Battered Tourism Sector Seeks Urgent Government Help

[chiangdan]

I know some people who went to a neighbour country and got the only 14 day Visa (but wanted to stay longer).

Thailand is doing everything to get rid of the tourists and than they wonder why there are no tourists

Maybe there will be a time the government will understand that tourists won't come if it is better somewhere else.

I agree Thailand is doing their level best to get rid of the long stay falang....but exactly why are they doing it ?? I too spend buckets of money to support my wife and 3 children here. Is it racism plain and simple ??

So true if you treated a thai or any other nationality in Australia the way thais's treat farangs you would be racist and open to civil litigation. Let me see a farang try and sue in Thailand but in Australia you can and would win the case.

[gerardbeekers]

Dear everyone,

It might be an open door telling this all, but....

What a great indept analyses this newspaper has been giving to us all. Great journalists they have! The article creates no vision at all, I think.

To my humble knowledge, is it right to say:

Dropping to 27.000 from last years' 165.000 (from the 1st until the 15th of June, I presume) does mean +/- 84 % less tourism in Thailand right? Maybe I am not understanding these cyfers also.... and why do they allways talk about this flue and the blockage off the airport and political unrest as a reason only? What about the intake-portfolio of agencies and air-companies now?

Why Mr. Tosaporn Thepbutr is only inviting these Japanese and Chinese promotion teams? How many tourists they have lost through the past 10 years from the USA, CANADA, ALASKA, EUROPE and AUSTRALIA. I guess a lot more, than all people coming over from IRAN or HONG KONG every year!

The government doesn't seem to be interested anymore in the tourists from the past? And thetourists from these nations were the big spenders! Same, like they don't like the investing people from these nations anymore? Are these Chinese people, booking a cheap round trip, the big spenders.

What about changing (and thus their stepping up) all the Company- and Immigration-rules, day by day? Would that not have had any effect to the drop of tourism from all these countries?

To my opinion the newspaper reporters should ask for more explanation on this subject, before publishing useless rubbish and nonsence for a fact.

Like many others amoungst you, I invested also a few million in Thailand through the years, but I do not feel the real 'appreciation' or do not see the 'real smile' from before anymore. I did not believe it, when some years ago an old friend told me: 'the more you get to know the Thai people, the less you will understand them' and quote: 'the more you will hate them' - he left Thailand already, by the way-. Should I and all of you leave this beautiful second home too?

I think the global recession is the main issue everybody is dealing with, apart from the stupid blockages this Thai government is raising all the time for us foreigners.

When they would change the atmosfere for the real money-makers, they would be more succesfully in keeping Thailand the ideal country for tourists and investors.

This means I think, they have to produce: better true analyses( even when people loose face), more transparancy, less 'stupid' corruption( in every aspect), better infra-structure and cleaner streets and beaches at tourist-area's.

Sofar my commend.

I hope for common sence, whishful thinking?

Battered tourism sector seeks urgent government help

BANGKOK: -- Amid a sharp drop in tourist arrivals to Thailand, the country's tourism agencies were alarmed and strongly urging the government to provide urgent measures to rescue the beleaguered industry.

Tosaporn Thepbutr, deputy-chairman of Committee on Tourism and Sports, said the Association of Domestic Travel (ADT), the Thai-Chinese Tourism Alliance Association (TCTA) and Thailand-Japan Tourism Promotion Association on Tuesday submitted a complaint letter to the committee.

They charged that although the government had announced tourism as a national priority, to date no concrete measures have been implemented by concerned-agencies to boost the country's tourism industry. So the premier himself should intervene to resolve the problems.

Thailand's tourist arrivals sharply drop to a critical level, Mr. Tosaporn said, in June alone, the number of tourist arrivals has dropped from 165,000 in the same period of 2008, to 27,000 in 2009 due to the Influenza A(H1N1) outbreak, or 33.45 per cent year-on-year.

Mr. Tosaporn said that with the falling number of tourist arrivals from almost every nation, except from Iran and Hong Kong, the earlier estimated arrival levels of 11 million tourists projected by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) will be unlikely to achieve the target.

"The causes of the sharp drop in tourist arrivals are attributed to the closure of Suvarnabhumi Airport by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) in November and December, and recent domestic political turmoil, combined with the current outbreak of the H1N1 flu," Mr. Tosaporn said.

