News Forum - Bangkok named fourth friendliest city in the world for 2024

[Thaiger]

Bangkok has been named the fourth friendliest city in the world in 2024, according to Condé Nast Traveller. The travel magazine, known for its focus on luxury and independent travel, announced its annual Readers’ Choice Awards, highlighting the 10 friendliest cities as voted by travellers worldwide. Singapore topped the list with a score of 94.84. … …

The story Bangkok named fourth friendliest city in the world for 2024 as seen on Thaiger News.

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[Polkadot]

Bangkok is not in the top 10 just in Thailand 555

[Polkadot]

Sydney people friendly 555

 

[AussieBob]

Depends on what you mean by friendly.  But it is fake news anyway - bought and paid for by TAT (a subscriber) like so many other BS travel publications. They all do it - anyone heard of the publication Condé Nast before?? 

This says it all - quote from the feminist woke female CEO - “Condé Nast Traveler is an opinionated voice on travel and culture, driving conversations around sustainability, inclusivity, and transformation, showcasing the local and authentic, and a force for real connection and change,”  Connect the dots and you know why.

 

[BigHewer]

Tokyo 555

Obviously they didn’t go to Osaka. 

[Polkadot]

8 minutes ago, BigHewer said:

Tokyo 555

Obviously they didn’t go to Osaka. 

Small town folks are always more friendly. These surveys are daft. As if Bangkokians are more friendly than people in Nong Khai or Nan 55555. Even my gf hates Bangkok as she finds Thais there less friendly.

[Khunmark]

45 minutes ago, Polkadot said:

Small town folks are always more friendly. These surveys are daft. As if Bangkokians are more friendly than people in Nong Khai or Nan 55555. Even my gf hates Bangkok as she finds Thais there less friendly.

The article is talking about friendliness in the context of tourism. It doesn’t use people friendliness as the only metric. Elements such as, safety, cleanliness and transport infrastructure would all be included in the evaluation.

[Polkadot]

16 minutes ago, Khunmark said:

The article is talking about friendliness in the context of tourism. It doesn’t use people friendliness as the only metric. Elements such as, safety, cleanliness and transport infrastructure would all be included in the evaluation.

Bangkok is heavily polluted, known for taxi scams and dirty 5555

Edited October 5 by Polkadot

[Ramanathan.P]

Why they left Pattaya?.....which is extremely friendly when comes to night life. 

[Marc26]

Pretty much every city I've ever visited around the world is friendly, very much including Bangkok and every city I've been to in Thailand 

 

There will always be isolated incidents in any city of not nice incidents 

 

But in general, people are nice all over the world, especially towards tourists 

 

 

Honestly the worst city I have experienced is Hue, Vietnam 

Probably my worst experience ever travelling but that was an outlier

[rattlesnake]

9 hours ago, Polkadot said:

Small town folks are always more friendly. These surveys are daft. As if Bangkokians are more friendly than people in Nong Khai or Nan 55555. Even my gf hates Bangkok as she finds Thais there less friendly.

Exactly, personally I'm no fan of big cities but I still enjoy places like Amsterdam or Barcelona. But Bangkok? Nothing special and far more drawbacks than benefits.

[Marc26]

On 10/4/2024 at 10:57 PM, Polkadot said:

Small town folks are always more friendly. These surveys are daft. As if Bangkokians are more friendly than people in Nong Khai or Nan 55555. Even my gf hates Bangkok as she finds Thais there less friendly.

Says you.....

 

And I don't mean that in a challenging or combative way

 

I just mean people will(or hopefully will) find where they love to live or stay

 

You enjoy the village you live in, that really is great, honestly 

 

But to say small town folks are always more friendly is probably not accurate

 

I've been a city guy my whole life but love my wife's village, even with the faults that come along with most small Thai vilages(and there are faults)

 

I live downtown and I have my 13yr old dog

 

Every single time I leave my house without my dog, someone (if not 2 or 3 people) ask where my dog is

Sometimes I've never spoken to the person.....

 

The servers at the Mexican restaurant downtown run out to play with him

The two Iranian brothers that own the small bar near us, come out to give him chicken 

The girls at the grocery store all know him

I think anywhere can be a friendly place, especially if you are friendly to people 

 

But of course, not everyone will like the same places. 

And that's ok

[BigHewer]

On 10/5/2024 at 2:34 PM, AussieBob said:

But it is fake news anyway - bought and paid for by TAT (a subscriber) like so many other BS travel publications. They all do it -

Amen. All these “World’s Top 10” travel lists are based on opinions, agendas and/or who’s paying. 

Nobody with any experience ever reads them and thinks “wow, that’s what I would have thought”. Only truly naive people take this “information” on board.

Positive linear correlation here? The more experienced one is, the more ridiculous these lists seem.

[Marc26]

5 hours ago, BigHewer said:

Amen. All these “World’s Top 10” travel lists are based on opinions, agendas and/or who’s paying. 

Nobody with any experience ever reads them and thinks “wow, that’s what I would have thought”. Only truly naive people take this “information” on board.

Positive linear correlation here? The more experienced one is, the more ridiculous these lists seem.

They are especially useless considering all the real person YouTube videos of tourist destinations 

 

Where it is easy enough to find a like minded person making informative vidoes to pretty much any destination you would want to look into

[Fanta]

16 hours ago, Marc26 said:

Every single time I leave my house without my dog, someone (if not 2 or 3 people) ask where my dog is

It is a question that demands to be asked, you monster. Abandoning and confining man’s best friend to an urban prison is shameful behavior.

fwiw: I am catsitting for a friend at the moment. Useless animal that’s clearly never been trained. Won’t come when called, sit or heel. Hates its new leash and outright rebels when offered to go for a walk. It likes the missus but she too lacks basic training. 

