More Thailand, Much Cheaper

You may have heard it, Thailand’s tourism industry is again suffering thanks to our red brothers promising a bright future and pure democracy. As a “side effect” there’s a flare up of civil unrest with reds hurting their very own people, upcountry migrant workers. Because, however looked at, as a result many tourists and business travelers have canceled or reconsidered their travel plans to Thailand.

In a country famous for its beaches, nightlife and friendly folks, people are suffering greatly as many towns and cities are heavily reliant on tourist dollars. The official Tourism Authority of Thailand was hoping that the days of economic downturn and riots that have put a dent in Thailand’s tourist industry were over.

However, the recent clashes and series of attacks that rather remind of Baghdad than Bangkok have caused more doubt and confusion in the minds of foreign tourists. Travel departments of many countries, such as Australia, the U.K. and U.S., have warned their citizens to reconsider, while some media have also done their best to play on the fears of tourists.

The reality is however, foreign expats and seasoned travelers have been unaffected. Simply be sensible, avoid the demonstrations and you’re able to travel in and around Bangkok and Thailand with the same level of safety as we’ve always had.

The good news for people looking to visit Thailand is many airlines, hotels and tour groups have significantly lowered their prices in a bid to attract the tourist dollar. Despite the one square kilometer of unrest in Bangkok, the other remaining 512,120 square kilometers of Thailand remain unaffected and still offer tremendous value and are a world away from the troubles and violence.

Now actually could be as good a time as ever to take the opportunity to visit Thailand.

To give you an example, before the initial clashes in 2009, the Metropolitan, a five star hotel in Bangkok had rooms starting at $260 USD. Now, you can book a room for as little as $110, by using a hotel price comparison search like Hotels Combined.

In similar fashion, family friendly resorts in southern parts of Thailand (in places that haven’t been touched by violence such as Koh Samui and Phuket) are available at lower rates than usual to compensate for the downturn in tourist numbers.

Airlines have also been discounting, direct return flights from London to Bangkok in May can be booked from 663 pounds with Thai Airways and 633 pounds by using flight comparison tool Skyscanner. Prices for the same route in July start from 780 and 883 pounds respectively.

Another reason to visit Thailand right now is the beautiful weather with the  low season kicking in. As a tourist you feel like having the country for yourself. Sure it’s hot, but you’ll have the occasional rain shower and it’s sunny again. Perfect for relaxing around a beach, a hotel pool – or why not a spa.

Sure many of us miss the food courts over at Paragon and Central World. But if you’re not heading to red square aka Ratchaprasong you won’t even notice that the kingdom’s in trouble. Thais are as welcoming as ever, this is still a completely safe place – except for that motorcycle you may wanna rent. Wear the helmet and proper shoes.

Point is, at the moment you get more Thailand much cheaper than usual.




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May 9, 2010 | Filed Under News & Media, Nightlife & Entertainment, Politics, Sports & Fun, Travel & Tourism 

Comments

5 Responses to “More Thailand, Much Cheaper”

  1. geomark on May 9th, 2010 12:50 pm

    I don’t understand this kind of propaganda. Nobody expected fighting in Khao San Road and then a tourist got shot. Luckily she took that stray bullet in the arm and not the heard. It’s not like the problems are confined to one spot. Fighting breaks out in Pathum Thani, a soldier is killed, some of my family members stranded on the motorway for the entire day along with thousands of others. So where will it happen next? Tell us so we can be perfectly safe avoiding that one tiny area.

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  2. bosunj on May 9th, 2010 8:00 pm

    @geomark:

    Perfectly safe? Where? When? Not bloody possible. Singapore may be more to your liking … much closer to perfectly safe. Bore you to death though.

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  3. Lloyd on May 10th, 2010 4:15 pm

    Two days ago I caught the direct bus from Nong Khai to Suvarnabhumi Airport after spending ten days “up north” (I missed my flight from Udon Thani thanks to beer Loa). The whole trip was fantastic not a sign of any of the “red shirt madness” and “Thaksinitus.” Life just went on as normal (well the prime minister’s speech about new elections went down well, lots of Loh Kao flowing), what was scary was the sheer number of army and police stops on the major roads, it was sheer madness.

    The pinnacle was the last twenty kilometers into Suvarnabhumi Airport transit terminal along the main expressways into the airport “region,” seeing army personel, troop carriers, iron-cross barriers and even a f’n tank blocking what was once four lane expressways made me wonder why anyone who saw this would ever travel to Thailand again.

    The protests have been pretty much limited to a small part of Bangkok and a few regions in Isaan but the use of army personel to conduct vehicle searches, carrying AK47s and god knows what else, is just plane crazy and would certainly scare any tourist away.

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  4. Jaded on May 11th, 2010 12:29 pm

    Here’s a thought. What if Thailand’s economic future depends on the red supporters experiencing unprecedented levels of prosperity and political respect?

    Taking your More Thailand much cheaper as a starting point I would offer the following hypothesis:

    With first the United States and now the European markets for Thai goods likely to remain depressed for a long time only China and Tourism remain as significant potential external sources of revenue for big Thai businesses. China is focusing on developing its domestic demand as much as possible but there are suspicions that the government led attempts to stimulate demand will implode in the not to distant future. Tourism in significant numbers from traditional sources seems unlikely too as the people stop spending and start saving. The largest groups of tourists I have seen recently have been from India or the Middle East …

    The question seems to be who are these established businesses going to sell to next?

    Thailand, like China, needs desperately to stimulate domestic consumption. I think this is where the Reds really come into their own. An interesting article published yesterday on New Mandala points out that many of their supporters are a long way from being poor. Realistically, the people who support the reds are looking for the very thing that might save Thailand’s export based economy from imploding. They want a bigger share of the cake. In the absence of external markets to sell into (and obviously a lot of attention is being focused on China now so we haven’t quite got there yet), the rural population of Thailand could be encouraged, with a suitable political will, to consume and there must be a lot of pent up demand out there …

    It’s an anathema to the free marketeers who have traditionally controlled the exploitation based economy because the political consequences of economic empowerment are obvious. In the past when civil unrest has created crisis moments the business class has always come down firmly on the side of less social development as the exploitation economy had plenty of customers. Now those markets are disappearing and I suspect the smart money in Thailand knows that from the point of view of business, the outcome of this political conflict is more complicated that previous ones …

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  5. OMG on May 15th, 2010 9:45 pm

    Pretty foolish article. It will take years to get tourists back, but you need changes so we understand it. There were so many wrongs in Thailand I noticed even as a careless tourist.

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