there’s plenty of cheap accommodations what are you talking about just pull up Agoda? And they in some cases give more not much on lodging but pay allot for tours, experiences, food, trips, booze etc it’s all mostly in cash so it’s not traceable hence why the government thinks big spenders using credit cards at fancy hotels is the main source of income and why they claim tourism only accounts for 20% of Thailand’s GDP, I’d say it’s more like 35-40%
well it’s not about the backpackers it’s about widening the amount of people coming and yea the locals actually need the backpackers the rich tourists stay at over priced (usually higher up important government and investor owned) hotels, so the middle and lower class business owner hasn’t seen any help in 2 years