Tat Campaigns For More Foreign Tourists To Visit Thailand

[mouse]

I have a few things to say about this topic:

1.) Thailand should keep in mind that it is not healthy to concentrate on one large form of income for the nation, such as they are doing with tourism. For tourism could stop suddenly based on war, disease of the countless other problems we face daily throughout the world.

2.) Tourism is the largest polluter in the world. Ask those on the islands in Thailand, ask those that know about aricarft fuel jettisoning and the list goes on and on.

3.) Thailand's Toursim Authority should instead of concentrating on any type of desired tourism, instead work within the service sector in Thailand, teaching, controlling and even training and possibly inspecting, how to please a tourist based enviroment and for the people to provide a top product or service at a fair price. The word WOULD spread by itself and eliminate the need for marketing.

4.) Thailand should rid itself of the alcoholics, prior convicts, drug dealers, overstayer and other rif raff that come here under the guise of tourism, many of which remain and give this wonderful nation a bad name in one form or another.

5.) By staying here, I am subjected to and am tired of being placed in the same bad light of those that refuse to maintian a proper visa, do the required 90 day reporting and those that actually run businesses without a work permit. No excuses, get rid of them once and for all.

[Galong]

2.) Tourism is the largest polluter in the world. Ask those on the islands in Thailand, ask those that know about aricarft fuel jettisoning and the list goes on and on.

Do you have any evidence to prove this or is this merely your opinion? Here's something to try: Go to an island with no tourism and see how the locals treat the environment. You'll see tons of trash everywhere, trees cleared for rubber plantations or oil palms and all of the things that they can do to strip every last baht out of their surroundings.

Did you come here by jet? Yes, tourism is harmful. I'm not disagreeing with you about that. But, to blame it all on tourism is both unfair and unrealistic. The TAT should concentrate on tourists that spend more per trip instead of more tourists spending less... which seems to be their forte.

Clean up the national parks and make them world class. Right now, many are barely worth visiting. In Khao Sok on the reservoir, for example, the park rangers have nice houses, yet the tourists can only stay in shabby floating huts with holes in the floors and filthy toilets. High quality tourists deserve higher quality tours too. Sorry, but most of the Thai nature guides I've met (and that's a lot of them) aren't up to speed on their flora and fauna.

Good luck TAT, you'll need it as you've never proved yourselves to be anything more than mass tourism promoters in the past.

[sajal]

Not quite sure how to approach this subject without unleashing a whole can of whoopass on myself, but I have been in Thailand many times with a UK born colleague of Indian parents and there is an undercurrent of racisit feeling towards him from quite a few locals on many occasions. Not sure if targeting India is so smart if this is the general view.

Cobalt 60, it is a valid point, but as you say it is an undercurrent. From an economic standpoint, the two countries are getting closer and any underlying feelings some Thai's have for Indians should not be felt by tourists to Thailand. In all my years in Bangkok, I have never seen an open display of this undercurrent, but you do hear comments so you know it exists.

Being an Indian in Thailand i too feel a very small degree of racism... so small that it doesn't bother me, but some of my Indian friends do feel it. There is no open display, and on many occasions miscommunication due to the language barrier may also be interpreted as racism.

The upside is that within the last one year, ive noticed that there has been a big change in the way a Thai looks at an Indian.

[astral]

.........the tourism organisation in collaboration with 29 private hotels..........

And how many hotels are there in Thailand.........???

29 is a mere drop in the ocean.

Hardly worth mentioning.

[pointofview]

Years after leaving Mallorca (lived in lager lout central for 3 years), I returned to stay in multi hundred dollar per night suites in hotels like La Residencia. Why ? because I had once experienced the other side of Mallorca. Thail;and could do well to remember that the guy sitting in his Bt1000 a day Pattaya hotel room may be able to afford Bt10,000 a day but choses not to and spends that money in other sectors of the economy. Lose the Bt1000 a day room and you lose the other Bt10,000 daily cash injection only to replace it with a Bt2500 a day hotel room and people who only spend Bt1500 a day.

