News Forum - Government angry Thailand came last in ‘Land of Smiles’ poll

[Stevejm]

8 hours ago, Marc26 said:

I think it's just a case of you get what you put in to the atmosphere...........

There are so many negative people on this forum that of course that translates to people not returning any happiness back to you, why should or would they?

I also think it's a case of farang wanting to get their asses kissed and feel special, like back when farang were considered an oddity and special and now that they no longer get that treatment, they resent it................They no longer have a place to feel special for once in their life.

I have been coming to Thailand for almost 20 years and I feel there are more smiles now than before because I have changed............I am more laid back, go with the flow and don't let little things bother me

I agree. I think the biggest factor in whether you get a smiling greeting from someone who you meet is whether you smile at them not the state of the economy, political leadership or anything else. It still works with masks because eyes smile as well.

[dirkzett]

18 hours ago, Thaiger said:

Thai and foreign netizens have been left stunned after seeing Thailand ranked at the bottom of a Land of Smiles poll conducted by Gallup Global Emotions 2022. The controversial poll even upset the Thai government who hit back, saying the topic wasn’t even included in the official survey report. Singaporean media platform, Southeast Asia Stats, posted a “Southeast Asian Country That Treats People With a Smile” poll on its official Facebook page last Sunday, saying Thailand was the bottom country while Indonesia was the globe’s top nation. The poll revealed that Indonesian visitors experienced smiles 90% of the time. Gallup […]

The story Government angry Thailand came last in ‘Land of Smiles’ poll as seen on Thaiger News.

Read the full story

 

You smile when you have hope. Hope that the tourist, the vacationer, the buyer will contribute something to make things better in the future, for the family, for the children, for business. That's why you make it as comfortable as possible for him, so that he comes back or that he stays.

 Today, on the other hand, it is only a scramble, because the bank debts are pressing, the costs are so high, the international competition is better. That is so, no matter whether it is self-inflicted it or comes from the outside.

 If Thailand didn't have such good food and such beautiful people, it would be far behind.
 That is also part of the truth... I have seen little of the special land of smiles despite a 3 year stay, the Philippines are definitely friendlier, both the authorities and the people. I don't even want to start with the Dominican Republic.

 

[Stevejm]

8 hours ago, HolyCowCm said:

Not sure but the Thai are definitely not that overly happy over the years for what’s been going on for sure. The younger generation fed up with the regime’s BS and what and whom they support, and add Covid and their power iron fisting definitely soured things tons more. As for day to day life for what I experience, still all good, but the happiness has dwindled a noticeable lot. It’s not because of tourists. People on the whole are generally less happy and I would think feel sandwiched being ruled by a bunch of ugly two faced liars. Now the last Bangkok election sort brought some happiness about, so one can look at that and then understand what’s behind the scenes Polarizing national discontent. 

What makes me smile is the number of expats who think they can speak to the outlook/ attitude of a nation as if it is a monolithic people and based only on their own limited interaction with them.

[Stevejm]

7 minutes ago, dirkzett said:

have seen little of the special land of smiles despite a 3 year stay, the Philippines are definitely friendlier,

Wow seen little despite a 3 year stay. You really can talk about the country from a position of knowledge. I stayed 3 years in Philippines and saw some of the country ( 7k + islands makes it difficult). I also found most people there friendly but a lot more speak English which may affect perceptions. There are also a lot of dodgy places and people there and guns are everywhere. Just depends who you meet I suppose.

[Thommo]

5 minutes ago, Stevejm said:

Wow seen little despite a 3 year stay. You really can talk about the country from a position of knowledge. I stayed 3 years in Philippines and saw some of the country ( 7k + islands makes it difficult). I also found most people there friendly but a lot more speak English which may affect perceptions. There are also a lot of dodgy places and people there and guns are everywhere. Just depends who you meet I suppose.

Its more fun in the Philippines

[dirkzett]

29 minutes ago, Stevejm said:

Wow seen little despite a 3 year stay. You really can talk about the country from a position of knowledge. I stayed 3 years in Philippines and saw some of the country ( 7k + islands makes it difficult). I also found most people there friendly but a lot more speak English which may affect perceptions. There are also a lot of dodgy places and people there and guns are everywhere. Just depends who you meet I suppose.

