Editor;
Queues of up to five hours to get through Airport Immigration and filthy beaches are not going to encourage foreign tourists to visit Thailand this year! Central and local government must tackle these issues now as a matter of urgency.
Overseas visitors who have traveled for 20 hours or more to reach Bangkok are not going to be at all happy when faced with hours long queues for Immigration. They will not come back again and tell everyone at home about their delays!
Why, for instance, are there not Immigration lines for returning tourists from abroad? Their information is already on the computer system and it should be a simply matter to provide them with another re-entry stamp.
Why not copy U.S. Overseas Immigration and allow passengers to get their entry visa before boarding their flights out of Dubai, Doha or Abu Dhabi?
The video posted by a Spanish tourist criticizing the state pf the beach at Pattaya is totally understandable. Look out over any tourist beach in Spain at 7 a.m. and you will see a tractor and harrows cleaning the beach before tourists arrive. This happens every day of the week and is paid for by local government!
It is appreciated that hundreds of thousands of Chinese and Koreans visit Thailand now, but each overseas visitor from Europe, America and Australia probably spends as much every week as 100 of the visitors on the bus tours.
It is the overseas visitors that keep the shops, bars and restaurants in business and are needed now more than ever before in Pattaya!
Robin Valentine,
Grampian Golf Tours
Scotland
