Thailand lures the rich as tourism revival hope fades

[VBF]

8 hours ago, Lacessit said:

With the speed of its vaccination rollout, America is rapidly morphing from a pariah nation to one that will be open for unrestricted business, trade and tourism in a very short time.

Thailand take note. You won't be open for tourism until you do the same.

I saw Pres Biden on TV today suggesting that this year's Independence Day, July 4th will be just that for Americans with enough vaccinated by then to really move forward.

In UK all restrictions are (hopefully!) being lifted 21st June.

 

Thailand......are you listening?????

No, thought not ????

[rumak]

6 hours ago, herwin1234 said:

"predatory females",  lmao. and adult guy whining about women who outsmart him. you cant make this <deleted> up

 

"She wasn't like that when i met her "     ????????????????????????????

[ThailandRyan]

4 minutes ago, rumak said:

 

"She wasn't like that when i met her "     ????????????????????????????

So she must have learned from you then.......lol

[rumak]

Just now, ThailandRyan said:

So she must have learned from you then.......lol

 

as usual you do not get my humor.   I went through a learning curve,  and ended up with someone that every farang i know compliments me on how lovely she is.  

 

of course,   i am sure you have done as well .    

[ThailandRyan]

4 minutes ago, rumak said:

 

as usual you do not get my humor.   I went through a learning curve,  and ended up with someone that every farang i know compliments me on how lovely she is.  

 

of course,   i am sure you have done as well .    

No I spit the hook of my Thai wife while living in the US, when after many many years of marriage she turned out to be a cheater, a liar, and was caught in her own web of tangled lies, that even her family believed.  Landed on my feet, lost little, regained what I had lost and moved on.  The ex, well she found the millionaire she was looking for, actually was cheating on me with him, married him, and he will be one of the HNI folks Thailand is looking for as a tourist.   Me, yes, I found a lovely lady here in Thailand, yet she is not Thai, and I am a happy camper.  Enjoy the day Rumak, my post to your original quote was one of sincerity that she must have learned from you to become the lovely women she is.

[Airalee]

1 hour ago, ukrules said:

You don't need a million in cash to have a pension that pays many thousands of dollars per month and will fund a nice lifestyle for decades to come. I think that accounts for the extra 150 million people.

 

I guess it helps the have a million or two sitting somewhere as well.

 

Ok...it’s settled then.  Roll out the red carpet.

[Cake Monster]

Most well heeled rich people have gotten to be that way due to a mixture of Intelligence and Guile.

All Thailand is doing by making these stupid offers, and announcements, is insulting their Intelligence.

That I am afraid, is something nobody, whether a Multi Billionaire, or a Factory Worker will take a liking too.

 

 

[Andrew65]

8 minutes ago, Cake Monster said:

Most well heeled rich people have gotten to be that way due to a mixture of Intelligence and Guile.

All Thailand is doing by making these stupid offers, and announcements, is insulting their Intelligence.

That I am afraid, is something nobody, whether a Multi Billionaire, or a Factory Worker will take a liking too.

 

 

Most? All of the rich people that I've known (5) came from wealthy families, although they were intelligent enough not to subsequently become poor (they were also all good guys).

[rumak]

Just now, ThailandRyan said:

No I spit the hook of my Thai wife while living in the US, when after many many years of marriage she turned out to be a cheater, a liar, and was caught in her own web of tangled lies, that even her family believed.  Landed on my feet, lost little, regained what I had lost and moved on.  The ex, well she found the millionaire she was looking for, actually was cheating on me with him, married him, and he will be one of the HNI folks Thailand is looking for as a tourist.   Me, yes, I found a lovely lady here in Thailand, yet she is not Thai, and I am a happy camper.  Enjoy the day Rumak, my post to your original quote was one of sincerity that she must have learned from you to become the lovely women she is.

 

I just got lucky.....finally !   I think I still hold the record on ThaiFriendly for quickest time to block the many many insincere ,  "i want someone to take care of me"  army of ladies waiting to gobble up the naive "educated" men perusing the dating sights.

I always acknowledge I made mistakes here , and elsewhere.  That is how some of us learn . 

    Happy for you as well .  Living alone ain't fun.   Living with the wrong person is even worse .    Good for both of us to find a match !

[BillyBobzTeeth]

Hey Thailand I have money to spend but won't spend it on quarantine hotels. Let me back in the country and isolate at home. ????