-- TNA 2009-06-17

[SabaiBKK]

i do not agree, 60% of people who plan a vacation nowadays are browsing the web forums about the destination they want to go .... usually lonely planet forums but there are plenty out there .... just do a google search as if you were planning a vacation in thailand and read the forums , what will you see? HORROR STORIES about the bad attitude of thais towards torists starting with the first impression they get of the socalled "land of smiles" being an immigration officers who doesn't smile , doesn't say welcome, hello or goodbye .... then the horrendous queues at the airport , followed by the scammers for the taxis that are REALLY agressive following you all the way to the legitimate taxi queue .... then the taxi not bringing you to the right hotel hoping for a kickback if you accept his "recomended" hotel ( this is mostly true in phuket ) .... then all the above mentioned problem on top of awfully expensive hotels that still under construction, with the garbage in front of your room's door and not even a shelve to put your clothes in ( true story happened to my parents in a 4000 baht per night hotel in krabi 2 years ago ) .... all in all my parent whose both children live in thailand and used to come spend an average of 3 months a year spending at least a million baht a month, are no going more to the carribean and will come to thailand only in case of absolute necessity , they are absolutely fed up by the Thais bad attitude towards foreigners .... and each time their friends ask them about going to thailand they just disuade them the best they can with all the horror stories they have been through ....

i guess they are not the only ones to strongly advise people not to bother with thailand judging by the reports you can read on most travel boards

and i'll counter your 60% with 98% of people who post on internet forums about their holidays being those people who had something go wrong or who had an appalling experience. you never hear about the good and positive stories online, just the shit from people who often want something to moan about and will do so come hel_l or high water. they're always localised and very personal stories, i'm talking about global perception of tens of thousands of tourists and ergo potential customers.

you are right but the point is that that is the only thing the readers will see nowadays ..... on the other hand prior to 2001 ( hint hint ) the majority of posts about thailand were at the contrary quite positive ....

Edited June 17, 2009 by SabaiBKK

[StevieH]

you are right but the point is that that is the only thing the readers will see nowadays ..... on the other hand prior to 2001 ( hint hint ) the majority of posts about thailand were at the contrary quite positive ....

know what you mean of course since the sites which rank highest in search engines now are not necessarily those which give fair representations of a place. but i still think that the overriding perception that people will take of thailand is that which comes from the foreign office or the bbc. don't go there, politically unstable, liable to be riots at any moment, reds vs yellows, which is before we even mention the swine flu and dodgy coppers etc. . .

[Hawkup2000]

What do you guys think? Can the damage be undone fast or will it be a tough market for Thailand for years to come?

[katana]

Hogwash (pun intended) I'm just getting over a case of the piggy flu and it's no worse than your average flu, in fact quite mild compared to some I've suffered through. The media is causing undue alarm- this is NOT a new virus, just a new strain of Influenza A. And all the talk about mutation and plague is just that- talk. Sure, a virus can mutate, and sure, North Korea could nuke Alaska, and sure an asteroid could hit the planet and wipe us all out. Doesn't mean it's going to happen! Why worry about things that are completely beyond your control? I believe it was the Japanese Zen master Takuan who said, in the face of adversity, "Seek only to be contented"...

Good advice methinks

Just out of interest, did you take any meds for it like Tamiflu, or fight it with your own body's defences?

[SabaiBKK]

you are right but the point is that that is the only thing the readers will see nowadays ..... on the other hand prior to 2001 ( hint hint ) the majority of posts about thailand were at the contrary quite positive ....

know what you mean of course since the sites which rank highest in search engines now are not necessarily those which give fair representations of a place. but i still think that the overriding perception that people will take of thailand is that which comes from the foreign office or the bbc. don't go there, politically unstable, liable to be riots at any moment, reds vs yellows, which is before we even mention the swine flu and dodgy coppers etc. . .

the only thing i don't get is: people are saying that the tourism drop is because of the political events BUT the tourism industry was frourishing at its best from may 1992 till 2003.

and the black may 92 was seen all over the world as well as the foreigners ( mostly journalists ) that were shot or killed when the army opened direct fire with REAL bullets on peaceful demonstrators seated at democrazy monument ... the airport blockade and the aborted red-volution are kiddy games compared to what happened back then and i don't think it has any impact on the tourism slump which started like 5 years ago ( even before the tsunami )....

