Tell me - Why should Thailand make it safer for Tourists?

[huawei]

It's not good to generalize I know but I'm going to stick my neck out here and say that most younger people today haven't got the intellectual bandwidth to understand the data that's being thrown at that on this subject by newspapers. In the West they're raised on the stories put out by the Sun and the Daily Mail yet they fail to comprehend the link between sensationalism and profit in the media and instead make a different connection, one between sensationalism and fact. I think that's why we have so many conspiracy theories these days, from the moon landing being filmed on a movie set, to 9/11 being orchestrated by the government all the way down to the most likely cause of foreign deaths in Thailand, folks are simply not able to assimilate the information their provided any longer and that's truly scary.

The moon landing theory has been out there since the moon landing.

9/11 theory is more of an American based paranoia ...

Foreign deaths...I am not sure what conspiracy is out there.

Your last sentence is full on..and it just doesn't apply to the young..

As for intellectual bandwidth...newspapers tend to pander and re- enforce prejudices..regardless of the amount provided.

Sometimes it's hard to believe anything these days and living in a country where making up things or saying things to avoid accountability..just adds that extra layer..

Scary ...very much so..

[Rorri]

Why should the Thais care if a tourist dies here?

I can't remember caring about tourists getting killed in Australia when I lived there. It just wasn't something I or anyone I knew gave a stuff about.

I don't even care if a tourist dies here.

It amazes me that we are back on the no tourists here again. Don't believe TAT, but at least Google and you will find the only people saying tourists numbers are down are a few posters here.

You can find out where the tourists are from, breakdowns and all. Asian countries make up the top three, so maybe some posters don't notice them, and assume they are Thais.

See quarterly data from 2009 till end of 2015 at bottom of this page.

2013 saw the highest number of arrivals yet at 26.55 million arrivals.

During 2014 arrivals decreased to 24.81 million (-6.54%).

(Arrivals decreased by 10,28 % in the first three quarters of 2014. The end of 2014, saw an increase in arrivals, compared with the previous year)

2015 saw a massive increase in the number of visiting tourists. 5 million more visitors arrived, bringing their total up to 29,881,091 . There was some loss of momentum during the months of September and the fourth quarter of the year with only minor increases in visitor numbers in these months. Likely this was related to a bombing of the Erawan Shrine in central Bangkok on 17 August 2015, which caused 20 casualties, and was reported worldwide.

To a great extent the increase in visitors in 2015 was due to the significant increase in Chinese tourists. 7,934,791 Chinese tourists arrived (26,55 % of the total !), and increase of more than 3 million when compared with 2014. Then again, the number of Russian visitors dropped from 1,606,430 to 884,085 or almost by half.

Boom Years for Thai Tourism Industry

International arrivals to Thailand from 2000 to 2015 show a significant rise from 2000 onwards. If we take the year 2000 as an easy benchmark with 10 million visitors at the time, we reached 26.55 million visitors in 2013, an increase of 165 %. Arrivals decreased by 6.54% during 2014, in a year that saw massive political demonstrations, followed by the military taking over the government. A recovery occurred in the final quarter of that year, and 2015 saw a boom in arrivals, almost up to 30 million.

Temporary dips in arrivals occurred

SARS 2003

Post-Tsunami 2004

Global recession and riots in Thailand 2009

Riots and political uncertainty in 2010, major flooding of a large part of Thailand and northern Bangkok end 2011, and political demonstrations end 2013 and ongoing into 2014. Anti-goverment demonstrations occupied most of the first half of 2014, and were followed by declaration of martial law, and a military (bloodless) Coup d'Etat on 22 May 2014. Military government since then. Bombing of the Erawan Shrine on 17 August 2015 likely had some negative effect on the number of arrivals.

It is yet to be seen if the recent passport check on a 100 or so people will be the final nail in the coffin!

Last year was a record year, this one is shaping up as another one. Don't believe me, don't believe TAT, just google it. Certainly don't believe posters here that have no real figures only what they reckon.

Pattaya also has a weekend influx of Thais every weekend that the other resort towns miss out on because of the distance to Bangkok. You won't see them much from the bar stools in soi 6,7,8 either. They are for the farang.

Do the Thais really care where the tourists are from? Why would they? Seems to me they are keeping up with the times as they always have. Smart people these Thais.

Record numbers of tourists leads to more tourist deaths. Simple.

This comment "I can't remember caring about tourists getting killed in Australia when I lived there. It just wasn't something I or anyone I knew gave a stuff about." is a load of rubbish, any death, except natural, is taken seriously by the authorities, obviously not by a WHOLE nation, I can see Thailand is the right place for you.

[big carl]

Not sure he knows what he is talking about. Tourists numbers are up and so are tourist deaths. Gee what a similarity.

Also Hamburgers eaten may also be up.

Does he expect the deaths to fall when more tourists come?

[RawboneFunksta]

Why does everything become a pissing contest on the forum?

There are statistics from various sources that may contradict.

