What is the size of the Overlander market? (Hoping to help re-open Thailand...)
What is the size of the overlander market?
As most folks by now know, Thailand has decided that they are essentially eliminating independent travel through Thailand. While regulations are unclear and there is a lot of confusion (even if you speak Thai), they are essentially requiring guides through the country, fixed entry/exit points and pre-approved routes.
This means the days of traveling and exploring Thailand in or on your own vehicle are effectively over.
They are also (apparently) banning ALL campers and vans from coming into Thailand.
All of this is an overreaction to Chinese driving into Thailand and causing all sorts of chaos (and living and motorcycling here it was pretty bad). But this is going to kill independent travel through Thailand...
I have a friend who is a journalist here with good connections who would like to take this up the the Tourism Authority of Thailand, but we need some estimates of the size of the overlander market, how long people tend to stay in the country, etc.
Any ideas or wild guesses appreciated!
Thanks.
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