[Samuian]

Except for swine flu, all these problems are self-inflicted.

.... the world wide economic downturn too?

....the failure of lehmann Bros.?

the downturn of major currencies, the former high oilprice..

that June and July are the weakest months since...ever...?

I see... has all to do with the closure of swampy, yellow and red shirt movements!

Has the last subway-worker strike in london shut down anything... are the tourist arrivals less because of this?

Edited June 17, 2009 by Samuian

[loong]

Whew! this topic kept growing as i was reading it - I thought I'd never get to the end.

I think the authorities should read threads like this and actually try to understand why there is so much negativity from people who Do come here regularly or stay long term.

So many people have bad things to say about Thailand and there has to be a reason for this.

If they want tourists to come to Thailand, then do something about the things that people are complaining about.

[chiangdan]

What do you guys think? Can the damage be undone fast or will it be a tough market for Thailand for years to come?

It can be fixed but it will take 10 yrs of good clean government and proper local management. I think everytime the have political unrest they slide back 5 years and at there current rate in 5 yrs time they are going to be 50 yrs behind the rest of the world. Can you get lower than a 3rd world country? lets see.

Clean up the sex industry and the image it is giving to the world of thailand. They can have one but take it of the streets and the in your face way it is at the moment put it behind closed doors like all other civilised countries.

[webfact]

What do you guys think? Can the damage be undone fast or will it be a tough market for Thailand for years to come?

It can be fixed but it will take 10 yrs of good clean government and proper local management. I think everytime the have political unrest they slide back 5 years and at there current rate in 5 yrs time they are going to be 50 yrs behind the rest of the world. Can you get lower than a 3rd world country? lets see.

Clean up the sex industry and the image it is giving to the world of thailand. They can have one but take it of the streets and the in your face way it is at the moment put it behind closed doors like all other civilised countries.

Can you be more specific. What civilized countries you have in mind?

[ThaisGood]

Bad economy is the main reason.

Closing the airport is the other big reason. The persons who arranged for closing the airport should be put on trial, including the pooyai.

Visa problems are a big reason also. I can give one example. I know three people who earn a good living in Alaska. They have spent about 3-4 months in Thailand each year for the last 10 years or so. I was talking to one of them recently. He said now the entry visa (people on this website will know a lot more about it) is only for fifteen days!! Is that true?! He spends a ton of money on extended vacation in Thailand each year. Now he spends most of his time in Vietnam. His friends who used to go to Thailand are traveling elsewhere also.

[dbaron]

Not sure why this panicking about less tourists. When I arrived over a week ago, the airport was heaving with arrivals and even longer than usual queues at immigration (partly because of the heat camera screening they were doing). When my gf tried to book a hotel for some friends who arrived last week she found out all was fully booked. Can't really be all that bad apparently.

If they want to see what a collapsed tourism industry looks like they should visit Zimbabwe.

Heat screening machines causing delay. What a load of bull_shit. Was thru Phuket airport twice last week and no delay as you walk straight thru them. In fact no delay anywhere by comparison to return to Australia. As for hotels they are almost almost empty, The streets also quiet even Bangla compared to 2 years ago. Prices are 1/2 as much again from 2007. The Thais will never learn

[ThaisGood]

and the black may 92 was seen all over the world as well as the foreigners ( mostly journalists ) that were shot or killed when the army opened direct fire with REAL bullets on peaceful demonstrators seated at democrazy monument ... the airport blockade and the aborted red-volution are kiddy games compared to what happened back then and i don't think it has any impact on the tourism slump which started like 5 years ago ( even before the tsunami )....

I disagree. I was living in Bangkok during May 92 (I was there 1991-1994). That event occurred fairly quickly, and the royal intervention put a nice spin on things.

Recently closing the airport for a few weeks, that really killed the tourism a lot more than May 92. A lot of tourists are serious people with important careers. Getting stuck on vacation, locked out of an airport, is just too much risk to take. I believe a lot of tourists may not visit Thailand for years because of that airport closure. Perhaps many people who get stuck in a habit of visiting Thailand year after year, will change and start going elsewhere.

Airport closure was HUGE.

