If the Thais just smile all the tourists will come flooding back!

[Jackin1960]

No.

[elgordo38]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

If the Thais just smile all the tourists will come flooding back!

Maybe start with the TAT lady she always seems to want to break out into a smile but never succeeds. 

[elgordo38]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

 

But TNA said that "quality tourists" from Germany, Israel, the UK and Russia were now returning and added:

They always manage to squeeze something like this in. Hope never dies here its eternal. 

[Classic Ray]

Success comes from service with a smile, both elements are important though, not just the smiling part. 

 

If service providers trained, valued and encouraged their staff instead of just trying to minimise costs by employing the cheapest (worst) ones and exploiting them, they would actually see the average spend per tourist increasing and a greater return rate, adding to their profits in the medium term.

 

Unfortunately, I realise planning extends no longer than a day here, just like the validity of food court vouchers!

Edited January 17, 2017 by Classic Ray

[elgordo38]

4 hours ago, daveAustin said:

Listen up, TaT; it's not just about the weather. We've had bad weather before which didn't stop the tourists. People are going next door. Your country is just getting too expensive vs quality received. People don't want to be deceived and are bored with fake products; the novelty's worn off. Suggest running with the times and at least sorting your currency out and some of the silly rules. 

And seeing how much cash you claim is incoming in upgrade upgrade upgrade the band aids are showing. 

[elgordo38]

6 minutes ago, Classic Ray said:

Success comes from service with a smile, both elements are important though, not just the smiling part. 

 

If service providers trained, valued and encouraged their staff instead of just trying to minimise costs by employing the cheapest (worst) ones and exploiting them, they would actually see the average spend per tourist increasing and a greater return rate, adding to their profits in the medium term.

 

Unfortunately, I realise planning extends no longer than a day here, just like the validity of food court vouchers!

Enough already where is my tinfoil hat I am tired of being bombarded by so much common sense not used to it. 

[mcfish]

I've been hearing very good things about Cambodia lately.... 30 percent cheaper, genuine smiles, infrastructure much improved, very palatable food (french influence!) for the farang taste at normal prices. Even the chinese tourists are happier there. Easy visa's, beautiful beaches and women and still an abundance of nature to enjoy.
The Thai can start smiling all they want again,  they are loosing the race for the "quality tourists", and all this can only end in tears for them.
 

Hearing and seeing are vastly different.. I suggest you book a flight and have look.

See you back in Thailand in around 48 hours

Sent from my Redmi Note 3 using Tapatalk

[wavemanwww]

It's simple but not for the economists running this lovely country their maths and minds are too simple. I'm married to a Thai. She and I have been living in Auatralia since 2013 where I spent a year in Thailand in 2013. exchange rate then was 30 bah= 1 US dollar which equalled $1 Au dollar then.

 

Now $1 Au = 25 Bah and Aussie dollar is now about 75 % of US dollar  yet the Thai economy is going down the toilet? Reason the Thai Bah is clearly fixed and overvalued wih the US dollar. No matter how bad their economy gets. So solution FLOAT the Thai BAH.  My wife as a Thai sends less and less from Australia as the exchange rate is so bad to her family in Thailand. Same theory with number of torists with quality. Less and less

[Retiredandhappyhere]

2 hours ago, mcfish said:

It's a simple equation. Farang arrives first trip and walks around with big fat stupid grin and gets smiles all day
Fast forward.. Farang now lives here drinking heavily sad, depressed bad Relationships, jaded to much TVisa and no more smiles for him
Not rocket science!!

I assume you are joking, as surely you cannot be suggesting that it is all the tourists' fault?  Tourists stop smiling, so the Thais stop smiling in response, so the tourists stop coming?  We know that generally Thais do not like to accept responsibility for anything, but blaming the tourists for not coming here is just a bit over the top! 
 

 

 

[tropo]

1 hour ago, jimstar1 said:

Dead as a Doh Doh in Chiang Mai Bt what do you expect with Police with road blocks on evry corner ripping of the Farang with fake Offences

 

Road blocks are becoming a huge annoyance in Pattaya too. It's hard to go for a ride at night without running into one.

[Kabula]

If you were a Thai woman over age 35, unable to get employment because of age limits, with aging parents, a stack of medical bills and a mountain of debt you would not be smiling either. Especially, with the family calling daily for money for food!

 

If you lost your job recently as many thousands have and unable to find another one, you would not be smiling.

 

If you were a youngster and your mother left for Bangkok for work and she was gone month after month with an absentee father, you would be suffering from abandonment issues and would not be smiling either. 

 

If if you lived in poverty and your teenage son or daughter accelerated their drug and alcohol use you would not be smiling either.

 

If your funds limited you to a bowl of soup a day and you wondered where the next 100 THB will come from you would not be smiling either.

 

It's so sad so few expats and tourists understand the Thai hardships and show little to no empathy.

[johnhw]

5 hours ago, mercman24 said:

dead as a dodo in Bangkok 

GREAT!! If it's permanent, I'll take it off my "No-Fly" list!!

