Anxious tourism officials respond to veiled threat with Chinese charm campaign

[Hawk]

Chinese behaviour is bad, there is no way to make that fact anything other than what it is, the truth but Thailand must face reality that the Chinese locusts will find a new country to ravage sooner or later, that's how tourism works. The Chinese tour companies are constantly looking for newer exotic destinations for their customers, so Africa and South America are next on the hit list.

Africa and South America are too far away for tourists who for the most part go for a

3-4 day junket. Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar are on the hit list.

So why so many Chinese tourists in Europe?

[Hawk]

Thai people are not alone in there dislike of the Chinese, (quote taken form the BBC)

"China has asked Vietnam to investigate reports that a Chinese visitor's passport was handed back with obscenities written on two pages."

[Rhys]

Attention: Assume the position of.....

[newnative]

I, for one, would welcome a Chinese boycott of Thailand and, specifically, Pattaya. Way too many here now and getting worse.

[impulse]

Meanwhile, there's a concurrent thread that seems to indicate that a large portion of the well behaved tourists would quit coming to Thailand if they can't dip their wick into the local women. Coming up on 1000 posts.

Lots of pots calling the kettle black here.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/932365-thai-sex-industry-under-fire-from-tourism-minister-police/

Edited July 28, 2016 by impulse

[MediaWatcher]

What's wrong with telling them if they can't be polite and respect our culture, then don't come?

Right....money into a few people's pocket....

This could be equally applied to many of the "farangs" living" in Thailand, particularly in Pattaya.

"

Just in case you have a "problem" this op is NOT about farangs, it clearly, for most of us, is about the Chinese. How about trying, just a little, to keep it on subject.

[Johpa]

The Chinese tour companies are constantly looking for newer exotic destinations for their customers, so Africa and South America are next on the hit list.

Not going to happen soon. Thailand is an affordable, and warm in the winter, destination for the newly emerging Chinese middle class that can't quite afford a trip overseas. Thailand remains somewhat exotic for Chinese, but also is soothingly familiar with the Chinese domination of business in Thailand, which also lends itself to the Chinese group tours whose guests represent most of the complaints. My brother in-law's tourist business, which does not receive the large Chinese group tours but does receive nearly 50% of its revenue from mostly young independent Chinese travelers, has no complaints about the overwhelmingly well behaved Chinese guests they encounter on a daily basis.

As for the wealthier Chinese, they are not visiting Thailand on vacation, they are already taking those overseas vacations that those on the group tours can still only dream of.

[mca]

They were considering ways to make Chinese tourists feel more loved, such as printing stickers which say " We Love Chinese Tourists"

Other actions being considered include licensing the 80s anthem " Shout" by Tears for Fears as the official " Welcome to Thailand" song and making the buffet line blitzkrieg more fun by having a face off between the tourists and the poor buggers trying to restock the buffet line with the F and B Manager wielding a bullhorn and declaring " CONTESTANTS READY!.....GLADIATORS READY!"

[Plutojames88]

Your Chinese masters may ( this time ) forgive and not remove you or send an army to claim your land.

But in time your country will be an outpost .

You sold your western friendships for communist ties.

So get on your knees to those invaders as they colonise you.

[digibum]

Oh boy, where to start.

From the first time TAT mentioned that they would court Chinese and Indian tourists I was cringing.

I don't mean to sound like farangs are superior but we have a lot of white guilt going on. We (mostly) come to a place like Thailand and actually try to respect the culture. How many farangs do you know that go around reminding friends and tourists, don't touch a Thai child on the head, don't step on any money because it has the king's face on it, don't say that because Thais view it as offensive, etc, etc? How many farangs go around wai'ing waitresses, bargirls, and taxi drivers trying to show their love of Thai culture?

And that's how Thailand and Thais get away with so much BS. We buy into whatever Thais tell us is Thai culture while they giggle like school children at how gullible we are. I could literally write pages of things Thais have convinced us are normal in Thai culture that wouldn't go down with another Thai.

