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

[vr6onlysiam]

90.000bt day that's more than a London pubs

[vr6onlysiam]

Vietnam is free entry up to 14 days. Just been some bars 15bt a beer

[Travel Dude]

About 10 years ago the switch to mass tourism was engaged. TAT and the government were looking at increasing numbers. I predicted this would be a disaster. Why? Because western tourists who spend at least 30.000 thb of their hard earned money on a ticket would not want to stay in mass tourism places. For that Spain and some others is good enough.

Then service. Since ages Thailand is not the Land of Smiles anymore. Being screamed upon by bar staff, restaurant and shop owners, taxi drivers and other "locals" just isn't the way westerners imagined their holidays. The rude behavior and the lack of civilisation lots of Thai nowadays display are reasons quality tourists don't come back. There are many countries they can choose from, so why Thailand, the country that has become a mess, where locals and government alike are behaving with dédain to tourists, where racism can be felt, where nationalism is up. No, no tourist really needs Thailand, even if Thailand thinks so.

This said it is not to late to come to terms:

1) realise what is at stake

2) Ditch arrogance and the refusal to accept reality

3) be really humble, don't must pretend

4) respect those that make your family eat

5) Improve education. How often do i see thai without table manners, not able to hold the door for the next person or just screaming out loud as if they were alone. Train the country and all those in tourism and related business. Use media to train

6) enforce the law

7) fix problems with cheaters. No it is not cool to cheat. It is not cool to charge foreigners more for boattrips, national parks or even a cup of tea.

8) pull Police and other selfish Maffia influence out of tourism.

9) get external audits amd external consultants. Respect their opinion and act on their recommendations.

10) last but not least, do away with power play, do you know who I am? and other nonsense. Because at the end of the day, it is again because of the behavior and decisions at the top that at the bottom it does not work

[JHolmesJr]

Look at the bright side: more time to play bingo.

[cyberfarang]

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

You mean fair pricing in Phuket will fix the huge economic crisis that is going on in Europe and the US for years already, and has just started accelerating?

Fair pricing does not necessarily mean cheap. It can also stand for value for money and these bars including those nationwide in Thailand are no longer value for money.

They may get away with squeezing the golden goose a bit, but instead have squashed it to death.

[mcfish]

About 10 years ago the switch to mass tourism was engaged. TAT and the government were looking at increasing numbers. I predicted this would be a disaster. Why? Because western tourists who spend at least 30.000 thb of their hard earned money on a ticket would not want to stay in mass tourism places. For that Spain and some others is good enough.

Then service. Since ages Thailand is not the Land of Smiles anymore. Being screamed upon by bar staff, restaurant and shop owners, taxi drivers and other "locals" just isn't the way westerners imagined their holidays. The rude behavior and the lack of civilisation lots of Thai nowadays display are reasons quality tourists don't come back. There are many countries they can choose from, so why Thailand, the country that has become a mess, where locals and government alike are behaving with dédain to tourists, where racism can be felt, where nationalism is up. No, no tourist really needs Thailand, even if Thailand thinks so.

This said it is not to late to come to terms:

1) realise what is at stake

2) Ditch arrogance and the refusal to accept reality

3) be really humble, don't must pretend

4) respect those that make your family eat

5) Improve education. How often do i see thai without table manners, not able to hold the door for the next person or just screaming out loud as if they were alone. Train the country and all those in tourism and related business. Use media to train

6) enforce the law

7) fix problems with cheaters. No it is not cool to cheat. It is not cool to charge foreigners more for boattrips, national parks or even a cup of tea.

8) pull Police and other selfish Maffia influence out of tourism.

9) get external audits amd external consultants. Respect their opinion and act on their recommendations.

10) last but not least, do away with power play, do you know who I am? and other nonsense. Because at the end of the day, it is again because of the behavior and decisions at the top that at the bottom it does not work

Man you are a highly stressed individual. Being screamed upon? In 10 years I've never been screamed at by staff anywhere in Thailand . If I were you I would look inwards for an answer

Sent from my SC-01D using Tapatalk

[madpat]

Just waiting for another new tax idea, tax farangs 1,000 baht because it is their fault by not coming here that we are losing so much money

[charmonman]

Cowboy, Bangla Road, Nana, Patpong and so forth used to be a lot of fun but now are really just a disappointing rip off. Whoever thinks its all about "pedophile old Western men" has got no idea what they are talking about. I know a lot of "old Western men" in Thailand. None that I know of are pedophiles and very few can be bothered going to the aforementioned places very often because their past experience makes them aware of what a complete rip off they are these days.

