Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are asking is it a staggering influx of tourists or are we just seen tax avoiders returning to Thailand? And let's preface this video by saying there is a difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion, at least in the American Common Law vernacular insofar as avoiding taxes can be legal. You can legally avoid taxes depending on the underlying circumstances and the legal analysis of the law pertaining to the tax you are talking about. And there is a difference between that and tax evasion in the American context where you are doing something illegal to not pay taxes that are duly owed. So understand first. I know in this sort of British vernacular, the word tax "avoidance" has different connotations but in the American vernacular, the way I'm speaking, I mean people that are avoiding having to pay taxes lawfully. 

That being said, I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from ASEAN NOW, that's aseannow.com, the article is titled: Thailand Tourism Boom: 1.1 Million Arrivals in 11 Days. Quoting directly: "Thailand has seen a staggering influx of tourists in 2026, with over 1.1 million foreign arrivals in the first 11 days alone, generating about 55.03 billion Thai Baht. The Ministry of Tourism and Sports reported this impressive figure, which underscores the nation's strong draw for international visitors." Well does it do that? Or is this just evidence of what I was talking about not even a week or two ago, which is look, folks, due to the nature of the newer rules, they are not even rules, it's just the change in the tax system since the promulgation of the Memorandum of quarter 3 of 2023, we have seen the assessment of taxes and the finding of liability, the analysis associated with that, change in that time period. As I have discussed in other videos, that has ramifications with regard to timing for physical presence in Thailand which I will get to in just a moment. 

That said, quoting further: "Despite a slight 7.02% decrease from last year's numbers" - that's interesting, a slight decrease from last year's numbers again at January, and I'll get to that in a minute - "the sustained tourist interest signals recovery and growth in the tourism sector."  And all of that is good, but I think it's important to point out that there is another aspect of this which is now, where physical presence of 120 days in Thailand will have a strong and significant impact on the analysis as to whether or not one may be subject to tax liability in Thailand, it's leading to a situation where people are effectively counting their days in the country and I surmised at about June last year that I thought that low season was exceptionally low last year. I think part of that came from the fact that the rump coalition government under Pheu Thai started messing around or making noises about messing around with Cannabis here in Thailand; I think that might have thrown off some tourists. But more I think the reason for the dearth this past summer and this whole second half of 2025, was due to the fact that people were counting their days in Thailand and wanted to clearly be outside of the country for less than 180 days. The moment the calendar year turned over in January, it was open season again, they could run back in. And I expect that a certain amount of these folks that are being tabulated - and it is good news - we are seeing a large influx of foreigners. That's good for Thailand; that will bring in foreign exchange; they'll spend money here. It will be good for the tourism sector, but I think it's important to point out that there may be tax or at least tax policy implications behind why some folks are returning to the Kingdom of Thailand.