THe hammer has fallen on nightlife

[..]

the_numbers said:

20 flights from Singapore a day? Even if you count the Air Asia hops that's hard to believe... maybe.

Well, believe it -- there are actually more than 20. Here are the results of a very simple search for direct flights SIN-BKK on Expedia. I am sure that there are more as Expedia does not list them all (i.e., budget carriers) and I did not include and flights with connections.

 

9/29/04 - 17

TK61

AY98

LX183

CX712

SK972

TG422

TG404

TG412

GA822

TG402

SQ60

SQ62

SQ64

SQ66

TG410

SQ974

TG414

 

9/30/04 - 16

LX183

CX712

IA856

SK972

TG422

TG404

TG412

TG410

TG402

SQ60

SQ62

SQ64

SQ66

SQ68

SQ974

TG414

SQ880

 

Cheers,

SD

[trooper]

AY98 is Finnair route Singapore-Bangkok-Helsinki. At least half of the passengers are flying from Singapore to Helsinki so very few Singaporean tourists on board. I believe all the other European carriers too are flying from Singapore to Europe via Bangkok.

[Elation]

jxxxl said:

"also Singapore, from singapore , that have 20+ flight aday"

 

Are you saying that there are 20+ flights a day from Singapore to Thailand? Not counting connections, I find that hard to believe. Care to provide more details?

 

"they anytime out spending the west, for sure. "

 

From my own personal experience with Singaporeans, they are the cheapest people on the planet. Just because they go to KTV's doesn't mean they outspend western tourists.

 

And regarding Malaysians as stats, I can believe there are a lot of "arrivals" becuase they border Thailand. But, one-day trips for boozing isn't the equivalent of 7-10 stays in 4-5 resorts.

 

The typical Sex Tourist doesn't fit the 7-10 day stay at 4-5 resorts...maybe 4 or 5 entertainment venues in BKK or Pattaya in a low-mid range hotel ::.

 

The 7-10 day stays at 4-5 nice resorts fall into the "desirable" category of visitors. They will spend more on a hotel room and food than the Pattaya crowd (including the nightlife extras), etc. I think that those are not the target of the current crackdown

[Whitney]

"The 7-10 day stays at 4-5 nice resorts fall into the "desirable" category of visitors. They will spend more on a hotel room and food than the Pattaya crowd (including the nightlife extras), etc. I think that those are not the target of the current crackdown"

 

From reading the chat boards, I would believe the nightlife tourist repeats their visits to Thailand more often than the 4 to 5 star hotel tourist.

 

I don't think families or tour groups on average, spend more than a tourist who travels alone, and spends money to keep themselves entertained.

 

I don't really know what will happen long term if and when these early closing hours come into effect, but anyone with the IQ of a house plant, wouldn't think that a business could be open from 9pm to 12am, and actually make money 9pm-12am business hours, now thats good for a laugh

[thalenoi]

trooper said:

AY98 is Finnair route Singapore-Bangkok-Helsinki. At least half of the passengers are flying from Singapore to Helsinki so very few Singaporean tourists on board. I believe all the other European carriers too are flying from Singapore to Europe via Bangkok.

 

Airlines flying to/from Europe are doing their best to fill the empty seats between bkk and s'pore, how successfull, I don't know....

 

And yes Had Yai is completely geared towards Malaysian sanukers, lots of hotels and bars...

[Guest]

Expect the hammer to fall more. some Thai, legitimate businesses want the illegal businesses to start paying their share of taxes so their (the legitimate businesses) can get a substantiable tax savings. As they say, fair is fair.

[Old Hippie]

there won't be any savings, just more money in the government till...who ever heard of taxes going down?

[Guest]

The typical Sex Tourist doesn't fit the 7-10 day stay at 4-5 resorts...maybe 4 or 5 entertainment venues in BKK or Pattaya in a low-mid range hotel .

 

The 7-10 day stays at 4-5 nice resorts fall into the "desirable" category of visitors. They will spend more on a hotel room and food than the Pattaya crowd (including the nightlife extras), etc. I think that those are not the target of the current crackdown

If the crackdown is aimed at sex tourists, why are the allowed entertainment zones predominately geared towards sex tourists? If the new zoning rules are enforced as written, it will put non p4p night time entertainment places out of business (think of the yuppy irish bars or Q Bar), but allow Patpong and Ratchadipisek - places that are essentially centered around prostitution - to operate reasonable hours.

 

And what about the bars and discos in the 5 star hotels? Can they only open from 9pm to 12 midnight? Now that would be very strange. On the other hand, if bars and discos in hotels can operate reasonable hours, what is to stop bars and discosoutside the zones from relocating in 3 and 4 star hotels?

 

Rules like this that don't make sense and conflict with accepted business practices simply fuel corruption. But then perhaps that is what this is really all about - funding for Thailand's constabulary to ensure the "proper" results for the next election.

[Elation]

Gadfly1 said:

If the crackdown is aimed at sex tourists, why are the allowed entertainment zones predominately geared towards sex tourists? If the new zoning rules are enforced as written, it will put non p4p night time entertainment places out of business (think of the yuppy irish bars or Q Bar), but allow Patpong and Ratchadipisek - places that are essentially centered around prostitution - to operate reasonable hours.

 

And what about the bars and discos in the 5 star hotels? Can they only open from 9pm to 12 midnight? Now that would be very strange. On the other hand, if bars and discos in hotels can operate reasonable hours, what is to stop bars and discosoutside the zones from relocating in 3 and 4 star hotels?

 

Rules like this that don't make sense and conflict with accepted business practices simply fuel corruption. But then perhaps that is what this is really all about - funding for Thailand's constabulary to ensure the "proper" results for the next election.

 

There isn't disagreement that nightlife and p4p will not be eliminated - just more "confined" and limited to specific areas. I believe that the general perception was that the whole scene was getting out of control by the local Thais and that something had to be done. This was especially sensitive when local Thai kids were out getting drunk and drugged up at these "entertainment" places (i.e. discos, nightclubs, etc.). These kids are not poor kids, but likely have parents with enough money for them to go out and party. I think the average Thai (rightly or wrongly) blames the "outside western influence" for all these problems.

 

Bars moving into Hotels seem like they would be more controlled since the hotels can be pressured to do more things because of their other line of business (i.e. rooms and restaurants).

 

Rules are never fair - not in Thailand or anywhere else if you are not on the beneficial side of those rules. Like typical westerners, we complain and try to shoot holes in the rules but forget the real issue behind the rules (our behavior).

[WarHammer]

So what is really going on with this entire "Hammer falling on nightlife" stuff?

 

I'm not so much worried about the closing times as I am the opening times? Has the situation deteriorated so much that one can not go to the Golden Beer Bar after lunch? Will I not be able to hit the Washington Square bars during the afternoon?

 

Are the authorities really preventing bar beers from opening before 9AM? I really can't imagine that any of them could survive with 9AM - Midnight operating hours.

 

I have a trip coming up in a few weeks and need to start thinking about whether to bother staying in BKK at all, or maybe to go straight to Pattaya instead.

 

WH