[ZeldasCavern]

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.

The bungalow has been empty for 10 months now, but they will not consider bring the rate down again.

It's amazing they just don't get it???

Owner now wants 45K Bht for a small shop where before it was 10, then 20K, it's been empty for over a year, only someone trying it for 3 months before disappearing.

Can't reason with these owners, they're the only one's making out with key money, and high monthly rents.

The tenant realizes too late that he can't make ends or enough profit and bails. Then the process repeats and the owner says "HaHa, stupid Falang".

Just amazing

[Scouse123]

I think the Bangkok scene has been a rip off for a very long time. This is not news nor a recent event. The bars that run shows decided to completely just go for organised tour arrangements and forego the bread and gutter customers, they have shown that regular patrons do not interest them by the direction they have taken. The customer with the fat wallet remains welcome if willing to pay the inflated prices.

Pat pong itself is finished as an entertainment area and is now just ageing drunken old hookers way past their sell by date with bar owners, usually Thais in that locality, also old and facing very expensive rent hikes from a pat pong family that does not care or is not interested in a bar owners problems.

A bottle of standard lager there is 130 baht in a counter top bar, which equates at over £5 a pint. That's to look at copy CD movies on a TV with a 50 year old bar woman who isn't interested except for a lame attempt at a " lady drink " . A sad state of affairs in scruffy streets whose charm and fun days are way long gone.

I was paying recently £5 a pint but that was in good high end bars in London. With London overheads and decent staff wages, it is expected.

[TheCruncher]

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

You mean fair pricing in Phuket will fix the huge economic crisis that is going on in Europe and the US for years already, and has just started accelerating?

Fair pricing does not necessarily mean cheap. It can also stand for value for money and these bars including those nationwide in Thailand are no longer value for money.

They may get away with squeezing the golden goose a bit, but instead have squashed it to death.

Think you miss the point why Western business is down in Thailand.

Hint : nothing to do with prices charged in the bars.

Have you been in the west lately, and if you haven't noticed the economic malaise there, did you try to order a drink in a bar with scantly clothed women on stage when there?

[mrfaroukh]

Welcome to reality. Pattaya have the same story

[arithai12]

A lot of people on this thread seem to confuse Thailand with Patong.

[superdome]

2000bht bar fine.....u avin a f......ing laugh

[Yahooka]

Maybe the thing to do is to adapt these failing locations to businesses that suit the Chinese market. Besides from being economically priced, what kinds of bars, restaurants, shops, etc. do the Chinese want while on holiday? I was in Bangla years ago when my brother came to visit and it was dead then in December. Its seems that western tourists basically finished with that party spot ages ago (for many of the reasons mentioned -- mainly based on unpleasant and greedy people trying to get as much as possible for as little as possible). It's time to move on and serve your new tourist base.

Mahjong Parlors...Karaoke Spots? What's the general age and interests of the Chinese tourists? Put on your thinking caps guys and do things like approaching the tour companies to see what their clients want and make deals -- should work for restaurants and shops, maybe even the right kind of bar/karaoke parlor. Don't just sit and whine about selling less wine, so to speak. Adapt!!!

Invest in an 7-11,Family Mart and instant noodles .

[Travel Dude]

About 10 years ago the switch to mass tourism was engaged. TAT and the government were looking at increasing numbers. I predicted this would be a disaster. Why? Because western tourists who spend at least 30.000 thb of their hard earned money on a ticket would not want to stay in mass tourism places. For that Spain and some others is good enough.

Then service. Since ages Thailand is not the Land of Smiles anymore. Being screamed upon by bar staff, restaurant and shop owners, taxi drivers and other "locals" just isn't the way westerners imagined their holidays. The rude behavior and the lack of civilisation lots of Thai nowadays display are reasons quality tourists don't come back. There are many countries they can choose from, so why Thailand, the country that has become a mess, where locals and government alike are behaving with dédain to tourists, where racism can be felt, where nationalism is up. No, no tourist really needs Thailand, even if Thailand thinks so.

This said it is not to late to come to terms:

1) realise what is at stake

2) Ditch arrogance and the refusal to accept reality

3) be really humble, don't must pretend

4) respect those that make your family eat

5) Improve education. How often do i see thai without table manners, not able to hold the door for the next person or just screaming out loud as if they were alone. Train the country and all those in tourism and related business. Use media to train

6) enforce the law

7) fix problems with cheaters. No it is not cool to cheat. It is not cool to charge foreigners more for boattrips, national parks or even a cup of tea.

