Mastercard Ranks Bangkok As The World's Best City For Tourism

[mikeinbangkok]

It is not a question of" IF one loves Thailand or Bangkok or Not!". Some of
the contributors to this forum are obnoxious and vulgar. In a professional forum as this,
it is not necessary to use vulgarity and obscenity . Anyway, it shows the
upbringing and background of those contributors so one cannot do much about it.

We all have choices. If we hate a certain place, we should not suffer. Find better
options. Those who are in Thailand ", in spite of " all the sufferings
and inconvenience, must have some reason to bear all that and still hang around
in the Kingdom. Surely there are better places...

[lemoncake]

And yet my CitiBank Mastercard is cancelled each and every time i use it in Bangkok or anywhere in Thailand.

Weird if you ask me

Really? How many times has it been canceled ... then reinstated so it can be cancelled yet again? No, really ... how many times?

In past 10 years, about 30 times and i am not joking. They cancel it, then send me out a new one and same happens each and every time.

[belg]

better stick to a country where people can actually communicate with you in stead of just a few words, double pricing and land of scams ....

[Gweiloman]

Fact is, in spite of what a lot of losers on this forum think, Bangkok and Thailand is one of the main tourist destinations in the world. Most contributors here are farangs, some of whom are barely subsisting from one day to the next after spending their pension on cigarettes and beer. Thus, they cannot be blamed for seeing Thailand through their own eyes only.

However, there are tens of thousands of tourists coming from non-white countries such as China, India, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Korea etc etc. For instance, there are about 800 Indonesian tourists from one insurance agency currently staying at a five star hotel in Ratchada. They will be here for 5 days 4 nights. Practically each and everyone of them will spend more money in the shopping centres of Bangkok than 10 farang sex tourists would spend in a week. That's the definition of high class vs low class tourist. TAT does not really give a toss about the tattoed flip flop wearing white tourist coming to Bangkok who ends up sitting on a bar stool every night.

[osiboy]

Most Thais would treat Farangs nicer than their own nationality. There are many complaint threads posted on Thai web boards about poor customer services given among Thais. Many stereo type Thais see Farangs as walking ATMs and they believe that all Farangs are rich but I know that is not true. Needless to explain to those greedy typical Thais who wants to schmooze Farangs for money.

Many typical Thais don't care much about other Asians except Japanese. (And Korean came in second)

PS. I am Thai but have spent my adult life abroad. As far I know that among Thais, we do not work together well as a team. It seems that majority Thais are brought up to be superficial and materialistic. Although we seem nice and friendly but behind those nice smiles could be deadly if you get them mad or things don't go their ways, they can be revengeful!.

As I can see how much its culture has changed downward spiral compared to many many years ago. I hear many Thais talk mostly how they want to be rich and want to have the same as what other rich people have. Many Thai families I know have family problems based on money issues whether rich or poor.

exactly how i see Thais Brooklyn , so selfish and greedy with little regard to how it effects others , i too have seen family arguments about money very often ......."thai rak thai",............as long as it doesn't cost anything !.

[super22k]

No,you are wrong,Gweiloman. Thailand has very few tourists compared with other countries. Check the statistics with a Google search. Here are the figures rounded up to the nearest million:

France: 79 million

USA: 59 million

China: 55 million

Spain: 52 million

Italy: 43 million

Britain: 28 million

Turkey: 27 million

Germany: 26 million etc.etc.ect.........

Much lower down comes Thailand at 11:million. Even in Asia they only come fourth behind China,Malaysia and Hong Kong. So how you can say Thailand gets the most tourists in the world is beyond me. Maybe you have been brainwashed into thinking this. Keep smiling my friend.

[osiboy]

Fact is, in spite of what a lot of losers on this forum think, Bangkok and Thailand is one of the main tourist destinations in the world. Most contributors here are farangs, some of whom are barely subsisting from one day to the next after spending their pension on cigarettes and beer. Thus, they cannot be blamed for seeing Thailand through their own eyes only.

