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As the title of this video suggests we're discussing entertainment as a factor in the return of tourists to Thailand. The reason for making this video is I was reading a recent article in the Thai Examiner, that is thaiexaminer.com, the article is titled: Nightlife until 4 am as poll shows plans to move foreign tourism upmarket a 'recipe for disaster', that's "foreign tourism upmarket ‘a recipe for disaster’." Quoting: "Changes to the worldwide travel industry since 2020 are more like back to the future. Industry surveys show travellers are looking for tried and trusted holiday destinations. The success achieved so far by Thailand's recovering industry is driven by visitors from traditional markets where the country's nightlife and entertainment sectors have been proven, over the course of the emergency, to be a key factor in the Kingdom's appeal to foreign tourists and the money they leave behind." Yeah on a certain level I think anybody that's being around would say yeah that is self-evident. Entertainment is what brings in the tourists but that is easily said now. People tend to forget, a year ago a lot of things that in my opinion were just commonsensical, were sort of viewed as "oh my goodness, that is such a novel idea”. It is very strange when you get into a certain mindset you kind of get blinders on and you sort of just stop thinking a certain way and by you I should say “people” because it was it was a large group of people that were thinking along these lines. 

Now that we are seeing things kind of recover and definitely we are seeing entertainment being ratcheted back up to kind of where it was status quo ante COVID, I think it's something to bear in mind. The reason for the video is I don't think the entertainment sector is quite given its due, the credit it deserves in just how integral it is to tourism. I think policymakers on a certain level think this way. I also think rank and file Thais, I kind of think this way. I just sort of think, hey Thailand is great; people should want to come here and that's certainly true. There's nothing untrue in that statement but at the same time, people that never been here, I have a million reasons I love Thailand that are as small as a sandwich shop that I go to. I mean but that is my nuanced kind of life because I live here and I am an expat and that's just kind of what I do. Whereas somebody who is going to come here for 2 weeks, they want to see the big stuff. I don't know how to put it. They want to see the main attractions and those main attractions often times are in entertainment. Yes there are certainly sites that is certainly the case; River cruises these kinds of things are things that everybody ends up doing when they come here. Going out to see certain aspects of the jungle; going out to see certain aspects of the temples; going to see certain beaches, that's all there but entertainment, just having an overall kind of vibe, an overall kind of atmosphere of just a laid back fun time, I think that is a major reason people come to Thailand and I don't think entertainment should be underestimated as one of the key assets that the Thai Tourism Sector has.