Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing bringing back a Thailand that “never sleeps”. Yeah I kind of thought of the title of this video, I was thinking, "oh New York the city that never sleeps". I actually heard people say that about Vegas. Every time I was in Vegas, I lived there very briefly, I worked in the casino business for a while, and I always remember people calling Vegas a 24-hour town, it wasn't the city that never sleeps, it was a 24-hour town. I really rather enjoyed it because once you get used to that 24-hour a day kind of lifestyle, it's kind of nice, because if you work second shift, you get off work at 2am you can still go down and pick up your dry cleaning because it's a 24-hour town. 

That said, I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Nation, that is nationthailand.com, the article is titled: Night life in some areas to remain open to 4am from Dec 15. Quoting directly: "The new rule which is in line with the Prime Minister's policy to boost the night entertainment industry," and just as an aside, thanks to the Prime Minister for that. It's nice to see somebody who is in Government that has prioritized a section of the economy that is very useful not only to Thailand but there are people that work in that economy and it is nice to see that there is some level of sort of notion that people are noticing that particular sector. The nightlife and entertainment sector is kind of often overlooked and I don't think that it is right that it is. That is just as much part of the economy as anything else. Does it need to be regulated like other parts of the economy? Yes of course but at the end of the day, Thailand is kind of known as a tourist destination and maybe sometimes it a good thing to lean into that. In any event, sorry for the aside; I'll quote again. "The new rule which is in line with the Prime Minister's policy to boost the night entertainment industry and support tourism will come under the purview of the Interior Ministry with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Anutin Charnvirakul signing the draft Ministerial Regulations following the Cabinet meeting on November 28th." Quoting further: "Anutin has directed and instructed the agencies within the Ministry to coordinate with relevant local and security agencies to ensure that the extension of service hours for entertainment venues supports the Government's tourism policy while maintaining social order and ensuring public safety. He has also stressed the importance of preventing drunk driving to reduce the risk of harm or loss to both individuals and society." 

Yeah and look, at the end of the day, a couple of things here. I remember an old expat friend of mine telling me years ago that the bar business, the entertainment business, whatever you want to call it, nightlife, all of this is dramatically impacted and this person could remember back when there really wasn't a set closing time in any practical sense. Going from 2am to 4am could have a tremendous positive benefit to folks in the entertainment sector; that is just a fact. That extra 2 hours, it makes a difference. I am sure there is somebody out there saying "well how many extra beers can they buy?" Well who cares? If there is some extra beers bought and the country does better thereby for it. Isn't that a good thing all around? I think it is. I think that this is a good idea. I've seen further discussion about how in the Eastern Economic Corridor, because that is going to kind of be a different kind of business sector moving forward, there is even talk of 24 hours with this kind of thing or at least zones where 24 hours is possible. Again I don't think it's a bad idea because if Thailand goes into sort of a situation where she becomes part of this kind of global time if you will because she is interacting with the global economy in real time via the Eastern Economic Corridor, I could see where there is somebody whose work day begins at midnight and ends at 8am or their work day begins - we used to call it the ‘8 – forever’ shift in the Casino business; you start at 8am, you end at 4am although it never seemed like you ever quite ended on time that was why 8 - forever, but when those folks, if they are working in the economy themselves and they get off work, why is it they can't maybe have a beer after work just because their hours are such that it doesn't permit that. 

Now again, I am not saying that this is the right thing for every place in Thailand and if you dig into this and I urge those to go check out the Nation go check the Nation, check out other articles out there in the ether of  the internet talking about this, they go into that. This isn't Thailand wide. This is specific cities, specific sectors if you will that are very tourism oriented that are seeing these changes. So again this isn't a one size fits all approach but I do think it's a very positive move; I think it's a good move in the right direction and I think it will encourage the entertainment sector and hopefully it will improve tourism as well moving forward.