Bombs shake Thailand tourist towns, and industry confidence

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8 hours ago, koolkarl said:

I am always in wonder why tourists visit Thailand at all.

It has a history of being politically unstable, xenophobic attitude towards all foreigners, dual pricing,

gangs of uneducated Thais beating up old tourists, rip offs, scams, not inexpensive anymore, etc.

Many other countries to visit or live in that do not have these issues. 

 

Right you are.  And many tourists are beginning to realize that.  The Chinese are still coming by the plane load because tour operators in China are selling them to the working class Chinese who can't afford to go to nicer places.  

 

But farang tourism has been dropping steadily for awhile now.  

 

Also, you need to keep in mind that Thailand once owned a pocket of relative attractiveness.  Burma?  Nobody was seriously going on holiday to Burma.  Laos?  Even today, still difficult to get to without going through another country first.  Cambodia?  Up until maybe a decade a go, really couldn't compete for tourism.  Vietnam?  Was probably the best second choice in the region but not entirely tourist friendly.  

 

Thailand was the gem of Southeast Asia.  Relative political stability (despite all of the coups - they seldom flowed over into things like shutting down airports, bombs, etc), inexpensive, plenty of western standard hotels, and a tourist friendly attitude.  

 

But the political stability has eroded, prices are nearly as expensive as back in Farangland, and the tourist friendly attitude became replaced with an attitude of, "Shut up and give me money you stupid foreigner."  

 

A lot of people put the blame on Thai attitudes towards us foreigners but I think you can track the Thai attitudes pretty closely to how their lot in the game in Thailand has gotten worse.  They have no one else to lash out at, to take their frustrations out on.  

 

I'm not making excuses, simply an observation.  

 

And during that same Burma began opening its doors.  Cambodia's infrastructure has improved and they're seeing more tourism.  Laos is slowly waking up to tourism.  And Vietnam is hungrily looking to welcome tourists.  

 

Some economists are already starting to call this Thailand's lost decade.  The last 10 years (possibly even longer) have been filled with nothing but internal fighting and bickering which has halted any forward progress.  While Thailand's neighbors get stronger, Thailand is standing still.  

 

But the Thais see none of this because they're so focused on this internal battle.  Xenophobes, bureaucrats, and short-sighted government appointees keep setting a less and less foreigner friendly atmosphere under the delusion that they're still the only game in town.  Blind to the fact that we have other options.  

 

Who else would propose shutting down the sex tourism industry when the tourism industry is probably the only thing keeping Thailand from slipping into a recession?  Not that I'm advocating sex tourism but only someone who is tone deaf and blind would propose such a thing at this particular moment.  

 

Only someone who is blinded by their zealous desire to hold onto power would suggest tracking foreigner's SIM cards right now.  They can't see the unintended consequences of their actions because they are so focused on Thailand's internal problems.  

 

They feel like tourism is a right bestowed upon them by the Buddha himself.  And no matter what they do, the tourists will keep coming because Thai people are entitled to it.  They've come to take tourism for granted and right now it's the only healthy part of their economy.  Instead of protecting it, they're letting it decay as they fight amongst themselves.  

 

The next decade is going to be a huge wakeup call for Thailand.  They're going to get knocked down a few pegs.