News Forum - Bridge over troubled waters for Thailand-bound Russian snowbird tourists

[Thaiger]

Russian travellers have ritually sought out islands in the tropical sun since the demolition of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Hellbent on escaping bitterly cold winters, these snowbirds in the lead-up years to the pandemic became the second largest international source market for Phuket’s mass market tourism surge. Now, coming out of the pandemic in the age of a return to travel, the Russian-Ukrainian crisis has made tourists and airlines from Russia unwelcome in many parts of the world. Connecting Russia to Phuket has become an increasingly difficult proposition with most travellers transiting the Middle East on Emirates, Qatar, and […]

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[Shade_Wilder]

"In the final analysis, there is no doubt that Russians will continue to be a top high-season source market for Phuket. But, the reality for island hotels and tourism businesses is that the volume will be severely impacted by considerably less airlift.  Realistically, until that situation improves, this looks to be a winter of discontent for many Russian snowbirds who are unable to get airline seats and won’t find their place under the sun, not at least this season."

Boo-Hoo for the Russians.

If they want to have a winter holiday, perhaps they should go to Ukraine and stop their soldiers from wrecking that country for no reason other than Putin's ego.

My lack of sympathy knows no bounds as long as Russians are killing Ukrainians.

 

[aimlink]

Cry me a river for Russian tourists. Until Russia exits Ukraine, who cares?

[BJoe]

Before  Phuket develops new plans to entice the tourist it so badly needs, it needs to clean up its “rip-off” gangs which prey on unsuspecting tourist , and make it a safe and friendly  Environment. Taxis, beach rentals, motorcycle rentals, clubs and bars all have some cleaning up to do.
“One bad apple spoils the whole barrel” is an applicable term.

[Ddave]

Unfortunately for Russians their country is at war..while Thailand is open to them as the tragedy of war goes on they will be less welcome even in Asia..

[Cabra]

4 hours ago, Thaiger said:

Russian travellers have ritually sought out islands in the tropical sun since the demolition of the Berlin Wall in 1989

What does the Berlin wall have to do with Russian national's looking for a winter escape? 

[swedefinnInOman]

Bullshit russians ppl tourist are welcome most eveywhere in the world but europe. Stop spread fakenews. Europe is not the world!

[Pinetree]

5 hours ago, BJoe said:

Before  Phuket develops new plans to entice the tourist it so badly needs, it needs to clean up its “rip-off” gangs which prey on unsuspecting tourist , and make it a safe and friendly  Environment. Taxis, beach rentals, motorcycle rentals, clubs and bars all have some cleaning up to do.
“One bad apple spoils the whole barrel” is an applicable term.

Yes, Phuket is the Thai capital of scams, with a miserable and unhelpful population.  I stopped visiting the place years ago and i would not recommend it to anyone; at least, nobody I liked, so its okay for Russians and Chinese ! . 

[Vigo]

14 hours ago, swedefinnInOman said:

Bullshit russians ppl tourist are welcome most eveywhere in the world but europe. Stop spread fakenews. Europe is not the world!

There is no fake news.  Russians are not welcome in the advanced developed world which imposed sanctions against Russia following it's illegal invasion of the Ukraine. These nations included Japan, Canada, Australia, and USA as well as the EU.  In addition to the broad range of G7 based sanctions, Switzerland, South Korea, Singapore, Bahamas, Finland, Norway , New Zealand and Taiwan their own specific sanctions.

Perhaps Russians are welcome in one of the "stanistan" countries, or one of the war ravaged African countries. They may even be welcome is paradise nations such as Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia or Venezuela. The parts of the world which value environmental responsibility, human rights and the rule of law would prefer if Russians stayed away. 

The reality of Russian leisure foreign travel is that it was very much  the domain of the wealthy elite, criminal element and supporters of the Russian state, whether they were military personnel or workers associated with state enterprises. The "average" Russian doesn't have the money for exotic travel destinations  for the simple reason that there is a very wide gap between the wealthy and the working poor in Russia.  Thailand is misguided if it expects the Russians to come rushing back to Thailand. The wealthy Russians can still travel to much better quality destinations. It's the other Russians  who can no longer afford to  have the holiday in Thailand. And sanctions are now starting to take a bite out of the Russian economy.  I genuinely feel sorry for anyone including a Russian, if the best they can do for a holiday  is a place like Patong or Pattaya. Might as well holiday in Lagos or Soweto.

