Put simply, Thailand is on the nose.

 

People on AN come from a wide diversity of countries; if you still consult your home country media, you will occasionally come across news items about Thailand; rarely do these items have anything positive to say about Thailand.

 

Thailand in the 1970s-1980s was the place to visit; now it is the place to avoid, in most cases.

 

Unless Thailand improves its international image, international tourism will not advance greatly.

 

Of course, there are those who will come to Thailand regardless; they come every year for maybe a few months, they have accommodation and friends here; they come to the same places do the same things year in year out.

Thailand is in trouble and mark my words, its just one event from an implosion.

Word salad garbage. TAT just seems clueless at what to do about the changes in the tourism market. Every week they throw out something, more as a response, than actually seriously instigating a strategy promptly and give those suffering in the industry cause for optimism rather than continually spouting BS. 

On 11/14/2025 at 11:42 AM, Purdey said:

The Immigration department and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) are working at odds with one another. I am not saying that Immigration should let in foreign criminals, but perhaps they can look at what other immigration authorities do globally and steal the best ideas.

The TAT could look at what other countries of a similar economic status do to promote the country. 

Today it seems there is some pull and push between these government authorities that is leaving tourists confused.

Thais seriously believe they dont need to look at others ideas for improvement because they already know best! 

     Thailand is doing some things right.  Spouse and I landed yesterday from a European trip.  Several large planes--we were on a 380--landed at the same time and there was a big mob at Immigration.  However, the line went very quickly as the large number of booths were almost fully-staffed.  I was thru and at baggage claim well before my bags arrived.  Having been to a number of other airports, I remain very happy with Bangkok's in comparison.  So good, there.

     Not so good, the new on-line digital arrival card.  I found it tedious, overly long, and confusing in places.  I especially disliked the drop-down menu to insert the countries you visited and the country you were arriving from.  In my case it was Qatar.  I had to scroll endlessly down, in what seemed no particular order, until I found State of Qatar.  (First guessed Kingdom of Qatar.)  The list should be alphabetical starting with the prominent part of a country's name--Qatar, State of; Thailand, Kingdom of; Korea, Republic of, etc.,  and not, for example, Korea listed under a long group of 'Republic of _____.   Also bad, my flight had a video of Thailand that still mentioned the paper entry form as being used--Thailand needs to keep the airlines updated when changes are made.   The airport, by the way, looked very busy both going and returning.

The thoughts of Tourism ministers says it all in the first few lines on the opening thread title " Thailand Struggles with the Reduction of Chinese Visitors " Its all about the chinese losses TAT or TOP tourist ministers say. Do they know other Countrys come to Thailand not just Chinese. Lets be honest the Golden Goose has flown to Viet Cambo and Malaysia and flown over Thailand, they have had enough warnings about turning away foreighn visitors in favour of the Chinese now its biting them and they simply do not have any idea's how to attract visitors, instead they have let in the Indians and Russians who have already destoyed the tourist areas they have decided to stay, sleeping on beaches bringing there culture with them, Russian gangs infesting the islands crimes soaring, its not safe to walk at night time anymore. Whats the Answer from thai ministers ? nothing Som Nam Na.

40 minutes ago, BarraMarra said:

" Thailand Struggles with the Reduction of Chinese Visitors "

 

Are they trying to make some sauce?

Thailand needs to diversify away from tourism - not abandon it - just refocus priorities for a country of nearly 80 million. It's the 800 pound gorilla in the room. But instead we get these daily flip - flop news reports out of TAT and other sources - today up, yesterday down. It's short-sighted single-focus news that distracts from what's really needed. It's not that tourist numbers are down that is the problem - the problem is the country's leaders haven't moved forward into other specialized areas, like high tech, etc. Look at other countries in the region. Korea, Vietnam, China, others. Vietnam is a growing tourist destination, but that country has many other investments and sectors - and it's growing.

12 hours ago, ronnie50 said:

Thailand needs to diversify away from tourism - not abandon it - just refocus priorities for a country of nearly 80 million. It's the 800 pound gorilla in the room. But instead we get these daily flip - flop news reports out of TAT and other sources - today up, yesterday down. It's short-sighted single-focus news that distracts from what's really needed. It's not that tourist numbers are down that is the problem - the problem is the country's leaders haven't moved forward into other specialized areas, like high tech, etc. Look at other countries in the region. Korea, Vietnam, China, others. Vietnam is a growing tourist destination, but that country has many other investments and sectors - and it's growing.

 

I agree with you but the reason it hasn't or can't is probably the result of failings in other areas that they are not addressing. Education is an obvious one, tourism sucks up a huge pool of unskilled poorly educated labour. Everything I read related to regional comparisons show Thailand falling behind in education, skills training and competitiveness. It comes from the top, and the patronage system of politics here is resulting in Ministers being appointed to key positions with little to zero practical knowledge or experience of the area they are in charge of. It seems to be more about the budget they get to handle and how it can be used for personal benefit. I'm sure in this competitive day and age global tech companies aren't blind to Thailand's shortcomings relative to its neighbours.

Worth remembering that during Srettha Thavisin's brief tenure as PM he spent most of his time globetrotting to various business conferences trying to drum up investment from multinationals. A short time later they are now on their third Prime Minister, I think that sends out the wrong message to global investors for whom political risk/country stability is a consideration.

9 hours ago, kinyara said:

I'm sure in this competitive day and age global tech companies aren't blind to Thailand's shortcomings relative to its neighbours.

Yes, certainly they must. Also, I kind of wonder if many of foreign companies/investors have been observing what happened to many of their peers who have 'partnered' with rich Thais only for the relationship to go pear-shaped and so they are increasingly staying away. Once bitten... When you look at tourism, though, most of the big name hotel chains are actually just allowing someone here who owns the property to 'lease' the big international name as an affiliate - gives the big name hotel corp more room to bail out if needed without a big financial loss. Most of them stay put so that modality works I guess.

On 11/13/2025 at 5:47 PM, KimchiCurry said:

More competition is better for customers

 

Exactly. 

 

I hope and pray Thailand's tourist scene suffers for this reason.