Visa Global Travel Plan Survey in recent weeks shows that 63% of foreign tourists come to Thailand seeking relaxation from modern life and particularly identified the country’s massage parlour industry, hospitality sector, restaurants and cultural attractions as key reasons for choosing to visit the kingdom. The scrapping of the face mask mandate from mid-June will be a very welcome development although some face mask requirements will remain until the disease is declared endemic which is now expected to happen by July 1st.

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/05/25/face-mask-mandate-scrapped-from-mid-june/

James Morris reports from Bangkok.

The statement raises a question about the Pheu Thai Party’s position as well as that of Thaksin Shinawatra towards efforts by the current US administration to take on China in the light of an unlikely alliance earlier in May between Red Shirt activist Jatuporn Promphan and royalist lawyer Nitithorn Lamlua when they protested at the US Embassy against US efforts to counter China in the Indo Pacific and Thailand’s declared engagement, revealed on Friday by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce Jurin Laksanawisit, with the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), a new US economic pact with Asian countries which is to be unveiled in France next month.

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/05/23/former-pheu-thai-finance-minister-concerned-at-us-china-rift/

Joseph O' Connor reports from Bangkok.

The poll on Sunday now makes the new voting laws due to be passed by parliament over the coming weeks even more urgent as it becomes clear that the path to power for the opposition parties may be open given the poor showing of the ruling Palang Pracharat Party which follows several electoral disappointments since the start of the year.

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/05/24/bangkok-poll-may-signal-the-end-of-prayut/

Joseph O' Connor reports from Bangkok.

Minister Anutin told a public forum on Friday that the Thailand Pass application could still be scrapped but health officials need more time to examine the test data in respect of incoming tourists. Friday’s decision comes as Thailand continues to lag behind its regional peers in the recovery of the kingdom’s foreign tourism industry prompting growing concerns that something may be wrong or that the critical foreign tourism industry may have suffered long term damage because of this emergency despite the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) announcing revised projections for up to 8 million foreign tourist arrivals this year with 1 million arrivals to May 9th.

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/05/21/thailand-pass-retained-for-foreign-tourists/

Carla Boonkong reports from Bangkok.

Police are waiting to fully interview the Russian woman who is being treated at the Bangkok Hospital in Pattaya after sustaining severe injuries at the hands of her enraged and frustrated attacker.

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/05/20/man-arrested-for-attack-on-russian-woman/

News Desk report from Pattaya.

Death of a young Australian man being treated by police as a tragic accident after an investigation this week which has reignited speculation about the dangers posed by hotel balconies in Thailand to partying foreign tourists.

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/05/19/sex-drugs-found-in-room-of-dead-australian-billy-james-simmons/

James Morris reports from Phuket.

Current tariffs in the United States were introduced by Trump in 2018 with some having been retained after a review by the Biden administration in February this year. Currently, American firms can only supply 35% of the solar panels required in the United States as the country seeks to move towards ambitious clean energy goals by 2035 with demand increasing by over 9% a year. Politicians and even those within the industry itself argue this would not be possible without imported panels from Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand.

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/05/19/thailand-defends-solar-panel-industry-from-us-probe/

Joseph O' Connor reports from Bangkok.

Details of the harrowing crime were given this week by senior police officers in Phetchaburi province who revealed that legal proceedings against Chantima Wongwatkee are underway for intentionally killing the older woman after she was discovered embezzling funds and committing fraud.

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/05/17/26-year-old-murders-grandmother-over-bank-theft/

Carla Boonkong reports from Phetchaburi province.

All three dead tourists died while posing for photographs at the waterfall on different levels. Two died while trying to take selfie shots while one, Spaniard David Rocamundi Conesa from Barcelona died while posing for a shot to be taken by friends after they had climbed to the highest point of the Na Muang waterfall. https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/05/16/deadly-ko-samui-waterfall-death-romanian-nane-losana-bodea/

James Morris reports from Ko Samui and Surat Thani.

In an address to an audience representing the growing US Thai community, he spoke of his government’s success in maintaining stability, introducing new legislation and democratic reforms while pursuing efforts to rebuild the Thai economy asking them to help forge stronger links including those bringing inward investment, between the United States and their country of origin.

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/05/15/prayut-unveils-3-r-plan-for-deeper-us-links/

Carla Boonkong reports from Bangkok and Washington DC.