[Fanta]

4 hours ago, Vigo said:

There is no fake news.  Russians are not welcome in the advanced developed world which imposed sanctions against Russia following it's illegal invasion of the Ukraine. These nations included Japan, Canada, Australia, and USA as well as the EU.  In addition to the broad range of G7 based sanctions, Switzerland, South Korea, Singapore, Bahamas, Finland, Norway , New Zealand and Taiwan their own specific sanctions

“Not welcome” is a personal judgement call. AFAIK, there is no visa ban against Russians in place and money is still king in the tourism sector. It is a big world out there.

< Image removed in violation of FG's >
Admin.

 

[Vigo]

One does not need a visa ban to discourage the visit of foreigners. An estimated 300,000+Russians have fled Russia to live in freedom in western countries. In order for them to escape, the western countries had to grant them visas. I think it is a safe bet to say that the Russians fleeing Russia are not tourists.  As I understand the demographic, they are mostly young, skilled workers, and multilingual. Hardly the  type of demographic a country with a life expectancy of 73 years and categorized by WHO as one of the countries (Belarus is the other) where men are most likely to die of a chronic disease  before the age of 70, would want to lose.  In plain language, Russia has a brain drain to the west and  its not because of  tourism.

 

Edited September 6, 2022 by Vigo

[Fanta]

3 hours ago, Vigo said:

An estimated 300,000+Russians have fled Russia to live in freedom in western countries

And 1.5 million+ have fled to Russia since the start of the war. 
btw, the topic is tourism not immigration. The global tourism industry exists for the money, not for the votes or for the humanitarian aspect. imo Thailand remains neutral in this, and nearly all conflicts, for the money.

 < A further image in violation of FG's removed >
Admin

 

[Rookiescot]

3 hours ago, Fanta said:

And 1.5 million+ have fled to Russia since the start of the war. 
btw, the topic is tourism not immigration. The global tourism industry exists for the money, not for the votes or for the humanitarian aspect. imo Thailand remains neutral in this, and nearly all conflicts, for the money.

 

Forced to flee were they?

Forcible Transfer of Ukrainians to Russia | Human Rights Watch (hrw.org)

Edited September 6, 2022 by Faz
Image removed

[Fanta]

34 minutes ago, Rookiescot said:

Forced to flee were they?

Forcible Transfer of Ukrainians to Russia | Human Rights Watch (hrw.org)

Or be left in a war zone. You know, like Ukraine did until they got called out over it. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. 

 

[Leeshard]

18 hours ago, Cabra said:

What does the Berlin wall have to do with Russian national's looking for a winter escape? 

Because before that the communist USSR didn’t allow their citizens to leave the country. They were too worried that millions would leave and never come back and they were probably right. 

[Marble-eye]

1 hour ago, Fanta said:

Or be left in a war zone. You know, like Ukraine did until they got called out over it. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. 

Which ever way you chose to look at it over 80% of the Russian population approve of Putins invasion of Ukraine and that must include murdering and raping of Ukrainian civilians.

If I were a Russian I would be too embarrassed to leave my country, but many are still going on holiday to foreign climes and to add insult to injury there are some that even wear or display the symbols of the war in Ukraine. So either they are very arrogant, very uncaring or not very bright, which one would you chose.

In August 2022, over 80 percent of Russians approved of activities of the Russian President Vladimir Putin. The popularity level saw an increase during the Russian invasion of Ukraine that started at the end of February 2022.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/896181/putin-approval-rating-russia/

[Mandy]

Where were you before we moved to phuket? I wish I'd read that,  Oh my, it would have saved us a whole lot of pain. Can't wait for my rental contract to be up, only another 138 days to go!

[Mandy]

7 minutes ago, Marble-eye said:

Which ever way you chose to look at it over 80% of the Russian population approve of Putins invasion of Ukraine and that must include murdering and raping of Ukrainian civilians.

If I were a Russian I would be too embarrassed to leave my country, but many are still going on holiday to foreign climes and to add insult to injury there are some that even wear or display the symbols of the war in Ukraine. So either they are very arrogant, very uncaring or not very bright, which one would you chose.

