I don't think the Thais are that interested in tourists from Europe or Russia these days. The future is China - hence the plans to remove visas for Chinese tourists. Expect to see more policies to encourage tourism from china, and more restrictions on visitors from Europe.

saw a Chinese couple in the food court at airport plaza chiangmai yesterday sharing a plate of fried rice and a bottle of water. Hardly big spenders.

They have to be joking ! It would appear they are doing everything possible to destroy the tourist industry. I observed 4 nights ago a bunch of army and Pattaya police telling bar owners that they must close operations at midnight ! Have they any idea what message this conveys ? In farang circles there is a saying that the most terrifying thing in the world is ignorance in action, and this is a prime example

I'm an Aussie and I qualify for a retirement visa in Thailand, but I don't want to go through all the rubbish to get one I'd like to make regular visits to Thailand several times a year as I have been doing, go home when it suits me and go to and from Aus as it suits me. It quite cheap to fly to Thailand from Perth on low cost airlines.

I have just passed through Malaysia to get to Chiang Mia. The KL immigration gave me a without asking a 90 day tourist visa, no arrival card was required, immigration did not ask me how long I was staying, the lady was very pleasant and suggested I change my ticket to continue my journey to Chiang Mia after staying a week or 2 in Malaysia and enjoy myself.

What a difference to Thailand to getting a 60 day tourist visa ($45) + renewal option for 30 days at a cost of about $60, and putting up with all the rubbish that goes with this. Like me forgetting to include a photocopy of the passport in with my postal visa application to the Perth Consul only to have it all returned as Thai regulations insist that I have to supply the photocopy even though they admitted they had a photocopier in the office next to the phone they were using, regulations forbid them to make a copy for the applicant, and even though I offered to send $20 to them to compensate them for the trouble of coping the passport. I also had to include a copy of the airline ticket showing that I would be departing within the 60 day period regardless if I intended to extend my visa using the 30 day extension. If I extend my visa to stay the 90 days I'll just have to throw this return ticket away as no refunds are available on low cost airlines.

Thailand has suddenly gone overboard to make sure regular visitors are as uncomfortable as possible. No wonder the owners at the little hotel I'm staying at are concerned. The turnover in the last 6 months is down about 25%

Actually there is no such thing as "retirement visa" what you mean is the extention of stay based on retirement.

But let's not split hairs here.

I really hope the tourist number gets as low as zero. Maybe the time comes that the government et. al. realize what they realy have. The expats. They are the real revenue bringers over time. It is much easier to keep a current customer (exparts) than to generate new (tourist) ones.

Just my 2 Satang.

mabe they should try to be a tourist as everybody else and see what tourists are looking for on their vacation instead of trying weird ideas and starting from cleaning corrupt public officers including police