Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, I am asking the question, we're asking the question, "is this a good time to get into Thailand?" I actually was talking to somebody on Twitter, DM-ing somebody on X, Twitter, whatever you want to call it now, who had actually seen me on YouTube, seen us on this channel, this person was saying, "hey I was looking to come over there and retire, but I've kind of got that on hold." 

Yeah look, this high season going into the end of 2025 into the beginning of 2026, I do expect there to be a spike in returning, let's call them long tourists, long-stay expats if you will, folks that don't want to spend 180 days in Thailand but like spending time in Thailand. I expect in January we are going to see a number of them back if for no other reason than tax residency considerations will allow them to be back at the turn of the calendar year. But the thing to bear in mind especially in light of the passing of her late Majesty the Queen Mother here in Thailand, and now we are going through the process of the mourning period here in Thailand - Royal Funeral and all - that is a rather prolonged mourning period depending on sort of how you look at it. The intense mourning period or mourning in earnest is basically for the next 90 days from the timing of this video; they did a hundred days of mourning. The whole process takes about a year, this high season will be subdued, that's the best way I can explain it. 

That said, it's not to say you can't come here and have a good time. Things are still open, as we have discussed in other videos. Prime Minister Anutin came out and made that point himself that yeah, look we are in a national mourning period, be aware of that, but we are not affirmatively shutting anything down or restricting people from engaging in any kind of entertainment activities, but rule of reason applies, be kind of subdued if you will, not a lot of revelry under current circumstances. 

Couple that with the state of the international economy, frankly this past summer, the dispute between Thailand and Cambodia probably threw off some perspective vacationers. Couple that with the fact the in my opinion idiotic moves of the last administration in the form of what I call the rump coalition government under the Pheu Thai Party and their position on basically trying to just make the Cannabis business life miserable for the 19,000 people in Thailand that have licensed Cannabis businesses, they started messing with them in the summer. That threw off the possible "green" travellers if you will, folks that come to Thailand, not as the primary reason but one of the reasons being that legal Cannabis in this jurisdiction might have been thrown off by that. It's just sort of the confluence of events that I think one can say is coming that will result in a low high season, that's the best way I can put that. 

Now the point of the video. This is actually a pretty good time to get in if you're looking to live here. These are the times where you see low long-term leasing, low pricing as far as buying certain types of property here in Thailand. Also a good time when there's not a lot of competition in the market to possibly start a small business here in Thailand. Again these are the times when the people that stay a long time tend to either get in or lock in, again that's from my experience some 18 years going on out here in Thailand, that has kind of been an observation I have made is that when the going gets tough, those are the tough folks that you see that are here for the long term. 

So if you looking to be an expatriate, if you're looking to do business in Thailand, if you're looking to make Thailand your long-term permanent home, honestly this is kind of the time to come in. Timing-wise, these are the times when things, cost of living, standard of living costs and things of this nature are going to be lower because there's less demand. And again, it's a good time to possibly buy businesses that are otherwise in pretty good shape, but somebody when they're going through a low high season starts looking around at a business they might own and say maybe I want to do something else and they might be inclined to sell that business at a reasonable price. Again, these are considerations to think of during these type of circumstances if you will. Again I think if you are looking to come in long term to Thailand, this is actually a pretty optimal time to think about doing so.