Just now, stevenl said:

Before COVID many Chinese were coming, same trend atm. The farang era has gone, things changed after the 2004 tsunami.

No, western people stopped coming because of flight price rises and increased paperwork, due to COVID.

I've not flown since COVID, when I was paying a maximum of 1,250bht per flight to China/Vietnam/PI (Cambodia was always a bit more expensive, so I'd take the bus BK to SR). Before I was flying 8 flights a year.

But it's not only pricing, part of it is the idea borders can close at no notice for no reason. My last flight from SR arrived in BK 15 minutes before lockdown, and I can do without that sort of poop happening!

Edited September 2Sep 2 by BritManToo

On 8/31/2026 at 6:12 PM, Hakuna Matata said:

The genuine tourists don't need to stay in Thailand more than 14 days.

Back in the 1990's 14 days was the standard. You arrived at immigration after your flight and you were granted 14 days to stay in the Kingdom.

7 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

So you can stay for years if you fly in and out, but there is always a risk that an officer doesn't allow you to cross the border.. In fact what is the use of a 30 days visa than if there are unlimited entries???

It is not a «  30 day visa » as you say.

It is a 30 day visa EXEMPT.

On 9/1/2026 at 12:58 AM, ikke1959 said:

So you can stay for years if you fly in and out, but there is always a risk that an officer doesn't allow you to cross the border.. In fact what is the use of a 30 days visa than if there are unlimited entries???

This has been talked about for months, and has only lead to panic amongst tourists, and long stay tourists that have bought legally,´condos for their winter stays .

Now this has been mentioned above but not yet published , it has caused annoyance and worry about how they are going to manage their stays.

Has the Thai government even thought about how the Thai Embassies are going to be able to handle an onslaught of hundreds of want to be 60:day Tourists with Visa ??? I think not.

For one example, The French Thai Embassy in Paris has announced a 4 week wait for a 60 day tourist Visa !!

What ! You get a tourist visa for Cambodia, Vietnam.Indonesia, Japan, even Australia in a day or two.

The whole process is a mess and exactly what the government will achieve as they are not capable of running an effective Visa Department at the Embassies, OR better still, online.