[ThailandRyan]

I am sure the man who owns the BMW 3 series that is covered in a very thick layer of dirt and grime in my condo parking structure would like to return to claim his car and condo if he could every get back into the country.  He is a HNI guy and has been gone since last May, 1 year ago, when he returned to the USA to take care of family business.  He is unfortunately only 45 and is a digital nomad, so getting back here is not very easy, and as he told me when he was leaving, he can afford to walk away from all he has here, and wont waste more money coming back by playing Thailands quarantine games, 100K insurance, and such.  He would bounce in and out every 3 months, but alas can not do that now.  He has a lady clean the condo for him here, and unfortunately there is no way to clean his car as he took the keys with him by mistake.  He was also married to a Thai lady at one time, but that ended and so did the easy Visa.  He will not buy an elite visa because it is a true waste of money he could either spend elsewhere, or invest.  As he also said, I did not become wealthy by throwing good money after bad, and he bought his condo and car while married.

[geisha]

10 hours ago, Crash999 said:

Lacking in specifics. What net worth or income? What are the benefits? Thailand Elite already provides access to the country if you have money to spare. 
 

The only angle for Thailand that I can see would be citizenship via investment as some countries do. But I doubt that would happen as PR and citizenship has been so restrictive in the past and even though they mention a global reset there hasn’t been a reset in mindset. 

Who in their right mind would want to be a citizen in a third world country ? Thailand used to be a cheap destination, for tourists and longstayers. It should stay that way. It’s not worth any more. 

[kiwikeith]

11 hours ago, impulse said:

Thailand lures the rich with yet another big, juicy nuthin' burger.

 

If they wanna attract anybody, they need to get their population vaccinated so they can do away with the quarantine.  Until the quarantine requirement goes away, nothing will work.

 

Correct, in order to do that they first have to get the vaccine manufacturing underway, the way things look this is going to be difficult to achieve. 

Then they have to dish it out with a way of vaccinating 65 million at good pace. 

 

Then if they can't start soon there is risk of another India exploding. 

Russia has given India a delivery of Sputnik and has promised them a lot more. 

India hasn't got going yet producing Astra, and their task is a lot higher than Thailands. 

Then there is the problem that people may not want to be vaccinated, as is happening world wide. 

The Who would like politicians and lobbyists to stop playing games with vaccine companies and unite to beat this. 

 

At the present time Astra is being sued by the EU and has legal proceedings going on in France. 

Then Denmark has banned Astra. 

 

So if I Was a gambling man I would say India and Thailand may face some issues getting production underway. 

Maybe it's time to stop the bickering and get some help from the Russians and the Chinese. 

 

Sounds a bit strange but it is reported on RT that China has only vaccinated 20% of its population so far. 

So what hope do the rest of the world have of being vaccinated on a large scale? 

[madmen]

11 hours ago, Thailand said:

Might be a good idea to look to those long termers already here putting billions in to the economy.

That is something that is tangible not pie in the sky.

 

Not pie in the sky but beer out front of 7/11. 

I think your billions is out by many zeroes 

[lavender19]

Why can't they just accept why anyone in their right mind would want come here after the complete and utter cluster F they have made of managing the Chinese virus. But as long as the media keep printing their B S. 

[The Cipher]

27 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

He is a HNI guy and has been gone since last May, 1 year ago, when he returned to the USA to take care of family business.  He is unfortunately only 45 and is a digital nomad, so getting back here is not very easy, and as he told me when he was leaving, he can afford to walk away from all he has here, and wont waste more money coming back by playing Thailands quarantine games, 100K insurance, and such.  He would bounce in and out every 3 months, but alas can not do that now. 

 

It's a little inconvenient, but not actually that hard from to get here from North America right now if someone wants in. My girlfriend and I are both 30 and we navigated the visa and ASQ process without too much difficulty. I'd expect that being a digital nomad would be of help here rather than a hinderance.

 

The cost was about $5,000 CAD for everything, so shouldn't actually be that much of a barrier for a HNWI. And the freedom to live a relatively normal life (at that time) compared to the restrictions at home was absolutely worth the price paid. Back-and-forthing every quarter is probably off the table for now though. ????

[Skeptic7]

7 hours ago, thaigrifter said:

Well if I hated the place as much as you seem to, I'd be out of here, I wouldn't live in a country that makes me so miserable.