However, there are tens of thousands of tourists coming from non-white countries such as China, India, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Korea etc etc. For instance, there are about 800 Indonesian tourists from one insurance agency currently staying at a five star hotel in Ratchada. They will be here for 5 days 4 nights. Practically each and everyone of them will spend more money in the shopping centres of Bangkok than 10 farang sex tourists would spend in a week. That's the definition of high class vs low class tourist. TAT does not really give a toss about the tattoed flip flop wearing white tourist coming to Bangkok who ends up sitting on a bar stool every night.

When you've seen the emerald buddha , the grand palace and wat pho , there is nothing else TO do except shop and sh*g ,. ..and if you shop you loose money, brands are double what they are in EU/US , .....move along please, nothing to see here .

[Gweiloman]

No,you are wrong,Gweiloman. Thailand has very few tourists compared with other countries. Check the statistics with a Google search. Here are the figures rounded up to the nearest million:

France: 79 million

USA: 59 million

China: 55 million

Spain: 52 million

Italy: 43 million

Britain: 28 million

Turkey: 27 million

Germany: 26 million etc.etc.ect.........

Much lower down comes Thailand at 11:million. Even in Asia they only come fourth behind China,Malaysia and Hong Kong. So how you can say Thailand gets the most tourists in the world is beyond me. Maybe you have been brainwashed into thinking this. Keep smiling my friend.

I did not say that Thailand gets the most tourists in the world, just that Thailand is one of the main tourist destinations in the world.

I presume you got your stats from Wikipedia World Tourism rankings which displays similar numbers to that you are quoting above. What a joke. These figures are at best an extrapolation from the respective tourism boards / ministries. In a large part, they are not even "genuine tourists". For eg, take the case of two neighbouring countries, Malaysia and Singapore. I lived in Singapore for a few years and drove over the causeway into Malaysia a couple of times a week. Reason? Not tourist activity but to fill up my petrol tank and to shop for groceries. And if you have ever driven across this causeway in a car, you will start to understand where the millions of "tourists" to Malaysia comes from.

Within Europe, there are millions of Europeans visiting each other's countries, be it for weekend breaks, school trips, skiing holidays etc etc. No one can even begin to estimate the numbers as in most cases, there are no cross border checks. I recently went from Paris to Switzerland to Austria overland. Do you think there were face recognition cameras at all the borders keeping track of how many "tourist" arrivals there are?

All these figures have to be taken with a large tablespoon of salt. I do not doubt that France and Italy and Spain are major tourist destinations - I should know as I'm responsible for sending a lot of tourists to these countries - but to deny that Thailand is also a major tourist destination is to deny what your own eyes are telling you.

[Gweiloman]

Fact is, in spite of what a lot of losers on this forum think, Bangkok and Thailand is one of the main tourist destinations in the world. Most contributors here are farangs, some of whom are barely subsisting from one day to the next after spending their pension on cigarettes and beer. Thus, they cannot be blamed for seeing Thailand through their own eyes only.

However, there are tens of thousands of tourists coming from non-white countries such as China, India, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Korea etc etc. For instance, there are about 800 Indonesian tourists from one insurance agency currently staying at a five star hotel in Ratchada. They will be here for 5 days 4 nights. Practically each and everyone of them will spend more money in the shopping centres of Bangkok than 10 farang sex tourists would spend in a week. That's the definition of high class vs low class tourist. TAT does not really give a toss about the tattoed flip flop wearing white tourist coming to Bangkok who ends up sitting on a bar stool every night.

When you've seen the emerald buddha , the grand palace and wat pho , there is nothing else TO do except shop and sh*g ,. ..and if you shop you loose money, brands are double what they are in EU/US , .....move along please, nothing to see here .

No one is their right minds come to Asia (not just Thailand) to shop for branded goods.

There may be nothing for you to do but sh*g if you are so inclined but there are tens of thousands of people who enjoy just relaxing and chilling out by a pool or beach as well as shopping in places like Platinum and MBK. Like I said, you are probably one of those that sees Thailand out of your own eyes.

[osiboy]

Fact is, in spite of what a lot of losers on this forum think, Bangkok and Thailand is one of the main tourist destinations in the world. Most contributors here are farangs, some of whom are barely subsisting from one day to the next after spending their pension on cigarettes and beer. Thus, they cannot be blamed for seeing Thailand through their own eyes only.

