Jump to content

Airport scam? Beware King Power Duty free shop


tartempion

Recommended Posts

TH,

 

From the link you provided.

 

Table 1: Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index 2009 and 2008 comparisons

 

The top four:

 

Switzerland 1

Austria 2

Germany 3

France 4

 

United States 8

 

Thailand 39 (was 42 last year, moving up slower then VN)

 

Vietnam 89 (was 96 last year, moving up).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 364
  • Created
  • Last Reply

The problem is that those rankings fail to address the real issue:

the underlying quality which makes a country more attractive than the others. What makes a woman more attractive than others?

 

As to me me I agree with almost everything Gadfly and others say about Thailand's very serious problems in the tourism and many other sectors. I have even communicated with Western media about them because i would like to see some change.

 

But there must be a reason why I still prefer Thailand before almost every other country in the region.

 

A (very emotional) actor friend of mine was insanely in love with an insanely pretty girl (blonde of course). "She is hopeless. Vulgar. Uneducated. Cheating me constantly. But I LOVE her!" he exclaimed and swept three glasses of red wine off the table in one (flawlessly professionally executed) theatralical gesture.

 

But don"t listen to me. Look at my story with that totally inept Thermae girl. Delusional. Irrational.

 

So I agree with Gadfly. But will not leave Thailand and will never make rational choices about woman.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

TH,

 

From the link you provided.

 

Table 1: Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index 2009 and 2008 comparisons

 

The top four:

 

Switzerland 1

Austria 2

Germany 3

France 4

 

United States 8

 

Thailand 39 (was 42 last year, moving up slower then VN)

 

Vietnam 89 (was 96 last year, moving up).

 

 

 

United States is ranked 8. Even the USA has acknowledged tourism is down and one of the reasons is how people are treated at Immigration and Customs. In Arizona, there are warning for tourist to be aware of the photo radar traps that are being used as a ploy to make more money. Half of the photo radar units are in the USA are in Arizona.

 

One photo radar unit I go by every once in a while is on Interstate 10. The photo radar unit sits in the 60 MPH zone only feet away from where the speed was 75 MPH. The flashes on that unit flash sometimes like a Christmas tree taking pictures so speeding tickets can be issued.

 

This survey was purely speculative. Is Thailand a better place to go then it was 10 years ago? Some, if not most on this board will probably say YES especially in regards to the nightlife.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...

[color:purple]with a very friendly attitude of the population toward tourists[/color] (ranked 13th).This is buttressed by the sector’s strong prioritization by the government (ranked 12th) with, similar to Malaysia, [color:orange]excellent destination-marketing campaigns[/color] and good price competitiveness. However, some weaknesses remain: despite the prioritization of the sector by the government, some aspects of the regulatory environment â€â€[color:red]such as stringent foreign ownership restrictionsâ€â€[/color], visa restrictions for many travelers, and the [color:red]long time required for starting a business in the countryâ€â€[/color]are not particularly conducive to developing the sector (ranked 62nd). In addition, given the importance of the natural environment for the country’s tourism, environmental sustainability should be a greater priority (ranked 99th).[/i]

 

...

TH

 

Travel & Tourism, eh? Not quite sure what importance the average tourist gives to the items highlighted in red.

 

And the "...with a very friendly attitude of the population toward tourists..."? Based on what? A bunch of smiling lobotomy faces? Sounds as subjective as anything else.

 

"...excellent destination-marketing campaigns..."? What's that, ordering that the words "oceanfront beach resort town of..." be placed in front of every reference to Pattaya?

 

Or would that be the Thai Elite Card?

 

Or is it the crackdown on the Gem store/Grand Palace cons, you know, the crackdown that has been publicly reported with the arrests of the scammers, the shutting down of the Thai scam gemshop.

 

Perhaps it's the government edict that dual-pricing will no longer be tolerated?

 

Maybe the reference is to the marketing to the quality Asian tourists? Wait, wait, their numbers are waaay down. Must be the quality Eastern Europeans. Hold on, they're not arriving in droves anymore. I remember, it's the new quality Central Asian/Middle Eastern campaign announced about a month ago.

 

You often make some well reasoned arguments,but when you start quoting crap like this, it leads to those accusations of "Thai apologist".

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think you misuderstood what the report is suupose to measure. It is a Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report.

 

 

The TTCI aims to measure the factors and policies that make it attractive to develop the T&T sector in different countries. It is based on three broad categories of variables that facilitate or drive T&T competitiveness.These categories are summarized into the three ubindexes of the Index:

(1) the T&T regulatory framework subindex;

(2) the T&T business environment and nfrastructure

subindex; and

(3) the T&T human, cultural, and natural resources subindex.

 

You are of course free to dismiss its findings if you believe you know more or as is more likely, it does not agree with your personal opinion. It was merely put forward as an example to counter the statment that the Thai government had it's "head in the sand" was doing nothing to improve tourism. Apparently certain parts of the international T&T industry do not agree as they moved Thailand up 3 places since 2008, dispite serious issues, which I have never said did not exist.

TH

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...