How very true

Indeed! My home town in England is a mecca for nightlife and the council activley encourage big spending, big drinking 18 to 25 year olds. They understand they have to manage the negative side - but they also understand that this is where the buisness is. No stupid face bull. Jobs, economy - not the interests of the elite pure breads

[pointofview]

Didnt the TAT say previously they didnt need more tourists, focusing on quality??

yes , but that was last week.

And yet they keep spinning new slogan every fortnight without actual coordination from different related agency.

Why do they hide thier office in Pattaya away from public view? Well i asked them - cheaper rent! Amazing thailand!!!

[UnknownPoster]

Clean up the national parks and make them world class.

You can't polish a turd.

Unfortunatly, the Parks and Beaches have been trashed over the last 20 years and are going down...fast. Noisy, dirty and crawling with scammers.

As for enticing quality tourists.... How will they enjoy riding the ripoff Baht Buses and TukTuks in the resorts I wonder? People with money don't want to be jerked around by these disrespctfull transport punks.

Another case of the transport mafia ruining the reputation of the country.

[jumnien]

Unfortunately, for those of us that enjoy and respect Thailand, the number of tourist arrivals will rise. It's a shame really, but what can you do. Live and let live.

[Suszzy]

Oh! and put a smile on the immigration people's faces. Don't forget, theirs are the first tourists see.

Ah...immigration!!

they have a stone face..hardly smile..like that everywhere

i suppose they have a hard job and boring one!,

not just in los, though. Heatthrow airport...worse!!

[JR Texas]

Unfortunately, for those of us that enjoy and respect Thailand, the number of tourist arrivals will rise. It's a shame really, but what can you do. Live and let live.

In the long run, population growth, the collapse of the life systems (air, water, soil, living biota) and a dose of global warming with its negative effect will cause a retraction in the number of tourists visiting LOS/LOJ. A serious avian flu epidemic will do wonders for tourism (a real possibility). The advertisements do not show the crowds and filth at the beaches........tourists will come here and find out the reality of the place and tell others.

In addition, a growing number of expats are talking about the negative side of LOS/LOJ and the visa/business rules kjust keep getting worse...this will have a serious impact on tourism, but it will take time for the word to spread.

Young people that are being screwed by the current system (the slaves of globalization) will not have the money to travel or retire here when they get older.......it does not look good to me in the long run. In the short run it is likely that tourists will continue to come.

It is worth noting that the official figures are misleading.......it is really difficult to say what is actually happening now in terms of tourism. It is possible and likely that tourism is declining now........if you just talk with shop owners in various places that cater to foreigners you hear that tourism is way down from last year (same with taxi drivers that take people to and from the airport). I would listen to them before listening to the govt.

[Ricardo]

Thailand should rid itself of the alcoholics, prior convicts, drug dealers, overstayer and other rif raff that come here under the guise of tourism, many of which remain and give this wonderful nation a bad name in one form or another.

As we used to say, running backpacker-hostels, life would be just fine , without the backpackers !

Perhaps it would be better to learn to handle the customers you've got, and encourage to stay longer the ones who are less-disruptive, by dropping the taxi-mafia (been to Phuket lately ?) and double-charging (National Parks anyone ?) and early-closing of bars (which encourages binge-drinking) and so on.

At the end of the day, Thailand is popular with budget-travellers (or backpacker-scum as some would resepectfully call them) and single-men, who often become married-couples & family-tourists with great loyalty to Thailand, as time progresses. So get used to it.

It could be worse, as the tourist-trade in Chiang Mai found out last winter, when their regular tourists were displaced by 4 million domestic-tourists, who slept on their buses & ate in the 39-Baht All-You-Can-Eat restaurants & did their own laundry & bought their drinks at 7-11 instead of the hotel-minibar !