[Maverell]

If they want tourists to come to Thailand, then do something about the things that people are complaining about.

You are forgetting something. Even though they know the real reasons for the decine in their image they cannot accept, react to or otherwise face constructive criticism - full stop.

As for tourism declining I still think it has all to do with value for money against risk equation. Taking into consideration the worlds economic problems, the exchange rates, the scams, inflated tourist entertainment prices and with the perceived risk of violence, value for money is not achievable for many people thinking of coming to Thailand.

Edited June 17, 2009 by Maverell

[pepi2005]

Clean up the sex industry and the image it is giving to the world of thailand. They can have one but take it of the streets and the in your face way it is at the moment put it behind closed doors like all other civilised countries.

c'mon, that's just the b*shit certain groups and politicians want to make you believe.

The sex industry is no problem for tourism, and never was - actually exactly the opposite.

And it attracts a group of tourists who usually have their pockets FULL of money - ready to spend all of it for "party!" within just 1-2 weeks, we all know that. Thailand has very little competition in this sector - but according to Thai logic, they will have to destroy it because it is successful and unique ... and as a matter of fact - they have started with that a long while ago! They are not even embarrassed (no "Thai pride" here at all!) to quote exactly the same reasons for these 'crackdowns' the Western goverments and political correctness groups are advertising!

Nowadays (my guess is because a minority of dumb families and couples really believed what they have read in the tourist brochures before booking - that Pattaya is a great beach resort ... just to find that it`s a little bit different, but of course now being stuck there they have to make the best out of it) you can even see Western couples walking through Pattaya's Walking Street with their baby buggies at 11pm!

Well, let's see where all of them will go if all bars are behind closed doors, so that they are left only with Pattaya's ugly, polluted and stinking beaches, giant potholes even on main roads and all the scams and exploits awaiting pedestrians on every corner!

[Ulysses G.]

and the black may 92 was seen all over the world as well as the foreigners ( mostly journalists ) that were shot or killed when the army opened direct fire with REAL bullets on peaceful demonstrators seated at democrazy monument ... the airport blockade and the aborted red-volution are kiddy games compared to what happened back then and i don't think it has any impact on the tourism slump which started like 5 years ago ( even before the tsunami )....

I disagree. I was living in Bangkok during May 92 (I was there 1991-1994). That event occurred fairly quickly, and the royal intervention put a nice spin on things.

Recently closing the airport for a few weeks, that really killed the tourism a lot more than May 92. A lot of tourists are serious people with important careers. Getting stuck on vacation, locked out of an airport, is just too much risk to take. I believe a lot of tourists may not visit Thailand for years because of that airport closure. Perhaps many people who get stuck in a habit of visiting Thailand year after year, will change and start going elsewhere.

Airport closure was HUGE.

I was in Bangkok in May 92 and you are right, closing the airport caused much bigger problems for tourism than anything else has. Of course doing it during the first week of high season did not help anything!

[dbaron]

making life easier for foreigners here and not thinking we are all dam stupid, it is us that keep this country afloat and provide the services that they need aon a professinal level, teaches to teach their kids better english so they can get a better education and provide more for their family...

getting rid of the rediculous 150 baht fee that gets added onto any atm transaction on top of ur own banks fee and the currency conversion fees.....

Stupid is as stupid does. (or posts, in this case)

Indeed where would Thailand be without people like you to teach them proper English...

Get a grip! And whether you're a tourist or an expat, there's certainly nothing forcing you to stay in Thailand.

Sure the country has serious issues. If things get worse I may well decide to pack up and leave. But what country doesn't have problems these days???

If you can't appreciate the positives you are always welcome to leave. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Yep, BigBike, It makes you wonder why they left their native countries to begin with, and speaking as an ex pat I don't think there is much about Thailand that bothers me. I certainly don't expect Thailand to change their culture, politics and business to suit my tastes. Live with it or leave....

Now as far as tourist go? I avoid them like them plague, and if Thais want to figure out a way to attract a larger number of drunken Brit, Aussie, German, and American sex tourists in sleeveless tee shirts, and rip them off. Well, more power to the Thais!

Does it matter what people wear as in singlets ( your words sleeveless tshirts) why rip people off.

Less people will recommend the country to visit and refer people to other countries. I went to Malaysia 2 weeks ago and is half the price of Thailand for most things except food. But food is still good value in comparison to Australia particullarly seafood.

