ChasingTheSun

“And the infection rate has shot up and is again accelerating, 10,000 cases in France yesterday and well up in all the other tourist spots I am afraid.”

Yes. That is the nature of the flu.

5 minutes ago, Susco said:

No they weren't. There are many reports in the western press that majority of Europeans choose for a holiday in their own country.

 

Of course there will have been some that flew to another European country, but the numbers were far below normal

Yes of course there was a decrease, but mainly because european countries only ended the lockdown to other european countries and a couple of other smaller markets. They didn’t open to the most of the rest of the world. 
 

Brits, who are some of the biggest vacationers to the EU, were back to spain and france, and their numbers were decent and growing, until the UK began shutting it down again..

 

19 minutes ago, tomazbodner said:

How many times did we have global border closures like this one? I'm trying to think of times in my lifetime but can't remember any...

They reopened borders in europe after the initial kungflu lockdowns, and people from all over europe were flying around europe and holidaying again.

4 hours ago, tomazbodner said:

So the number of places on offer will need to shrink as you can't count on tourists just flocking into Thailand once borders are opened, even if quarantine is removed. People are out of money. They are not coming.

 

And on tests: Quick tests are not very reliable, and only tell if you already have antibodies present, which even if you were already infectious, you might have none or delayed by several days. Antibodies take days to build up to levels detected, making these tests useless.

Actually, wherever borders have been  reopened, tourists have come back.
 

The vast majority of people  are still working and there is lots of pentup demand for their favorite beach destination of Phuket.
 

In addition, the new rapid covid test from abbott is very accurate, and is expected to be especially helpful in getting people back to flying.

Closed borders = little tourist biz

Open borders = Tourists back and tourist biz back

Seems that the strategy is to keep reopening-hope alive for yhe tourist businesses, and yet simultaneously keep the borders closed and pray a vaccine or an effective therapeutic is ready soon.
 

however, the new 15minute kungflu diagnostic test coming soon could also help yo open the borders sooner to air traffic.

If you want an alternative to northern phuket...

Kamala has lots of bars and restaurants open in the town, and a few bars/restaurants open on the beach. 

4 minutes ago, DrDave said:

Note that minority ownership of a company purchasing land is no longer a viable option for most foreigners.

 

This was a tactic employed for years where a lawyer or estate broker would enlist local Thais to act as nominee majority shareholders, without investing any money in the company. These nominees were typically university students paid a few thousand baht for the use of their name on the company documents, and were required to sign a resignation letter kept on file to be used in the future should the foreign minority owner choose to change nominees or sell the company.

 

At some point, 10 or more years ago, the government got wise to this ploy and announced that they would be conducting audits of companies with foreign minority shareholders that had purchased land. The audit would investigate the majority (Thai) shareholders to determine whether they had actually contributed the corresponding majority share of capital from their own funds. If no proof could be provided, the purchase of the land would be deemed illegal.

 

In reality, I don't know how many of these audits were performed but the threat of an audit scared off most potential foreign buyers looking to buy land, and this illegal ploy is now seldom used.

Foreigners can still be minority corporate shareholders to buy land/houses. Nothing has changed with regard to that.
 

However, the use of “phony” Thai nominee directors as a way to get around foreign ownership rules has been illegal for many years. Some foreigners have/do buy land/homes using these Illegal structures, but there has always been talk of cracking down on them. Not sure if there was ever a real crackdown,  or if its just talk of such.

Hope: makro + several chain restaurants, + coffee club or starbucks
 

Expect: 

42 minutes ago, Roel said:

An optician, a 7-eleven and a Nepali tailor would be high on my list.

47 minutes ago, ThePearl said:

"Thailand is classified as a developing country.

Yes, Thailand is a developing country. It is good you corrected your post, as Thailand is by no means a “3rd world country.” 
 

50 minutes ago, ThePearl said:

Foreigners may not own land

Correct. Many countries have similar rules against foreigners owning the land. Singapore is another example of that restriction. I believe New Zealand also banned foreigners recently as well. This is a negative that needs to be considered when assessing an investment In Thailand or Singapore etc. 

