Tourist arrivals in Trat Province drop by more than 50%

[ggt]

Finally an honest appraisal of the tourist situation which plagues all of Thailand...these figures are more realistic...than the mere 10% reduction in tourists...the tourist officials in BKK are circulating...

Edited October 20, 2014 by ggt

[MobileContent]

Any way I am sure Thailand will recover in 1-2 years time but for the time being Thailand will be out of the game.

[mango66]

I am confident alreayd , to see KohTao never again,

if not all rubish there cleaned up !!

[mango66]

Delievering a second class product and charging for first class, can only last so long!

Finally the visitors are starting to vote with their feet!!

Arrogance and the fall of a nation!!

Relax. We are not In the high season yet. I don't think thailand has to be worried. Tourists will come, just let it take some time and it will be sorted out.

Where I live, we see more and more new faces

I beleave,

villagers are coming back to village as no job in tourist places,

back to ricefields !!

[lexilis]

Cool how old pensioners in the Mrs.' village can connect to wi-fi and reinvent themselves online.

You don't mean it's KerryK/ Andrew/Thailiketoo,/ Rachatsomething/ChiangMaiKelly with yet another username ?

Now an investment banker as well as chief engineer of half the worlds car companies and ranong oops I mean Rayong engineer ?

Little bit of status anxiety showing here ladies.

How old I am, where I am and what I do are of no real importance for anything other than ad hominem drivel by those unable to debate their ridiculous positions on current events....

It was you that brought it up, dipstick. Your original post was simply moronic.

[mango66]

Isn't it sad (and sickening) how willing the Yellows are to destroy their own country just to get their own way.

Their anti-democratic, semi fascist dystopia will never eventuate, but they seem hell bent on inflicting as much misery as possible on the country up until the hour of their own downfall.

have you never been in thailand ?

or you are a rice farmers farong in isaan which were storing the 100 tons of rice in the warehouses which you never had ?

The corruption from the Shinawatras and reds can't be counted in Billons, you needed trillions,

and you are propably one which were living of this,

Please immigrate to Dubai !!

[mango66]

Isn't it sad (and sickening) just how willing the Yellows are to destroy their own country just to get their own way.

Their anti-democratic, semi fascist dystopia will never eventuate, but they seem hell bent on inflicting as much misery as possible on the country up until the hour of their own downfall.

Keep The Red shirt hypocricy out of this, a lot more other reasons.

Such as?

The red Shinawatra GVT sucked off the tax income from tourist and converted it direct

to Dubai and the red lobbys !!

[DoDoey]

Perhaps backpackers are finding cooler places in the world to travel to. Koh Chang for example, was a cool place to visit 30-40 years ago. No paved roads, no access to White Sands beach other than by path through the jungle, villages like Baan Bang Bao virtually inaccessible. Waterfalls such as the one at Klongprao had to be discovered, no signs, hardly anyone went there. No ferry. A fisherman would take you in his boat for 40 baht.

Would be hugely disappointed to go now though.

I was in Phnom Penh last weekend and it was busy busy busy. Hotels and restaurants were brimming with tourists. Seemed like mostly young Europeans and Australians, but a bit more upscale than backpackers for the most part. Plenty of dirt roads and hidden/undiscovered places over there. Everything - food, beer, hotels, shopping, was very inexpensive.

Edited October 20, 2014 by DoDoey

[mango66]

obviously many went to Trat province to spend few days around and heading to Cambodia before coming back to the kingdom as visa runners

but now since their entry will be denied because the crackdown...it was so logical

You're 100% correct. The ONLY reason I ever went to Koh Chang was because it was near the border & made for a nice weekend trip when doing a border run.

Trat is not only Koh Chang, Koh Mak and Koh Kood are still very nice and if you want the best, the Soneva Kiri on Koh Kood is 112.000 THB per night at Christmas. Also many nice beaches 50-60 km south of Trat town with no tourists and very nice and cheap seafood available. Another plus in the area is that there are no Jet-skis disturbing you. West coast of Koh Chang I try to avoid these days.

But dont go on the beach

sandflies will give you i nice present,

which will you remember for a month,

day and day for eacks !!

Hafe fun with them !!

And its Malaria area !!

[Jim walker]

At long last they have managed after a lot of foreign deaths and rapes to get there to get rid of that goose that laid the golden eggs, spoke to a couple last night in Bangkok who normally come to Thailand twice a year and spend a few weeks in the islands but their family have managed to persuade them only one holiday in Thailand and not to go out of Bangkok.