You might be expat but think about tourist dollar and it going elsewhere to other countries. It might cost you in the end when we don't come. Expats like you I would avoid like the plague also just like you would mr the tourist. ( Idiot)

[toptuan]

English Proverb: The poor workman blames his tools.

Thai Proverb: The bad dancer blames the dummer.

TAT: "Despite draconian changes we (the gov't.) made to visa policies, we blame PAD & the flu!"

[cognos]

Biting the hand that feeds..Thailand does not help itself..when SEX TOURISTS from places like Taiwan and Hong Kong leave LOS but also leave a present of Swine Flu in Pattaya and Phuket..well the Media in Farang-land has a field day with it..People go TSK TSK and book to Mexico , Hawaii, or anywhere but LOS..the GARBAGE on the beaches left unpicked up..the lowest common denominator of farang expat drunken ignorant hooligans fighting..tatooed warriors..80% marryings bg's ( NOT that there's anything wrong with that)..jumpers..closets..female blond "entitled" bar mat thieves..crooked cops desperate for beer and mia noi money.."rabid" dogs..not to mention the economy..If LOS was a bed..the sheets have been defecated on..so who wants to jump in???? soon it will just be farang (who keep a low profile) like me coming to visit the wife's family..

[mommysboy]

Bad economy is the main reason.

Closing the airport is the other big reason. The persons who arranged for closing the airport should be put on trial, including the pooyai.

Visa problems are a big reason also. I can give one example. I know three people who earn a good living in Alaska. They have spent about 3-4 months in Thailand each year for the last 10 years or so. I was talking to one of them recently. He said now the entry visa (people on this website will know a lot more about it) is only for fifteen days!! Is that true?! He spends a ton of money on extended vacation in Thailand each year. Now he spends most of his time in Vietnam. His friends who used to go to Thailand are traveling elsewhere also.

Then there's the murder rate including those sickly beheadings.

And just plain bad value for money all the sudden.

And the scams.

[harleyclarkey]

Thailand's tourist arrivals sharply drop to a critical level, Mr. Tosaporn said, in June alone, the number of tourist arrivals has dropped from 165,000 in the same period of 2008, to 27,000 in 2009 due to the Influenza A(H1N1) outbreak, or 33.45 per cent year-on-year.

-- TNA 2009-06-17

So, 165,000 down to 27,000. That's a 138,000 less tourists....that's an 83.6% drop from 2008 to 2009. They got bigger tourism problems than they'll report. They better keep that rice exportation industry a float.

DO YOU THINK THEY WILL RECOGNIZE OUR PLACE HERE

OR WILL THEY CONTINUE TO TREAT US AS ONLY VISITORS

THEY RELY HEAVILY ON A TOURIST INDUSTRY THAT THEY SHUN DAY AFTER DAY

BUT NOW THEY ARE CRYING AND DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO

MAYBE A FEW LESSONS IN LONGEVITY FOR THE TOURISTS AND RESIDENT FARANGS AS WELL

Yeah, THEY better recognize YOUR PLACE in LOS. How dare they not recognize YOUR place there. THEY better do as you (foreigner) wants them to do. How dare THEY make their own rules for their own country. THEY need to do what foreigners want them to do.

Get a clue siamjimi. I hope a bunch of South Korean trash come to your country and demand that your government recognizes THEIR (Koreans) place in your country and that they tell your government what to do.

The big shot from California calls S Koreans thrash? What's your point here??

The expats...are you one or are you just shouting from California??....have every right to be heard. The Thais are happy enough to screw thenm on a daily basis with no recourse to any kind of proper authority. It is not the rules per se, but the way they are enforced and changed at will and interpreted at will.

But then angry sad guys like you must enjoy this.

Edited June 17, 2009 by harleyclarkey

[webfact]

and the black may 92 was seen all over the world as well as the foreigners ( mostly journalists ) that were shot or killed when the army opened direct fire with REAL bullets on peaceful demonstrators seated at democrazy monument ... the airport blockade and the aborted red-volution are kiddy games compared to what happened back then and i don't think it has any impact on the tourism slump which started like 5 years ago ( even before the tsunami )....

