A package Bangkok – Pattaya tour of shopping malls and transgender shows will not give one enough experience of Thailand.
I rode a motorbike across the rural part of Thailand. It was very beautiful and peaceful. The house designs were very consistent and impressive.
Thailand has nice roads, including some that cut through jungles. Its coastline is as long as Vietnam’s, including the beautiful Thailand Bay and Andaman Beach.
The Philippines and Indonesia are other favorite beach destinations in Southeast Asia. They are also very friendly to Western tourists. So, just in terms of beaches, Vietnam has more than Thailand to compete with.
Vietnam offers few live-aboard trips. Vietnam’s marine tourism is very poorly designed compared to Thailand’s.
Of course, Vietnam has other things to offer. It can work on culture tours, garden tours, cave tours.
The rice terraces in Bali are far less spectacular than those in Vietnam’s northeast.
Vietnamese can be proud of their country. But they need to honestly realize where it stands in the tourism map so that they can change it and learn to make it better.