Weak Baht Fails to Spark Tourism Boom, Safety Concerns Prevail

[connda]

Not weak enough.  Wake me up when it's 40 to the USD.

[connda]

On 4/5/2025 at 1:10 PM, spidermike007 said:

The baht is not that weak, it's dropped a little bit and a few percentage points is not going to make a difference as far as tourism is concerned.

Exactly. 

[Trip Hop]

On 4/5/2025 at 1:21 PM, scoobyguy said:

Flights are still massively expensive 2 to 3 times pre covid prices, With oil prices very low at the moment why havent Air fares dropped Thats the biggest problem for most.

 

I wouldn't quite go that far.  I've personally bought about 5 tickets over the last year including over xmas and I would say they are averaging about 30-40% up on pre-Covid.  That's for directs and one-stops with short transfer times on the London-BKK route, bought 2-3 months before.  Take into account the increases in APD and whilst it's gone up, it's not that bad. 

[Don Giovanni]

Good.

 

I hope all the aggressive touts working in tourist heavy areas that abuse farangs on a daily basis for no reason have to survive on fish-heads and rice, whilst I'm living it up eating the best beef and the finest wines that Kobe has to offer..

 

You reap what you sow, fellas.

 

The Don.

[daveAustin]

On 4/5/2025 at 1:10 PM, spidermike007 said:

Air quality, traffic safety, addressing the scams, addressing public safety issues, improving public transport options

 

Trouble is though, bro, you address all that and you end up with boring nanny state western angst.

 

The baht is WAY overpriced though... by about 50%.

[Cult of the Sun]

Calling them 'natural' disasters is part of their sales technique. It's like when they use the term natual gas. There is nothing natural about piping an explosive gas into your home.  Most natural disasters now are far from that. 'They' control the weather.  One would think most people would be able to connect the dots and realize there are just too many 'coincidences'. One would be wrong.

 

[still kicking]

4 hours ago, Trip Hop said:

 

I wouldn't quite go that far.  I've personally bought about 5 tickets over the last year including over xmas and I would say they are averaging about 30-40% up on pre-Covid.  That's for directs and one-stops with short transfer times on the London-BKK route, bought 2-3 months before.  Take into account the increases in APD and whilst it's gone up, it's not that bad. 

Agree. I just bought a return ticket non-stop from Perth to BKK  for 840 AUD, which is just over 500 US $

[Oliver Holzerfilled]

49 minutes ago, Cult of the Sun said:

Calling them 'natural' disasters is part of their sales technique. It's like when they use the term natual gas. There is nothing natural about piping an explosive gas into your home.  Most natural disasters now are far from that. 'They' control the weather.  One would think most people would be able to connect the dots and realize there are just too many 'coincidences'. One would be wrong.

 

 

Sure thing Looney Tunes.

[Cult of the Sun]

30 minutes ago, Oliver Holzerfilled said:

 

Sure thing Looney Tunes.

Sorry CCP, you don't get to censor news and social media like you do in China.

 

 

Pretty dismissive for someone who claims to be against censorship.  Funny how so many earthquakes are consistently 10 kilometers deep..  Seems rather 'unrandom'..

 

Let me guess, you'll next call me a poopy face.

 

 

[DonniePeverley]

They're literally on course to smash their record number of tourists this year, smashing way past 40 million. No other country is even that close - due in part to having next to no visa controls, and allowing in mass cheap tourism.

 

What type of low asteem is going on at the tourist board ?

 

Utterly insane. 

[gk10012001]

If they keep the current 60 day visa exempt on arrival and the ability to extend for an additional 30 days, then I am going there very soon.  Just wrapping up one of my final engineering contracts.  My first visit was in 2004 and I have been 15 times.  Last trip was 2019 just before COVID.  So many changes in Thailand and Pattaya but most are not a big factor for me.  My needs are modest.  I enjoy some nightlife, the variety of food, just wandering around Pattaya getting daily exercise, swimming in a decent hotel pool, doing some in country travel to Ao Nang or even Karon Beach in Phuker for a while, etc. 