8) pull Police and other selfish Maffia influence out of tourism.

9) get external audits amd external consultants. Respect their opinion and act on their recommendations.

10) last but not least, do away with power play, do you know who I am? and other nonsense. Because at the end of the day, it is again because of the behavior and decisions at the top that at the bottom it does not work

Man you are a highly stressed individual. Being screamed upon? In 10 years I've never been screamed at by staff anywhere in Thailand . If I were you I would look inwards for an answer

Sent from my SC-01D using Tapatalk

No, never. Cause I don't take shit. But I have seen it often. Have a look at the airport arrival in Phuket, or some bar/restaurants and tuk tuk drivers in Patong.

And well, if you think there is no real problem then maybe all those vendors are weaning for nothing...

I have no problem at all, just trying to understand what's wrong. And I think after over 10 years here I do see what the problem is.

But yeah, perhaps there is no problem, right? Perhaps the foreigners are the problem which would indicate you adapted well.

[blazes]

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.

Perhaps you should consider changing your already funereal name to an even more appropriate one. How about "Grim Reaper."?

[timewilltell]

As so many have already said the writing has been on the wall for many years. The demise of Phuket despite the 'spin' that Phuket always re-invents itself is nothing more than a repeat of the Spanish nightmare. Costa Del Sol and various other resorts buliding, building, building whilst the hungry tourist from the UK were flocking there. Suddenly things changed - the UK tourist who were taking holidays abroad for the first time became a more seasoned market who had holidayed before and therefore more discerning and critical. News spread of all the nonsense in the Spanish resorts until quite rapidly everyone dropped it as a destination and moved to Turkey and Greece. Fed up with attacks on women, cheating and scamming and an ambivalent Spanish police / justice system. Suddenly no customers. I remember a documentary showing the tens of thousands of hotel rooms all vacant. After a decade of hurt businessmen were trying to turn the hotel rooms into apartments, not very successfully for many years because there was no work because there were no tourists and who wants to live in a wasteland?

The place has recovered marginally but not as it was before and likely never to be so. Thailand and especially Phuket have been repeating history. Hotel rooms everywhere and still building them, shop houses coming out of your ears and the typical sleazy Thai rich families trying to milk the dead cow. it is all just a repeat.

Chinese may bring a minor blip of relief but the world is going into recession and those going on holiday will be selective. A great time for them with top resorts at super cheap prices compared to before. The cycle is like water going down the plug hole, spinning slowly at first and then accelerating into a mini whirlpool. Thailand thanks to its wonderful culture, political maturity and superb justice system have managed ... well we all know what they have managed. Unfortunately there is no going back in the short term. It has taken 30 years for Thais to become disgustingly xenophobic, through jealousy I think, and it will take another generation to become something else again, but in the meantime they will continue to denigrate the hand that feeds them through ignorance and a lack of education. The tourists will all leave for more accommodating climes for their various reasons be they economic, political or just sick and tired of listening to all the lies and deceit over and over and looking to find something else to fulfill their life. Thailand will have to reinvent, but from what I see they are sticking two fingers up to all foreigners so the Japanese, EU and Yankie businesses will fade away along with the tourists. Perhaps it is all a plan to let the Chinese take over. It could not happen to a nicer place.

Wait for Thailand to go pleading for money from the World bank with their delegates handing around little presents in the hope of favour. I wonder when they will wake up to the fact that there are really not many countries who have a positive balance and so the World Bank may not actually be in a position to help even if it wanted to appease these numpties. As for China - sadly its astounding economic growth is about to sputter like the last firework and as it was all provided for by debt - they may have trouble swallowing the medicine of repayment. It is all looking like a perfect storm for Thailand but lets hope the new generation can bring prosperity and honour to the nation once again. You have to believe in the children

[JHolmesJr]

2000bht bar fine.....u avin a f......ing laugh

1500 according to grandpa jimmy from jomtien.

[xylophone]

Agree to a certain extent what "The Cruncher" Has said in his post regarding the state of the worldwide economy (basically) and he is right that there is less money to spend worldwide, on holidays and such things, and even when there is money to spend, the places that are selected in which to holiday, have to offer value for money, something special, a meaningful experience and so on........... but Patong doesn't have those any more.

