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Thai tourism in trouble: And competitor Vietnam is "scary" for Pattaya


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4 hours ago, Metapod said:

Exchange rate is bad, costs are going up, visas are getting a lot harder to get, and more competitive alternatives are arising.

 

it isn't really surprising stuff. Thailand ain't that cheap anymore. Aussie dollar is like 21.7 thb these days. A lot of things are cheaper back in Aus now,

Thai prices in Baht are still cheap . It's other issue they make it expensive like a retires having to deposit  800,000 B in the Thai Bank with very little return. The Government is using it as foreign capital reserve which is keeping its head above water. The Baat will lose its value with a drop in tourists.

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2 hours ago, Geoffggi said:

Well the people who are in charge cannot say they have not been warned, enough comments have been made and repeated several times but it seems to no avail, are they waiting for the final horse to find the exit before closing the gate and making some sensible adjustments to the current policy....????

The powers that be, most certainly, never read Thai Visa Forum

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6 minutes ago, Thaidream said:

It may not have changed for you- but it has changed for mostly everyone else.

 

Not many people will put 800K in a Thai Bank and then leave it there for 5 months so the bank can use it at their discretion and then leave 400K permanently .  The whole purpose of the money in the bank is to use if for one's living expenses not to enrich the banking industry.

 

Retirees want long term stability

Everyone I know did, years ago.  You mention retirees want long term stability - that equals money in the bank. 

 

Do retirees have money in the bank at home where they live?  Of course they do. So, when they move to Thailand they put a sizeable chunk of money in a dependable Thai bank.  Same as home because Thailand is now home. 

 

The whole purpose of money in the bank is stability and security and interest.  I get 2% same as I'd get at home.  I pay the bank a commission same as in America to keep my money safe. 

Edited by marcusarelus
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4 hours ago, Lucius verus said:

ANZ bank this morning offering 20.9 baht for your hard earned dollars.

You may as well just toss your money over the counter and go home.

PI's and Vietnam with weak currencies are going after the Aussie market as well as new direct  destination sri Lanka. Throw cheap Bali into the mix and others and Thailand is in trouble.

It's your own currency what is to blame. Thailand does not fix the rate . It's done on the money markets. Try Visa, Master card.

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12 minutes ago, Dogmatix said:

Thai government officials really have only the foggiest notion why foreign tourists come to Thailand and will be equally puzzled when they stop coming. 

With 20 million Chinese coming here I think they have an idea - cheap vacation. 

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1 minute ago, Grandisse said:

I love Thailand, I speak, read and write Thai, so I have a general positive attitude towards Thailand and the Thais.

 

That being said, it seems to me the Thai government and actually a lot of Thais get crazier every day. The exchange rate is horrible, prices are going up for everything, the tourism sector transformed into a quick buck artists scheme rather than being a service industry, visa & immigration lawmakers and executives have taken leave of their senses. And then they really wonder why tourism is going down, especially in light of available alternatives?  Well, what can I say ... the Thai way of thinking, never cease to amuse me ... 

Your currency is horrible not the exchange rate.  Where can you go and not get beaten down?  Turkey or Egypt I guess. 

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2 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

With 20 million Chinese coming here I think they have an idea - cheap vacation. 

Thailand has for sure a better infrastructure for mass tourism - at least until now. It has been longer on the market. 

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2 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

The T.A.T propaganda game of Pattaya as a "family friendly resort" finally came home to roost.

Everyone else saw it and reported it for what it was. Rip-off city with only bars & prostitutes... nothing for a family. Finally the high baht has tipped the balance. Tourist have got tired of the same old seedy resort where vendors just wanted you money and made no bones about showing it, from the sharks on the beach, to the restaurants upping prices, double pricing, taxi wars you name it killed it !

Vietnam has always been a good destination with much to offer, with a government that is pro-active in increasing tourism... not just putting a spin on it !

Have you ever lived in Vietnam and gotten a retirement visa and got married? 

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Yes there is competition, but let's take a look at it first.

Bali, Bali the beautiful. But kuta beach has been unfavorably compared to UK's clacton-on-sea. And Ubud is so crowded and the lovely rice terraces built over that people cannot pass on the pavement without stepping into the street. So I wouldn't go there.

 

What about Vietnam Is there a more all year round polluted city than Hanoi? Yes, Saigon. And is Agent Orange a Buddhist attraction or is it in fact a deadly poison that remains in the soil together with the cluster bombs from the last war? So that's off my itinerary.

 

Malaysia is fine, but Liberties restricted if you know what I mean and the cost of living there is a lot higher than in Thailand. So I wouldn't go that either.

 

That leaves Myanmar which to my mind represents the biggest long-term threat, but for the moment is not developed for tourism.

 

No, rather than trying to blame the competition for the drop in numbers, the new Tourist Authority Chief could do well to focus on the weaknesses of Thailand itself. And start with taking a look at the infrastructure which has unfortunately being eroded since it was put in place in the 1980s.

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