Samui Fan

Andrew Wood is correct in everything he says. There are too many mixed messages from the government - don't the relative ministries ever speak to each other?????? 

FACT: Thailand's tourism industry  is on its knees. That is people employed in the industry and the ancillary companies that provide goods and services to it.

I am astonished by the vitriolic responses here and wonder what from which planet the people commenting so darkly come from. Did those people originally arrive here as tourists or are they locals? If they are expats, then they themselves arrived as tourists at some stage in the past. 

In short, the statistics tell the story, whether one takes note of the editorial or not. The local people rely on tourists in Samui - and believe me they cannot wait for them to come back. They are suffering, and so are their families.

People ARE without food, It's a fact. In Samui, a local farang-run non-profit, Sisters on Samui, set up a foodbank way back this year. They found communities of 30 people with one egg between them. They went down back streets and found people who had no food and no milk for their kids. I am aware of one, maybe two handouts from the government to help people on an island where virtually everyone has a link to tourism in some way...even the coconut lady.

It is REAL folks - people are suffering. And both locals and foreigners are helping those less fortunate. Having said that, these groups are also suffering. We have all lost our incomes too. 

So the sooner the govt opens up the country- of course with cautious steps in terms of Covid testing, tracking and tracing - the better for all concerned.

I have never seen such a c*ck up of the job the govt is doing by sending out totally conflicting messages as to what they should do next. "Minimum insurance, min bank account balance, medical tourism, elite tourists" - there is no strategy (BTW a couple I know have invested in Elite visas and cannot get in )  ----- all these things just make the govt look inept and disorganised. 

They need to work together on a safe and workable plan to re-open. If they don't then I fear Thailand is doomed as destination. 

 TBH other regional governments are handling the future much better.