[Payboy]

It could be worse, as the tourist-trade in Chiang Mai found out last winter, when their regular tourists were displaced by 4 million domestic-tourists, who slept on their buses & ate in the 39-Baht All-You-Can-Eat restaurants & did their own laundry & bought their drinks at 7-11 instead of the hotel-minibar !

i dont think they displaced regular tourists if they were sleeping on buses and eating moo-kratha buffets.

that was just an additional boost to the tourist trade in cm, imho.

Edited September 4, 2007 by Payboy

[capaotung]

Unfortunately, for those of us that enjoy and respect Thailand, the number of tourist arrivals will rise. It's a shame really, but what can you do. Live and let live.

I wish there were MUCH LESS tourists coming here too but if your reasons are because you think they are spoiling the environment, I think you have never been in parks, beaches and other public open areas where the Thais and almost no one else go...

[Crushdepth]

3 weeks and your out!

new Thai slogan to attract "fast" tourisme.

Hilarious Or they could try Send your wallet on a holiday! It would be much more convenient if people just sent them the money and they didn't have to deal with all those ###### dirty foreigners.

Edit: Isn't censoring the word 'd@mn' a bit overzealous? It makes my post look a lot more offensive than it actually was, IMHO.

Edited September 4, 2007 by Crushdepth

[JohnnyThai]

you have to be certain that the farang familes who come here go home saying

"it was great except the tuk tuk always ripped us off and there are too many creepy old guys walking around with young girls".

Thailand has an image in the West that it will have to work hard to shed, if its even possible.

[Dupont]

Unfortunately, for those of us that enjoy and respect Thailand, the number of tourist arrivals will rise. It's a shame really, but what can you do. Live and let live.

I wish there were MUCH LESS tourists coming here too but if your reasons are because you think they are spoiling the environment, I think you have never been in parks, beaches and other public open areas where the Thais and almost no one else go...

And thats another beef,

We have to pay 10 times the thai rate to visit these plastic bag, crisp packet, half eaten hotdog, cocktail stick, fag end and coffee cup graveyards.

The more Thais, the more of the above. I've been to lots of em, in and out of season.

[Dupont]

you have to be certain that the farang familes who come here go home saying

"it was great except the tuk tuk always ripped us off and there are too many creepy old guys walking around with young girls".

Thailand has an image in the West that it will have to work hard to shed, if its even possible.

Ok then Johnny Thai and the other PC whackos. How about:

"all the creepy young thai girls feeding off poor old men"? or "those really creepy thai men that cut off their dicks, put on dresses to go walking round with old guys.

Whose making the most moves here? who chases who the most here? I've never met a guy here thats ever had to chase a girl or woman over here. You have hel_l on avoiding em, even if you're married.

Doesn't have the same ring to it does it?

[Daewoo]

My 0.646047 THB worth...

The first thing most Aussies think of when you mention Thailand is cheap sex and ladyboys. It does an enormous amount of damage to the ability of Thailand to generate tourism from here. This is despite the fact that sex is probably cheaper in most other countries of Asia, the workers more likely to be underage and enslaved in other Asian countries, and the typical clientele no worse than other countries.

Most potential tourists don't look into the facts, they see Thailand portrayed that way in the Media, and choose to spend their money elsewhere.

Those that do make it to the LoS then have to deal with low levels of English language skills. This results in the tourist feeling uncomfortable and exposed doing simple things like making the trip from the airport to the hotel, or taking themself to some of the tourist spots. If the only person who speaks English, and who approaches you to offer assistance at the airport is part of the taxi mafia who rips you off, you will have a very negative experience and tell everyone 'back home'. Better education and especially better English would greatly improve the experience for the tourist.

Just to qualify my statement above, most Europeans speak English to varying degrees, and focusing on English is much better than trying to have Thais learn many different languages. Japanese and Koreans have a different attitude to travel than Europeans, typically enjoying being part of a group of their own countrymen, so learning those languages, whilst an advantage, is less important.

