Thailand, Not the Tourist-Friendly, Inexpensive Place to Visit that it Used to Be

Up until last year, Thailand used to be the place to come for a cheap and fun holiday. Flights were not too expensive, hotels were reasonable once you got here, and shopping, eating out and typical trips were dirt cheap. Not anymore!

In September last year, Thailand had yet another military coup where the army took over the government and kicked out the democratically-elected leader, Thaksin Shinawatra. At the time, a large percentage of Thais and foreigners living in Thailand, myself included, were surprisingly happy about the coup. It was a non-violent coup and deposed a Prime Minister who was just about as corrupt as you can get. But, a year later, Thailand now has a government that's worse.

Restrictions have been placed on obtaining visas on arrival and tourist visas. It used to be easy for a traveler to come and spend 6 months at a time or longer in Thailand, by simply doing a 'visa run' trip to Cambodia once a month. The trip took about 7 hours; with the traveler coming right back into Thailand the same day. The government has now decided they want 'more affluent tourists' so have put a stop to the monthly visas. What they didn't understand with this short-sighted change was this. The vast majority of travelers coming to Thailand are budget travelers.

When the government made things too difficult for them, these budget travelers went elsewhere. Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia are now seeing a rise in budget travelers. Thailand has seen an enormous drop in tourists entering the country this year. Over six percent of Thailand's economy is reliant on the tourist trade. Consequently, prices have gone up as Thais involved in this industry have to compensate for lower numbers of tourists.

Due to the low US dollar, the Thai baht has also seen a resurgence and has risen from 42 baht to the US dollar this time last year, to 33 baht to the dollar now. That means you get almost 25% less for your money when you pay in baht. Even every day items like bread, milk, rice etc. have risen in cost by over 20%, making it much more expensive to have a cheap holiday here.