But most of the Chinese and the Indians coming to Thailand don't give a damn about Thai culture. They think Thais are lower than they are. They couldn't care less if Thais don't like their behavior. To them, Thailand is a country of peasants and they are rich enough to travel to this country and they should be able to do as they please.

And, really, there's a certain truth in it. Why should Chinese or Indian tourists care? They come from countries with a hard life too. These are new middle class people who have fought and clawed their way to the middle class so they can afford to travel to places like Thailand. You think they want to hear that poor service is normal in Thailand and they should just accept it? They came to Thailand expecting be treated like royalty. Should they show a love for Thai culture when they see signs on the doors of restaurants and bars saying "No Indians" because they're not dumb enough to pay 100 baht for a bottled water?

Listen, I'm not advocating treating Thais poorly but it's not like it would take a genius to figure out that Chinese and Indians weren't going to be as gullible as us farangs. There's no white man's guilt going on. They expect good service. They expect good value. They expect to be treated respectfully when they plunk down 1 baht or 100,000 baht.

I mean, if you're English and went to Paris on holiday would you feel pressured into buying all the waitresses at a restaurant drinks so they think you're a good guy? Would you accept being ripped off because, well, you know, the French need to take care of their families?

Why? Because it feels different when it's white on white? Or is it different when you come to a country where you're of a similar economic class as the person ripping you off?

Is it any wonder why the Chinese and Indians could care less what Thais think of them when they come to Thailand and find themselves as being treated like giant marks?

Obviously pooping in the street and some of the other obscene stuff some of them do is just low class by any standard but let's not all start crying a river because the Thais don't like that they actually can't scam tourists with the "Thai culture" BS like they're used to.

For decades now Thailand has been demonizing the backpacker tourist. Scamming them. Cracking down on them. Telling the world they want better quality tourists.

Give it a few more years, TAT will be scouring the globe trying to get the backpackers to come back. At least the backpackers allowed them to keep their dignity.

[Plutojames88]

Indians in 7/11 demanding phone cards speaking with disdain to employes .

Using no edicate what so ever.

Their class system on full display.

I once was at the customs with 200 Indians ahead of me .

I was ahead of the others ( westerners )

The Thai official pointed me out and got me to pass through the diplomatic gate.

I thought at the time it might have been a misunderstanding ( I was wearing a suit)

But I quickly realised the Custom official just wanted to piss off the Indians who they were ignoring in slow motion.

Russian , Indians , and some Middle eastern middle class do indeed show the Thais little regard.

Amusingly , many perish there as we do.

I would still advice politeness

[Asiantravel]

Chinese behaviour is bad, there is no way to make that fact anything other than what it is, the truth but Thailand must face reality that the Chinese locusts will find a new country to ravage sooner or later, that's how tourism works. The Chinese tour companies are constantly looking for newer exotic destinations for their customers, so Africa and South America are next on the hit list.

the locals in one place dont know what is going to hit them ......................

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-24/sea-lake-chinese-tourism-drought-grain-rural-environment-water/7272248

[digibum]

I once was at the customs with 200 Indians ahead of me .

I was ahead of the others ( westerners )

The Thai official pointed me out and got me to pass through the diplomatic gate.

It's happened to me in India many times.

I've also been out with Indian coworkers in India and walked right into nightclubs while they had to practically bust out a bank statement to prove that they were high class enough to enter. And some of these guys were very, very rich Indians. The guy who owned the company was a billionaire (in USD, not rupees) and I often got better treatment than he did until they figured out who he was.

That's why I say that when they come to Thailand, to a place where the people are considered lower class than they are, well, they expect to be treated like they see white or higher class people treated in their country.

But someone forgot to tell the Thais who think they are the most special people on the planet. They think tourists are gifts from Buddha and their tourist money is a reward for all the merit they make. Treating their guests like guests, learning their language, their culture, and rolling out the red carpet for them is an entirely foreign concept.