Going Down: Businesses on Phuket’s famed Bangla Rd suffer as clientele dries up

[Deez]

Everything going according to plan for the junta

[metisdead]

A post in which the reply was made within the quoted post has been removed:

16) You will not make changes to quoted material from other members posts, except for purposes of shortening the quoted post. This cannot be done in such a manner that it alters the context of the original post.

[chicowoodduck]

Oh my Buddha, time for you all to get out of the Mother Teresa conga line......and sober up?

It is doom and gloom all over the world, not just in Lieland....?

Edited January 23, 2016 by chicowoodduck

[Deez]

Well, many of these go-go bars can shutdown and die anyway, since they are prostitution venues and don't really attract anything positive. The best case scenario for Thailand is to transform its tourism industry to a more family oriented hub, instead of being a pedophile paradise for old western men. Nothing could be better than to send these former prostitutes back to their villages and start building up their future once and for all, and at the same time these low income lazy doers should return back to their home countries as well.

If Thailand is going to transform its economy for the better, it must do what is right and take the medical pill asap. Thais are basically one of the worst people to do business in terms of understanding economics and this transformation is indeed necessary.

Many of you guys are complaining that the Chinese aren't spending any money. They do in fact spend money and if you look in comparison how much they are making that makes them big buck spenders. They are also enjoying their vacations much better than an old westerner who much of the time only spends their holidays drinking cheap boos. No wonder why this place has become a stinking pig.

Are we to believe this is your first ever post?

[elgordo38]

The tourist commission goes on about a high season the only thing high is there charges but they will never learn it's the expats who are there bread and butter

Yes your right like the shadow banks we are the shadow tourist who just never quits giving. What is our thanks here in Chiang Mai? to strangle the immigration system to the point where with the influx of new expats the system no longer functions. They just keep killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

[elgordo38]

They screw tourists to the limit constantly. Now the govt., have elected to double the cost of a visa on arrival because visitors are not getting their visa from immigration prior to arrival. Well i thought that the VOA was all about convenience. Viet Nam and other nearby countries are going to be doing 'cartwheels' as spur of the moment tourists are going to see VOA Vietnam Bht 1000 VOA Thailand Bht 2000. But this is how Thais do business. Bungalow owners across the road from me 'jacked' the monthly rent up from Bht 7000 to Bht 12000 just because their neighbours were doing it. The bungalow has been empty for 10 months now, but they will not consider bring the rate down again.

A Hari Kari mentality.

[Jim walker]

And the next Junta announcement tourist numbers were up only by 22 million last month possibly the Juntas ways of keeping the foreigners out of their country are working slowly so soon no one will be able to see or to report internationally in the news media what is happening behind Thailands iron curtain, as the generals tighten their grip on the citizens.

[monty1412]

I cant hope feeling a sincere touch of sympathy for all involved.... I mean over the years you offered outstanding service to your customers, ferried them in absolute safety from airport to hotel and back , kept your prices reasonable and ensured that no price fixing or collusion was ever involved made sure violence and over enthusiastic security staff in bars and nightclubs were never employed,kept drugs and lowlifes out of establishments and kept the notion of " Good Customer Satisfaction is the Goal" as a key tenant with all your staff....... this is indeed scandalous that after all your customer focussed endeavours you get repaid like this .....

And to further add salt to the wound.. the Chinese tourists who you have courted and desired so much.. well turns out they have not played ball at all.. seems they just want to walk around a bit and not part with hard earned yen..... who could have foreseen that ........

Ha, reap what you sow......

[Zob65]

Yes now the greedy bar owners will realise , putting the prices up to get the same profit margin with less customer's doesn't work. Time to get real.

[elgordo38]

Well, many of these go-go bars can shutdown and die anyway, since they are prostitution venues and don't really attract anything positive. The best case scenario for Thailand is to transform its tourism industry to a more family oriented hub, instead of being a pedophile paradise for old western men. Nothing could be better than to send these former prostitutes back to their villages and start building up their future once and for all, and at the same time these low income lazy doers should return back to their home countries as well.