I disagree. I was living in Bangkok during May 92 (I was there 1991-1994). That event occurred fairly quickly, and the royal intervention put a nice spin on things.

Recently closing the airport for a few weeks, that really killed the tourism a lot more than May 92. A lot of tourists are serious people with important careers. Getting stuck on vacation, locked out of an airport, is just too much risk to take. I believe a lot of tourists may not visit Thailand for years because of that airport closure. Perhaps many people who get stuck in a habit of visiting Thailand year after year, will change and start going elsewhere.

Airport closure was HUGE.

I was in Bangkok in May 92 and you are right, closing the airport caused much bigger problems for tourism than anything else has. Of course doing it during the first week of high season did not help anything!

I lived here too in 92 and by this time I was a frequent flyer. Good old Don Muang was busy and crowded as always. Even 97 was less damaging.

[gavstah]

"RIOTS" take place in your country, but there you call them free democratic expression of people's feelings and ideas. And I don't care RED, YELLOW or BLUE shirts they are wearing, as long as they are not brown/black... Check your country again.

Er . . . yeah, last time I checked my country, rioting and taking over/shutting down an international airport would have been dealt with swiftly - and the perpetrators prosecuted promptly and had the book thrown at them . . . .

[harleyclarkey]

Yep, BigBike, It makes you wonder why they left their native countries to begin with, and speaking as an ex pat I don't think there is much about Thailand that bothers me. I certainly don't expect Thailand to change their culture, politics and business to suit my tastes. Live with it or leave....

Now as far as tourist go? I avoid them like them plague, and if Thais want to figure out a way to attract a larger number of drunken Brit, Aussie, German, and American sex tourists in sleeveless tee shirts, and rip them off. Well, more power to the Thais!

Serious issues?? The whole country and its' system, from the top down, is a total mess. Lots of other countries are not as stupid as Thailand. The rip off and racism is constant and I just got tired of it.

My guess is that a lot of ex pats live there solely because it is a cheap place to live. Well, it used to be. Now there is competition from its neighbours and this does not auger well for Thailand.

Tourists?? Drunks? Sex tourists? Don't lump us all in the same cess pit.

Hmmm. So tourists are cess pit?? No wonder LOS is making it more difficult for tourists in LOS. Most other countries would not want these "cess pit" contributers (tourists) in their country either. I wonder how the three different percents of incoming tourist dollars from the three sub-categories of tourists ( "tourists", "drunks", and "sex tourists") breaks down. What percents of the Thai economy is generated by these three categories? Many expat "residents" fail to recognize that they are just long-term tourists... and nothing more. Thus, they must be "cess pit" also. You will never be accepted as a Thai would. You will always be viewed as an outsider by the majority of Thais.

Harley Clarkey...Glad to find out the you are "above" the tourists, etc.

"You handsom, high class, and Hi So Harley!" "You very important man Harley."

Read the reply properly....and then write your rant. I didn't call tourists cess pits.

You are SO SO right man....I am way above the drunken, shouting, fighting sex pest you see too often on the streets of Thailand. Why the angry personal reply? Are you one of them?

[jellykookabanj]

Whew! this topic kept growing as i was reading it - I thought I'd never get to the end.

I think the authorities should read threads like this and actually try to understand why there is so much negativity from people who Do come here regularly or stay long term.

So many people have bad things to say about Thailand and there has to be a reason for this.

If they want tourists to come to Thailand, then do something about the things that people are complaining about.

Wonderful comment. I too have spent a long time reading through this thread. I am a 9 year resident in Issan. I met and married a Thai woman (now 50 years old) and am 59 myself. I do not drink (rarity in Issan). I exclude myself from the "cesspit" of tourists alluded to by many posters.

I took early retirement from a good job and took a reduced pension. I was able to live very comfortably on this until the past 2 years. My pension is considerably greater than the normal pay rates here in Issan. I have seen all sorts of obstacles placed in my decision to live in LOS with my wife. If I am struggling to exist, then the poor Thais are really in the mire.

BUT I do insist that I DO have a say in tourism. Up until the past 2 years I have had many family and friends go out of their way to came visit with me for their main holiday. Due to the FALSE value of the Baht I have told many of them not to return for a while until things get back to normal.

