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The Future Travel for a World in Lockdown


duke007

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14 minutes ago, Pdoggg said:

American sex tourists can enter Brazil provided they fly in. 

Excellent. I think Brazils numbers are only preceded by India and you guys. :biggrin:

But an amazon brasilian shemale is tempting, and I think they were masks over there too.

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8 hours ago, BigTel said:

Another good article by Adan Judd, right on the money I think.  :drinks:

Editorial Opinion: When did the words “foreign tourists” become a dirty word in Thailand?

Critical thinking is not the average Thai's strong point. But indoctrinated from birth with Thai nationalist supremacy ideology, this is the logical reaction.

Oh and creating travel bubbles with Chinese cities/regions. I forgot but where did the virus originate?:yahoo:

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15 minutes ago, lance2546 said:

But indoctrinated from birth with Thai nationalist supremacy ideology,

Good point Lance and maybe more so with Thais but if it seems every country is indoctrinated at birth with nationalist supremacy propaganda.   Or at least it seems that way with the 3 countries I'm most familiar with, the USA, Thailand, and Cambodia.  Maybe the Philippines is different; everyone seems to want to emigrate.  

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1 hour ago, lance2546 said:

Oh and creating travel bubbles with Chinese cities/regions. I forgot but where did the virus originate?:yahoo:

I know Lance :biggrin:  you couldn't make this shit up :biggrin: I can only assume the Thai have selective amnesia. :drinks:

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7 hours ago, Pdoggg said:

Good point Lance and maybe more so with Thais but if it seems every country is indoctrinated at birth with nationalist supremacy propaganda.   Or at least it seems that way with the 3 countries I'm most familiar with, the USA, Thailand, and Cambodia.

I have to push back on that a bit. 

If a Thai emigrates to the USA, UK, Australia, Germany, Sweden (to name a few countries) they may become full citizens , and millions have. How man Westerners have become citizens of Thailand? In conversations with Thais they saw no hypocrisy in the unbalance, because "farang can not be Thai!" 

Mandates from Field Marshal Plaek Pibulsonggram 

  1. "Thai people must not engage in any business without considering the benefit and safety of the nation."
  2. "Thai people must never reveal anything to foreigners that might damage the nation. These actions are a betrayal of the nation."
  3. "Thai people must not act as agent or spokesman for foreigners without considering the benefit of the Thai nation, and must not express opinion or take the side of foreigners in international disputes. These actions are a betrayal of the nation."
  4. "Thai people must not secretly purchase land on behalf of foreigners in a way that endangers the nation. These actions are a betrayal of the nation."
  5. "When a person has betrayed the nation, it is the duty of Thai people to actively and quickly put a stop to it."[5]

The Thais really took 3# to heart; usually farangs don't do well in any dispute with a Thai.

Brits are free to discuss or criticize their royal family; we all know how well that plays out in a certain other country.

But we can agree to disagree Pd; it is what it is:biggrin:

Mandate source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_cultural_mandates

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So many things to say on this subject( #3) , lance.

Germany Says Thai  Cannot Rule From There.  https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-thailand-protests-idUKKBN26T1P0

Berlin Says Thailand’s King Cannot Reign From German Soil.
The warning from the German foreign minister comes as the Thai monarchy faces down increasing calls for reform.

https://thediplomat.com/2020/10/berlin-says-thailands-king-cannot-reign-from-german-soil/

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas: 
“We have made it clear that politics concerning Thailand should not be conducted from German soil,” Maas told the Bundestag. “If there are guests in our country that conduct their state business from our soil we would always want to act to counteract that.”

******* spends the majority of his time at a retreat in the Bavarian alps, and only returns to Thailand for brief visits.

 

 

11 minutes ago, lance2546 said:

Brits are free to discuss or criticize their royal family

Same here, and believe me I do. 

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'Ghost island' Phuket hunkers down in tourist-free Thailand

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ghost-island-phuket-hunkers-down-033704394.html

Thailand's decision to concentrate on beating the virus has dealt a brutal blow to the economy, which is expected to contract 7-9 percent this year

 

Phuket's go-go dancers sit playing on their phones in empty bars lining deserted streets as the Thai tourist island reels from the ravages of the pandemic with little sign of any recovery soon.

Swimming pools are empty, chairs are stacked high in deserted restaurants and normally packed beaches are so quiet they are even seeing rare species of sea turtle arriving to nest.

Last year, more than nine million tourists visited Phuket, the kingdom's second most popular destination after Bangkok.

Today, nearly all the island's 3,000 hotels are closed and the main town of Patong has become a "ghost town", says local tycoon Preechawut Keesin, who owns five nightclubs and around 600 hotel rooms.

 

'Worse than tsunami' -

In normal times, 80 percent of the island's profits come from tourism, a sector that employs more than 300,000 people.

Tens of thousands of those who have lost their jobs have returned to their home provinces.

Life is hard for those sticking it out.

Some have accepted huge pay cuts, while others have little choice but to join the long lines at the food distribution centres or scrape together an income where they can.

Bar owner Orathai Sidel says she used to make 100,000 baht ($3,200) a month in high season.