[AussieBob]

13 hours ago, BigHewer said:

Amen. All these “World’s Top 10” travel lists are based on opinions, agendas and/or who’s paying. 

Nobody with any experience ever reads them and thinks “wow, that’s what I would have thought”. Only truly naive people take this “information” on board.

Positive linear correlation here? The more experienced one is, the more ridiculous these lists seem.

Yes indeed - as one gains experience we realise that all the information being peddled in publications and now online is all just 'white noise'.

I would bet my Wife's house on the fact that the Thai Cabinet is well aware that TAT is making up fake tourist numbers and is paying these organisations to be included in their 'awards lists' - because they are all scammers and grifters, that is what they all do. But they also know that the majority of Thais have no idea about the games the elite are playing, while they live their lives and squabble over their measly 'allocations'.

[Marc26]

On 10/6/2024 at 7:08 PM, AussieBob said:

Yes indeed - as one gains experience we realise that all the information being peddled in publications and now online is all just 'white noise'.

I would bet my Wife's house on the fact that the Thai Cabinet is well aware that TAT is making up fake tourist numbers and is paying these organisations to be included in their 'awards lists' - because they are all scammers and grifters, that is what they all do. But they also know that the majority of Thais have no idea about the games the elite are playing, while they live their lives and squabble over their measly 'allocations'.

Disagree.....respectfully.

 

I'm not saying TAT wouldn't do anything unsavory 

 

But the tourist nunbers are legit

 

I've been coming to Thailand for 22 years now and it is packed to the gills with tourists

 

Everywhere......

 

I honestly don't understand you guys weird obsession with TAT

 

TAT likely had a part in bringing many of you here and their performance can't be denied, presiding over if not the most successful, one of the most successful tourist destinations in Asia for decades 

 

 

https://e.vnexpress.net/news/travel/southeast-asia-s-second-largest-economy-welcomes-nearly-27-million-tourists-4801831.html

[AussieBob]

10 hours ago, Marc26 said:

Disagree.....respectfully.

I'm not saying TAT wouldn't do anything unsavory 

But the tourist nunbers are legit

I've been coming to Thailand for 22 years now and it is packed to the gills with tourists

Everywhere......

I honestly don't understand you guys weird obsession with TAT

TAT likely had a part in bringing many of you here and their performance can't be denied, presiding over if not the most successful, one of the most successful tourist destinations in Asia for decades 

https://e.vnexpress.net/news/travel/southeast-asia-s-second-largest-economy-welcomes-nearly-27-million-tourists-4801831.html

Likewise - disagree - respectfully. And I will even give you some facts as to why.

TAT does not count 'Tourists' - they count 'International Arrivals' and then claim they are all Tourists.

TAT estimates 18.2 million foreign arrivals in second half of 2024 (nationthailand.com)

Because the TM 6 Immigration Form is no longer required, there is no way for Thailand/TAT to differentiate between those arriving for Tourism, and those for Business, Family, Media, Sports Competition, etc etc etc.  Likewise, they now have no way to know how long that Arrival is staying (more on that below).

As per the below article, there were 21 Million Arrivals to August 2024, with the Top 5 Passport Countries of arrival being as follows.

Chinese: 4,398,623
Malaysian: 3,021,624
Indian: 1,255,358 Indians
South Korean: 1,154,990
Russian: 1,035,192

Thailand hits 21 million arrivals in 2024, earning 1 trillion baht (nationthailand.com)

As you probably know, people in Malaysia walk across the southern border a lot - to visit friends, family and for business. Very few of them are 'Tourists'. Yes there are Malaysians arriving at Swampy/Phuket on a holiday, but the majority of that 3 million are just 'arrivals who only stay for a few days usually. Likewise, but obviously not to the same level, many arrivals from China and Sth Korea are here on business and to visit family - and no way to differentiate whihc ones are which.  Which brings me to the next point - the 'value' TAT claims they are all worth to the Thailand economy.

TAT claims each Tourist spends on average 50K Baht - based upon a survey they did of 30K Tourists in 2023.  Lets not get into the accuracy of Polls and Surveys, but to then claim every Arrival is a Tourist and then multiply that number by 50K each is a scam - deliberate or not. Yes there are more tourists in Thailand this year than before, but they are not to the level TAT claims - and they are not spending the amounts TAT claims (check the economy).

Vietnam had 12.7 million tourist arrivals for the same period and is targeting over 18 million by the end of the year - and they do not have so many 'border walkers' as Thailand gets (dont forget to add Laos and Cambodia, and Myanmar maybe later, to the Malaysia numbers), nor as many Indians or Russians.  That is a 43% increase compared to the same period last year. Vietnam had about 18 million in 2019 and they almost back there now, whereas Thailand had almost 40 million ion 2019. 

So far this year Thailand has had 4.3 million Chinese - a far cry from the halycon days of over 10 million in 2019. Take out many of the Russians/Ukrainians, and the fake Malaysians (half - maybe more?), and the many Cheap Charlies from India (as the girls call them), and the 'stoners' because of the legal dope being sold here, and the 'real' tourism situation aint looking so good. 

Bangkok Post - Ranking a distraction

Getting back to TAT - if they only surveyed those arriving from the wealthier countries at Swampy and Phuket, they will get very appealing numbers - do they survey those border walkers? There is no public information about how TAT makes up (calculates) their numbers - just that they surveyed 30K tourists. 

There has been an increase in tourist numbers this year and that is likely to continue in the Nov-March peak season everywhere - but Thailand has a problem that IMO they are not recognising and for which TAT is 'looking the other way'.  When they surveyed (yes I know) Chinese people about their preferred destinations pros and cons, they were particularly critcial of Thailand's personal safety issues. 

Chinese tourists are returning - but not to Thailand (bbc.com)