If Thailand is going to transform its economy for the better, it must do what is right and take the medical pill asap. Thais are basically one of the worst people to do business in terms of understanding economics and this transformation is indeed necessary.

Many of you guys are complaining that the Chinese aren't spending any money. They do in fact spend money and if you look in comparison how much they are making that makes them big buck spenders. They are also enjoying their vacations much better than an old westerner who much of the time only spends their holidays drinking cheap boos. No wonder why this place has become a stinking pig.

I wonder if Shroud becomes a one hit wonder?. Maybe he has the bible concession for the whole of the country. I look forward to his future ministries after a beer or two. Bible thumpers like the rest of us have two sides to them. I sure would like to peek into his other side.

[hansnl]

Mr Shroud has the solution.

Send all girls back home to build uo a new life.

Doing what?

The quality tourists are arriving on prepaid packages, spending nothing in the local economy while staying for maybe 5 days.

A single western tourist stays for an average of 12 days and spends a minimum of at least 100 a day in the local economy.

The slur of naming all western tourists pedo is far beside the truth.

Maybe mr Shroud belongs to that category?

[elgordo38]

interesting article. proves the Chinese tourists really don't spend money beyond their tour package costs.

i think the Communist Chinese tourists that come to Thailand don't have much money in the first place.

and I think that is true of most tourists in Thailand. low to lower middle class. The Chinese that do have money go to Hawaii or California for a vacation, not a dump like Thailand.

and frankly, i think they are scared to death in Thailand, as this might be the first time they have been outside their country.

They have been told what to do, eat, live, work all their lives, so they feel safe in groups being lead around.

and 2000 baht bar fine? hahahaha...

Are you saying we are getting the majority of the unwashed masses? Not the creme de la creme. Oh woe is me. I am confident our PM will find an answer for this.

[English 1]

People are not happy about the likelihood of Terrorism at Tourist frequented places.

Font edited.

LK

[prakhonchai nick]

interesting article. proves the Chinese tourists really don't spend money beyond their tour package costs.

i think the Communist Chinese tourists that come to Thailand don't have much money in the first place.

and I think that is true of most tourists in Thailand. low to lower middle class. The Chinese that do have money go to Hawaii or California for a vacation, not a dump like Thailand.

and frankly, i think they are scared to death in Thailand, as this might be the first time they have been outside their country.

They have been told what to do, eat, live, work all their lives, so they feel safe in groups being lead around.

and 2000 baht bar fine? hahahaha...

The fact that the Chinese follow their leaders flag, up and down the bar areas, indicates to me that ther are too scared to venture out on their own.

Edited January 23, 2016 by prakhonchai nick

[hawker9000]

Thais need to learn to treat tourists as customers , we do not appreciate being ripped off robbed and cheated when we go on vacation. You h have the Chinese good luck with that, only chinese benefit .

Thais used to understand this without anyone having to preach it to them. But the worm has simply turned. Despite the best efforts of the apologists & deniers - a rearguard corps likely comprised mostly of expats with interests to defend and/or significant emotional investment - to suppress any mention of it, greed & opportunism replaced TRUE thainess a long time ago. This news comes as no surprise whatsoever to the objectively minded. The rest of Thailand would do well to stop what they're doing & pay close attention to what's happened in Phuket and why...

As for the Chinese, this is a choice of the govt elites, not the Thai people who have no understanding of it and had no say in it. They do now, however, bear the burden of it. Another gift of communist conquest to the workers of the world.

Edited January 23, 2016 by hawker9000

[Briggsy]

Chinese want milk powder shops.

[hobz]

I think roughly 8 years ago the taxi mafia was not outragous. Then roughly 7 years ago all the taxi prices went from 20 to 200. At this point i promised myself i would never set foot on phuket again and i started telling the same to all my friends and basically anyone i.could find. Looks like i was not the only one.

