bradiston

The spokesman said they were expecting 15m visitors, generating 1.3 to 1.8 trillion THB, this year. I figured that's between 90 and 120,000 per visitor. That's some pocket money for the 100s of 1000s, maybe millions, of kids accompanying parents. Many returners, long stayers. Is there a standard formula for estimating revenue per head of tourists? Seems like they're using 100k per head, roughly. This comes up lot.

Nothing definitive about a Thai website. The DNP (Department of National Parks) mentions 43 islands. http://park.dnp.go.th/visitor/nationparkshow.php?PTA_CODE=1045 Private islands aren't included, I'm told. Other sites mention 50/52 islands, but don't list them. Much of Koh Kood is owned by the Thai navy. Koh Kradat, Koh Kham, Koh Rayang Nok and Nai are all privately owned around Koh Mak. Most of Koh Mak is privately owned. But, it's a fairly pointless argument. You can ask a 100 people and you'll get 100 different answers. The only salient point is, the number of places where you're going to be charged an entrance fee, at present, can be counted on one hand. I asked the information centre on Koh Mak and they said no, not in the park, or perhaps that should read, not part of the park. Who knows? Who cares? Shake on it?

Where there's a wai, there's a way.

There's a map in this link that says you're wrong, but text that says you're right. http://park.dnp.go.th/visitor/nationparkshow.php?PTA_CODE=1045 I lived on Koh Mak for 6 years and the marine park was always considered to be only operational around Koh Rang, where there was a 200 THB entrance fee for foreigners. I ran several boat trips as far as Koh Klum, Koh Laoya, Salak Phet, Had Wai Chek, Koh Ngarm and elsewhere, and to Koh Kood. We never had to pay any park entrance fees, though sometimes the resorts charged a landing fee - a private matter. Koh Ngarm seems to have been recently coopted and started charging. I never once saw a park ranger, though they maintain an active presence elsewhere.

So true. Every article gets twisted and mangled. Nobody bothers to read outside the article itself. So much noise, so little signal.

Where do you get that I dispute etc etc from? What is wrong with you? I mention Koh Rang, which is the only island I know where the fee for diving etc is 200 THB, because it is in the NP. There may be others, Koh Ngarm for instance, where a similar fee was demanded on a recent visit, but legally or not we weren't able to establish, and left. There is no charge anywhere else as far as I know, except on certain venues on Koh Chang itself. Have you ever even been there? Were you charged to go to Koh Mak, Koh Kood, Koh Wai, Koh Mai Si Yai, Koh aray ko dai? And btw, you quote the Wikipedia entry. I quoted the NP's own website.

เกาะช้าง ไม่ได้ปิด ปิดเฉพาะพื้นที่อุทยานฯ ! นิพนธ์ ภิญโญ เจ้าพนักงานป่าไม้อาวุโส ทำหน้าที่หัวหน้าอุทยานแห่งชาติหมู่เกาะช้าง จ.ตราด ออกประกาศอุทยานแห่งชาติหมู่เกาะช้าง เรื่อง ปิดให้บริการพักค้างแรม สถานที่กางเต็นท์ และงดการทำกิจกรรมการท่องเที่ยวทุกประเภทในเขตอุทยานแห่งชาติหมู่เกาะช้าง จ.ตราด ดังนี้ 1.น้ำตกคลองพลู 2.น้ำตกธารมะยม 3.จุดชมวิวไก่แบ้ 4.เกาะทรายขาว 5.จุดดำน้ำหมู่เกาะรัง ตั้งแต่วันที่ 9 มกราคม 2565 เป็นต้นไป หรือจนกว่าสถานการณ์จะเข้าสู่สภาวะปกติ ติดต่อสอบถามข้อมูลได้ที่ที่ทำการอุทยานแห่งชาติหมู่เกาะช้าง ทางอีเมล [email protected] หรือหมายเลขโทรศัพท์ 039-510928 ส่วนพื้นที่ท่องเที่ยว อ.เกาะช้าง ยังสามารถเที่ยวได้ตามปกติ และต้องปฏิบัติตามมาตรการด้านสาธารณสุข อย่างเคร่งครัด Koh Chang is not closed, closed only in the park area! Niphon Pinyo, Senior Forest Officer Serves as the chief of Mu Ko Chang National Park, Trat Province Announcement of Mu Ko Chang National Park Subject: Closing of hotel accommodation tent site and refrain from doing all types of tourism activities in the Mu Koh Chang National Park, Trat Province as follows: 1. Khlong Phlu Waterfall 2. Than Mayom Waterfall 3. Kai Bae Viewpoint 4. White Sand Island 5. Koh Rang diving point From 9 January 2022 onwards or until the situation returns to normal For more information, please contact the Mu Ko Chang National Park Office via email [email protected]. or phone number 039-510928 As for the tourist area, Koh Chang can still travel as usual. and must comply with public health measures strictly

Not quite. Koh Mak and it's environs are outside the NP. The same goes for Koh Kood, and for almost all the outlying islands. You'll know when the park rangers show up asking for 200 THB from foreigners, and I think 40 from Thais, eg at Koh Rang. There was a move to rope in some of the very pretty less visited islands. Not sure where that went.

Totally agree. Watched a bust on Walking Street last night. Live!

