Thailand tourism situation

[STEVE G]

Actually immigration at Suvarnabhumi has got much better over the last year or two, on my visit this month I got through both ways very quickly, particularly the exit with the automatic gates. It used to often take 30-40 minutes.
As for Chinese tourists, I see way more of them in Luxembourg than I ever do in Hua Hin.

[pharvey]

Fair enough, I was simply reporting an opinion of a friend, not my own - after all, I've not been back for a while. Glad to hear immigration is decent, but questionable over Chinese Tourist Groups - I hear many different stories, though perhaps more in the North.

[STEVE G]

I don't remember ever seeing groups of Chinese tourists in Hua Hin, obviously it would be hard to identify individuals but you don't see large groups walking around following someone with a flag!

[Dannie Boy]

Regarding immigration, I’m sure I’ve experienced greater delays at Heathrow when the e-gates haven’t been working than here in Thailand and as Steve has mentioned, the past few years it seems to have got quicker.

[buksida]

His reasoning? Immigration and checks at the airport (long delays), a massive influx of Chinese and Tour Parties (the LHG understands and has forgiven him ), price increases (despite loving "Rural Thailand") and basically a big change in attitudes to tourists/foreigners. He's now loving Vietnam...

I'll give him two out of four: airport queues in Japan are horrific, and Thailand wins on that aspect, but you have to be lucky with timing. I honestly don't know where TAT's 7 million Chinese are, certainly not in Hua Hin or any of the places we've visited in the past year. The other two - surging prices and bad attitudes/service - are spot on, Vietnam wins hands down.

[buksida]

To add to that, I'll give him three ... it looks like those airport queues could go back to "horrific" levels again soon:

Tougher checks for arrivals
National Police Chief Pol Gen Kittharath Punpetch has ordered immigration police to step up the screening process for foreign arrivals.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... r-arrivals