Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing kind of a surprise group of tourists. I don’t think anybody here in Thailand quite saw this coming. So what am I talking about?

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled:  Visa-free Indians are flocking to Thailand including Pattaya. Quoting directly: "The experiment to cancel visas for Indian nationals is bearing more fruit than the similar relaxation for Chinese citizens. Whereas the Chinese seem concerned by media reports that Thailand is unsafe." Who is "Media"? The Thai media isn't talking about this, the Western media isn't really talking about how unsafe Thailand is; I don't see any Southeast Asian media talking about this. This seems to be a purely Chinese driven, quite honestly and not to sound condescending, but kind of a delusion that Thailand is so unsafe. I don't know where anybody has come up with this. This is one of the safest places on the planet. The only other places I have ever been that I felt as safe as Thailand were Japan and Korea. I mean I really have never felt as, walking around at night; yeah I understand, I'm a big guy, it's different. Maybe if you are a female or something, I totally get it, I do but honestly the notion of Thailand being unsafe is really kind of ridiculous. 

Anyway, quoting further: "Indians are flocking here even though airfare cost can be almost double those of the pre-Covid era." Now that to me was telling. Tourists are up from India, notwithstanding the fact the cost to get here is double what it was just 3 years ago and I think it's a great thing. Let me finish quoting here: "Rajesh Magow, founder of MakeMyTrip, said the traveller bonus from Indian visa relaxation was at least 30 percent."

So I think we can take a W on this whole thing. In terms of the policy of relaxing visas for Indians, I think policy makers should take the Win on this one; this is a good thing, and they have been, I think everybody has been surprised. I didn't really see that there would be sort of an explosion of Indian tourism into Thailand following COVID but lo and behold, here we are and quite honestly it has been interesting to watch them. As with every different group of travellers, I always find it fascinating that each of them, they sort of have different priorities. It's been interesting, there has been a lot of talk that many of these new Indian Clubs have gone up down in Walking Street down in Pattaya. I have been down on Walking Street; I have actually seen this. Yeah they are, that is a different sort of method if you will of recreation that I wouldn't have really seen coming but it seems to be something that they quite enjoy as tourists and more power to them. Good! They are coming in and more tourists is good for everybody and they seem to be having a good time and they seem to respect and enjoy Thailand so great. I think this is absolutely great. Again, it was surprising. I would not have predicted this one. I thought we were going to see a massive influx of Chinese tourists coming off of COVID but lo and behold it turns out it is going to be Indians, and you know what? Again if you want to come enjoy Thailand, and have a good time and hey guess what, spend some money here? Great, come on in, happy to have you.