Popular Thai beach areas becoming a real hassle after drop in tourism numbers

One of my best buds live in the popular island beach area of Phuket. Even if you haven't been to Thailand there is a good chance that you have heard of this place and I'm gonna tell you that the beaches there are truly breathtaking. I haven't been all over the world but a few of those areas are the most beautiful places I have ever been to.

One thing that has always been a bit annoying about Phuket is the fact that it is actually a bit too popular and this results in almost anywhere that you go being too crowded. The last time I was visiting my pal down there we mostly just hung out at his house and in his neighborhood because going almost anywhere was a traffic nightmare and then once you get there you are just surrounded by thousands of other people that are just crowding out the natural beauty.

I told him that I am not very likely to visit him anymore because it is just such a hassle to do anything in Phuket.

Well lately Thailand has seen a rather dramatic drop in tourism levels for various reasons including a bad reputation for scams and ripoffs, mistreating tourists and treating them like ATM machines, and also the ever-changing BS as far as visas are concerned.

With this drop in tourism, businesses are struggling to make money and this encourages the owners and staff to be more aggressive towards potential customers.

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The official word from the government is that there has been a 2% drop in tourism but I can tell you from living here that the number is much greater than this and they are just lying to "save face."

Now that there are far fewer tourists that there used to be and the never-ending growth simply isn't going to happen the businesses that exist here have become more aggressive with their tactics as far as getting customers is concerned.

I find this to be one of the most annoying aspects of this, or any other country and I don't really understand why the businesses do it. This tactic doesn't work on me or anyone else that I know but it must work on some people because you would think that they would stop doing it if it never worked.

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Nowhere in Phuket is this more evident than on the famous Bangla Road, which is a place that you will almost certainly end up on if you ever visit Phuket.

When walking down Bangla you will be accosted constantly by people promoting a particular bar or shop and between these annoyances you will be approached by people selling this and that and of course if you are male there will be a bunch of prostitutes approaching you as well.

This wasn't so bad pre-COVID when it seemed like there was more than enough customers to go around but the last time I was down there which was a couple of months ago, simply being on Bangla road was so irritating that me and my friend kind of rushed down the road and then immediately left.

Even if you do relent and go into a particular bar the hassle doesn't end there. Nay, it has only just begun. Once inside you will be constantly pestered by the pretty girls that work there to buy them drinks which are extremely overpriced glasses of Fanta or Sprite. Then the street touts see you as a target that can no longer get away, so they come up to you selling all manner of crap and some of them nearly refuse to leave until you buy something.

I understand that everyone needs to make a bit of money but this never-ending annoyance definitely isn't good for the overall image of Phuket. This notion of this island and its beaches being some sort of peaceful getaway is completely untrue. You will be hounded constantly to be spending money and even if you do buy stuff, there are always more people lining up behind them. It doesn't end.

I know that I always breathe a bit of a sigh of relief once I get to my seat on the airplane after a visit there because as soon as we leave my friend's neighborhood you can't help but feel as though the locals kind of view you as a sheep that is meant to be fleeced at all times.

The "Land of Smiles" notion is very true in other parts of Thailand and I include most of Chiang Mai where I live as part of this. Phuket, Pattaya, lots of Bangkok, Samui, and Koh Phang-ngan have gotten to a point of near desperation though and the annoyances are growing and growing. It's sad because I don't think the people that are doing this pestering realize that by doing this, they are actually accelerating how quickly the entire system fails.

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Thailand depends on tourism so much more than other countries for their living. While figures vary it is estimated that a good 20% of the country works in this field and with the government doing so poorly on getting tourists to come back things are going to get more and more desperate for the people that work in this industry.

For me, I now avoid these areas like the plague. I am one of those strange people that doesn't like to be bothered constantly to spend money and since people have started to realize that the neighboring countries are so much less "in your face" about spending money, people are choosing to simply not come here anymore.

I don't think there is really anything that can be done about it at this point. It is too broken to fix. I think a lot of people are going to suffer quite a lot because of this but as was stated in a song I heard when I was a kid: "you build this maze you can't get through!"