy is not so much specific to immigration, but rather regarding our choices as companies and indivuals at a micro level in spending and saving behaviour. I have never read any specific discussion on it from any experts that ever made specific points that tourism and foreigners were to be excluded. If you have one, let's discuss.

Edited July 27, 2007 by steveromagnino

[Mid]

Oh, for the love of God.

Please, Lord, protect us from half-witted farangs who not only overestimate their own importance to Thailand BUT, in the process, mangle their mother tongue in trying to articulate their half-arsed ideas.

I guess I'll get a holiday for this. It's almost worth it just to feel the joy, the release, the sheer freedom of saying what is patently obvious to everyone. The OP is an idiot.

[UnknownPoster]

Oh, for the love of God.

Please, Lord, protect us from half-witted farangs who not only overestimate their own importance to Thailand BUT, in the process, mangle their mother tongue in trying to articulate their half-arsed ideas.

I guess I'll get a holiday for this. It's almost worth it just to feel the joy, the release, the sheer freedom of saying what is patently obvious to everyone. The OP is an idiot.

YES,

Please, Lord, protect us from half-witted farangs who not only overestimate their own importance.

[bendix]

YES,

Please, Lord, protect us from half-witted farangs who not only overestimate their own importance.

Here's a tip. You might want to finish that sentence so that it makes some sense.

[Mid]

Farangs Impact On Thailand, Financially

a lot less this morning .................................

[mellow1]

I'm gonna have to learn how to use the quote function, to save the one finger I use for typing from so much abuse.

bendix: Yes,for every house,car,and other purchases made by Farangs there are more bought of the same by Thais. This,and correct me if I'm wrong,is probably due to the fact that we are in Thailand,and therefore there are many more Thais here than Farang.This is a very good observation on your part,and I hope that all the Farangs who didn't know this,have now been set straight.

Where I was coming from in my statements is: If out of a population of 100 farangs,80 of them buy houses.Would the correlation be the same.Not only in houses sold per 100 people,but price range,land size,electricity used,jobs made available,furniture sold,etc.... Is it a 1 on 1 correlation or 10 to 1.

As far as impact on culture,music,dress,lifestyles,movies.Are these copied from the west or is all Thai innovation?

Without tourism,exports,aid packages,loans,imports,foreign technology,medicine,where would Thailand be today?

Its easy to talk about self sufficiency after having acquired all these thing, with absolutely no impact on the nation's population or the country itself.I believe these things have had a tremendous impact on Thailand.

It is true that the individual Farang has very little impact on Thailand, as you so gleefully keep pointing out.It is also true for a single Thai.It is also true that this single Farang(myself)does have an impact,(and a positive one at that)as I can see by the Love bestowed upon me by my family here in Thailand.My individual economic contribution may amount to a small drop in the ocean, for this country, but the impact I have made to the loved ones around me are much more significant,and it is unwelcome to suggest otherwise.It is also belittling to myself as well as to others fathers and husband,who happen to be Farangs that are doing their best for their famillies(Thais)and are heavily contributing to the Thai economy.I notice you seem to have a much loftier impression of yourself as to the one you seem to bestow upon others.

What is self-delusional is that Thailand could of gotten where it is without Farangs,and all the things gleaned from them.

[Heng]

As far as impact on culture,music,dress,lifestyles,movies.Are these copied from the west or is all Thai innovation?

Without tourism,exports,aid packages,loans,imports,foreign technology,medicine,where would Thailand be today?

Aside from tourism, one main difference is that foreigners (and falangs included) don't actually have to be here for those things to happen. I think the aforementioned "arguments" tend to be used when said individual foreigner wishes to be appreciated and somehow given a right to stay.... when the latter desires have nothing to do with the former issues.