However, there are tens of thousands of tourists coming from non-white countries such as China, India, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Korea etc etc. For instance, there are about 800 Indonesian tourists from one insurance agency currently staying at a five star hotel in Ratchada. They will be here for 5 days 4 nights. Practically each and everyone of them will spend more money in the shopping centres of Bangkok than 10 farang sex tourists would spend in a week. That's the definition of high class vs low class tourist. TAT does not really give a toss about the tattoed flip flop wearing white tourist coming to Bangkok who ends up sitting on a bar stool every night.

When you've seen the emerald buddha , the grand palace and wat pho , there is nothing else TO do except shop and sh*g ,. ..and if you shop you loose money, brands are double what they are in EU/US , .....move along please, nothing to see here .

No one is their right minds come to Asia (not just Thailand) to shop for branded goods.

There may be nothing for you to do but sh*g if you are so inclined but there are tens of thousands of people who enjoy just relaxing and chilling out by a pool or beach as well as shopping in places like Platinum and MBK. Like I said, you are probably one of those that sees Thailand out of your own eyes.

and pray tell,...........where is this paradise beach in bangkok ?? ,........." chilling by a pool", .. in bkk !? how lovely ,...... you need to get out more fella , go spend your cash on cheap chinese imports/copies or overpriced brands in bkk , ....if you like MBK /Platunam" , good for u , hold mummies hand sweetheart .

[rgs2001uk]

It is not a question of" IF one loves Thailand or Bangkok or Not!". Some of

the contributors to this forum are obnoxious and vulgar. In a professional forum as this,

it is not necessary to use vulgarity and obscenity . Anyway, it shows the

upbringing and background of those contributors so one cannot do much about it.

We all have choices. If we hate a certain place, we should not suffer. Find better

options. Those who are in Thailand ", in spite of " all the sufferings

and inconvenience, must have some reason to bear all that and still hang around

in the Kingdom. Surely there are better places...

Well seeing as my mrs is from Bkk where do you suggest she relocates to?

Her family and friends also live in Bkk, should they relocate as well?

What about my neighbours and Thai friends who live in Bkk should they all relocate as well?

What my mrs has to say about Bkk would soon be deleted from this forum, not only her but all the people mentioned above.

BTW you know nothing of either the upbringing or background of any of the people I mentioned above.

Not all of us live in some scuzzy On Nut apt with Nok from upcountry.

[NeverSure]

Well, no one would go to London for the food or bars, that's for sure. When you've seen one clock in a tower you've seen them all, and then you start looking for the bars and bar girls and none to be found.

Seriously, I think it might have something to do with costs. For the average person, especially Chinese, London is danged expensive. Seriously. I think it has to do with costs and bars.

Paris is very expensive, Madrid not so bad but with great sights including awesome museums, but how many of these Thai tourists visit the bar districts?

[Stjohnm]

I really do not understand nor appreciate

the sarcasm and bitching about Bangkok and Thailand at every opportunity. This

time around with Master Card naming

Bangkok as the Best City for Tourism again people make unnecessary and gross comments

about the city. These people probably live in Thailand , a reason they always use

to condemn the Kingdom. If they are so unhappy about Thailand they should go

back to where they come from.

I live in Thailand. I love living in Thailand, which is my home. I have no intention of returning to my ancestral home in the West.

All that said, Bangkok is overcrowded, It stinks. Its traffic is impossible. It is filled with corruption and cheats. Although it is a very interesting city with lots to do, I do not know how it could possible be named the "best" city on the world for a visit. It's insane. That's not Thai bashing; it's just the plain truth.

I agree with 80% with what you say, I Love Thailand our homes upcountry & in BKK, but I miss London & all it has to offer, the culture, restaurants, even what's on in the Cinema & on TV is of such a higher quality and honestly after living here for almost a decade I seriously contemplating a return to Europe.

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa app

Edited May 30, 2013 by Stjohnm

[gamini]

I love Bangkok and really look forward to my visits there. The people are friendly. I stay in a 4 star Hotel for Bt1350 baht a night with fabulous service (Sukumvit 1). Fantastic Thai and western food at a fraction of the price elsewhere Unparalleled night life. Best shopping prices. The taxis are cheap, clean, always there when you want them and the drivers friendly. Plenty to do and see. Every kind of nationality can find something of home in Bangkok like the "whinging pommies" (Brits) who have plenty of Pubs with thier dreadful English food!

