Thailand’s Tourist Towns Deal With Their Own Russian Invasion

[reader]

From TIME / MSN

by Charlie Campbell / Phuket, Thailand

It’s just past 11 p.m. on Phuket’s neon-festooned Bangla Road and revelers are out in force, though the heady atmosphere is distinctly more Sochi than Southeast Asia. TVs overhanging the sprawling beer bars show ice skating instead of soccer; Cyrillic signage proliferates; and Russian-speaking touts dispense flyers for pole-dancing clubs exclusively featuring women from former Soviet republics. “Russians, Ukrainian, Belorussian, Kazakhs,” says one tout in dark Ray Bans and a skin-tight Armani polo shirt. “We have them all here.”

The war in Ukraine has entailed an incalculable human toll, while roiling markets, disrupting supply chains, and sending inflation soaring across the globe. But in Thailand, the two-year-old conflict is also having a profound social effect despite being over 4,000 miles away. While many Western nations have shut out Russian air travel in response to Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Thailand sees Russian arrivals as key to reviving its pandemic-ravaged tourism industry. In October, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin extended 90-day visas upon arrival for Russian passports, insisting in a February interview: “We’re not part of the [Ukraine] conflict. We are neutral.”

Last year, Russians ranked top for tourist arrivals in Thailand from outside of Asia with 1.4 million visitors. Meanwhile, Russians were top overall on the southern resort island of Phuket, which has long been a favorite haunt. Last July, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Phuket to inaugurate a new consulate to cope with surging visitor numbers. A month later, the Phuket Tourist Association sent a delegation to St. Petersburg and Moscow seeking to court even more vacationers.

In the first three months of this year, 366,095 Russians arrived at Phuket International Airport, almost double the same period of 2023 and transforming the island’s commercial and social life. (That figure doesn’t include the significant number who transferred via Thailand’s main gateway of Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok.) But while a boon for the macro economy, the influx has chafed with locals who increasingly complain that Russians are stealing jobs and upsetting cultural mores. Across Thailand, lurid headlines such as “Rabid Russian assaults police team in Phuket after going berserk at a city centre hotel” and “Russian tourist kicks pregnant Thai woman after asked to leave shoes outdoor” are both a symptom and cause of alarm. (However, transgressions involving New Zealand, Swiss, and Portuguese nationals admittedly proliferate also.)

“Russia and Thailand are so different and sometimes they don’t understand Thai law and culture,” Lieut. Colonel Akachai Siri, chief inspector of Phuket Tourist Police, tells TIME. “Sometimes they break the law and they don’t recognize we have law enforcement.”

Nevertheless, Thailand’s Russian incursion appears here to stay. Other than the preferential visas, sanctions on Russian air carriers and reciprocal bans on Western airlines have slashed the destinations where Russian nationals can escape their frigid winter, making already-popular Thailand an easier choice. And then there are the not inconsiderable numbers fleeing economic doldrums and a war of choice that they had no part in choosing—not least since the Kremlin has ramped up military conscription amid mounting casualties.

“That was the final straw for us,” says Mark, a Russian who fled to Thailand with his boyfriend after an initial draft announcement in September 2022 and asked that TIME use a pseudonym for security. “We understood we can’t go back because anyone can be called to the army and just die in the war.”

Beyond 90-day visas upon arrival, thousands are applying for one-year business or education visas. Arnold, who asked that TIME use only one name for fear of reprisals in his homeland, moved from Moscow to the Thai resort town of Hua Hin permanently last year and has noticed an increase in what are colloquially termed “relocants” fleeing the “various negative things which are going on back home.”

Continues at

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/thailand-s-tourist-towns-deal-with-their-own-russian-invasion/ar-BB1lrptp

[Moses]

20 hours ago, reader said:

While many Western nations have shut out Russian air travel in response to Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine

This part is inaccurate.

Russian citizens are able to travel to any country and do so. Russia and the EU have mutually banned direct airline flights to/from Russia. Many EU countries, including Germany, Italy, and France continue to issue visas to Russian citizens. Germany, for example, has 5 visa centers in the Russian Federation. The only difference in travel is that now flights take place with transfers in Istanbul, Belgrade, Dubai, Doha and other airports in countries where governments are not subject to anti-Russian hysteria.

Well, the article itself is also an example of anti-Russian hysteria, describing the “horrors of the Russian invasion of Thailand”: 1.4 million in 2023 still does not reach the 2.5 million visits of Russian citizens to Thailand in 2019. Now the season has already ended, but an agreement has already been signed for 30% more flights to Thailand from Russian airports for the fall.