The place is being strangled by its own greed and lack of ability to change to the changing demographics and a few quotes from the "Patong is Dead" thread highlight some of these problems.........

Quote from “SooKee”:

"Bangla for me is mostly just a blur of 'clone bar' mediocrity now. Probably just bored with too much of it over the years I guess but I'd been for going many years 3-4 years ago too, it just felt less crap then. As has been pointed out these Tiger complexes were struggling a few years ago to fill the bars inside, now inside some bars are lucky to get ANY customers at all. Standards across the board just seem to have dropped so much too, behavioural topping the bill. I've commented before about the fun element that Patong has just been lost for me. Now, it's all about the money, money, money"

Parts of one of my posts on ”Patong is dead”………

"Last night was different inasmuch as there were quite a few bars with drinkers in, although the same thing as I've mentioned before still applied to resurrected Tiger, where half the bars have closed down. Not surprising really when the bar fine in the bar I visited with friends is 2000 baht, the minute lady drinks 220 baht, and a soda water 90 baht! And they wonder why we were the only people in their bar, but not for long I can assure you.

The usual clubs were packed with the younger set and Smiley Bar was also packed with a good cross-section of people because they have a good band in there.

AND……..

"There were two disappointments for me during the evening, the first was following three burly steroid-like Aussies with shaven hair and tattoos, wearing black T-shirts with what looked like the name of a tattoo parlour on them, and watched one of them deliberately throw a half empty bottle of beer on the floor at the entrance to Soi Sea Dragon, smashing it and sending glass everywhere, much to the chagrin of the bar owner who shouted at them loudly in Thai (expletives I expect) however they marched on regardless. Ignorant pigs.

The second was a lot more disturbing as it involved a pack of animals attacking one solitary Farang. I don't know what started it, however one Farang was having an altercation with a Thai guy in the middle of Bangla and it developed into fisticuffs, but only briefly. A crowd gathered and the two were pulled apart and the police were called, and they were on the scene within a minute as they were probably nearby…………..

Then the original two seemed to come to blows again, however that was extremely short lived because at that moment in time about seven Thai guys jumped into the fray and started attacking the one Farang, just like a pack of animals and he had no chance whatsoever, being cornered up against a wall and having a barrage of fists and boots put into him, leaving him quite bloodied. These guys were dressed in red T-shirts and are part of the "tout brigade" that patrol their various patches in Bangla trying to snare customers into ping-pong parlours and go-go bars.

They had absolutely no reason to jump in but the pack mentality was frightening to see, and again the police did nothing. The beating stopped because the Farang fell to the ground and was dragged out by his mate and surrounded by a couple of Farang girls. The redshirted animals simply disappeared into the crowd and again the police did nothing although they saw it all".

So in conclusion you have lots more of the "same old, same old" bars being built, catering for the usually older tourist guys who liked to sit in bars and drink and chat up the girls, when it was plain for all to see at least seven years ago that this was a declining market, so it's no wonder that there are many empty bars in Tiger 1 and Tiger 2 as well as other Sois, with no doubt more closures to come.

This leads to the fact that some of the bars/venues that did foresee the demographic change are prospering quite well and are reasonably full of the younger set doing their stuff. Sure their takings might be down a bit, but they are still making good money by the looks of it.

Then of course you have the crime and violence (and the typical Thai pack mentality with regards to it) in one form or another, not to mention the loathsome Tuk Tuk mafia and ping-pong touts and the inability of the police to stamp any of it out, and those who live in Patong certainly know the reason why.

Add to the above the fact that cheap airfares from the likes of Australia can bring in the bogans who can often cause trouble, and of course the cheap package tours from China which bring in the low-end low quality tourists who give absolutely nothing to Patong other than bad manners, cigarette butts and spit, and you have some excellent examples of why businesses are suffering in Bangla Road and Patong in general.

Other posts have mentioned that things should have changed the long time ago in order to cater for the likes of the Chinese, however the typical Bangla Road model just does not lend itself to what is required – – – for example Soi Freedom becomes a lane of 30 small noodle stalls, as does Tiger 1 and Tiger 2??

I don't believe this will work, because what you are doing is catering to the market which is/or becomes, "the lowest of the low" when what should have happened a long time ago was trying to lure the tourists who can spend money by offering "something special" not just rows and rows of bars.