[Sandman77]

How much did the Thailand tourism authority paid to the MasterCard for this report?

One time I read in a travel book it's not the country that make travel unique that's are the people living in the country!

And this will be the most reason why most expats here leave there home!

I think it's more important to live a life with friendly people around you, then living in a western hectical ignorant word where most people not have the time to talk with each other and not response greetings on the street!

No where in the world is perfect, but everybody see the world with different eyes, many tourist I met visit always same place in Thailand Ko Samui etc

And come back since 10 year not go to another!

Others say , the world is so big I never come again and go to another place!

The problem I have, when I go to another Asian country, I compare everything with thailand all the little details,still not working but I cannot stop it!

How the treatment of a culture shock looks like?

I don't know!

We living in 2 world with our minds, and come always back to that place where we have our friends!

I like Europe also but only the landscape and the fresh air!

[Unkomoncents]

No,you are wrong,Gweiloman. Thailand has very few tourists compared with other countries. Check the statistics with a Google search. Here are the figures rounded up to the nearest million:

France: 79 million

USA: 59 million

China: 55 million

Spain: 52 million

Italy: 43 million

Britain: 28 million

Turkey: 27 million

Germany: 26 million etc.etc.ect.........

Much lower down comes Thailand at 11:million. Even in Asia they only come fourth behind China,Malaysia and Hong Kong. So how you can say Thailand gets the most tourists in the world is beyond me. Maybe you have been brainwashed into thinking this. Keep smiling my friend.

I did not say that Thailand gets the most tourists in the world, just that Thailand is one of the main tourist destinations in the world.

I presume you got your stats from Wikipedia World Tourism rankings which displays similar numbers to that you are quoting above. What a joke. These figures are at best an extrapolation from the respective tourism boards / ministries. In a large part, they are not even "genuine tourists". For eg, take the case of two neighbouring countries, Malaysia and Singapore. I lived in Singapore for a few years and drove over the causeway into Malaysia a couple of times a week. Reason? Not tourist activity but to fill up my petrol tank and to shop for groceries. And if you have ever driven across this causeway in a car, you will start to understand where the millions of "tourists" to Malaysia comes from.

Within Europe, there are millions of Europeans visiting each other's countries, be it for weekend breaks, school trips, skiing holidays etc etc. No one can even begin to estimate the numbers as in most cases, there are no cross border checks. I recently went from Paris to Switzerland to Austria overland. Do you think there were face recognition cameras at all the borders keeping track of how many "tourist" arrivals there are?

All these figures have to be taken with a large tablespoon of salt. I do not doubt that France and Italy and Spain are major tourist destinations - I should know as I'm responsible for sending a lot of tourists to these countries - but to deny that Thailand is also a major tourist destination is to deny what your own eyes are telling you.

What do people come to Thailand for Gweiloman? What is Thailand famous for? It certainly isn't the Grand Palace. A large percentage of the tourism coming from countries like Japan, China and Korea is 'package sex tourism'. Those massive "entertainment" plazas all feed Asian sex appetites. Human trafficking groups estimate that 70% of single male visitors to the kingdom are in the Kingdom for sex. Thailand had pretty beaches about twenty years ago. Bangkok had some interesting sights that, if you can manage the suffocating traffic, turn out to be interesting for a day or two. Beyond that, people come to Thailand to drink and screw cheap women. Period. Delusional people like you are entertaining initially but quickly it becomes oh so tiresome: http://www.wouk.org/rahab_international/pdf_files/Sex%20Tourism%20in%20Thailand.pdf

[Unkomoncents]

It is not a question of" IF one loves Thailand or Bangkok or Not!". Some of

the contributors to this forum are obnoxious and vulgar. In a professional forum as this,

it is not necessary to use vulgarity and obscenity . Anyway, it shows the

upbringing and background of those contributors so one cannot do much about it.

We all have choices. If we hate a certain place, we should not suffer. Find better

options. Those who are in Thailand ", in spite of " all the sufferings

and inconvenience, must have some reason to bear all that and still hang around

in the Kingdom. Surely there are better places...