[heyexile]

Isn't it sad (and sickening) how willing the Yellows are to destroy their own country just to get their own way.

Their anti-democratic, semi fascist dystopia will never eventuate, but they seem hell bent on inflicting as much misery as possible on the country up until the hour of their own downfall.

Jeez, we still have old thaivisa pensioner red shirt shills on here?

Sorry mate, 38 year old investment banker with first hand experience of how the uncertainty caused by the coup is affecting capital movements.

Semi?

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

obviously many went to Trat province to spend few days around and heading to Cambodia before coming back to the kingdom as visa runners

but now since their entry will be denied because the crackdown...it was so logical

You're 100% correct. The ONLY reason I ever went to Koh Chang was because it was near the border & made for a nice weekend trip when doing a border run.

Trat is not only Koh Chang, Koh Mak and Koh Kood are still very nice and if you want the best, the Soneva Kiri on Koh Kood is 112.000 THB per night at Christmas. Also many nice beaches 50-60 km south of Trat town with no tourists and very nice and cheap seafood available. Another plus in the area is that there are no Jet-skis disturbing you. West coast of Koh Chang I try to avoid these days.

But dont go on the beach

sandflies will give you i nice present,

which will you remember for a month,

day and day for eacks !!

Hafe fun with them !!

And its Malaria area !!

Malaria area?? I have been here for 30 years and I have never seen any sandflies on the beaches south of Trat town neither malaria, Dengue fever is all over Thailand but still not as bad here as in the south of Thailand.

[Fred Flinstone]

Yes .

The Junta are now pro active covering up so much stuff-

Thats nothing .

There are as far as reports reveal -

Six western deaths in road accidents

2 suicides *(doubts)

2murders

Its really so not funny anymore

The hijacking of a dive boat yesterday still not reported either....

Yes , i saw that

So much isn't being reported *(or delayed ) so the Tourists will still come in whatever numbers…its getting very secretive

Edited October 21, 2014 by Fred Flinstone

[zyphodb]

this has happened because Thailand is now focusing on the "quality" tourists. Anywhere more than 5 hours drive from an international airport is not going to get quality tourists who only have limited time before they must end their quality vacation to rush back to their quality jobs in their quality country.

Sorry but once you get rid of the independent traveller, places like Trat - Koh Chang, Koh Kud - they'll suffer the most.

It's a real pity for Trat businesses, but on the bright side, I don't think the quality tourists will care.

Koh Kood caters more for high end there are some really nice resorts there. Real high end.

Some good one on Koh Mak. As HiSo has said, mainland Trat also has some wonderful places along the coast. It really is, along with Chanthaburi a great area to explore.

They have upgraded Trat Airport and it would be great if there was several flights in from different locations inside or outside of a Thailand the area still has a lot to offer, but they need to up their game, better ferry service, sort out the crap taxi situation, a better rubbish collection service and pull down some of the land encroaches. I'm sat on my balcony looking out a peaceful ocean as the sun goes down. It's quiet and serene, and unspoilt from the tourist areas.

I agree with you that there are nice areas to explore in Trat & Chanthaburi province Mr Toad, but from both personal experience living here & travelling all over Thailand Chanthaburi has the worst Taxi & bus mafia I have encountered, even worse than Phuket & thats saying something, unless you want to waste several hours & lots of Baht, even trying to get somewhere 10 km up the road is impossible, try to catch a taxi from just about anywhere in Chanthaburi to the main bus station opposite the football stadium & they won't take you there... They take you to a small bus station on the other side of town that doesn't have buses going anywhere you want to go & if, by a lucky chance they do, they take you all around the province first for several hours on an inflated bus ticket. I wouldn't consider stopping anywhere in or around Chanthaburi now unless I had my own transport. Rayong is nearly as bad Taxi wise, try to get one from a bus station to town is impossible, they only want to take you to Chanthaburi, Trat or Koh Chang if you are a Falang... Until Thailand sorts this sort of thing out, & the Koh Tao murders of course, Independent travel is going to slowly die out...

[Konaboy1]

Train derailments too!

[Thai at Heart]

So I cancel my family holidays to Trat / Koh Koot?

No of course not.

The dive boat escapade yesterday was an idiot tourist acting out.

The others that Fred said about, not sure about. Still find this part of Thailand relatively peaceful from my experience.

Peaceful?

As in not wartorn? That must be a relief