You can look at it any way you want. I have worked in both countries, lived in both countries with a local, met her family. I think I can compare it a little bit. And in the end, it's just my personal impression. It's true about the weapons, also the way foreigners are ripped off by the police mafia is different, but the money is very similar in amount.

[TiT]

10 hours ago, astro said:

Nah, can't agree with any of that.

Ever ventured outside the tourist areas?

All the time... the rating speaks for itself.

[Stevejm]

11 hours ago, ChrisS said:

Can't say I am surprised, 25 years ago when I first came to Thailand it truly was a land of smiles that has eroded year on year. Maybe it is co incidence but it seems to corelate to the loss of democracy.

25 years ago was the year of the financial crisis!

[HolyCowCm]

5 hours ago, Stevejm said:

What makes me smile is the number of expats who think they can speak to the outlook/ attitude of a nation as if it is a monolithic people and based only on their own limited interaction with them.

Been here over 30 yrs and have 3 kids with the oldest 27. I have daily interactions with Thai in Bangkok and surrounding areas who are my friends and associates and so can form an opinion based on them, my kids interactions with their friends, my wife's interactions with her friends, and various of other Thai folk I interact who I come in contact with with who are more than happy and willing to speak their minds. I have family members in Bangkok and up country, but I will tell you that there is one or two of them who are fully pro regime and establishment, but they are fully the minority and looked at as almost radicals. So over the years and years, and I doand have travelled a tremendous lot here for certain reasons, I am qualified to say that my interactions with Thai are not limited in any such way. Next month I have three trips to Bangkok and surrounding areas just alone for official purposes. Last month I was on holiday travel and official travel for over 10 days. Month before was 1 week on official travel. So I guess you are right, my interaction with Thais is very limited.

[JJJ]

5 hours ago, Stevejm said:

The report is based on data gathered in late 2021 and early 2022. The full rankings aren’t included and Thailand isn’t mentioned anywhere as far as I can can see. Your last point about not including tourist data is important. I wouldn’t read too much into a report containing partial data and based on last year’s viewpoints

On the data point, the summary doesn’t include the data but the full data set would. Gallup of course isn’t just going around polling for the fun of it. They got to make money too. 

[voyager]

Imagine...

You have just been granted a free and fair general election, unencumbered by constitutional rigging or corruption....

SMILE!

[Stevejm]

1 hour ago, JJJ said:

On the data point, the summary doesn’t include the data but the full data set would. Gallup of course isn’t just going around polling for the fun of it. They got to make money too. 

The odd thing is that the results posted on the Singapore website are of a category not even mentioned in the Gallup report that is listed as the data source. I suppose the website could have access to a wider dataset with additional categories but they don’t say that. 

[Marc26]

14 hours ago, Skip said:

I have been coming to THAILAND since 1968 and it is remarkable to me that the younger Thai people no longer smile or engage with others... it seems to be regressive on a par with the government

How much time do you actually spend with younger Thais?

 

My stepson is 21yrs old and goes to University

We would go to his University a fair bit before covid and be out with all his friends, some nights we'd have a table of 12-15 of his friends and you couldn't find a nicer, more friendly group of kids

 

I just traveled all over Thailand with two 21yr olds..............an absolute pleasure

[DesperateOldHand]

7 hours ago, voyager said:

Imagine...

You have just been granted a free and fair general election, unencumbered by constitutional rigging or corruption....

SMILE!

All of which has little or nothing to do with everyday society.....as they continue to live their free, independent and self-sufficient everyday lives. The Thai paradox, in which most outsiders [or insiders that think they do] don't comprehend.

And so it goes.

Imagine.

Edited July 21, 2022 by DesperateOldHand

[JJJ]

8 hours ago, Stevejm said:

The odd thing is that the results posted on the Singapore website are of a category not even mentioned in the Gallup report that is listed as the data source. I suppose the website could have access to a wider dataset with additional categories but they don’t say that. 

The report said they measured positive emotions:

“POSITIVE EXPERIENCE INDEX QuESTIONS
• Did you feel well-rested yesterday?
• Were you treated with respect
all day yesterday?
• Did you smile or laugh a
lot yesterday?
• Did you learn or do something
interesting yesterday?
• Did you experience the following feelings during a lot of the day yesterday? How about enjoyment?”

So maybe it was oversimplified but it does look like they asked that question. 

