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I have been to Thailand about 5 times since 2006. In fact, I'm writing this from the airport returning from Bangkok this evening. One thing I've noticed over t

I have been to Thailand about 5 times since 2006. In fact, I'm writing this from the airport returning from Bangkok this evening. One thing I've noticed over the past decade is that the diversity of tourists has changed dramatically over the years. The first time I went to Thailand I saw mostly Americans, Australians, and Europeans. Nowadays its common to see people from all over the middle-east, Africa, South America, and of course the rest of Asia (China and Japan in particular). I was even surprised to see a Vietnamese tour group at Suvarnabhumi today (interesting to see Vietnamese with the disposal income to travel and the interest to travel to their next door neighbor). Just goes to show everyone loves Thailand. Gastro-diplomacy appears to have paid off! What a great investment!

freddie_mercury 8y ago
> I was even surprised to see a Vietnamese tour group at Suvarnabhumi today (interesting to see Vietnamese with the disposal income to travel and the interest to travel to their next door neighbor). I live in Vietnam. Virtually every middle class Vietnamese I know has been to Thailand. For two simple reasons: it is one of the few places on Earth a Vietnamese can travel visa-free and it is relatively cheap. (Especially compared to, say, Singapore, which also allows visa-free travel.)
- spaceflunky 8y ago
  Is it correct to say that having disposable income for international travel is a relatively new phenomenon for the Vietnamese?
  - freddie_mercury 8y ago
    I guess it depends on what you count as "relatively new". Vietnamese have been traveling internationally, since the early 1990s after Đổi Mới in 1986. It is 4 hours from Saigon to Cambodia by bus. It is 12 hours from Hanoi to China by bus. I think Hanoi to Laos is also 12 hours or so by bus. That's three countries within a pretty easy bus ride, making international travel relatively common. As far back as 2007 (the oldest numbers I could find quickly), Cambodia was seeing over 125,000 Vietnamese tourists a year. There's a reason there are massive casinos in Cambodia all along the border. (Vietnamese aren't allowed to gamble in Vietnam, so they go to Cambodia to do it.) Vietnamese have been traveling throughout Southeast Asia for a while now. It is just that their numbers have finally caught up to (and in many cases surpassed) Japanese & South Koreans so you can notice them. More disposable income certainly helps. But so do things like the increase in the formal economy (it is impossible to get a visa anywhere unless you have a bank account, a labor contract, etc). So do things like the spread of "Western" work hours (even now, the typical non-office job is 6 days a week, usually 10 hour shifts, which doesn't exactly leave much time or energy for travel; so travel most often happens in between jobs).

freddie_mercury 8y ago

> I was even surprised to see a Vietnamese tour group at Suvarnabhumi today (interesting to see Vietnamese with the disposal income to travel and the interest to travel to their next door neighbor). I live in Vietnam. Virtually every middle class Vietnamese I know has been to Thailand. For two simple reasons: it is one of the few places on Earth a Vietnamese can travel visa-free and it is relatively cheap. (Especially compared to, say, Singapore, which also allows visa-free travel.)

spaceflunky 8y ago
Is it correct to say that having disposable income for international travel is a relatively new phenomenon for the Vietnamese?
- freddie_mercury 8y ago
  I guess it depends on what you count as "relatively new". Vietnamese have been traveling internationally, since the early 1990s after Đổi Mới in 1986. It is 4 hours from Saigon to Cambodia by bus. It is 12 hours from Hanoi to China by bus. I think Hanoi to Laos is also 12 hours or so by bus. That's three countries within a pretty easy bus ride, making international travel relatively common. As far back as 2007 (the oldest numbers I could find quickly), Cambodia was seeing over 125,000 Vietnamese tourists a year. There's a reason there are massive casinos in Cambodia all along the border. (Vietnamese aren't allowed to gamble in Vietnam, so they go to Cambodia to do it.) Vietnamese have been traveling throughout Southeast Asia for a while now. It is just that their numbers have finally caught up to (and in many cases surpassed) Japanese & South Koreans so you can notice them. More disposable income certainly helps. But so do things like the increase in the formal economy (it is impossible to get a visa anywhere unless you have a bank account, a labor contract, etc). So do things like the spread of "Western" work hours (even now, the typical non-office job is 6 days a week, usually 10 hour shifts, which doesn't exactly leave much time or energy for travel; so travel most often happens in between jobs).