[baansgr]

16 hours ago, sambum said:

Think you're suffering from amnesia, mate!

 

I've been here for 20 years and the price for all beer has gone up. In the resort where I live, a bottle of Tiger beer used to cost 60 - 65 baht in a bar - now it's pretty much a standard 80 baht in most bars. Same for "farang" food - a pack of pomelo used to cost 35 baht in my local supermarket - now it's well over 100 baht.

The price for Thai food has also increased - but not by as much, I will agree on that. The price for bottled gas has gone up from 300 baht to almost 500 baht, so I think your memory is playing tricks!

 

However, I agree with you regarding rental prices - they have remained pretty constant, but don't forget that 20 years ago we were getting 70+ baht to the British pound, so a 10k monthly rental cost you app £140. Nowadays, at today's rate of 44 baht to the British pound, it costs you £238!

By gas, I mean gasoline/petrol. Still plenty bars at 50 baht all day and even one at 40 but I don't really drink. Never touch foreign food. When i first visited 1995 was 37 baht and then 1999 when moved here was Mid 50s..yes there was  a couple of years of 70 baht but not since 2008, so XE and your example is kinda irrelevant. Seriously inflation hardly exists. Bike tax and insurance same same.. everything almost 0% inflation 😁 still live very comfortably on 30k 👍 

[sambum]

3 hours ago, baansgr said:

By gas, I mean gasoline/petrol. Still plenty bars at 50 baht all day and even one at 40 but I don't really drink. Never touch foreign food. When i first visited 1995 was 37 baht and then 1999 when moved here was Mid 50s..yes there was  a couple of years of 70 baht but not since 2008, so XE and your example is kinda irrelevant. Seriously inflation hardly exists. Bike tax and insurance same same.. everything almost 0% inflation 😁 still live very comfortably on 30k 👍 

Sorry for the mix up re gas, but I meant gas for cooking (Calor?) which has gone up substantially. NO bars here where I live selling beer at those prices - maybe 711/Tesco/Macro?

"Farang food" gone up substantially, and when it does go up it's not by a couple of baht! For example - Salad Cream jumped from 199 baht to 299 baht in one fell swoop recently. (I have already agreed that Thai "street food" hasn't increased to the same extent.)

The example I quoted is hardly irrelevant, as those rates did exist at that time, which is the time when I first started coming here. (Retired here 2004, but spent a few years before that as a "snowbird"!) 

Medical costs have gone up dramatically - Bangkok Hospital were going to charge someone here £19 for one stitch in a cut finger!

It would appear that if you "go the full hog" and live here like a Thai, then prices have not increased as dramatically as prices for "farangs", and my point is that if prices continue to escalate the discerning tourist will seek other cheaper Asian destinations for his vacation (Vietnam, Cambodia etc), and let's face it, most tourists like to "sample the delights" of street food from time to time, but for a proper dinner they prefer a proper restaurant with a glass of wine (which is also ridiculously expensive!)

[NoshowJones]

On 4/5/2025 at 2:16 PM, John Drake said:

I don't know what it is about the Shinawatras. But they seem to attract both natural and fiscal calamities. Floods and earthquakes. Economic mismanagement and budgetary emergencies. Currency crises. I don't see how the baht isn't at 40 to the US dollar. 

It was Prayut and his low IQ's soldiers with their illegal coup in 2014 that caused the Currency crisis which went from about 55 Baht to the GBP to about 38 in the 9 years after being manipulated by the "PM" when he and his soldiers were playing at being politicians and getting very rich at the same time.

[J Branche]

Has anyone seen the video on the DAC Digital Arrival Card.  About 3 days before you fill out some info, upload passport, answer a bunch of invasive question like where are you staying, etc.

 

Don't know about you but how much am I paid for doing someone else's job?

 

Why do I need to submit the info on where I am staying.  The hotel or place I am staying is suppose to submit that info.

 

I've read bookings for other countries are up and it is because you book your flight, arrive, your passport is checked and you enjoy your vacation or stay.

 

With a weakening economy, scaring people away with Tax talk, and this, how much do you expect from people who are guest in the country?