Airport Scam

[mike williams]

obroadie
Unfortunately I see the results of this type of ill informed journalism on almost a weekly basis, I live in Bangkok and am married to a Thai national, we own properties in Jomtien (Pattaya) so I am in Pattaya 2 or 3 times a month, I was there just last week and its like a ghost town, bars and restaurants are closing or up for sale, walking street at 8pm is dead the bars are empty of farangs, hotel occupancy is down almost 50% year on year so people believe these silly reports.

[mike williams]

chang noi
I accept the points that you make however the following points must also be considered:
1) On their return to the UK why did they go to the press and not to the relevant authorities to report the matter formally?
2) Why did they change clothes and split up and the guy make for the toilet when approached by security?
3) Why did they not request to see British embassy officials in Bangkok?
4) Why did they pay the money so readily if they were innocent?
I fully believe that are guilty and went to the BBC with a story to try and recoup their losses.

[obroadie]

obroadie
Unfortunately I see the results of this type of ill informed journalism on almost a weekly basis, I live in Bangkok and am married to a Thai national, we own properties in Jomtien (Pattaya) so I am in Pattaya 2 or 3 times a month, I was there just last week and its like a ghost town, bars and restaurants are closing or up for sale, walking street at 8pm is dead the bars are empty of farangs, hotel occupancy is down almost 50% year on year so people believe these silly reports.

I fully appreciate that. Up here in Sukhothai it's not so evident because there are never many farangs up this way anyway. I don't go into town too often but I was driving through about 5pm last night and there were heaps of farangs. I have to say this place is hardly an accurate barometer of Thailand's tourism business. Every one of them were the backpacker / student type. Not the sex tourist's that normally fill walking street.

The state of tourism here is a culmination (no doubt, to be continued) of many bad things and poor decisions and selfish people, regardless of red or yellow shirts. I've said before that to me it seems to have started with the Tsunami and that's probably the only contributing factor that Thailand can not blame itself for.

On a selfish level I like the quiet markets and bars without the union jack waving, loud, drunken eejits. And I'm from there.

I feel sorry for the business owners who are suffering. I wish I had all the answers.

[Chang Noi]

chang noi
I accept the points that you make however the following points must also be considered:
1) On their return to the UK why did they go to the press and not to the relevant authorities to report the matter formally?
2) Why did they change clothes and split up and the guy make for the toilet when approached by security?
3) Why did they not request to see British embassy officials in Bangkok?
4) Why did they pay the money so readily if they were innocent?
I fully believe that are guilty and went to the BBC with a story to try and recoup their losses.

Mike

1) Why not go to the press & yes sell there story. Telling the UK police would have got nowhere. Eventually they may have been able to see an MP who may / may not bring it to the attention of others. Going to the press the whole world new about it in less than 24 hours. Makes more sense to me than filing a report.

2) Don’t know why they changed clothes, I know I do especially on a long haul flights. But if we examine that further. Are we to believe that they sat in a hotel room & planned to steal wallet worth 120 GBP and plan so that they had a change of clothes. The clothes alone would probably cost more than the wallet. Also why does the report say they were arrested after he went to the toilet in the restaurant area when they were inside the departure gate?

3) Not a clue why the did not accept British Embassy help & apparently they were offered it.

4) Someone else brought up the same point, but then in his next sentence claims that he always pays the police 300 baht when they request. So why does he pay if he is so innocent. They stop the Farangs on the way home because they know they will be desperate to get home & the thought of staying 5-6 months in a Thai jail in a strange country is not an option. I know I would pay the money, just to get out, what’s the other option.

You have your opinion & believe me if they are guilty they deserve everything they get. But in the last 3 months there’s been this case, the Irish doctor, the Danish guy, a well publicized Singaporean case & several Malays all been caught by similar tacticts.

[villager]

obroadie
Unfortunately I see the results of this type of ill informed journalism on almost a weekly basis, I live in Bangkok and am married to a Thai national, we own properties in Jomtien (Pattaya) so I am in Pattaya 2 or 3 times a month, I was there just last week and its like a ghost town, bars and restaurants are closing or up for sale, walking street at 8pm is dead the bars are empty of farangs, hotel occupancy is down almost 50% year on year so people believe these silly reports.

Mike , with respect I suggest you do some research and find out just how many jobs have been lost in Europe ,America, Australia and Japan , in the last 12 months or so,or better still what is the figure as a whole of the working force who are without a job, the whole world is gripped in the worst recession for 7 decades , and for anyone to think the incident involving 2 people being arresting in the Airport is a major or even a minor reason why Thailands tourism has been decimated is to be frank somewhat misinformed.

