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Buisness owners and long term expat know-it-alls...How quiet is the present low season? When do things pick up again toursit number wise?
In your opinions when are the high - medium - low toursit seasons?
And compared to the last 2 previous years (bearing in mind the demonstrations earlier this year) how low or high is this low season?

i've actually still seen a number, both here and at the beach. as well as seeing a large number of flexpats... expats till the money runs out, then fucking back off home.

OrangeDragon wrote:i've actually still seen a number, both here and at the beach. as well as seeing a large number of flexpats... expats till the money runs out, then fucking back off home.

Was alcohol a contributing factor of this post?

Guess high season is still limited to Nov-Jan, but it does seem like more "normal" tourists, not only backpackers, are visiting the kingdom outside of the high season. Absolute low season would be end of July to mid September where a lot of expats travel back to their home countries

It will be interesting to see if tourists avoid Thailand for a while and discover Cambodia's beaches. Of course, people have been predicting that for years and it never seems to materialize.

May, June and September are the dead months.

Just got off a boat from Koh Rong and every seat was full. Many passengers didn't have seats.

I suppose it depends what you define as "High season". We ( Sihanoukville) had a very quiet November, an O.K December, but what I would define as busy, didn't really happen until New Years eve. January, February and March were fukn manic! April died off quickly and now it is very quiet here ( except for the islands as Giblet mentioned). At least in my opinion, this year was (a little) better then last year and definitely better then 2012.

Soi Dog wrote:It will be interesting to see if tourists avoid Thailand for a while and discover Cambodia's beaches. Of course, people have been predicting that for years and it never seems to materialize.

Probably because Cambodia is nowhere near Thailand as far as tourism commodity go.
The food is not so good, the infrastructure simply are not present, the security level is way lower (thief, food poisoning, circulation accident, medical services), the facility present are way more limited.
Of course Cambodia can stand its ground as fare as hostess bar and bar in general are concerned but truth to be told in fact even on this they are way behind Thailand.
Only things Cambodia has going for it, it that drug consumption is easy even if often lethal.
The tourist population that could be interested by the no rule, drug, ultra low price is already there, I do not think that the curfew or political trouble in Thailand will change thing so much.
I honestly do not see how you can put the two countries on the same level, apart that they have a border in common, roughly the same climate and dimension the similarity stop there.

For Tourism there is other more suitable option than Cambodia in the region.

Cambodia has a very positive aspect to long termers though. the open arms visa and welcoming attitude to small entrepreneurs.
I think there is a little too much focus on the sleaze factor- which is really a pretty minor part of the whole barang/khmer transaction.
yes, people like the relative "lawlessness" of Cambodia- they feel more free because minor things like smoking weed and a bit of hanky panky are tolerated by officials.
I doubt it is the prime motivator though- the weed is pretty crap, and hanky panky is no national specialty of any country.

So had dinner on beach road yesterday, and breakfast today... dead zone. a few people, mostly expats and locals though. time for some much needed peace and quiet.