News Forum - Thai Cabinet Committee officially extends Special Tourist Visa

[Stonker]

On 10/2/2021 at 7:12 AM, Shade_Wilder said:

If the Thai Government and Tourist Authorities had any brains (yes, I know...), they would make this kind of visa permanent and do away with the shorter 60 day tourist visa.

It is good for long-staying 'Snow Birds', people who stay 3-6 months a year to escape winter in their native countries and do nothing but spend MUCH needed cash.

It is good for the young traveler who wants to do a 'deep-dive' into Thailand and will stay for a long trip, if allowed. Further, that young traveler will like continue to visit Thailand all their lives.

It would allow young (under 50) people to essentially live in-country. Yes, I know, old posters hate the young who live here, but what harm do they do? They may/may not take employment away from locals (I don't really believe that they do), but that aspect is frankly miniscule. Yes, the occasional illegal English teacher, but who cares? Thailand desperately needs English teachers, even if they don't have a WP.

The only people who might be (slightly) harmed are the IOs and I have no sympathy for them; they collect enough in fees already, and they just piss people off. If, and I do not believe this to be true, but 'IF' fees drop too low to cover costs, then simply increase the cost of renewal from 1,900 to 2,500 Baht. Done.

Thailand needs tourists, and the focus of the government should be getting as many people as possible into the country and allowing them to stay as long as possible. Sadly, the Bureaucrats (and yes, I do mean "Bureaucrats" as a swear word) running the joint seem to think it is the opposite. Idiots.

This ain't rocket science.

 

On 10/2/2021 at 7:57 AM, Yinn said:

They have 40 million tourist year before covid. Successful top 3 tourist country in the world. More than 1 billion happy tourist since 1970.

Amazing they do that, trillions of baht, millions of job, thousands of millionaire business owners, with no brain.

Amazing Thailand. 
 

Maybe you can send the letter and tell them they must listen to you. Because you have a brain.

Somehow, while I'm often seen as trying to disagree with everybody, I find myself agreeing with both of you - and, to a much lesser extent, disagreeing with both.

I think you're simply looking at things from very different perspectives.

Thailand has undoubtedly done superbly with its tourist industry, building it up to cover pretty much all aspects of the market in a relatively very short time: cultural, scenic, family, single, back packer and relatively top end.

Some of that's down to outside expertise, but it's also at every level and where the key element of service is concerned that can only be from the bottom up and Thai. 

Undeniably, Thailand's managed very successfully to tread the very narrow lines between taking advantage of foreign expertise and foreign tourists without over-exploiting them, while avoiding being exploited itself and still retaining  control of its own tourist industry, culture and identity.

Very few competitors and other countries have managed to do that so successfully.

At the same time, though, there's never been any real central direction either from some individual visionary or from central government, and the tourism industry's flourished not because of that, but despite it - which is no different in tourism to any other sector.

Will it recover? 

Of course it will, but it won't be because of TAT and government plans to attract a different market, nor will it be because of a small but vocal minority whingeing about dual pricing and paperwork.

It'll simply be because Thais haven't changed and neither has Thailand, and despite the nay-sayers there's simply nowhere else that's a better alternative.

How long will it take?

That's a different matter but in my view it's not about how much any government can speed it up but about how much any government can avoid slowing it down.

 

[Stonker]

On 10/2/2021 at 6:51 AM, Thaiger said:

... the people attracted by the Special Tourist Visa are spending about 2,500 baht per day on average.

2,500 baht / US$80 per day including hotels, meals, and transport.

That's really not an awful lot today, whether they're tourists, business operators, or visiting and supporting a Thai family.

[Rookiescot]

On 10/2/2021 at 7:57 AM, Yinn said:

They have 40 million tourist year before covid. Successful top 3 tourist country in the world. More than 1 billion happy tourist since 1970.

Amazing they do that, trillions of baht, millions of job, thousands of millionaire business owners, with no brain.

Amazing Thailand. 
 

Maybe you can send the letter and tell them they must listen to you. Because you have a brain.

Yinn that was mass tourism. Built on the two week millionaire playboys in Pattaya and Bangkok.

Then Thailand saw those numbers starting to flatline and looked for new markets to exploit. Hence the drive to attract Chinese and Indian tourists in greater numbers.

Unfortunately for Thailand the Chinese tourists ( although great in number ) dont actually contribute that much to the Thai economy. Chinese tour companies organize them in packages where they have to stay in Chinese owned hotels, use Chinese owned buses to visit Chinese owned attractions like restaurants and shopping malls following Chinese guides. I am not saying they dont contribute nothing to the Thai economy but the percentage of their spending which goes directly into the Thai economy is far smaller than what a Western tourist spends as an individual.

Indian tourists are them same. Yes there are very rich Indian tourists spending a lot of cash here but many of the mass tourists go to nightclubs in Bangkok and Pattaya where seven of them will dance together with each other then celebrate buy buying one can of coke for them all to share. But at least most of what they spend does go into the Thai economy.

This pipe dream the Thai government has of attracting the rich and famous here is never going to work. They have a huge verity of options when it comes to choosing a holiday destination.

Remember the rich and famous want to impress their friends with where they decide to go. The connotations regarding Thailand because of its reputation as a destination for sex starved old Westerners will not impress any of their friends. 

[Bob20]

2 hours ago, Rookiescot said:

On 10/2/2021 at 7:57 AM,  Yinn said: 

They have 40 million tourist year before covid. Successful top 3 tourist country in the world

 

40 million arrivals, that's incl. transfers and not only tourists.

[gummy]

On 10/2/2021 at 7:57 AM, Yinn said:

They have 40 million tourist year before covid. Successful top 3 tourist country in the world.

I wish you would put your education to good use and start researching before posting erroneous information. That is exactly what this government does so don't behave just like them please, you have more credibility than that.

https://www.infoplease.com/world/travel-transportation/worlds-top-tourism-destinations

 

[Bob20]

3 minutes ago, gummy said:

I wish you would put your education to good use and start researching before posting erroneous information. That is exactly what this government does so don't behave just like them please, you have more credibility than that.

https://www.infoplease.com/world/travel-transportation/worlds-top-tourism-destinations

Plus I believe it is an arrivals figure of the hub, including travelers that only transfer to other destinations.

[gummy]

1 minute ago, Bob20 said:

Plus I believe it is an arrivals figure of the hub, including travelers that only transfer to other destinations.

correct

[JamesR]

But when I looked on the Thai embassy website in London a few days ago it stated the special tourist visa was no longer available so I can’t apply for one.