Thailand Weekly Vol. 57
Thailand News and Stories Delivered Free to Your Inbox Every Sunday 🇹ðŸ‡
Good afternoon from a RIDICULOUSLY hot Bangkok everyone. I just checked my phone and apparently, it feels like 46 degrees outside. Madness. Thai summers are like Canadian winters… hardly any point in going outside because of the extreme weather. With that said, Volume 57 incoming below. Hope you enjoy it!
Major Development Coming To Thailand’s Coastal Areas
Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports just announced an ambitious plan to develop five clusters across the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Islands to attract more visitors to its coastal regions. Here is a closer look at each of the five clusters and their unique features:
The Thailand Riviera: Located between Petchaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Chumphon, and Ranong, this cluster attracts millions of visitors each year. The Ministry of Tourism and Sports plans to develop more roadside stations and community complexes to sell products in this cluster.
The Premium Andaman: This cluster covers five provinces in southern Thailand, including Phuket, Phang-Nga, Krabi, Trang, and Satun. With a focus on quality and higher prices, this area has been, and will continue to become a high-end travel destination. In 2022, the area generated 600 billion baht in revenue.
The Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC): This cluster is expected to bring in 340 billion baht in revenue and covers Chonburi, Rayong, Chachoengsao, Chanthaburi, and Trat. The EEC is set to be developed as the nation’s industrial heartbeat.
The Gulf of Thailand: This cluster includes Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phatthalung, and Songkhla, and is known for its faith and nature tourism. It generated 180 billion baht in revenue in 2022, mostly from local Thai tourists.
The Southern Border Provinces: This cluster covers Pattani, Narathiwat, and Yala, and had 1.6 million visitors in 2022, generating 7 billion baht in revenue. The Ministry of Tourism and Sports plans to give these provinces a new image and help the younger generation of locals build their towns.
Our Take
The one thing I notice about Thailand is that not everything that the government wants to happen actually happens, but if they DO in fact decide to prioritize projects, they get done and they get done fast. The ‘Eastern Economic Corridor’ and the ‘Thailand Riviera’ 10+ year mega-projects appear to be a key agenda item (based on what I’ve seen and heard over here), so I wouldn’t be surprised if BIG changes come to those regions even faster than you’d think.
TAT Offers 500K To Tour Around Thailand
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is offering a paid job for one lucky Thai citizen to travel around the country for four months and promote tourism through social media. The ‘Tourist of Thailand’ will be given 504K THB (126K THB per month) in spending money and travel vouchers.
Applicants must:
Be a Thai citizen
Be at least 20 years old
Be able to shoot and edit photos or videos
Have several social media platforms to post content to during the trip
Be able to travel according to the TAT’s schedule
The chosen applicant will sign a four-month contract and will need create at least one social media post (photo, video, etc.) every day of their trip. Applications close on May 14th, and the results will be announced on May 28th.
Our Take
Man, if this wasn't for Thais only, RW4U would be the PERFECT candidate haha! In all honesty though, I’ve had a few people reach out telling us we should apply, but even if we were allowed to throw our hat into the ring, we much prefer the complete freedom and autonomy that comes with making our own videos on our own channel for you guys. It is nice to see TAT show some love to creators though. I’ve tried to book a few meetings with them, but have never had any luck, so now that they appear to be more open to working with YouTubers, I’d definitely like to set something up. I think there’d be a ton of cool things we could ultimately do together. Thailand definitely gets a lot of love from our videos 😉
Thailand Travel Tip
Alright, so this week’s Thailand Travel Tip is a bit of an update (and sneak peak for an upcoming video) more than anything. Many of you have asked about Khun Fah and what she’s up to these days. For those of you that are new here, Khun Fah was the very first person we added to the RW4U Team just under 2-years ago and she’s been a massive help across all sorts of areas during that time. Well now, she’s helping us make new videos for Teenee and is doing an AWESOME job. Her focus is finding great, local places to eat, explore, and experience here in Thailand. We’re adding 5x new Teenee pins per week and Fah has found some awesome spots worth checking out while you’re here. This past month, we added all sorts of new places so if ya don’t mind, do us a favour and go into the App and leave a nice comment on some of Fah’s videos! She’ll love it. Here’s a list of a few she’s made so far…
Pad Mee Korat Vendor
Rotfai park
Tonsai Night Market
Yellow Roof
Amornpan Market
Khaotom Moss Kaset
Fuel In The Blank
Duke Language School
If you don’t know what Teenee is, it’s our app that we made to help people experience a more local version of Thailand. It’s a collection of restaurants, attractions, activities, bars, pubs, clubs, etc. that local Thais and Expats here in Thailand enjoy. There’s now over 430 recommendations inside of the App (every single one comes with a video) across Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Koh Samui, and some more local parts of Thailand (Khao Yai, Trang, etc.). If you’re looking to peel back the layers to this Country and find some good places to eat, drink, and explore, it’s a solid guide for ya. It’s $2 to subscribe for a month or $10 to subscribe for a year. Just search ‘Teenee’ in the Apple or Android store or click here to check it out.
MRT Yellow Line Close To Launch, Final Testing Underway
The Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA) has announced that the trial run and commercial launch of the MRT Yellow Line is currently being fine-tuned to meet international safety standards. Although the trial run, originally scheduled for this month (May 21st to 31st), has not yet been confirmed, the MRTA is working to ensure that the system is thoroughly tested before passengers can board. The Yellow Line, which will shuttle passengers between Lat Phrao and Samrong in Samut Prakan, is set to begin commercial operations on June 3rd, with fares ranging from 15-45 baht. The project is expected to drive significant growth in the the Eastern and Southeastern suburbs of Bangkok and will make travel to and from the city centre much easier.
Our Take
It feels like we’re very close to having a MASSIVE addition to this lovely city complete. This Yellow Line will change the game for those wanting to live, do business in, or spend time out in that part of the city and because of it, am very bullish on places like Bang Na and Samrong over the coming years. I bet we’ll see something similar happen out there like what happened in Bang Chak, Punnawithi, and Udomsuk… full neighbourhood revitalizations on the heels of quality public transport going in.
Only In Thailand 🇹ðŸ‡
For anyone that is currently here in Bangkok, you probably already know that we’ve just wrapped up a 24-hour booze ban due to Coronation Day as well as the early-voting that’s taking place as part of the upcoming election. The funny part is this… I was out for a stroll yesterday evening and noticed that ALL pot shops were 100% open for business. It gave me a chuckle because hey, I guess you’re not allowed to vote drunk, but there’s no problem voting stoned? I sent this exact message to my buddy Wat and he called me right after and literally responded with these exact words… ‘Only In Thailand man’. Sometimes things don’t always make sense over here, but hey… that’s the beauty of this country. You never know what you’re gonna get… 🇹ðŸ‡