No, I left a year ago. Brought my wife and son with me. Best choice I ever made. I tickles me inside that there are folks out there who can't smell the sh*t when it's right under their noses. Enjoy your life in Thailand. The Thais like nothing more than to absorb your income and savings while you piddle away your existence and die in obscurity in a country full of people that couldn't care less about your wellbeing.

[Unkomoncents]

Fact is, in spite of what a lot of losers on this forum think, Bangkok and Thailand is one of the main tourist destinations in the world. Most contributors here are farangs, some of whom are barely subsisting from one day to the next after spending their pension on cigarettes and beer. Thus, they cannot be blamed for seeing Thailand through their own eyes only.

However, there are tens of thousands of tourists coming from non-white countries such as China, India, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Korea etc etc. For instance, there are about 800 Indonesian tourists from one insurance agency currently staying at a five star hotel in Ratchada. They will be here for 5 days 4 nights. Practically each and everyone of them will spend more money in the shopping centres of Bangkok than 10 farang sex tourists would spend in a week. That's the definition of high class vs low class tourist. TAT does not really give a toss about the tattoed flip flop wearing white tourist coming to Bangkok who ends up sitting on a bar stool every night.

When you've seen the emerald buddha , the grand palace and wat pho , there is nothing else TO do except shop and sh*g ,. ..and if you shop you loose money, brands are double what they are in EU/US , .....move along please, nothing to see here .

No one is their right minds come to Asia (not just Thailand) to shop for branded goods.

There may be nothing for you to do but sh*g if you are so inclined but there are tens of thousands of people who enjoy just relaxing and chilling out by a pool or beach as well as shopping in places like Platinum and MBK. Like I said, you are probably one of those that sees Thailand out of your own eyes.

Apparently, I see Thailand out of the same eyes as the Swedes: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/643100-swedes-abandon-thailand-as-tourist-destination/?utm_source=newsletter-20130530-1636&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news. Thailand is for Gweiloman, the Russians, the Emiratis, and the Chinese. One thing you immediately notice about Thailand is that there are almost zero foreign young professionals existing as residents of the country, short of a few brave Chinese and Indian entrepreneurs in Bangkok. In Singapore, Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo and even Beijjing, there are tons readily observable youthful professionals (from service sector consulting companies, etc.) scouring the streets during the weekday lunch hours. Thailand is a cheap destination for Asian tourists and it acts well as god's waiting room for bitter (usually because they are unemployable in their home countries or they don't appreciate the Western tax regimes) Western expats. Edited May 30, 2013 by Unkomoncents

[chiangmaikelly]

No,you are wrong,Gweiloman. Thailand has very few tourists compared with other countries. Check the statistics with a Google search. Here are the figures rounded up to the nearest million:

France: 79 million

USA: 59 million

China: 55 million

Spain: 52 million

Italy: 43 million

Britain: 28 million

Turkey: 27 million

Germany: 26 million etc.etc.ect.........

Much lower down comes Thailand at 11:million. Even in Asia they only come fourth behind China,Malaysia and Hong Kong. So how you can say Thailand gets the most tourists in the world is beyond me. Maybe you have been brainwashed into thinking this. Keep smiling my friend.

I believe the OP was about cities not countries. From the OP, "Bangkok beat out London, Paris, Singapore, and New York, which came in second, third, fourth,and fifth, respectively."

[Chao Lao Beach]

I think it was a list of credit card fraud and Bangkok won.

[Gweiloman]

No,you are wrong,Gweiloman. Thailand has very few tourists compared with other countries. Check the statistics with a Google search. Here are the figures rounded up to the nearest million:

France: 79 million

USA: 59 million

China: 55 million

Spain: 52 million

Italy: 43 million

Britain: 28 million

Turkey: 27 million

Germany: 26 million etc.etc.ect.........

Much lower down comes Thailand at 11:million. Even in Asia they only come fourth behind China,Malaysia and Hong Kong. So how you can say Thailand gets the most tourists in the world is beyond me. Maybe you have been brainwashed into thinking this. Keep smiling my friend.

I did not say that Thailand gets the most tourists in the world, just that Thailand is one of the main tourist destinations in the world.

