Why is Thailand still successful as tourist destination?

[jpb1963]

first came here 28 years ago, had a 17 year gap whilst being married

have come back this year, yeah its changed a bit - pray tell what country has not changed and change will continue

for me the people are amazing

the food is sensational

the weather is perfect

the vibe is 'on' whether you are the city or the provinces

so despite what the naysayers bang on about constantly moaning and bitching ( i still don't get why they stay here) after being cleaned out in Oz i am happy to be here.

BTW people bang on about greed/corruption etc - no different in australia except it is legalised.

[jpb1963]

How do you genuinely like a stranger?

The fact that Thai people are friendly and treat visitors well is indeed an attractive feature of the country. At least to everyone but needy folk who want strangers to love them for who they are.

But that's just it Biker. The Thai conception of ingroup/outgroup is racial - all non-Thais are out-group. You might become familiar, but you are never accepted as a local (You are a guest in this country?). Even if one develops close Thai friends, the legal and social systems remain exclusionary. Even "farang" who are raised in Thailand have this problem.

thats right we are a guest, and we should not lose site of this.

i resent the influx of foreigners into australia that refuse to accept australian norms and customs but the weak as p government cow tows to them i.e. look at what is going on with the muslims now

Here thais are up front and fair dinkum - you are a foreigner in our country, you are welcome but suggest you accept our ways

so many bitch and moan about it here - what bit bit about you are a foreign guest don't people understand, i think a more people would be happier in their lot in life if they could wake up and realise this

[SoiBiker]

Of course you're not going to be accepted as a local. You're not one.

If you want to be accepted as a local, stay home.

[farang000999]

Thais in tourist areas are friendly? You have to be kidding?

Agressive touts and rip off artists at every turn.

Thais overall are very friendly but those who earn a living servicing tourists are largely creeps.

[VIPinthailand]

I don't want be accepted as a local, I m a vip already.

I m over the local, I m all of what Thai dream of to be.

I can travel internationally, having visa very easily , can go Europe or USA without a visa, I can open bank account as I wish, ...

this is why Thai don't mix with us.

if you are from Europe, USA or Australia, your passport is gold.

[BudRight]

Of course you're not going to be accepted as a local. You're not one.

If you want to be accepted as a local, stay home.

I guess immigrants don't exist at all in this worldview. That's pretty sad.

In English there is a term for those who classify people on their race and condemn immigration, but it's not nice and I'm sure the OP wanted to keep things positive.

Edited October 20, 2015 by BudRight

[Naam]

Temples....

and

[bangkokjulia]

Phuket is marketed heavily in Australia. Pattaya is never advertised, nor anywhere else with the exception of Bangkok. Many families can go overseas cheaply for two or three weeks-you can't do that in Australia.

[Berkshire]

Could it be, maybe, just maybe, that the idiot farangs who relentlessly bash Thailand on a daily basis really don't know what they're talking about? I mean, just maybe?

I think there's a small percentage of negative farangs on TV (and even less in the general population) who are just miserable individuals and will be negative wherever they happen to be. Unfortunately for Thailand, they're here. All we can hope for is that they leave and let the rest of us live in peace. Of course, some that leave continue to bash the place even after they've long gone. Still can't figure that one out.

[DaddyWarbucks]

Thai social norms dictate that strangers are treated very nicely. Westerners interpret a unfounded genuineness to this that actually isn't there, but the delusion can be maintained for long enough to enjoy a holiday.

You're totally wrong, Bud.

How do you genuinely like a stranger?

The fact that Thai people are friendly and treat visitors well is indeed an attractive feature of the country. At least to everyone but needy folk who want strangers to love them for who they are.

That's how I've found it as well.

Living among Thais and raising children makes all the difference.

Family means everything here. Your position in the family defines who you are.