[mike williams]

villager,
This is not an isolated incident I read these reports all the time in the British press, I also comment quite a lot on the Daily Telegraph website and have been doing so for over 3 years and I quite often get snide remarks made about Thailand being the land of scams mainly by people who have never been here but have read the stories circulating so it is having an effect.
The recession does not account for the serious decline in tourists its far more involved than that and is a whole lot of things mainly caused by Thailand's complacency and lack of value for tourists and expats and the contribution they make to the economy.
The political troubles last year in Bangkok and Pattaya and the closing of the airport sealed the fate of the coming high season which starts in November, changes in visa rules do not help either only getting 15 days now if you arrive by road or sea screws up backpackers here for a few months, so they stay longer in Vietnam or Cambodia.
Expats are now leaving Pattaya as well for Malaysia and the Philippines fed up with all the visa rule changes, they do not feel welcome anymore and are fed up of being constantly ripped off.
Unless Thailand changes its approach to tourism the next few years will be very lean indeed.

[villager]

villager,
This is not an isolated incident I read these reports all the time in the British press, I also comment quite a lot on the Daily Telegraph website and have been doing so for over 3 years and I quite often get snide remarks made about Thailand being the land of scams mainly by people who have never been here but have read the stories circulating so it is having an effect.
The recession does not account for the serious decline in tourists its far more involved than that and is a whole lot of things mainly caused by Thailand's complacency and lack of value for tourists and expats and the contribution they make to the economy.
The political troubles last year in Bangkok and Pattaya and the closing of the airport sealed the fate of the coming high season which starts in November, changes in visa rules do not help either only getting 15 days now if you arrive by road or sea screws up backpackers here for a few months, so they stay longer in Vietnam or Cambodia.
Expats are now leaving Pattaya as well for Malaysia and the Philippines fed up with all the visa rule changes, they do not feel welcome anymore and are fed up of being constantly ripped off.
Unless Thailand changes its approach to tourism the next few years will be very lean indeed.

MIke whilst I readily agree about the crazy anti tourist visa rules , which as you have admitted is just another reason why Tourism is down , Mike lets have it right, bad stories about Thailand with all its scams to tourist have been the run of the mill for donkeys years, plain cloths cops were shaking down tourists in 2 big disco,s in Koh Samui when I was there in 1990 , the scam was well nigh perfect cos they had a young 19 year old kid who was staying at our bungalows for a quick 10,000 baht, someone used to sell them a few "joints" next thing they got" busted" by the plain cloths cops , you pay 10,000 or "monkey house" Bangkok tomorrow , most could not get to the ATM quick enough, but it seems a terrible coincidence that the decline in Thailand's tourist trade started at the same time as the world recession don,t it, I first came here in 89 and have now lived here full time since Nov 03 going from Had Yai in the far south to almost into Chang ri in the far North, during that time I,ve heard more sorrowful tales of tourists being scammed than enough , and yet it has never hit the tourist trade like it has now in the last 18 months or so '

[mike williams]

villager,
I first started to notice the fall in numbers before the recession started to hit, the recession has merely exacerbated it.
I go to Pattaya 2 to 3 times a month and even during the high season of 2006/7 the numbers were falling back widely reported in local newspapers and evident if you spent time there, one of the barometers I use is to see how easy it is to walk along walking street at 8 to 9pm and right now there more Thais than tourists.

[villager]

Ok Mike fair enough ,I,ll along with your post to a certain degree but as 06 and 07 was long before the airport scams started lets just go along with the idea that the problems with Tourism are many faceted and can,t just be attributed to one thing , and of course all the bad publicity with the PAD taking over the airport and the red UDD rallys in Bangkok , plus the constant tales of RIP OFF taxi drivers at the airport that are in the news all the time serve this country Ill, whilst i,m not trying to make an argument of it , i just thought i,d give my opinion that to simply blame 2 people for Thailands tourist woe,s was a mite bit off the mark , in closing I read somewhere that the couple had taken legal advice as to getting their money back and proceedings being taken , Knowing Thailand like I think I do I, thought that their actions will come up against a solid brick wall !.

[Chang Noi]

ThailAnd as a tourist destiation has never really recovered since the tsunami in 2004.
Just as it started to pick up we had the coup with tanks on the streets.
At the same time the stand in government changed the rules overnight about Expats dealing with Thais, they they did a complete U turn the next day causing utter confusion,

Then we have had the red shirts & yelow shirts with their two bahts worth. yet more tanks on the streets
Bombs in Bangkok over the New years,
Cancelled sean summit which was broadacast worldwide,
Closing the main airport & stranding passengers. Also over the past 18 months the Baht has gone from 70 to 52/53 thats a 25% rise for tourists, at the same time the high cost of fuel, has caused the prices for everything including bowls of rice to go up. All this means that Thailand is no longer a cheap place to live or visit compared to other Asian destinations

Others of highlighted the visa requirements, and now the scammers are more brazen
Instead of the shop / bar owners critsing the visitors for not coming or been stingy, maybe they should look at the reasons why & blame people closer to home.