I presume you got your stats from Wikipedia World Tourism rankings which displays similar numbers to that you are quoting above. What a joke. These figures are at best an extrapolation from the respective tourism boards / ministries. In a large part, they are not even "genuine tourists". For eg, take the case of two neighbouring countries, Malaysia and Singapore. I lived in Singapore for a few years and drove over the causeway into Malaysia a couple of times a week. Reason? Not tourist activity but to fill up my petrol tank and to shop for groceries. And if you have ever driven across this causeway in a car, you will start to understand where the millions of "tourists" to Malaysia comes from.

Within Europe, there are millions of Europeans visiting each other's countries, be it for weekend breaks, school trips, skiing holidays etc etc. No one can even begin to estimate the numbers as in most cases, there are no cross border checks. I recently went from Paris to Switzerland to Austria overland. Do you think there were face recognition cameras at all the borders keeping track of how many "tourist" arrivals there are?

All these figures have to be taken with a large tablespoon of salt. I do not doubt that France and Italy and Spain are major tourist destinations - I should know as I'm responsible for sending a lot of tourists to these countries - but to deny that Thailand is also a major tourist destination is to deny what your own eyes are telling you.

What do people come to Thailand for Gweiloman? What is Thailand famous for? It certainly isn't the Grand Palace. A large percentage of the tourism coming from countries like Japan, China and Korea is 'package sex tourism'. Those massive "entertainment" plazas all feed Asian sex appetites. Human trafficking groups estimate that 70% of single male visitors to the kingdom are in the Kingdom for sex. Thailand had pretty beaches about twenty years ago. Bangkok had some interesting sights that, if you can manage the suffocating traffic, turn out to be interesting for a day or two. Beyond that, people come to Thailand to drink and screw cheap women. Period. Delusional people like you are entertaining initially but quickly it becomes oh so tiresome: http://www.wouk.org/rahab_international/pdf_files/Sex%20Tourism%20in%20Thailand.pdf

We judge base on what we see and know. You obviously see only sex tourists and presumably these are the only ones you know. I have been a tourism professional for over 20 years, both inbound and outbound and I see a very large amount of people coming for food and shopping.

[Gweiloman]

Fact is, in spite of what a lot of losers on this forum think, Bangkok and Thailand is one of the main tourist destinations in the world. Most contributors here are farangs, some of whom are barely subsisting from one day to the next after spending their pension on cigarettes and beer. Thus, they cannot be blamed for seeing Thailand through their own eyes only.

However, there are tens of thousands of tourists coming from non-white countries such as China, India, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Korea etc etc. For instance, there are about 800 Indonesian tourists from one insurance agency currently staying at a five star hotel in Ratchada. They will be here for 5 days 4 nights. Practically each and everyone of them will spend more money in the shopping centres of Bangkok than 10 farang sex tourists would spend in a week. That's the definition of high class vs low class tourist. TAT does not really give a toss about the tattoed flip flop wearing white tourist coming to Bangkok who ends up sitting on a bar stool every night.

When you've seen the emerald buddha , the grand palace and wat pho , there is nothing else TO do except shop and sh*g ,. ..and if you shop you loose money, brands are double what they are in EU/US , .....move along please, nothing to see here .

No one is their right minds come to Asia (not just Thailand) to shop for branded goods.

There may be nothing for you to do but sh*g if you are so inclined but there are tens of thousands of people who enjoy just relaxing and chilling out by a pool or beach as well as shopping in places like Platinum and MBK. Like I said, you are probably one of those that sees Thailand out of your own eyes.

Apparently, I see Thailand out of the same eyes as the Swedes: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/643100-swedes-abandon-thailand-as-tourist-destination/?utm_source=newsletter-20130530-1636&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news. Thailand is for Gweiloman, the Russians, the Emiratis, and the Chinese. One thing you immediately notice about Thailand is that there are almost zero foreign young professionals existing as residents of the country, short of a few brave Chinese and Indian entrepreneurs in Bangkok. In Singapore, Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo and even Beijjing, there are tons readily observable youthful professionals (from service sector consulting companies, etc.) scouring the streets during the weekday lunch hours. Thailand is a cheap destination for Asian tourists and it acts well as god's waiting room for bitter (usually because they are unemployable in their home countries or they don't appreciate the Western tax regimes) Western expats.