In August 2022, over 80 percent of Russians approved of activities of the Russian President Vladimir Putin. The popularity level saw an increase during the Russian invasion of Ukraine that started at the end of February 2022.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/896181/putin-approval-rating-russia/

Not sure about the 80% approval but I haven't checked so it's on me if it's correct,  we have a Russian family here with two boys very near the age of conscription, in fact they are now of age and they're here to stop them being armed with a gun and going to war, they admitted its for selfish reasons and couldn't  say that it was in defence of the Ukrainians, but that's two less!

[Cabra]

1 hour ago, Leeshard said:

Because before that the communist USSR didn’t allow their citizens to leave the country. They were too worried that millions would leave and never come back and they were probably right. 

The Berlin wall came down in 1989. It wasn't until 1991 that the USSR dissolved creating travel opportunities for the Russian masses. It was the later event that the author of the article should be referring to. 

[Viggen840]

20 hours ago, Ddave said:

Unfortunately for Russians their country is at war..while Thailand is open to them as the tragedy of war goes on they will be less welcome even in Asia..

And the majority of Russians that do travel overseas are the poor, downtrodden working class? Exactly the same as the one-society/everyone-is-equal Chinese that get to travel? Criminals and insiders that we can do without.

[Rookiescot]

5 hours ago, Fanta said:

Or be left in a war zone. You know, like Ukraine did until they got called out over it. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. 

It would not be a war zone if not for Russias illegal invasion. And it was the Russians who were shelling those people not the Ukrainians.

[NorskTiger]

Only the anglosphere and vassals of the EU dictatorship in Brussels are unwelcoming Russian tourists. And the same countries of the above seems entirely fine with every other nation in conflicts, as long as it is not about conflicts that are against their interests. 

   This is politics and nothing else. Speaking for Norway, we have plenty of Russian people living here and they are free to go and come as before. The border passports in the NorthEast are still as before and only foolish politicians with global ambitions or a need to do fake virtue-signalling still care. 

    When Thailand DOES open to airline trafficc from Russia, I think we will see more Norwegians travelling there via Murmansk-Moscow route as well. 

     

[Marble-eye]

1 hour ago, NorskTiger said:

Only the anglosphere and vassals of the EU dictatorship in Brussels are unwelcoming Russian tourists.

Another baseless fantasy post, the people of Khazakistan with the same political leanings as the Russians are sick and tired of the arrogance displayed by some Russians when visiting their country.

Travelling around with the stickers symbolising the murders in Ukraine is just one step too much, one would have thought that the Russians should not be allowed to leave their own country, even if it is for their own good.

Thailand are not doing themselves any favours by what tantamounts to condoning the actions of their fellow citizens in Ukraine.

 

[HolyCowCm]

OK. Only let the hot Russian Snow gals in. 

[Wanderer]

On 9/6/2022 at 7:12 AM, Vigo said:

There is no fake news.  Russians are not welcome in the advanced developed world which imposed sanctions against Russia following it's illegal invasion of the Ukraine. These nations included Japan, Canada, Australia, and USA as well as the EU.  In addition to the broad range of G7 based sanctions, Switzerland, South Korea, Singapore, Bahamas, Finland, Norway , New Zealand and Taiwan their own specific sanctions.

Perhaps Russians are welcome in one of the "stanistan" countries, or one of the war ravaged African countries. They may even be welcome is paradise nations such as Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia or Venezuela. The parts of the world which value environmental responsibility, human rights and the rule of law would prefer if Russians stayed away. 

The reality of Russian leisure foreign travel is that it was very much  the domain of the wealthy elite, criminal element and supporters of the Russian state, whether they were military personnel or workers associated with state enterprises. The "average" Russian doesn't have the money for exotic travel destinations  for the simple reason that there is a very wide gap between the wealthy and the working poor in Russia.  Thailand is misguided if it expects the Russians to come rushing back to Thailand. The wealthy Russians can still travel to much better quality destinations. It's the other Russians  who can no longer afford to  have the holiday in Thailand. And sanctions are now starting to take a bite out of the Russian economy.  I genuinely feel sorry for anyone including a Russian, if the best they can do for a holiday  is a place like Patong or Pattaya. Might as well holiday in Lagos or Soweto.

Comparing Pattaya to Soweto is stupid beyond words. That stupidity destroys any credibility the post had.