To my mind the biggest hurdle to Thai Tourism is the Thai personality, being quite reserved with strangers. I believe that most travellers like to interact with the people of the country they are travelling to. I don't know if it the language barrier, but it is much more difficult to engage with a Thai than in most any other country I have visited.

I don't think that TAT do a bad job promoting the country internationally, I just think that they try to spread themself too thin, and don't have focus.

Things will be different when I control the world...

Cheers,

Daewoo

[retiredusn]

you have to be certain that the farang familes who come here go home saying

"it was great except the tuk tuk always ripped us off and there are too many creepy old guys walking around with young girls".

Thailand has an image in the West that it will have to work hard to shed, if its even possible.

Ok then Johnny Thai and the other PC whackos. How about:

"all the creepy young thai girls feeding off poor old men"? or "those really creepy thai men that cut off their dicks, put on dresses to go walking round with old guys.

Whose making the most moves here? who chases who the most here? I've never met a guy here thats ever had to chase a girl or woman over here. You have hel_l on avoiding em, even if you're married.

Doesn't have the same ring to it does it?

Yep, that's the reality of it Dupont but the image Thailand has in the west is of creepy old men with young girls.

Unfortunately the typical guilt-ridden self loathing Westerner has a hard time accepting that the Thais themselves are doing the exploiting most of the time, as it doesn't fit in with their self-depreciating view of the rest of the World.

How very ###### funny for tat/tot to ask for people to come when the gov. is doing all it can too kick out law abiding retired folks it can not be the money folks bring in as they (the gov) do not want what is already here.

[kevc]

I've got a good idea to attract more tourists over Xmas, lets hold an election on the 23rd December that should attract lots of tourists especially after last New Years Eve.

[Tony Clifton]

Seems like a bad moment to launch such a campaign.

[Bagwan]

you have to be certain that the farang familes who come here go home saying

"it was great except the tuk tuk always ripped us off and there are too many creepy old guys walking around with young girls".

If holiday makers have a problem with the sight of me and my younger wife going about our daily business then THEY have a problem - not me nor Thailand. I suggest those who are offended go to Bournemouth, Coney Island or wherever instead.

I do not regulate my life to please other people - EVER.

[UnknownPoster]

Seems like a bad moment to launch such a campaign.

Top Ten reasons to go somewhere else on holiday.

(10)Tsunamis,

(9) Bird flue,

(8) Piss tests,

(7)Rude behavior by customs officials,

(6)Druggings,spiking drinks

(5) Limo touts,

(4)Special farang priced menus,

(3)Stray dogs,

(2)Double pricing Triple pricing....

(1)and... Why come here anyway..the Tuk Tuk drivers said the Temples are always CLOSED.

Edited September 5, 2007 by UnknownPoster

[kevc]

Quote: [Do you have any evidence to prove this or is this merely your opinion? Here's something to try: Go to an island with no tourism and see how the locals treat the environment. You'll see tons of trash everywhere, trees cleared for rubber plantations or oil palms and all of the things that they can do to strip every last baht out of their surroundings.

Reminds me of a couple of things, first time I visited my wifes family, I finished a bottle of beer and asked wheres the bin? her mother took it from me and threw it on the road side.

Ten years later we move here and we've got lots of rubbish to dump, so a friend says "just take it down the river and it floats away".

[kevc]

One last thought for the day, wouldn't it be nice to get into a taxi on a rainy day in Bangkok and the taxi driver would take you wherever you wanted to go. I no foolish to even think it.

A friend of mine on his hols asked a taxi on a rainy day to take him to a certain restuarant, taxi driver says I'm not going there it's too far I take you to another one, ( bare in mind rainy day) he takes him to an outside place, when he says he doesn't like it he brings him back and charges him 140 baht for the experience.