Also i think flight prices from europe have increased the last couple of years.

I know my numbers are off bare with me

[Seizetheday]

There doesn't seem to be many people who have actually owned and run a business on Thai Visa, let alone this thread. I thought the aim of running a business was to make a profit, obviously most of you think otherwise.

[maprao]

Went once never went back.

[wombat]

This is so sad. Remind me to shed a tear - the next time I peel an onion.

if you stick your tongue out while doing it,you never will.

sorry,couldn't resist.

[connda]

Even as we speak, prices are going up in Soi Cowboy. Yet, I hear the girls complaining that it is quiet. My personal response to the higher prices is to go less often.

When the mamasan tells me I have not been in much, I say too expensive now. I doubt she got my point.

I too vote with my feet. Things I use to routinely purchase, I now seldom if ever buy. Places I used to frequent regularly I now visit seldom. My barber for 7 year decided to raise her haircut prices by 50%. I was a regular customer until then. I now have a different barber who does a great job for a reasonable price. The restaurants I frequent have raised prices, but have not gouged. They have simply kept pace with inflation. I remain a loyal customer. In a way they all have done me a favor. I'm quite content.

Edited January 23, 2016 by connda

[ALLSEEINGEYE]

Even as we speak, prices are going up in Soi Cowboy. Yet, I hear the girls complaining that it is quiet. My personal response to the higher prices is to go less often.

When the mamasan tells me I have not been in much, I say too expensive now. I doubt she got my point.

you can thank the guy that has bought up many of the bars there and has turned them into rip off bars.

Locals know not to go into them but you can rip off an unsuspecting tourist at least once.

Same thing that happened in Patpong, the internet is out there. People will learn where to go and where not to go.

The problem is some of these operators are just buying up certain venues to launder their money and don't care what effect it has on the other businesses in the area.

[AhFarangJa]

I thought that business on Bangla Rd. was all about going down.......

[lee b]

Shame, bet the prices wont go down to try and get the tourists back in .

[me313]

A surfeit of disappointed nice girls out of Isaan will be returning home shortly, empty pocketed but nice as they all claim they are the nicest in Thailand where the people are "real".

[torpedo1970]

hmmm

One word springs to mind

Som-nam-na.

obviously the "lets double the price so we earn the same" did not work.....

Thainess

[Deli]

No wonder, if you know how much the rents are - landlords are totally insane and greedy to the bone.

[wvavin]

Not all the people share the same preference like loud music and liquor.

[connda]

1. got too greedy and priced yourselves out of the market, same happened in walking street Pattaya

2. as above - price fixing cartels not allowing bars to drop their prices as they want too using threats and intimidation

3. The Chinese don't do bars, they might walk around looking but spend FA

Greed is destroying these places and the same patterns can be seen in Bangkok and Pattaya, as western visitors decline you will typically see the same destructive business pratice of increasing prices instead of rescueing tourism and the bar scene with reduced realistic pricing, supermarkets 7/11 and familymart are a good guide and a silid stake in the ground - if they didn't exist this country would be in ruins

fair pricing and your business will boom again

Thais just don't get the market strategy of under-cutting the prices of competition, investing in advertising, providing top-notch customer service which advertises itself, a go for volume.

But then again, I've never seen five stores selling the same services pop up around one successful business all essentially selling the same thing at the same prices either in the West. What mindset thinks that diluting the market is going to be successful instead of standing out as unique. <head shake>

[Mangkhut]

Everywhere and everything has its time on earth and nothing lasts forever. This goes for Bangla td and its neighborhood also I guess. Had some great fun there back 2002 - 2003. Was back last year and to put it mildly - the thrill was gone. It could of course be me, but I doubt its only about me....

No beachchairs, jetskiscammers, taxi and tuktuk mafia and the general pricelevel down there doesnt draw people I guess.