Failing state
Re: "Collection of B500 fee from foreigners starts next year", (Business, Oct 4).
I have been stranded in Thailand since March last year. I read the Bangkok Post almost daily, though in some places the printed edition is not available.
I was reading many predictions by the boss of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Yuthasak Supasorn. As an experienced tour guide and travel agent for 30 years, I have been laughing all year about his forecasts for millions of foreign tourists.
Last year, my forecast was a slow recovery in April 2022. It looks like I am not too far off.
Who protects the head of the TAT?
Is he a relative of Coup Minister Prayut (minister for everything) or just related to any other family of the Thai Tatmadaw?
In all Western countries he would have lost his job a long time ago. Even in today's Bangkok Post article, it seems like he just rolled his dice to any seven-digit number.
Believe me, there are many cheaper countries in Asia than Thailand, which has a ridiculously high alcohol tax similar to Muslim nations like Malaysia and Indonesia.
I've come to Thailand probably 100 times since 1993, when I spent one night in Bangkok. I had to, because of the famous song. I stayed at the Dusit. It was still the Land of Smiles.
During my 19-month "Covid stay" here, the friendliest people have been immigrant workers from Myanmar.
In 2019 I visited Vietnam four times, because for my nationality 15 days are visa-free. I flew in to Ho Chi Minh, left via Danang, flew into Nha Trang, left from Haiphong, etc.
As a writer (Lung Stib) to PostBag said in a letter more than a year ago, Thailand is a failed state.
And I agree!
TRAVELAGENT