Try putting up with their BS for 2 and a half decades then get back to me Grifter. 

[LivinLOS]

2 hours ago, BumGun said:

and yet no where in the world does this happen. If I could, I would move to the EU, on a "permanently extendable 1 year Visa", I would love to spend a few years in Portugal, Spain, Greece, Italy etc.   Currently they kill people trying to get in

 

 

Portugal (including lovely Medeira) are offering a whole host of options.. Golden visas, property purchase visas, 10 year income tax discounted entrepreneur visas, online worker options, etc etc etc.. Any useful member of society would struggle not to qualify.. Couple of years of rule following and citizenship offered.. 

[LivinLOS]

1 hour ago, Golden Triangle said:

If you had bothered to read the OP it's on the very 1st line, High Networth Iindividuals.

 HNW.. And or VHNW / UHNW.. = 1/5/30m USD 

HNI is no ones acronym. 

[Golden Triangle]

2 minutes ago, LivinLOS said:

 HNW.. And or VHNW / UHNW.. = 1/5/30m USD 

HNI is no ones acronym. 

So you still didn't read the OP so you ask a stupid question, then after much Googling you come up with those others, don't be lazy read before asking silly questions.

[KiiGiam]

My thoughts.  We all could have one session with government officials and lay out a very easy plan to dramatically improve things.  They know it and we know it, but it is like the elections.  We have spent years working to make a system that can be called a democracy but with a guaranteed outcome.   In the case of tourists, the government wants as few foreigners as possible from whom they can extract the maximum amount of wealth.   They need to stop tinkering with the system and accept reality.

 

* Recognize that the only sustainable source of revenue from foreigners is from average blokes who either marry or send money monthly to bargirls and noodle shop workers.  That is the backbone of the country's GDP.  

 

* Make the place welcoming for foreigners anywhere above the "rift-raft" level.  Actually welcoming.  At the very least, permanent retirement visas (and other long term visas) with no reporting requirements and low cost and to generallly be treated as a valuable commodity and welcome guest and not as a criminal.  As messed up as the Phlippines is, it is essentially painless to retire there and all of those pensioner's funds are dumped into the economy every month.

 

I am coming this weekend for 45 days and though I am fully vaccinated and will hopefully have a negative COVID-19 test before I fly and on Day 5 of quarantine, they switched my quarantine to 14 days -- a move neither backed by science nor common sense, even knowing that almost no cases come from foreign travelers and what cases there are get captured during the hotel stay.  How frustrated do you think I am?

 

Tourists come and go.  The longterm money is not from the billionaires who will come once in a life time for one week and not spread their money around, nor from Chinese tourists who funnel all of their money to Chinese owned businesses in Thailand.  It comes from making life enjoyable and easy for people who truly love Thailand to come and stay longterm. Fixing this issue is not that hard.  The rate limiting step here is the age old xenophobia that all nations share to some degree, but with which Thailand suffers in abundance.  Unlike Japan however, they -need- farang so why not make them feel welcome?   

[LivinLOS]

Cant help but think the comparison to a worn out Bar Girl is entirely appropriate.. Scarily so.. 

Back in the flush of her youth she had a constant stream of wealthy visiting admirers... It was trips to the islands, nice resorts, and seafood dinners, young rich guys from Europe and USA treating her right, getting paid to do what she would have done for free.. Party all night and luxury by day.. All was good in the world and no effort needed..

Then sure her looks started to tarnish but there was still plenty of takers.. Nightclubs till dawn, maybe they didnt spend the whole holiday with just her, but easy to get a new one most nights.. Anyway hard to go back to the farm after seeing the bright lights of party towns..   

Then ?? well there was at least steady volume arrivals.. A bit of beach road FL to top up the rent.. and she'd had the best already.. As long as there was some money coming in she was content.. 

Then it was Boris, her Russian flirtation with his big belly, vodka from 7 and a captains hat.. That lasted for a few years and kept her in salon fees and lycra dresses at least.. But then he stopped coming.. 
 

Then it was the Chinese and Indian 'volume tourism' got caught with a group of them one time and couldn't work for a week or two till the bruises went down and she could walk straight.. The resentment sets in.. Maybe start dipping a wallet or two when they sleep, they treat her like <deleted> anyway so why not ?? 