The whole article seems to have been the source of massive confusion, as is often the case. 8 pages of comments mostly just assuming the worst. It's a lesson in not relying too heavily on the media, and certainly not jumping to any conclusion based on what you read. My understanding is, we still don't know what really happened, and until such time as any of the 6 cares to tell his side of the story, we probably never will.

According to the Mu Koh Chang National Park website: "Do Visitors Have to Pay to Come onto Koh Chang? No. Entrance fees for the national park are only collected at Klong Plu and Than Mayom waterfalls. In addition, anyone taking a scuba diving or snorkeling trip to Koh Rang and nearby islands, also has to pay the entrance fee for the marine national park." https://mukochangnationalpark.com/

I'm not letting this self congratulatory bs go without some sort of reality check. Here's what you said, amongst other outbursts: "It's really not funny. Your juvenile remarks are inappropriate given the deadly seriousness of this matter. And I otherwise agree, hunt them down like fugitives and prosecute them. Hospitalize, deport, and ban them. Same as you might do to someone committing hit and run, evading the scene of an accident. Yeah, I know, someone will weigh in about the Red Bull kid, but that's irrelevant to my point" So hunting down, prosecution, hospitalisation, deportation and banning. Without knowing anything about the case. Brilliant. I wonder how you missed "that little item"? It was posted here yesterday afternoon.

Yeah, google gobbledegook. See later post.

Here's a better translation from a local source: All 6 foreign Covid cases from Koh Chang were located. They all claimed not been informed that they were positive. Now been in process.

From a local forum ล่าสุดเจอครบหมดแล้ว 6 คน ครับต่อนี้ ย้ายที่พักใหม่ อัางว่า ไม่ได้รับแจ้งว่าติดโควิต เลยไม่รู้ย้ายไปที่ใหม่ ตอนนี้รอรับไปรักษาตัวต่อไป Google translate as usual inadequate, but the gist seems to be they've been found and are being moved to new quarantine location.

Subscription only link. What date is the article? China should be streets ahead on developing an mRNA vaccine by now. Fosun Pharma was a very early investor in BioNTech, pre Pfizer even, and gained marketing and development rights in China. Not sure what happened, or why they went down another route. "BioNTech received a US$135 million investment from Fosun in March 2020, in exchange for 1.58 million shares in BioNTech and the future development and marketing rights of BNT162b2 in China.[159][115]" Full article here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pfizer–BioNTech_COVID-19_vaccine

Like a fish out of water maybe

Not sure of the procedure outside Thailand, but if you did this in Thailand, with the new passport your embassy would include a letter to Thai immigration requesting the visa and re-entry permit be transferred to the new passport (or some such, I forget the exact wording). At immigration offices here in Thailand, they will do that for you free of charge. Maybe the SA passport office will supply a similar document.

One question which keeps nagging away at my overactive "brain". China appears to have no interest in developing its own mRNA vaccine. Which you'd think would be easily within its grasp given that, back in March 2020, Fosun Pharma provided funding for the BioNTech research of $135 million, a month before Pfizer. With it came development and marketing rights in China of BNT162b2. So what happened to the development of an mRNA vaccine the rights to which they appear to have secured way back when? Looks like they are going to need something like a miracle right now. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pfizer–BioNTech_COVID-19_vaccine

It's moot as to what real protection Moderna and Pfizer offer against initial infection. A phrase such as "appear to have" is hardly convincing. I'm not arguing their efficacy at reducing the risk of serious illness. Most in the west will have had at least one jab of either or both Moderna or Pfizer by now, yet the infection rates are mind boggling.

Not as I recall. The proof of vaccination is on the certificate, along with lot numbers, type of vaccine, dates, location etc etc.

I'm not going to dispute any of what you say, but I'm just going to post a link to an NY Times article that covers a lot of ground. I'm a Brit BTW, so I'm not pushing their line because I'm an American citizen. The situation world wide is dire. Africa - 13% vaccinated. Most of the poorer nations, that's the whole of South America, most of SE Asia, most of India, and incidentally, the whole of China, were vaccinated with what is constantly reviled and disparaged on this forum, ie Sinovac, Sinopharm and Sputnik. You can add to that AstraZaneca as that seems to have fallen also out of favour with the rich westerners. This downputting of the trio of vaccines is a source of growing apathy towards vaccination in its entirety amongst poorer nations. Why vaccinate yourself with what the educated westerners are calling diluted salt water/totally ineffective/Chinese junk/blah blah blah? These nations never got near a Moderna or a Pfizer jab. These were all reserved for the likes of you and me. It's all fxxxxx up. So what's new. That's it. Times up! End of. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/19/health/omicron-vaccines-efficacy.html

No vaccine currently available claims to prevent infection. Why does this misunderstanding keep coming up? It gets repeated a hundred times every week.

I'm done arguing with the Sinovac ranters. It served its purpose when there was nothing else around, and in mix and matches, which is where we've been for a while, and where we're at now, it was deemed highly effective. I'm not going to give any links or references. I've been there and done that. Why keep picking at this? I'm bored with it. You don't like it, just don't take it. I'm happy. I've had 2 shots of it and an AstraZaneca. I've got a Moderna lined up. And your Pfizer and j and j are equally insipid. All need boosters. If you mean a red rag to a bull, then it looks like the matador has got your number.

Apologies, but how confusing! So glad to be going nowhere right now. Staying put - the only game in town.