[KarenBravo]

4 hours ago, daveAustin said:

Listen up, TaT; it's not just about the weather. We've had bad weather before which didn't stop the tourists. People are going next door. Your country is just getting too expensive vs quality received. People don't want to be deceived and are bored with fake products; the novelty's worn off. Suggest running with the times and at least sorting your currency out and some of the silly rules. 

 

The days when governments could control the exchange rate on a floating currency are long gone.

The British proved that back in 1992 and the Thais in 1997.

 

Of course, wishful thinking is still alive and well........

Edited January 17, 2017 by KarenBravo

[rawaimike]

Had A Restaurant in Rawai for almost ten years, 3 years ago it started get quieter, lucky I could see what was coming and sold up, today all my friends who are still hanging on there say its really dead there now. Price of alcohol has doubled, and with the baht at just 42 to the pound not cheap anymore.

[Bangkok Barry]

The Baht is relatively high because, unlike most Western countries, it has huge cash reserves instead of running trillions in debt.

[Thaidream]

Some of the smaller hotels in Bangkok are doing all right but the larger ones that are charging too much are hurting. The same in Pattaya and other tourist destinations. The problem in Thailand is that the cost continues to rise and the service decines.  there are better alternatives in the area.

Add in the Immigration/Visa situation ; the police harassment; and overcharging/crime and you have a losing situation.

As one of the posters stated- the average Thai doesn't have much to smile about and the TAT instead of providing realistic solutions and help simply states everything is fine. the problem is not smiles; it is a lack of private- government brainstorming and action and a  crackdown on the continuing scams/crime that are driving tourists away.

[SiSePuede419]

Smile?  How will they notice?  They're wasted.  That's why some come here.  To get wasted.  As long as you keep those drugs flowing, it doesn't matter if you smile. ?

[Baerboxer]

Oh dear. Expect all sorts of prices increases and creative new charges on expats. Got to make that shortfall up somehow.

 

Keep milking the golden geese until there's no more.

[nickmondo]

dont care if they smile or not, its still a damn site better than the crap that is the UK....

i fly back to Thailand this week, and cant wait.......2 months in the UK is more than enough for me.

just sort out the exchange rate against the pound.........and all will be well......

[madmitch]

Never mind. Quality tourists from Israel are on the way!

[fruitman]

Last time i was on Samui we stayed in Chaweng in a nice resort with bungalows. ALL NIGHT long we had to hear a very loud bass beat from a disco somewhere far away...we sat outside untill 6 am and so did all other guests because nobody could sleep from it.

 

Since then we haven't been back, next destination is Penang....

 

 

[Bangkokazy]

It's just poor people who complain, Thailand is a good land to live in.

Edited January 17, 2017 by Bangkokazy

[Suttisan]

At 42 baht to the pound many won't be back for a while, myself included. 

[johng]

It's just poor people who complain, Thailand is a good land to live in.

most people in the world are poor...dont rich people complain about all those pesky poor people ?

[mizztraveller]

43 minutes ago, nickmondo said:

dont care if they smile or not, its still a damn site better than the crap that is the UK....

i fly back to Thailand this week, and cant wait.......2 months in the UK is more than enough for me.

just sort out the exchange rate against the pound.........and all will be well......

I don't think Thailand can be blamed for the exchange rate against the pound.  You can blame Brexit for that - the exchange rate has dropped over 20% against all currencies and I think the worst is yet to come.

[Bangkokazy]

11 minutes ago, Bangkokazy said:
It's just poor people who complain, Thailand is a good land to live in.

-------------
most people in the world are poor...dont rich people complain about all those pesky poor people ?

if people complain about prices it is good to drink a little less or have shorter vacation.

What is poverty.

[impulse]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

If the Thais just smile all the tourists will come flooding back!

 

Probably not.  But you have to start somewhere.  And that would be a good start.

[GreasyFingers]

I thought the topic was about Samui but mostly negative general Thai replies. I lived on Samui for 3 years (mainly for the beach) and could not understand why any tourist would go to the island for a beach holiday at this time of the year. Once the winds turn easterly (onshore on the east coast) about November the water is "rough" and dirty from all of the crap thrown into the Gulf of Thailand. But the tourists would still swim in it. It does not generally change until the wind turns southerly (April/May) and then the water is clear, warm and flat, absolutely beautiful.

I thought last wet season was bad but my friends there tell me it is much worse this year.

[louse1953]

6 hours ago, daveAustin said:

Listen up, TaT; it's not just about the weather. We've had bad weather before which didn't stop the tourists. People are going next door. Your country is just getting too expensive vs quality received. People don't want to be deceived and are bored with fake products; the novelty's worn off. Suggest running with the times and at least sorting your currency out and some of the silly rules. 

What's wrong with the baht,too high for those quality tourists?

[louse1953]

5 hours ago, johng said:

Maybe for a lot of Thais  there are less and less reasons to smile  ...less tourist ,less jobs,longer hours,less pay ,cost of living up

still have to pay all the bills and send some home to parents and kids....

Why smile at a miserable farang?