[vinapu]

7 hours ago, Moses said:

Well, the article itself is also an example of anti-Russian hysteria,

no need to be hysterical about an article as there's nothing hysterical there. 

There's nothing anti Russian there in respect of their  tourists in Thailand, fact that they feature prominently in Phuket landscape is visible fact and nowhere there it suggests it's bad sign.

That some locals don't like them being in such masse is not unique to Russians , nor Phuket but happens in may places  in the world where locals feel overwhelmed by influx of arrivals be it Cracow in Poland and British or Djerba in Tunisia and Germans not to even mention Pattaya and Chinese bus tours. 

Certainly to be more liked  tourists need to learn  how to blend in local culture and tip generously. I never had slightest problems with Russian tourists everywhere but certainly and visibly they like to keep to themselves. I understand that for society with ingrained mistrust of strangers  it may take longer to  learn that type of social skills. 

 

[vinapu]

8 hours ago, Moses said:

transfers in Istanbul, .... and other airports in countries where governments are not subject to anti-Russian hysteria.

 

wait until Putin starts musing that Kars was part of USSR as late as 1923

[Boy69]

8 hours ago, Moses said:

Well, the article itself is also an example of anti-Russian hysteria, describing the “horrors of the Russian invasion of Thailand”: 1.4 million in 2023 still does not reach the 2.5 million visits of Russian citizens to Thailand in 2019. Now the season has already ended, but an agreement has already been signed for 30% more flights to Thailand from Russian airports for the fall.

It's not anti-russian hysteria , it's anti-russian  policy.when a dangerous dictator decided to invade innocent country like Ukraine because post comonism hysterical illusions nobody can be sympathetic with the Russians nowadays.

[Moses]

1 hour ago, Boy69 said:

it's anti-russian  policy

policy may be only in govt... unfortunately for you, Thai govt is more than loyal to Russia, and mutual state visits confirm it.

[vinapu]

come on Moses, it's not loyalty, even less love , just an interest.

Certain very important Thai figure still prefers to spent most of his time in Germany, not Sochi 

As for visits , fact that Ribbentrop visited Moscow at end of Aug 1939 at end of day did not do any good for neither USSR nor Germany.

[Polit]

Kata is definitely very Russian now, not necessarily a bad thing but can see how it could be overwhelming for locals when such a mass of people with a different culture arrive at once.

[vinapu]

15 hours ago, Polit said:

Kata is definitely very Russian now, not necessarily a bad thing but can see how it could be overwhelming for locals when such a mass of people with a different culture arrive at once.

fact that local at Kata  should generally be accustomed to avalanche of foreigners should be mitigating factor, specially if they spend and  don't haggle much  

[Moses]

On 4/14/2024 at 9:50 PM, vinapu said:

As for visits , fact that Ribbentrop visited Moscow at end of Aug 1939 at end of day did not do any good for neither USSR nor Germany.

You just compared the Thai government to Hitler's.

[floridarob]

2 hours ago, Moses said:

You just compared the Thai government to Hitler's.

He compared government officials visiting other countries doesn't make them best friends.....don't be hysterical 😝

 

[Marc in Calif]

2 hours ago, Moses said:

You just compared the Thai government to Hitler's.

Your translator needs to learn what the English word "compare" actually means. 

[vinapu]

3 hours ago, Moses said:

You just compared the Thai government to Hitler's.

because love of both for Russia is comparable , no ? It's just interest  in both cases

[Moses]

8 hours ago, Marc in Calif said:

Your translator needs to learn what the English word "compare" actually means. 

This is classic loser behavior: when he has nothing substantive to argue, he starts looking at words and commas. If you have any complaints about the quality of the translation, you can contact support@google.com

[Moses]

8 hours ago, vinapu said:

no ?

No. Historical ties since Rama V times. 

On January 15, 1896, British Foreign Secretary Lord Salisbury and French Ambassador de Courcelles signed a special declaration on Siam in London, in which the country was divided into French and British zones of influence; France then tried to expand the colonized territory from Vietnam and Cambodia and include Thailand. Rama V then visited both countries to prevent this actual colonization, but did not find understanding, the French government even refused to meet with him. (here we can discuss historical similarity with Ribbentrop, do you want?)

After this, he visited Russia and managed to convince the emperor to intervene, because when 15 years early future emperor of Russia was with visit in Thailand he found there a very warm welcome from the king - the father of Rama V. Russian influence prevented the colonization of Thailand by France. On June 27, 1897, the Russian Foreign Ministry received a telegram from the French Foreign Ministry with the consent of the French government to accept the Siamese monarch. The fact of Chulalongkorn's solemn meeting in Paris and his negotiations with French Foreign Minister Ganoto brought Franco-Siamese relations out of a state of crisis.

