THE TROUBLE WITH THAI TOURISM

Well, there isn't any:

https://aseannow.com/topic/1228374-thailand-strives-to-elevate-tourism-industry-striken-hard-by-pandemic/

The TAT sits in its bunker and makes its marketing projections and plans. They won't happen because the pressure is to be always positive and optimistic, not realistic.

But the deeper problem is there is no coordination. They sit alone in their bunker making their nowhere plans.

What could happen is:

- Make an inventory of the things tourists come here to see and do and send to the Ministry of Public Building and Works.

- The Ministry assesses the condition of the country's tourist infrastructure and what work is needed to create first class world appeal.

- This rehab plan is sent to the Ministry of Social Affairs to work with the Ministry of Finance to mobilise all those people unemployed in the tourist industry, to get to work and renew the tourist infrastructure.

- The TAT needs to put pressure on the Ministry of Health to get those people in the top 12 tourist destinations vaccinated. This is urgent, firstly for the people themselves.

- The TAT also needs to pressure their bosses at the Ministry of Transport and Tourism to properly organise low cost quality flights and accomodation. 

 - And finally, the government must accept that with or without covid, the current bureaucratic demands on visitors will always ensure that there is no viable tourist industry anymore in this country. Whatever other countries do or don't do, Thailand must cut all the bureaucratic requirements: expensive insurance, long stay quarantine in dirty expensive government hotels, complex expensive visa requirements and so on ... all gone.

The culture of the people is wearing thin - not happy kind, but greedy clawing. This needs to be reversed and ex-pats encouraged to return too, so that tourists feel safe and that they are genuinely getting value for money.

In summary, we need a joined up approach to mass tourism and if it is high quality tourism attracting wealthy tourists, then a considerable effort must be made to upgrade the infrastructure on offer. 

Fear is that this is way beyond the abilities and resources of the country and so it will lose its tourist industry and 1/5th to 1/4 of its GDP. Civil unrest will follow on a hitherto unimagined scale.