Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing whether or not it is possible that whether Thailand could actually abolish Visa-free Entry entirely. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Phuket News, that is thephuketnews.com, the article is titled: Phuket MP urges Parliament to end visa-free entry. Quoting directly: "Phuket MP Chalermpong Saengdee has urged the Government to abolish visa-free entry entirely and introduce stricter controls on Cannabis, warning that current policies are damaging the island's tourism image and creating social problems." I've discussed the Cannabis issue specifically in another video made contemporaneously with this one. I really think yet again we see some of these politicians being hyperbolic about the issue of Cannabis. Do I believe in regulation? Yes, I always have, and I think that there are ways that this could be done that could be highly beneficial to Thailand's economy, Thai folks generally, and create a situation that highly mitigates the nuisance that usage of it may cause to the public. Again, I've discussed that in other videos. 

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That said, quoting further from again thephuketnews.com. "After presenting his address in Parliament, MP Chalermpong said in a post online that reducing the Visa-free stay from 60 days to 30 days was "not enough" to resolve underlying issues, arguing that Thailand should prioritise quality over quantity in its tourism strategy. "Visa measures are the first hurdle in screening tourists. Accepting just anyone may cost more in the long run than revenue figures being highlighted. His remarks follow a recent Government decision to shorten Visa 60 days to 30 days after feedback from tourism stakeholders. While supporting the move, MP Chalermpong said the policy should go further by returning to stricter pre-existing entry criteria." Quoting further: "In a separate social media post, Chalermpong defended public criticism of Tourism-related issues citing reports of foreign tourists engaging in fights, behaving arrogantly, taking jobs from locals and causing environmental damage. Quote: "These are not minor issues," he wrote, blaming me what he described as a "hands-off" approach by authorities." Quote: "The country is facing clear problems that are not being addressed, yet those raising concerns are being criticized," he added." 

I have discussed this at length in other videos. Eventually something's got to give and there's been whole lot of news in the past year, year and a half involving foreigners behaving badly; the only way I can really describe that. I started making videos on this maybe two years ago, the sort of theme being "foreigners misbehaving badly", and I started doing it because it was kind of an anomaly and every once in a while, we could use a little extra content. These days, it's not hard to find. As I said in other videos, and as I said at the time, the late great Barry Kenyon, writer for the Pattaya Mail who unfortunately passed away this past summer, and he was just prolific. He knew a lot about the way the Immigration System worked; he understood the interaction between the foreign community and the Thai community on a level that I don't think  was really appreciated in his lifetime, but I think people get it now. That being said, he brought up the fact that he thought in this Parliament, back this past summer, this presumptive Parliament that we would have seen this year which has now come into effect, he felt that there was a high likelihood that we would see what can only be described as comprehensive Immigration Reform, a new Bill in Parliament to deal with Immigration. The fact that we now have an MP, and not just an MP, an MP in a tourism-centric province, Phuket, I mean I don't know their numbers in that province, but I would love to see what percentage of revenue that comes into Phuket province is derived directly from tourism. I expect it is high; I expect it is substantially high. I would bet it is the majority of the revenue on that island, if not, maybe a super majority; like 75% of revenue, or 65% of revenue. Again, hard to say. Can't really say offhand what that number would be, but that said it's high. An MP from that location, bringing up concerns in Parliament about foreign nationals getting into fights, foreign nationals taking Thai jobs and things, and again it's not just about taking Thai jobs - I have discussed this in other videos - the Thais don't view this as some sort of zero-sum game where it's "oh it's just because this person took a job." No you're not a Thai national, you don't have authorization to work in Thailand. That is the paradigm, and clearly, we're seeing that paradigm manifest in this Parliament and it's coming from an MP that hails from a tourism-centric province. I would say that we're going to start seeing more momentum in this Parliament behind issues associated with law enforcement as it pertains not only to Immigration, but other matters here in the Kingdom of Thailand.