And what does this have to do with the subject matter?

[DocN]

It is not a question of" IF one loves Thailand or Bangkok or Not!". Some of

the contributors to this forum are obnoxious and vulgar. In a professional forum as this,

it is not necessary to use vulgarity and obscenity . Anyway, it shows the

upbringing and background of those contributors so one cannot do much about it.

We all have choices. If we hate a certain place, we should not suffer. Find better

options. Those who are in Thailand ", in spite of " all the sufferings

and inconvenience, must have some reason to bear all that and still hang around

in the Kingdom. Surely there are better places...

Mind coming down from your holier- than-thou-ivory- tower?

I said it before: I didn't come to Thailand and left my identity, my upbringing and my ability for critical thinking at the immigration.

These "surveys" never give any details about how they gathered their numbers.

Just to say "Bangkok is great for tourists" doesn't hold any water.

Based on what is it great for tourists?

I live here for 6 years now and I find Bangkok interesting...but a great place? No way!

Reasons have been mentioned by other posters.

I have seen other cities like Paris, Prague, Barcelona, Hamburg...and as long as you don't give me the actual facts, these polls base their results on, these are way ahead of Bangkok.

"If you don't like it- go home" is childish beyond believe!

[Unkomoncents]

No,you are wrong,Gweiloman. Thailand has very few tourists compared with other countries. Check the statistics with a Google search. Here are the figures rounded up to the nearest million:

France: 79 million

USA: 59 million

China: 55 million

Spain: 52 million

Italy: 43 million

Britain: 28 million

Turkey: 27 million

Germany: 26 million etc.etc.ect.........

Much lower down comes Thailand at 11:million. Even in Asia they only come fourth behind China,Malaysia and Hong Kong. So how you can say Thailand gets the most tourists in the world is beyond me. Maybe you have been brainwashed into thinking this. Keep smiling my friend.

I did not say that Thailand gets the most tourists in the world, just that Thailand is one of the main tourist destinations in the world.

I presume you got your stats from Wikipedia World Tourism rankings which displays similar numbers to that you are quoting above. What a joke. These figures are at best an extrapolation from the respective tourism boards / ministries. In a large part, they are not even "genuine tourists". For eg, take the case of two neighbouring countries, Malaysia and Singapore. I lived in Singapore for a few years and drove over the causeway into Malaysia a couple of times a week. Reason? Not tourist activity but to fill up my petrol tank and to shop for groceries. And if you have ever driven across this causeway in a car, you will start to understand where the millions of "tourists" to Malaysia comes from.

Within Europe, there are millions of Europeans visiting each other's countries, be it for weekend breaks, school trips, skiing holidays etc etc. No one can even begin to estimate the numbers as in most cases, there are no cross border checks. I recently went from Paris to Switzerland to Austria overland. Do you think there were face recognition cameras at all the borders keeping track of how many "tourist" arrivals there are?

All these figures have to be taken with a large tablespoon of salt. I do not doubt that France and Italy and Spain are major tourist destinations - I should know as I'm responsible for sending a lot of tourists to these countries - but to deny that Thailand is also a major tourist destination is to deny what your own eyes are telling you.

What do people come to Thailand for Gweiloman? What is Thailand famous for? It certainly isn't the Grand Palace. A large percentage of the tourism coming from countries like Japan, China and Korea is 'package sex tourism'. Those massive "entertainment" plazas all feed Asian sex appetites. Human trafficking groups estimate that 70% of single male visitors to the kingdom are in the Kingdom for sex. Thailand had pretty beaches about twenty years ago. Bangkok had some interesting sights that, if you can manage the suffocating traffic, turn out to be interesting for a day or two. Beyond that, people come to Thailand to drink and screw cheap women. Period. Delusional people like you are entertaining initially but quickly it becomes oh so tiresome: http://www.wouk.org/rahab_international/pdf_files/Sex%20Tourism%20in%20Thailand.pdf

We judge base on what we see and know. You obviously see only sex tourists and presumably these are the only ones you know. I have been a tourism professional for over 20 years, both inbound and outbound and I see a very large amount of people coming for food and shopping.

