Comments on: Swedes love Thailand…and Australia in second place

By: pete

pete — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:29:07 +0000

here is my story for surgery in thailand for a nose job in 2007

http://www.pigott.id.au/thailand-plastic-surgery-holiday-my-story.html

By: Sidh S.

Sidh S. — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 07:51:48 +0000

Beautifully and poetically put Grasshopper.
I suspect the ever resourceful Thais will figure a way around it (if an expat-Thai like myself can) – such as establishing a very attractive skilled migration and citizenship program. We’ll have lots of Thai-Swedes, Thai-Germans, Thai-Russians, Thai-Aussies…etc. living and working in towns, large and small, around the country. This may result in another housing bubble with problems of its own. We’ll also have a new demanding and influential voting bloc (apart from those pesky Bangkokians!) – maybe even a Farang-Rak-Thai Party…

On a more serious and immediate note, Peak Oil and USD300/gallon oil won’t just take Thai tourism and tourism culture down, it will take the whole world economy with it… We are talking about a global addiction here and the hangover will be long and deadly… On the other hand, a new hydrogen-era might just take us back where oil left off…

By: Grasshopper (lovechild of John Lennon and the guy from the Beach--the book)

Grasshopper (lovechild of John Lennon and the guy from the Beach--the book) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:03:24 +0000

… but more to the point, can Thailand become a New Interest Economy? Bangkok has all the right geographic benefits, would there be a depression after the collapse of tourism, or would Thailand fail to take up a knowledge based manufacturing industry like Vietnam is at present?

I think if tourism were to fail — it would be like a 50 year old teacher getting a law degree, changing careers and still hoping to get a top position at a firm. The metaphor being, that tourism is Thailand, so much so that changing the national outlook would take a great deal more than a divine intervention from a podium as to how a sufficient manufacturing economy would thrive which would most probably lead to delusional, half baked attempts ending in cronyism and social turmoil. Also, the competitiveness of other regional actors would drive Thailand down the gurgler too, so I think Thailand may have left it too late to change it’s logical developmental progression – which, in the case of my delusional and romanticized dreams posted above, is not so good for Thais because tourism is an insatiable economic dependence which has fostered it’s own culture.

How would one feel if their culture felt no longer relevant?

By: David Reid

David Reid — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:55:38 +0000

There is sure to be a large drop in the numbers arriving from Europe in the next few years. However, India and China will become larger sources of tourists. They are closer geographically. It is also possible that road and rail links link to China will soon become a reality meaning that tourist arrivals will not be totally dependent on air travel.

By: Grasshopper (lovechild of John Lennon and the guy from the Beach--the book)

Grasshopper (lovechild of John Lennon and the guy from the Beach--the book) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:50:19 +0000

Of course, what I wrote there implies I am a ‘tourist’, a tourist with a private beach dream, but what I want to say is that with the increased price of plane tickets — perhaps there would be more ‘travelers’ to Thailand — and not travelers in tourist-agent speak either where it means if you book a ticket with them , even if it’s only for a month – you’re a traveler too. That’s another thing one can imagine with fewer tourists, less flimsy meanings for words because there are fewer marketing campaigns which have to appeal to anyone! Anyway, I’ve made being a traveler sound like a superior state of human, because really I’m still stuck at the mentality of whats-his-name from the Beach. Damn.

By: Grasshopper (lovechild of John Lennon and the guy from the Beach--the book)

Grasshopper (lovechild of John Lennon and the guy from the Beach--the book) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:25:05 +0000

Yes I foresee it! I foresee it like I foresaw meeting no 100% genuine Thai people on Khao Sahn Road and meeting genuine travelers from Generation X on pre-planned Ibiza like ‘adventuring’ experiences!!

Imagine islands with no tourists. Imagine all the people stuck in their own countries unable to escape the hell of their minds by hopping on a plane with their parents money, or their divorcee settlement and flying to Thailand to ‘forget’ everything. Imagine these tourists sorting out their problems over a 4 month car expedition to get to Thailand so that when they do get to Bangkok, Thai people are exposed to subdued, slightly dazed and friendly foreigners with sore knees. Imagine Bangkok as a cleaner city because Bangkokonians take pride in themselves as their economy finds parity with the West. Imagine hawkers needing to sell their products to Thais. Imagine rural people not being used as exhibits (see that $300,000 hotel tour post??), imagine the political development Thailand would undergo not needing to be mindful of what the world thinks? Actually, maybe scrap that last one. Imagine catching an ocean liner to Siam and writing a book in the time it takes. Imagine fewer tourists.. Ahh

By: wisekwai

wisekwai — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 20:46:44 +0000

Thailand will always have tourism, as long as the planes keep flying. The tourists will be from different places is all. Instead of North Americans and Europeans, they’ll be from Asia and Africa.