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Bali ‘ready’ for international tourists before Christmas: UN tourism agency

https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/12/10/bali-ready-for-international-tourists-before-christmas-un-tourism-agency.html

There will be a competion between them to get international tourists...and competition is always good for customers ????

10 hours ago, Dagfinnur Traustason said:

I do not know what you beef with Thailand is, but the fact is that they have managed the Covid-19 situation as one of the best in the world.

What is sad is that they have citizen that thanks them by crossing illegal borders. That´s hard to work with, but they are still doing as good as they can.

So do you believe Cambodia did even manage Covid better?

8 hours ago, ezzra said:

Yes it can, given time and right prevention measures it can eradicated, is just that Mr. wood is trying to save the hide of the tourism and hospitality industries at the costs of other people lives... 

Even in China there are still new cases. Today:
 

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China reports 24 new COVID-19 cases, monitoring tourist spot Hainan

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china/china-reports-24-new-covid-19-cases-monitoring-tourist-spot-hainan-idUSKBN28N01M

 

2 hours ago, pattayadgw said:

I don't think it will change/help bring back the tourists at the moment.  If they approve the extra 15 days and give the tourist 45 days to cover his Quarantine days it still won't cut it.... now if they say we'll offer a 50%/50% cost on Quarantine then that may inspire some people to jump on a plane. 

Even if the thai gov pays 50% of the quarantine, I dont see myself paying $800-$1000 to stay in jail for 16 days.
For a lot of tourists, it's nearly half of their holiday budget (without flight tickets) and more than half of the length of their vacation.

Good step...they are realizing they need tourists for their economy. No more embassy papers...
Next step that will be in talks, I guess, 7 days quarantine...

Now they are talking about the VISA EXEMPTION...
 

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After the prime minister told officials to hurry up and relax restrictions for foreigners entering Thailand, the recent proposal to extend the on-arrival visa exemption for tourists from 30 to 45 days is quickly moving forward and will be presented to the Cabinet.

The 15 days added on to the visa exemption is intended to make up for the 2 week quarantine required for those entering the country. Officials hope the scheme will lure in more foreign visitors. At the moment, foreign tourists can only enter Thailand under the pre-issued 60 day tourist visa or the new Special Tourist Visa, which is allows a 90 day stay that can be extended twice, adding up to around 9 months.

 

https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/visa/45-day-tourist-visa-exemption-proposal-to-be-presented-to-cabinet

So now they realize they have "to hurry up and relax restrictions for foreigners"...

2 minutes ago, mlkik said:

It is what it is . It is the only way to get back in Thailand at the moment. When you have been apart from family for 10 months then for me I was prepared to pay ฿40.000 for my quarantene. It is a good modern hotel with good Thai food included in the price brought to your door 3 times a day.

2 covid tests included in the price which at a clinic are ฿6000 each a nurse coming to your door to check your temperature twice daily,free wifi and coffee making facilities in room.

A big enough room to allow exercise and a good sized TV.

I hardly think it is a rip off if you way up what you are getting. However for a holiday maker I agree it is not worth it but for an expat who is returning home to the one he loves and a place he calls home then for me I am happy to do the time as I know soon I will get my life back.

I understand that for you, who has a family there, you have to.

But I guess that for 95% of the 40 millions last year tourists, they won't accept that: Too much money and too much time lost there for holidays.

3 hours ago, mlkik said:

Why?

Because it's an overpriced jail time?
I dont imagine myself jailed in a room for 14 days and pay $1.500 for that...

2 hours ago, tomauasia said:

Now banks are tourist specialists lol. Only in Thailand 

Now, thais are just beginning to realize that international tourists are important for their economy and without them, next year will be a really difficult one.
 

For a country "that does not need international tourists", like some people were saying, it seems a lot of talks about those not needed tourists...

16 minutes ago, geisha said:

I thought that there had only been a handful of tourist arrivals ? Where did they get those figures from, 45 000 ? Of which 10 000 are the stranded tourists ? So where are they all ? 

23 minutes ago, the green light said:

The travel industry is dead in thailand. and the government need to come up with a program to employ the people in the travel industry.

That's their big problem...they are just trying to give hope to the tourism industry so they do not fire their workers...
Maybe their are less stupid we think...

The signal that this offer sends is exactly: "Hey please, buy our condos, we have a problem to sell them"...Am not sure it's the good signal the real estate market needs....

1 minute ago, hydraides said:

Most 'tourists' who would be OK with the idea of a quarantine period would be digital nomads.