[jpb1963]

I reckon string em up with the pedo that got sprung the other day

be better for them cuz then they are put out of their misery and better for us cuz well it would be better for us

I crack me up sometimes

[FRIDAYMe]

Thai social norms dictate that strangers are treated very nicely. Westerners interpret a unfounded genuineness to this that actually isn't there, but the delusion can be maintained for long enough to enjoy a holiday.

You're totally wrong, Bud.

How do you genuinely like a stranger?

The fact that Thai people are friendly and treat visitors well is indeed an attractive feature of the country. At least to everyone but needy folk who want strangers to love them for who they are.

That's how I've found it as well.

Living among Thais and raising children makes all the difference.

Family means everything here. Your position in the family defines who you are.

Yes agree living among Thais are difference. many of my colleagues also treat their family like everything, They are really really respect to those elders in family,

[RolandRat]

Living somewhere and holidaying somewhere are not the same.

The tourists holiday here for a few weeks, others, usually the ones doing the moaning, actually live here, therein lies the difference.

Tourists dont see or often experience what people living here do.

It will remain a hot spot for tourists as its cheaper than there homeland (mostly), its exotic, tropical, and an "adult" playground with plenty of cheap eye candy too.

[SoiBiker]

Not everyone that lives here moans about the place all the time, though.

It fact, it mostly seems a phenomenon confined to this forum. The expats I know in real life are on the whole a cheerful bunch who enjoy living here.

[Whyamiandwhatamidoinghere]

Why? Name me another relatively safe country in Southeast Asia where the exchange rate is 1 to 36.There is your answer. The complaints come from a different view point from actually living here. When you remain a tourist Thailand is a paradise.

[SoiBiker]

Ah, the rallying cry of the farang misery guts - "You just haven't lived here long enough to hate it yet".

Nonsense. It's not an inevitable outcome.

[CharlieH]

"Not everyone that lives here moans about the place all the time, though.

It fact, it mostly seems a phenomenon confined to this forum. The expats I know in real life are on the whole a cheerful bunch who enjoy living here."

Said it before, it'll never change, what people say and do in the real world, doesnt necessarily match what they say and do on this forum.

The people you meet that dont "moan" probably dont because they are doing it on here in anonymity.

[SoiBiker]

The people I know laugh at this place. I'd be surprised if any of them post here.

[CharlieH]

as its anonymous you may never know.

[villagefarang]

Forty years in Thailand and still waiting for misery and dissatisfaction to settle in. As far as I am concerned life is great here and I have no complaints.

[carmine]

Strange thread is this because this place is on its arse tourist wise. It becomes less safe year after year with no particular interest shown in the safety of tourists. Its become an expensive holiday destination with a growing anti farang vibe. Yes it has its good points but they appear to becoming fewer and fewer as the years go by

[Squeegee]

Because old people are slow to pick up on things like the fact Viet Nam is now the Land Of Smiles not Thailand.

[carmine]

Could it be, maybe, just maybe, that the idiot farangs who relentlessly bash Thailand on a daily basis really don't know what they're talking about? I mean, just maybe?

I think there's a small percentage of negative farangs on TV (and even less in the general population) who are just miserable individuals and will be negative wherever they happen to be. Unfortunately for Thailand, they're here. All we can hope for is that they leave and let the rest of us live in peace. Of course, some that leave continue to bash the place even after they've long gone. Still can't figure that one out.

Seem to remember you jumping in on a samui thread not knowing what you were talking about and making a right chump of yourself.

There seems to be rather a lot about this place you can't figure out. I suggest you go back to that thread again and maybe you might have a slightly clearer understanding of what this place is about.

[Berkshire]

Could it be, maybe, just maybe, that the idiot farangs who relentlessly bash Thailand on a daily basis really don't know what they're talking about? I mean, just maybe?

I think there's a small percentage of negative farangs on TV (and even less in the general population) who are just miserable individuals and will be negative wherever they happen to be. Unfortunately for Thailand, they're here. All we can hope for is that they leave and let the rest of us live in peace. Of course, some that leave continue to bash the place even after they've long gone. Still can't figure that one out.