I have either read about or witnessed lots of nasty incidents that were inches from going south in Bangkok and seen lots of Thais drive negligently and with little care for other road users. A friend of a friend died when a speeding bus crashed in Surat Thani.

I was stabbed while helping a Thai neighbour in a quiet street across the river in Bangkok.

Lots of tourists are killed by speedboats and buses being poorly managed.

We all know about the mafia both on Koh Tao and lots of other incidents where westerners have been threatened, raped or killed.

the mysterious deaths of men married to Thai women and those that 'fall' from balconies etc also have to be considered.

I crashed my bike last year and dislocated my shoulder. A taxi driver moved my bike to a safe place and took me to hospital. Very kind guy.

after the operation and general anaesthetic I woke and was unable to breath. The surgeons etc were all around me and had obviously been trying to revive me for a while. After a short while I could breath again. They were very kind and gentle but it seems they had administered too much anaesthesia.

How many times have you seen Thai workers standing on electricity cables while cutting hedges or some such foolishness?

That's Thailand in a nutshell.

I have also experienced infinitely more care, tenderness and tolerance than violence in Thailand.

Some expats seem to feel threatened by any negative remarks about the potential dangers here. Why?

You sound like the American 'love it or leave it brigade'.

Thailand is great, we all like it here or we would go and criticising some of it's aspects is testament to how much most of us care. We are mortally disappointed when terrible things happen or travesties of justice take place.

Stop feeling threatened, Thailand is what it is and like all countries, there is room for improvement!

[edkhalil]

Clearly they should do what they can to make it less safe. What a silly question.

[Khun Han]

People spend less money when they're dead?

[canathai8]

We all know that changing Thailand is best left to the Thais. We can only set an example..

They don't appreciate it when farang like me try to tell them to wear a safety helmet.

It's seen as meddling. My wife told me that's how my Thai relatives view it when I try to "help."

They don't get mad mind you, but they want to be left alone. I understand that. You can change yourself, but you can't change others - unless someone looks up to you so much that they emulate, or copy your behaviors.

On another note - I've been picking up garbage and broken glass on Thai beaches for eleven years - sometimes Thai youngsters pitch in..

I notice Thai beaches are getting slightly cleaner - no thanks to me. Many farang help clean up Thailand a little bit here and there - one step at a time. And Thais are cleaning up their beaches, slowly but surely..

Change never comes fast enough.

Why do farang pick up garbage in Thailand? We love the country and the people, that's why..

[huawei]

We all know that changing Thailand is best left to the Thais. We can only set an example..

They don't appreciate it when farang like me try to tell them to wear a safety helmet.

It's seen as meddling. My wife told me that's how my Thai relatives view it when I try to "help."

They don't get mad mind you, but they want to be left alone. I understand that. You can change yourself, but you can't change others - unless someone looks up to you so much that they emulate, or copy your behaviors.

This is very true. I know a lot of Thais ( educated or lived abroad ) through work mostly who have asked me why foreigners try to emulate Thai behaviour when they have been educated to know better.

[Razzler1973]

All these things happen and tourist figures are going up? Guess what ... that may change. It may change very quickly just on one particular incident that could happen at any time. The more these things are reported the more chance of that happening

You don't wait for a crisis before addressing it and also, countries tend to not want things happening to visitors to their country, they kind of like them visiting

[spidermike007]

First of all, the numbers are NOT up! Everyone I speak to, in the tourist industry, nationwide, says the same thing about that. Restaurants, bars, clubs, and hotels are all suffering. So are travel operators and travel agents, who do not have a large Chinese clientele. So, please stop drinking the TAT Kool Aid.

Second, they should do it, because it it the right thing to do. Not because there is profit in it. Do it out of the decency of your hearts. Do it to protect your future earnings. Do it to demonstrate kindness and character. Do it because real men act, and do not always just talk.

And by instituting traffic safety, improving the feeble, anemic, and impotent police force, and the like, they are not just protecting tourists. They are protecting their own people, who they profess to love so much, yet rarely ever demonstrate that affection with proactive and intelligent policy. Action speaks infinitely louder than words. Stop talking about it, and just do it.

[chiang mai]

I don't know about the rest of your post but I think you're very wrong on the tourist numbers part. The Chinese tourist element is substantial in the North, presumably true elsewhere also, they don't spend the same way that other tourists do so traditional tourist services can be forgiven for thinking the numbers are down simply because they don't see them. Mrs CM has a part time job currently working at a nearby tourist attraction, she took the job to supplement her learning of Chinese at school at the weekends, in her job she gets to meet loads of Chinese tourists hence her Chinese language is coming along nicely. The point is that tourist attraction in question sees 95% Chinese tour groups and 5% the rest and business is vibrant and non-stop.

EDIT to add: interestingly she turned down an extremely well paid job at a nearby 5 star in favour of what's she's doing currently. At the interview the hotel tried their damnedest to get her to work there simply because of her Chinese language skills and have left the door open for her to reapply at any time. That says to me that demand is high and that large parts of their business are increasingly dependent on the Chinese tourist trade.

Edited March 5, 2016 by chiang mai