[Stevejm]

9 hours ago, Marc26 said:

How much time do you actually spend with younger Thais?

My stepson is 21yrs old and goes to University

We would go to his University a fair bit before covid and be out with all his friends, some nights we'd have a table of 12-15 of his friends and you couldn't find a nicer, more friendly group of kids

I just traveled all over Thailand with two 21yr olds..............an absolute pleasure

I had the same experience meeting my daughter’s university friends. What a pleasant group of well behaved, polite, cheerful young people.

You may notice that whenever a negative headline about Thailand appears one or two posters will eagerly post a comment with a narrative that agrees with the headline that often starts with “ I have been coming to Thailand since….”

 I am also impressed that Thai university students also collectively helped the anti Junta FFP win 80 seats in the last election which certainly gave the establishment a surprise.

[Stevejm]

6 hours ago, JJJ said:

The report said they measured positive emotions:

“POSITIVE EXPERIENCE INDEX QuESTIONS
• Did you feel well-rested yesterday?
• Were you treated with respect
all day yesterday?
• Did you smile or laugh a
lot yesterday?
• Did you learn or do something
interesting yesterday?
• Did you experience the following feelings during a lot of the day yesterday? How about enjoyment?”

So maybe it was oversimplified but it does look like they asked that question. 

The Sea stats website stated that the question asked was “ Now, please think about yesterday, from the morning until the end of the day. Think about where you were, what you were doing, who you were with, and how you felt. Did you smile a lot Yesterday?” Which is similar to one question on the list. I suppose they might have bought the whole dataset and made their own conclusions but Thailand wasn’t mentioned at all in the publicly available report.

[Stevejm]

17 hours ago, voyager said:

Imagine...

You have just been granted a free and fair general election, unencumbered by constitutional rigging or corruption....

SMILE!

They could get advice from UK where 200k members of one political party are going to select the next prime minister with the candidates openly offering bribes in the form of tax cuts that the country can’t afford!

[Skip]

My observation and comment was regarding interactions with other than  personal acquaintances... hopefully those encounters are friendly and open... but rather I was commenting on the NON-personal interactions with strangers.

[HiuMak]

You see the smiles in LOS when they want your $$$$

[TheDirtyDurian]

On 7/21/2022 at 8:38 AM, HolyCowCm said:

Been here over 30 yrs and have 3 kids with the oldest 27. I have daily interactions with Thai in Bangkok and surrounding areas who are my friends and associates and so can form an opinion based on them, my kids interactions with their friends, my wife's interactions with her friends, and various of other Thai folk I interact who I come in contact with with who are more than happy and willing to speak their minds. I have family members in Bangkok and up country, but I will tell you that there is one or two of them who are fully pro regime and establishment, but they are fully the minority and looked at as almost radicals. So over the years and years, and I doand have travelled a tremendous lot here for certain reasons, I am qualified to say that my interactions with Thai are not limited in any such way. Next month I have three trips to Bangkok and surrounding areas just alone for official purposes. Last month I was on holiday travel and official travel for over 10 days. Month before was 1 week on official travel. So I guess you are right, my interaction with Thais is very limited.

Is you officially Thai now?

[TheDirtyDurian]

Netizens were stunned...

Indeed. 

[Marc26]

16 hours ago, Stevejm said:

I had the same experience meeting my daughter’s university friends. What a pleasant group of well behaved, polite, cheerful young people.

 

My stepson brought his friend to Phuket ad CM with us

A beautiful, nice 21yr old girl

 

Of course, she likes to take her Instagram pictures

 

So we'd be hanging out at the beach bar/restaurant

When it came time to take her pics, she would ask me "I am going to go for pictures now"  :)

 

I'd tell her she doesn't need my permission  5555

 

But it was so sweet, what an amazing kid she is

[Marc26]

8 hours ago, HiuMak said:

You see the smiles in LOS when they want your $$$$

Or if you are just a pleasant person.............give that a shot

[Marc26]

14 hours ago, Skip said:

My observation and comment was regarding interactions with other than  personal acquaintances... hopefully those encounters are friendly and open... but rather I was commenting on the NON-personal interactions with strangers.

For sure and a different scenario than known people

 

But what examples would that be? Besides a retail/service transaction, I am not really interacting with younger Thais I don't know

Not by any rudeness on either part..........but I don't know when I would have such an interaction