The holiday experience a lifetime............. not beer bars alone (some are okay and some tourists like to visit them but unlike the old days, do not sit in them for many hours) and certainly not the Tuk Tuk and taxi mafia, inflated prices, poor service, scams, rip-offs, smelly drains, traffic jams, appalling infrastructure, corruption............and the list goes on.

TAT and others have decided to cater for the low-end of the market and places like Bangla/Patong are now suffering for this misguided marketing.

Edited January 23, 2016 by xylophone

[Geoffggi]

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

All of the above is correct and only yesterday it was reported that the Thai government are considering charging the foreign tourist more money every time they enter, can they not read the writing on the wall, now is the time to make coming to Thailand more attractive not to shoot the other foot...!!

[BestBitterPhuket]

I am overcome with joy from thinking about all of those unsavory and nasty characters operating in Bangla Rd going out of business. That place is a stain on Phuket and Thailand's reputation. If the Chinese influx is able to destroy most of Thailand's sex tourism, I would be happy. This seedy business attracts the worst Thai and foreign human garbage. If Bangla Rd will exchange the sleazy bars and nightclubs for Chinese restaurants, I will be happy to visit, something i NEVER do now. I love chinese food, speak Chinese and have many mainland Chinese friends.

Edited January 24, 2016 by BestBitterPhuket

[luckyman]

Due to its greed, corruption, scams and danger Thailand is slowly strangling itself

Bangla Rd is Thailand, right ?

Yes, to be exact the bar/sex center of Patong, Phuket.

Duh !

I know where it is, stupid !

I did the roofing on Hollywood, Taipan and Illuzion so I am pretty familiar with the location one of the seediest and dirtiest 'entertainment streets' of Thailand.

My comment was meant to show I disagree that decreasing tourist numbers for Bangla Rd. have any significant impact on Thailand's GDP or on the total yearly income of Thailand's sex industry.

[houlicha]

Just spent 3 weeks in China. You need to build more KFCs and Starbucks for them.

[smotherb]

I wonder why we are not hearing from all the deniers of a decrease in tourism? It seems whenever someone mentioned tourism dropping before, there were those saying, "Looks just fine to me," “my business is doing great,” or "I was there last night and it was packed."

[xylophone]

I am overcome with joy from thinking about all of those unsavory and nasty characters operating in Bangla Rd going out of business. That place is a stain on Phuket and Thailand's reputation. If the Chinese influx is able to destroy most of Thailand's sex tourism, I would be happy. This seedy business attracts the worst Thai and foreign human garbage. If Bangla Rd will exchange the sleazy bars and nightclubs for Chinese restaurants, I will be happy to visit, something i NEVER do now. I love chinese food, speak Chinese and have many mainland Chinese friends.

Hmmm.......a bit harsh BBB

I know of several bars, owned by farangs and their Thai girls, which cater for the folk who wish to go to the bars and drink, chat and meet other people, as well as listen to music, and do not employ girls to dance on poles or go off with the customers.

In addition there are quite a few good restaurants off Bangla which offer good food at reasonable prices and I like eating there and catching the atmosphere of Bangla, although I don't always subscribe to liking the place too much.

If the whole street was tidied up and made to look half decent, and some of this could be done by just repairing the road alone, with the addition of some better shops and a shopping experience, then it might just be a place where tourists could go in the daytime as well, on their way to visiting the beach, rather than staying away from it because it is a pigsty with the rubbish, potholes, smelly drains and general demeanour.

[Giggsy]

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.

Very easy to tell bar girls to simply go back to their villages and earn 150 baht a day picking mango's. Thailand made its name on the entertainment business and hundreds of thousands of Thais have improved their standard of living doing so. Would you be happy to live on rice and what dad caught last nite ? It's easy to judge from an ivory tower. They have no future in the village, that's why they choose this way of life.

[soalbundy]

Hopefully an immigration wake up call, but as we all know, it wont be.

[LivinginKata]

Hopefully an immigration wake up call, but as we all know, it wont be.

Huh - what's this to do with immigration ?

I would say it's a tourism business wake up call ...

[naruk]

The record number tourists are Chinese tour groups. They don't spend any money in Thailand so that is just bummer. I remember that a teacher at prince of Songkla university where I was a student once said "we don't need you westerner tourists when we have Russians and Chinese." Hope that she is happy now.

a teacher at prince of Songkla university

Must have been a waste of time with teachers like that. Ever tried to get a job outside Thailand with your degree?

Yes I have a job outside of Thailand with that degree. She wasn't my teacher.