I think the caliber of tourist in Thailand speaks for itself. You need only peruse the local English-language dailies in the Kingdom to a get a rough idea of the kind of visitors the Kingdom invites. The situation in Thailand is clearly different from that of other tourist destinations in Asia, like Tokyo or Beijjing. In most of Thailand's tourist destinations (certainly Pattaya and Phuket, but increasingly in Hua Hin, Samui, and Koh Phangnan), the culturally curious, open-minded, explorer-type tourist is literally overrun with the variably tattooed, overweight, intoxicated, sex-obsessed, thug-type. Foreign mafias operate openly and with near impunity. This is readily observable in an everyday context. Thailand may be the place where the most tourists use their Mastercards, but that doesn't make it a 'good' place to experience East Asian culture unless you're interested in seeing how duplicitous and lawless a developing country in Asia can be. Its a fact that many tourists walk away from Bangkok saying, "Whoa (What a bizarre place/Glad I don't live there/I don't think I can handle this for more than a couple of days)!" Something tells me this may be related to the feelings one experiences after seeing endangered animals for sale in Chatuchak or the constant supply of undereducated women, around central Bangkok, desperately trying to sell their bodies in broad daylight. A study I'd like to see: how many first-time tourists to Thailand return, and what is the demographic there? What percentage of Thailand's total tourism is family tourism? Then we should talk about the values that Thais hold dear and how those values conflict with the perceived image of Thailand in the minds of its visitors. When I see Thailand today, sometimes I am angered, but most days I am saddened. It comforts me to know that the Thai-Buddhist worldview largely prevents any comprehension of where the country is headed over the coming decade/s. Think about Phuket twenty years ago. How is it different from today? Does it seem that the trends that shaped the island are continuing or intensifying?

[chiangmaikelly]

We judge base on what we see and know. You obviously see only sex tourists and presumably these are the only ones you know. I have been a tourism professional for over 20 years, both inbound and outbound and I see a very large amount of people coming for food and shopping.

I think the caliber of tourist in Thailand speaks for itself. You need only peruse the local English-language dailies in the Kingdom to a get a rough idea of the kind of visitors the Kingdom invites.

Why look at Ehglish language newspapers, when the great majority (no English speaking country in the top 7) of tourists don't speak English?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Thailand

Edited June 4, 2013 by chiangmaikelly

[Morakot]

Priceless!

[avcomth]

I red the news, the statistic that Mastercard compiled is based on international air arrivals.

I haven't seen anyone mention this here. But the result of this survey could be somewhat skewed since the rising tourists comprises mostly of Chinese. They saw this movie "Lost in Thailand" which was released last year and became the highest grossing film in the history of Chinese cinema, surpassing that of the Titanic. In the months following that and onward, Thailand have been seeing the sudden surge in the number of Chinese tourists to Thailand due to the influence of that movie.

[Harpo89]

Although everyone's opinion will be different about this topic, I can tell you after just returning from a trip to BKK with my family, that I will never go back to Bangkok. We found the people to be cynical and tired. We were constantly barraged by criminals attempted to deceive us into some sort of ploy. Try getting a cab to take you to an actual market, or point on the map. No way, we batted 1 for 8 or so. So we would get dropped off where the cabby wanted to drop us and spend the next hour or more trying to find the market or street we wanted to be dropped at. Nobody seemed to care. I'll take a crusty Parisian or Roman any day! But I'll be using Visa.

[zydeco]

And yet my CitiBank Mastercard is cancelled each and every time i use it in Bangkok or anywhere in Thailand.

Weird if you ask me

Yes, I had eight credit cards when I moved here. After I used the first one, all of them were cancelled within 48 hours. This, despite the fact that I paid my entire balance off every month.

[zydeco]

Although everyone's opinion will be different about this topic, I can tell you after just returning from a trip to BKK with my family, that I will never go back to Bangkok. We found the people to be cynical and tired. We were constantly barraged by criminals attempted to deceive us into some sort of ploy. Try getting a cab to take you to an actual market, or point on the map. No way, we batted 1 for 8 or so. So we would get dropped off where the cabby wanted to drop us and spend the next hour or more trying to find the market or street we wanted to be dropped at. Nobody seemed to care. I'll take a crusty Parisian or Roman any day! But I'll be using Visa.

This is called enjoying "the local color."