Seem to remember you jumping in on a samui thread not knowing what you were talking about and making a right chump of yourself.

There seems to be rather a lot about this place you can't figure out. I suggest you go back to that thread again and maybe you might have a slightly clearer understanding of what this place is about.

I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm rarely wrong about anything, but I've never had a problem apologizing if I've made a mistake. So prove your point without making bogus allegations.

[carmine]

Could it be, maybe, just maybe, that the idiot farangs who relentlessly bash Thailand on a daily basis really don't know what they're talking about? I mean, just maybe?

I think there's a small percentage of negative farangs on TV (and even less in the general population) who are just miserable individuals and will be negative wherever they happen to be. Unfortunately for Thailand, they're here. All we can hope for is that they leave and let the rest of us live in peace. Of course, some that leave continue to bash the place even after they've long gone. Still can't figure that one out.

Seem to remember you jumping in on a samui thread not knowing what you were talking about and making a right chump of yourself.

There seems to be rather a lot about this place you can't figure out. I suggest you go back to that thread again and maybe you might have a slightly clearer understanding of what this place is about.

I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm rarely wrong about anything, but I've never had a problem apologizing if I've made a mistake. So prove your point without making bogus allegations.

Leaping to the defense of anything Thai without getting your facts right for starters. The "i'm rarely wrong" says it all really.

in the case i mentioned you displayed a complete lack of any knowledge of that situation yet still jumped in a post that showed you had no knowledge of the incident whatsoever. You just thought, oh they're having a pop at the locals as you do, ad nauseum.

[JLCrab]

Maybe part of the answer lies in just who is coming:

[jpb1963]

I thought I was wrong once but I was mistaken

Really......

Oh to be perfect....

[Berkshire]

Could it be, maybe, just maybe, that the idiot farangs who relentlessly bash Thailand on a daily basis really don't know what they're talking about? I mean, just maybe?

I think there's a small percentage of negative farangs on TV (and even less in the general population) who are just miserable individuals and will be negative wherever they happen to be. Unfortunately for Thailand, they're here. All we can hope for is that they leave and let the rest of us live in peace. Of course, some that leave continue to bash the place even after they've long gone. Still can't figure that one out.

Seem to remember you jumping in on a samui thread not knowing what you were talking about and making a right chump of yourself.

There seems to be rather a lot about this place you can't figure out. I suggest you go back to that thread again and maybe you might have a slightly clearer understanding of what this place is about.

I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm rarely wrong about anything, but I've never had a problem apologizing if I've made a mistake. So prove your point without making bogus allegations.

Leaping to the defense of anything Thai without getting your facts right for starters. The "i'm rarely wrong" says it all really.

in the case i mentioned you displayed a complete lack of any knowledge of that situation yet still jumped in a post that showed you had no knowledge of the incident whatsoever. You just thought, oh they're having a pop at the locals as you do, ad nauseum.

Still you're making bogus allegations. Ok, let's turn the tables. Are you the same serial Thai-basher who has shown nothing but hate and bigotry towards the Thais? The same guy who constantly sticks his foot in his mouth when talking about anything Thai? The same ignorant fool who got taken by his bargirl wife and is now broke and bitter? Is that you Carmine?

[Fabricus]

Strange thread is this because this place is on its arse tourist wise. It becomes less safe year after year with no particular interest shown in the safety of tourists. Its become an expensive holiday destination with a growing anti farang vibe. Yes it has its good points but they appear to becoming fewer and fewer as the years go by

Rubbish.

Utter rubbish, in fact.

Or as an academic might say, ordure.

[VIPinthailand]

many tourist come in tour. they don't consume in restaurant, don't rent bike,... they just fill the hotel's but the rest of the small business are empty.

Thailand will soon be dead when they join the Asian thing. farang out , only Chinese.

Thailand will have nice trains, nice roads, .... but more and more debt and no job.... . like anywhere else. like in f... Europe, like in f .... usa Thai will be full of debt because some here are kissing the a.. of the Chinese for money only.