 

And yet still the dreams of a big score.. Sure shes compromised enough but doesnt she deserve her 'quality tourist' ?? Hasnt she put in the hard yards and traded her pristine nature for a bit of commercial success ?? Where are those rich young bucks from her youth ?? Where are the bell ringing spenders who used to take her to fancy dinners that cost a months wages back on the farm ?? 

 

You have all probably seen it, or stages of it at least.. Sad when you know them.. And yet its a mirror to the entire tourism scene.. 
 

[newnative]

11 hours ago, Damrongsak said:

So, getting in, what, 30 million cheap Chinese visitors didn't work.  So go after the rich foreigners.  Only problem is they need to clean up after all those other people.  It's a sad state of affairs. 

2019 Chinese visitors to Thailand were a little less than 11 million, not 30 million.  

[rumak]

47 minutes ago, LivinLOS said:

You have all probably seen it, or stages of it at least.. Sad when you know them.. And yet its a mirror to the entire tourism scene.. 

 

not bad, LL .     An exposé is a film or piece of writing which reveals the truth about a situation or person

 

looking forward to one on :    from hansum all night man........  to where has all my pension gone 

[Janner1]

13 hours ago, Straight8 said:

bit like believing that the tooth fairy exists.

I thought they did !

[Andy from Kent]

14 hours ago, Thailand said:

Might be a good idea to look to those long termers already here putting billions in to the economy.

That is something that is tangible not pie in the sky.

 

 

 

How many BILLIONS of Thai baht do you reckon long termers (sic?) put into the Thai economy?

[sekmet]

I would hesitate. They could just as easily change their minds.

[ThailandRyan]

2 hours ago, The Cipher said:

 

It's a little inconvenient, but not actually that hard from to get here from North America right now if someone wants in. My girlfriend and I are both 30 and we navigated the visa and ASQ process without too much difficulty. I'd expect that being a digital nomad would be of help here rather than a hinderance.

 

The cost was about $5,000 CAD for everything, so shouldn't actually be that much of a barrier for a HNWI. And the freedom to live a relatively normal life (at that time) compared to the restrictions at home was absolutely worth the price paid. Back-and-forthing every quarter is probably off the table for now though. ????

And that's the issue, no way to go back and forth without running the gauntlet every 1/4.

[Nickelbeer]

They don't seem to understand that Europe is generally where the "rich" tend to retire, if they leave the United States. They can live most anywhere they want to. The wealthy, whether American or British, have no compelling reason to leave their home country. Most of them can travel until they tire of it. The failure of the Thai government to understand that Thailand is a "low cost of living" haven for those with normal incomes, is one of the mysteries of Thai reasoning.

[Mr Meeseeks]

3 hours ago, LivinLOS said:

Cant help but think the comparison to a worn out Bar Girl is entirely appropriate.. Scarily so.. 

Back in the flush of her youth she had a constant stream of wealthy visiting admirers... It was trips to the islands, nice resorts, and seafood dinners, young rich guys from Europe and USA treating her right, getting paid to do what she would have done for free.. Party all night and luxury by day.. All was good in the world and no effort needed..

Then sure her looks started to tarnish but there was still plenty of takers.. Nightclubs till dawn, maybe they didnt spend the whole holiday with just her, but easy to get a new one most nights.. Anyway hard to go back to the farm after seeing the bright lights of party towns..   

Then ?? well there was at least steady volume arrivals.. A bit of beach road FL to top up the rent.. and she'd had the best already.. As long as there was some money coming in she was content.. 

Then it was Boris, her Russian flirtation with his big belly, vodka from 7 and a captains hat.. That lasted for a few years and kept her in salon fees and lycra dresses at least.. But then he stopped coming.. 
 

Then it was the Chinese and Indian 'volume tourism' got caught with a group of them one time and couldn't work for a week or two till the bruises went down and she could walk straight.. The resentment sets in.. Maybe start dipping a wallet or two when they sleep, they treat her like <deleted> anyway so why not ?? 

 

And yet still the dreams of a big score.. Sure shes compromised enough but doesnt she deserve her 'quality tourist' ?? Hasnt she put in the hard yards and traded her pristine nature for a bit of commercial success ?? Where are those rich young bucks from her youth ?? Where are the bell ringing spenders who used to take her to fancy dinners that cost a months wages back on the farm ?? 

 

You have all probably seen it, or stages of it at least.. Sad when you know them.. And yet its a mirror to the entire tourism scene.. 
 

Post of the year contender right there. ????