With her business a victim of the pandemic, she now sells desserts from a streetside cart, making just $3 a day to try to cover her children's school fees.

"We're just fighting to survive," says fellow street vendor Poi, fired in June from the restaurant where she used to work.

Phuket has been due to welcome Thailand's first foreign tourists since April in a cautious experiment by the kingdom, but their arrival keeps being pushed back.

And the two-week compulsory quarantine and high price tag -- several thousand dollars a person -- will mean this is a niche market.

"We will have to focus on developing local customers and individual travellers rather than mass tourism," says Preechawut Keesin.

Before the pandemic, domestic holidaymakers only made up 30 percent of visitors to Phuket, prompting the local tourism industry to rethink its business model.

"We don't expect a return to normal for three years," forecasts Kongsak Khoopongsakorn.

"The situation is much worse than after the tsunami in 2004."

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7 hours ago, seven said:

Some have accepted huge pay cuts, while others have little choice but to join the long lines at the food distribution centres or scrape together an income where they can

I used to debate with fellow punters about tourism's contribution to the Thai GDP. Some guys would have us believe we punters are vital to the (Thai) economy and would immediately collapse with out our dollars, pounds, euros and yen, which is not true. Others poo- pooed tourist income as insignificant, maybe even a net loss (you know, farangs getting free medical care on the Thai taxpayers dime)

As always, the reality is some where in the middle.

In the mean time -what ever tourism amounts to- unemployed Thais are hungry enough to stand in food lines.

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to some extent I have no sympathy for the plight of places designed to fleece tourists, offering overflowing tables of food and drink on every block, ever growing numbers of 5 star and upscale accommodations (even "flashpacker" stays),  luxury malls, etc.  They've WAY OVERBUILT them EVERYWHERE. (What kind of person pays hundreds on Feragamo's in Phnom Penh? oh, aside from the criminal leadership and their cronies and kids).   NO ONE or government agency is able to curtail this cancerous growth.  For the lifespan of a mayfly those hotels might be fully booked, but are mostly half empty I suspect (hmmm, so they can write that off as a LOSS come tax time?).  Perhaps this is the only way to "thin the herd" so to speak.

Personally I like to stay at normal locals type places. In Cambodia I've stayed in $4 a night rooms on the main highway and been the only barang.  Hey, lots of street food around em, plus a bus station/stop across the street.  

Catering to the rich and wannabe rich, building more and more rooms in taller and taller buildings, with this "if you build it they will come...and drop millions into my pocket" mentality...the bird has come to roost on their face...for a long time I think.  At this point unless there are radical changes soon, some of those hotels would be better served providing free housing for the little people CRUSHED by the moronic thinking of their leaders.   

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11 hours ago, JustSumGai said:

to some extent I have no sympathy for the plight of places designed to fleece tourists,

Diplomatic. Maybe karma really exists:biggrin:

JSG makes some good points about overbuilding in Thailand. The old "Be careful what you ask for" adage. Well the Thais were extremely successful at developing and promoting mass tourism, to the point that they are dependent on that revenue source. 

From what I've observed world governments have been quite willing to sacrifice the service sectors of their economies for "safety."

The teachers unions in the USA are good examples of selflessness; they are clamoring for schools to remain closed, to "protect the children." 

I'm sure having an extended paid sabbatical has nothing to do with it:yahoo:

 

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This might be an option, always wanted to go there especially  when Castro was in charge and capitalism yet to poison the nation.

 https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/cuba-relaxes-coronavirus-restrictions-7-190110788.html

Cuba relaxes coronavirus restrictions 7 months into pandemic

HAVANA (AP) — Cuba relaxed coronavirus restrictions Monday in hopes of boosting its economy, allowing shops and government offices to reopen and welcoming locals and tourists at airports across the island except in Havana.

Face masks and social distancing remain mandatory, although authorities will no longer isolate those who have been in contact with suspected cases as the island returns to a semblance of normality.

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25 minutes ago, seven said:

This might be an option, always wanted to go there especially  when Castro was in charge and capitalism yet to poison the nation.

I visited Cuba many times. The first was after the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc collapsed. I wanted to see Cuba before it was destroyed by the US. I went on the May Day parade in Havana. It was amazing to see the numbers of people on the march, around one million. The police and armed forces contingents were on bicycles as there was shortages of fuel. I saw Castro on the platform the march passed.

I might well go to Cuba in January as an alternative to Thailand. 

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I've been keeping an eye on package holidays in January to Cuba. At the moment they are mainly to the offshore islands (Cayos), and a two week all inclusive single room package is around £1700. Which isn't bad. But there isn't much to do on the cayos, apart from lying on a sun lounger round the pool or on the beach. I can do that, better than a cold dreary London. At the moment though the only package I would be interested in (with TUI) to Jibacoa only has flights from Manchester which depart at 10am, so difficult for me to get to from London.  

From Seven's post it seems other parts of Cuba will be opened up, so I will wait to see if the holiday companies lay on more package deals with flights from London. I usually stayed in Holguin when I went before and would go there again.

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