 

Why doesn't the Thai Government drop the ridiculous fees for Special Tourist Visas and for allow it for all countries..........but applicants have to show evidence of their basic monthly online income.

 

If the Thai government makes an attractive visa for digital nomads, I could then see quite few people coming here

They just rised the price of the Elite visa by 20% (from 500k baht to 600k baht)...So I dont think they are planning to drop any fee on visas...

7 hours ago, tonray said:

I was at the auto show at Impact Center on Sunday....your claims of economic armageddon are inflated. every table filled with people negotiating deals for new cars...we bought a new Mazda 2....40K discount off list plus lots of extras.....open til Sunday if anyone looking for new car...end of year they are discounting...Mazda 2 40K off list, Toyota 30K off Yaris list for example....

yeah, all those thai buying car at credit, like their tv, smartphone...a really smart way to push your economy...

 

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As of June, household debt rose to 13.59 trillion baht ($435 billion), equal to 83.8% of GDP, the highest since 2003 and among the highest levels in Asia. The debt was at 79.9% of GDP at the end of 2019

https://www.reuters.com/article/thailand-economy-loans/thai-household-debt-levels-to-rise-even-further-c-bank-gov-idUKL4N2HD1JH

It could not work. Asians dont take long holidays, only european/americans take 3-4 weeks holidays at the same time...

2 minutes ago, herwin1234 said:

 

Dificult choiche for the Thais, choosing between sexpats and lowincome pensioners and backpackers on one hand, and large groups of Chinese tourist....

Are you a sexpat or low income pensioner?

1 minute ago, ChouDoufu said:

 

as far as i know.......... individuals may travel outside china, but GROUP tours are still not yet allowed.

 

because so many countries are closed, because so many countries are high risk, because so many countries have expensive or logistically impossible requirements to obtain a visa, many chinese are OPTING to travel domestically.

 

i believe quarantine is still mandatory, 14 days in government approved hospitals at the traveler's expense. 

I edited my post:
"Needing to be vaccinated to travel abroad'"...

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As of November, Sinopharm said "hundreds of thousands" of people have been given its two-shot experimental vaccine and none had so far developed severe side effects beyond mild pain at the injection site. Many needing to be vaccinated were due to travel abroad for work, where coronavirus cases are still mounting, health authorities said earlier, but Sinopharm said only 56,000 vaccine recipients have gone abroad.

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/11/12/933956247/china-is-inoculating-thousands-with-unapproved-covid-19-vaccines-why?t=1606993089044

13 minutes ago, ChouDoufu said:

 

you didn't bother to read those articles, did you?

 

you just googled china vaccine and linked anything with a headline that sorta, kinda fit, right?

 

no vaccine requirement to travel.

How do you understand "needing"?

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As of November, Sinopharm said "hundreds of thousands" of people have been given its two-shot experimental vaccine and none had so far developed severe side effects beyond mild pain at the injection site. Many needing to be vaccinated were due to travel abroad for work, where coronavirus cases are still mounting, health authorities said earlier, but Sinopharm said only 56,000 vaccine recipients have gone abroad.

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/11/12/933956247/china-is-inoculating-thousands-with-unapproved-covid-19-vaccines-why?t=1606993089044

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This year, travel restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic mean that some 600 million tourists — about 40% of the population — will travel within China during the holiday that began Thursday, according to Ctrip, China’s largest online travel agency.

https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-travel-hong-kong-holidays-china-04a9409e2c1fe0d1b947a8de39297f46

Is quarantine mandatory?

 

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“To take a trip abroad, you will be quarantined for half a month when you arrive, and when you return, it’s another half a month of quarantine,” Zhao said. “One month is gone with you doing nothing at all. “

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 Ethan Zhang needed to get back to work. Work was in Ivory Coast, however, and since January the global coronavirus outbreak had stranded the 26-year-old translator in mainland China. Then friends told Zhang of a way he could get his hands on what might be the world’s most coveted prize: a coronavirus vaccine.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/health-pharma/china-takes-risk-in-rushing-to-use-unproven-vaccines-1.4413667

 

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In early November, Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm announced that hundreds of thousands of Chinese had been vaccinated by emergency decree, including 56,000 Chinese traveling abroad, of whom none have allegedly fallen ill with COVID-19

https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/geopolitics-of-covid-the-unprecedented-challenge-of-coronavirus-vaccine-distribution-a-12800062-e26a-4079-bf21-161080ae0f3a