After this, relations between the Thailand and Russia developed very rapidly; one of the king’s sons became the ambassador of Thailand to Russia, and another prince had a Russian wife.

In our time, Thailand has become the first country outside the territory of the former USSR, with which the current Russian state signed an agreement on visa-free visits. Russians do not need a visa to Thailand, Thais do not need a visa to Russia. This happened even before Thailand began to develop tourism and citizens of many countries received the opportunity for visa-free entry for their tourists.

[Marc in Calif]

4 hours ago, Moses said:

he starts looking at words and commas 

It has nothing to do with words and commas, clown! 🤡

Your EPIC FAIL was misunderstanding this entire English sentence when you asked Google to translate it into Russian:

On 4/14/2024 at 11:50 AM, vinapu said:

As for visits, fact that Ribbentrop visited Moscow at end of Aug 1939 at end of day did not do any good for neither USSR nor Germany.

And you STILL don't understand that sentence. You incorrectly think it compares the current Thai government to Hitler's government.

Nothing could be further from the truth!  🤣🤡🤣

[Moses]

7 hours ago, Marc in Calif said:

clown

When the cat has nothing to do, he licks own balls. When Mark has nothing substantive to object to, he gets personal. Keep looking at commas, loser.

[Marc in Calif]

2 hours ago, Moses said:

When the cat has nothing to do, he licks own balls. When Mark has nothing substantive to object to, he gets personal. Keep looking at commas, loser.

What comma did I mention, clown? 🤡

It's simply that you don't understand English well enough to comprehend the comments. Yet you feel obsessed about responding to them -- over and over.  🤣

[vinapu]

16 hours ago, Moses said:

(here we can discuss historical similarity with Ribbentrop, do you want?)

gladly and I'm well prepared but not on this forum  for fear of derailing it's main theme

16 hours ago, Moses said:

In our time, Thailand has become the first country outside the territory of the former USSR, with which the current Russian state signed an agreement on visa-free visits. Russians do not need a visa to Thailand, Thais do not need a visa to Russia. This happened even before Thailand began to develop tourism and citizens of many countries received the opportunity for visa-free entry for their tourists.

As I said anywhere else in this forum I don't mind  mingling with Russian tourists in  Thailand and in matter of fact everywhere else. Easier for me as I can converse in Russian.

Happy they  finally started to travel and get used to foreign countries and foreigners after few generations being basically locked inside their country. 

Perhaps they had option of travelling visa free to Thailand  for long time but their arrival en masse is fairly recent occurrence, good for both countries. What Russians and Chinese need is to learn to mingle with other tourists and nationalities instead of sticking only to their folks .   

[vinapu]

11 hours ago, Marc in Calif said:

It has nothing to do with words and commas, clown! 🤡

 

that is not nice

[vinapu]

1 hour ago, Marc in Calif said:

 

It's simply that you don't understand English well enough to comprehend the comments.

that is not nice either, there are many of us here who may not comprehend sophistry of English but still consider themselves citizens of this forum with full rights

[vinapu]

11 hours ago, Marc in Calif said:

 

And you STILL don't understand that sentence. You incorrectly think it compares the current Thai government to Hitler's government.

 

correct, I just wanted to point the fact that in politics at times high level visits are made to and received from unfriendly nations. We can mention Adenauer's visit in Moscow in 1955 or Obama's in Cuba few years ago. 

Ribbentrop's visit gave Germany free hand in attacking Poland and USSR free hand in swallowing Baltics and big chunk of Eastern Poland and created real fake peace between two  countries. 

[Moses]

4 hours ago, vinapu said:

Perhaps they had option of travelling visa free to Thailand  for long time but their arrival en masse is fairly recent occurrence,

On 4/13/2024 at 1:17 PM, reader said:

Last year, Russians ranked top for tourist arrivals in Thailand from outside of Asia with 1.4 million visitors.

First time arrival more than 1.4 per year was in 2009. So Thai already 15 years know how it works and got used to this amount for a long time, moreover they are happy to serve such amount. 

On 4/13/2024 at 1:17 PM, reader said:

Cyrillic signage proliferates; and Russian-speaking touts dispense flyers for pole-dancing clubs exclusively featuring women from former Soviet republics.

And article itself is just one more attempt to make buzz about presence of Russian citizens in Thailand, which is clearly lower than 10 years ago. Yet.

[Marc in Calif]

11 hours ago, vinapu said:

that is not nice either, there are many of us here who may not comprehend sophistry of English but still consider themselves citizens of this forum with full rights

But the vast majority of you comprehend sufficiently to make intelligent comments! 💯