Thailand’s Airport Changes and the Shift to Quality Tourists

We are in August. Yes, we are in the low season, and you can see the airport is busy, but not too crowded. Things are much more organized. These days, if you are arriving in Thailand, especially at Suvarnabhumi Airport, a lot of people were nagging about it being crowded and busy, and taking more than 2 hours to pass immigration. Nowadays, things are much more organized, even if you arrive at rush hour. It takes around 30 minutes, maximum 40 minutes if it is rush hour, and less than 10 minutes to pass immigration. That’s really good.

Yes, we are in the low season, but still we have a lot of tourists who like to visit Thailand in this season. As you know, this is one of the best seasons to visit Thailand. The big question is whether Thailand is looking for quality tourists, tourists who spend a lot when they come to Thailand, rather than quantity or numbers.

Now, first of all, let’s check our flight. Today, we are traveling to Krabi. The check-in opened via Jet Airways. I booked my flight at 2:00 a.m. yesterday, and it is only 900 Thai baht to Krabi. Yes. These days you can find flights starting from 500 Thai baht. My advice is to book the early flights. Today I was lucky to find an afternoon flight for that price, but if you are flying early, you can find even cheaper than that, starting from 500 Thai baht.

That’s not the only thing. I also booked my hotel in the middle of the action in Ao Nang. Cozy, only for 650 Thai baht. So, these days, if you are traveling and you want to enjoy Thailand and have domestic flights, then your trip won’t cost you more than 1,500 Thai baht for the ticket and the hotel, which is less than 50 USD.

Thailand Entry Requirements and What to Prepare

These new entry requirements from Thailand, especially concerning the sufficient funds, hotel booking, or maybe if the immigration officer asks you about your schedule and what you are going to do in Thailand as a tourist, are not obligatory. Yes, of course the immigration officer will not ask each and everyone about sufficient funds, your hotel booking, or maybe your schedule and what you are going to do as a tourist once you are in Thailand. But you have to prepare all these things even if the immigration officer won’t ask you every time you enter Thailand.

For example, two days ago, a Russian tourist arrived in Thailand through Chiang Mai Airport. The immigration officer asked her about sufficient funds. She didn’t have any funds, even any proof. It doesn’t matter whether you have cash or proof; it’s the same. After failing to show any sufficient funds, the immigration officer asked her about her hotel booking. She didn’t have any bookings. Then she asked her what her plans were once she was in Thailand. She didn’t have any plans either. So, automatically, she was deported back to her country.

I mean, who travels to Thailand without sufficient funds, at least 20,000 Thai baht cash or any proof? And another thing, without booking any hotel or having any proof about the accommodation where you are going to stay in Thailand. Thailand doesn’t need any more lost tourists without any plans traveling to Thailand. In that case, you are going to get deported back to your country.

My phone battery is down as usual. These days at Suvarnabhumi Airport, you have a lot of free charging stations. These are new. Things are getting better at the airport. The best thing is that today I’ve got this beautiful magnetic wireless charger from Footnote Accessories. And it’s really nice. It’s very compact to pack and open. It’s magnetic. You turn this one, and you can charge almost everything chargeable through a magnetic charger.

Airport Luggage, Bus and Airline Changes

Starting from October, you better be careful what you put in your luggage and avoid prohibited items because even if you check in and your luggage passes, they can open your luggage if they see anything in the scanner. With prohibited items in your luggage, they can open it even if you are not there, remove the item, and you can even get a fine. So, be careful what you pack if you are coming to Thailand or leaving Thailand. These rules will be applied starting from October. Don’t pack things that are prohibited, especially when you are coming to Thailand.

We are now at the base floor, and it’s super busy, by the way. But why are we at the base floor? Let’s pass this mess. Because in 4 days I’m traveling to Pattaya, and we can book the ticket of the bus now. You can pre-book either online. From the first floor, bus to Pattaya. That was easy and fast.

Now it’s only 130 Thai baht. The price went up when the fuel was expensive. Now things are back on track. 130 Thai baht. As cheap as that. Now you can book it online, too, just in case you are not passing by the airport. And I think you pay around 25 Thai baht extra when you are booking online.

Today I’m traveling to Krabi. I’m coming back tomorrow just for one night, and in 3 days I’m traveling to Pattaya. AirAsia flights from Suvarnabhumi Airport are canceled now. They are transferred to Don Mueang Airport. So, if you are traveling from Suvarnabhumi Airport, for now there is no AirAsia, only Vietjet Airways. Just in case you have booked your flights from Suvarnabhumi Airport, then be careful. It is canceled. You have to go to Don Mueang Airport. I don’t know what the reason is, but as I read, they are scheduling the routes. If you are flying AirAsia, then you are flying from Don Mueang Airport, even if you have booked your flights from Suvarnabhumi Airport in these 2 weeks.

Concerns About Tourist Behaviour and Thailand’s Tourism Strategy

Lately, we are reading a lot of news on social media about bad tourists and their behaviour once they are in Thailand. Not only about the latest case which was in the BTS, but I daily see such tourists thinking that they can do anything, anywhere, anytime when they come to Thailand. So, there are a lot of these tourists lately, and we are reading news on social media about them doing different things. Hopefully, they will stop doing it because they are ruining, first of all, their country, and second, the face of tourism in Thailand.

These days, Thailand is changing its strategy and trying to attract quality tourists, normal tourists who come to Thailand and spend money, rather than the numbers of the backpackers or the tourists who used to come to Thailand in previous years. I don’t know if that’s the case. Quality versus quantity, and Thailand is trying to attract quality tourists.