At the tail end of last year I watched a Thai TV news piece showing the governor of the Bank of Thailand beeming a huge smile while stating that he was an incredibly clever man to invest billions of baht into the exchange market to maintain the false level of Baht. Why he did this I have no idea but in one swoop he cost the economy of Thailand billions of baht and helped to increase the number of stay away tourists. He also helped to lower the level of money received by exporters for thai goods to abroad.

Am I alone in this trend of thinking or have many other long term residents given the same advice to friends and family.

Sorry to go on, but I despair for some of the posters who think that their voice is the only one which should be heard. Far too many hypocrites on this and many other threads.

[marijka]

Wow - I started reading this topic was 4 pages, now it is 11, it is keeping me up!!

I am a booked tourist for my first trip to ? Phuket.

I have wanted to visit Thailand for 20 years and now I have a plane ticket for October.

Will I use it?? Not sure.

I have always wanted to visit the River Kwai, but because of the probs last year in Bangkok travelling thro Singapore.

I have read the posts here with great interest, I sympathise with expats living there, seems you are given the run around. I am of course interested in the tourist bit.

The bar mat incident - silly aussie - stubborn thai authorities, worldwide media beat up.

I read a lot of forums, the problems I have with forthcoming planned trip are atm fees and the ASEAN conference. At present it is planned for Phuket when I will be there and I don't want to get stuck not getting back to work.

By reading the forums I have also found that it is not the cheap holiday I thought it would be - wish I had booked to Bali or even back to Fiji where we were in April, since they devalued a week after we left it is very cheap.

Despite this as long as I can feel safe, cos of ASEAN, i will come and see my land of dreams - not just Phuket, in fact since reading the forums I don't think I want to go there, but tickets are booked. If I don't feel safe will go to Malaysia or Vietnam instead.

Swine flu - I live in Qld and there are the most over reactive place in the world I think - sneeze and close a school for 3 days!!

Expats I hope you get a better deal or learn to live with the deal you live with now

[luangtom]

C'mon, where is Thailand's traditional and all-encompassing, "mai phen rai"? Does not that cover everything that happens in the LOS? My Thai wife and I have a home in Thailand and still chose NOT to return this past Winter due to the unrest, scams, and the ongoing b.s. that pervades all levels of LOS. We spend at least ten-times the average pay of a Thai each month we are there and we chose not to do it this past Winter. Will we return this coming Winter? Who knows, only Thailand can answer that.....mai phen rai.

[kevinc]

I say, If you go to restaurant for 5 years and its great food, cheap and the staff welcome you then you keep going.

If you go there a week later and its rubbish food, expensive and the staff want a £20 entrance fee then you will stop going.

The simple maths are: Look around Asia, Its the same sun in the day but everywere is easier to get into or cheaper, I find that prices in Thailand are on a par with England, (The beers in the bars, the restaurants taxi's in Pattaya, The clothes and mobile phones are more expensive!!)

I say a BIG SOM NAM NAA to em,

Its my money, i go were i want and believe me i have spent lots of it in Thailand, But why the hel_l should i?, Why the hel_l should i spend thousands on holiday when basically its a night mare for visa's, the police, the security, the Baht bus drivers etc..

Just greedy, greedy and i laugh every time i see that the tourists are not coming. (I do feel sad for the average Thai's & farangs with business's but many of my friends in England cant pay there mortgages.

So thats my view..

SOM NAAM NAAAAAAAA!! save my £££££££

[macduff]

Ok i replied earlier to this thread and i have taken everyone's thoughts on the matter and here's what i want to say now

Firstly yes there is a global downturn which has been festering for the last 18 months or so.No jobs,No money,No holiday.

secondly the government is so busy with trying to overthrow itself it's lost track of the real issues here and the consequences of it's actions being right or wrong is irrelevant, eg AIRPORT SHUTDOWN. BIG MISTAKE.The repocusions will be felt for a long time yet.

Thirdly Visa issues. How can anybody invest in a country where they dont want you. All they want is your money .PERIOD.Or am i missing something?

And to end my thoughts on the matter the virus has played a part for me as i mentioned in my earlier post on not travelling to Thailand or anywhere on a plane for that matter due to the risk factor for the time being.I love Thailand and it's people (the ones that are not trying to rip you off).And for anybody who's going to reply to my post i'm married to a beutiful Thai lady with a very cheeky and lovable baby boy.