However, foreigners can own a minority 49% of voting shares of a condominium complex(or shares of a company buying a house with land) and they are entitled to a proportionate share of the underlying land value in the case of an enbloc sale of the condo complex in Thailand. Foreigners are also covered by all the other significant property laws that protect Thais.

57 minutes ago, ThePearl said:

Cannot answer for the individual

Correct, it is good that you now recognize that it is impossible to generalize the success/failure of anyone’s experience.

59 minutes ago, ThePearl said:

Don't know about the world markets, only reference I was replying to was Phuket.

That reply is a bit confusing because you originally claimed that “smart” people only invest in their own local market, implying that global property investors are not “smart”.

2 hours ago, zzzzz said:

FYI:
nothing in jung ceylon open but Big C and a few shops near Big C and the wine connection plus of course the lady's selling condos
patong is truly a ghost town with 90% of the town closed during the day>>

I was there at the beginning of August and most shops were open on all three floors In the building with the big C. Most shops were also open on the ground floor of the 2nd building with the MK restaurant. 1/2 of the restaurants were also open. 
 

It is quiet, but still some fun to be had in Patong if expectations are reasonable.

1 hour ago, Meat Pie 47 said:

so according to you Thailand does not need tourists? Going by reports saying Thailand

is free of Covid-19 why not open it?

I never said or implied that  “thailand does not need tourists”.  
 

The reported cases of local kungflu spread are currently zero. 

However, as soon as they open the borders, the kungflu will come back swiftly, as it has around the world, up until a herd-like immunity occurs,

22 minutes ago, Meat Pie 47 said:

I just don't understand why almost every thing in Thailand is closed

I live in Western Australian we had no local infection for a few months

and every thing is open as it was before apart from the boarder closer.

So why not open Thailand for Thai or Farang people who live there.

Its mostly just establishments that are focused on FOREIGN TOURIST revenues in tourist hotspots that are closed. 
 

Most places that mainly cater to locals/expats are open for business.

Bangla has some bars and clubs that are open.

jungceylon and central patong(basement) also has a number of restaurants that are open, as are most of the shops.

Nanai road also has a number of restaurants and bars open with decent low season local traffic. The beach is nicely uncrowded as well.

As such, there is stuff to do in Patong. 

Kamala also has a number of bars and restaurants open and decent low season local activity. 

2 hours ago, ThePearl said:

Or invest in property in a 3rd world country with limited legal rights.

The guy has nothing......most smart people invest in their home lands and now are living off the fat.

Why are you claiming that Thailand is a “3rd world country”? 
 

Why do you claim that Thailand has no significant property “rights”?

In addition, why would you also claim that the many thousands of expats in Thailand currently living in houses/condos that they own (not paying rent on) are not “smart”?

Plus, why do you believe that the millions of investors who have bought/sold foreign property(s) for real profits/income around the world are not “smart” either?

1 hour ago, Sujo said:

Alcohol and women. Jest skiis, deck chairs, food.

 

just the things people like.

Booze can be found cheap at many bars across phuket, even on the tourist epicenter of bangla road you can find beer for only 80 baht a bottle all night, of a bucket of 5 for only 250 baht. You just need to look around for it. Lots of cheap thai brand hard liquor deals as well.
 

Of course, if you want to drink in a popular dance club or live music bar on bangla or in Bangkok, you will need to pay the bigger bucks.

Jet skis are expensive everywhere in the world. 

Beach loungers can also often be free if you buy drinks from the vendor. 

2 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Just for research reasons.

 

And seriously, I life in Bangkok and I can get all the fun I want here. Why should I go to overpriced Phuket? Definitely not for the nightlife.

Why? Clean fresh ocean air, mountains, beaches, room to stretch your arms, no epic bangkok style traffic jams etc....

Other than taxis, what is overpriced in phuket compared to bangkok?

6 minutes ago, Bender Rodriguez said:

phuket pirate island, better avoid at all cost

Yes there are many pirates sailing around the island in their pirate ships and doing all sorts of the awful pirate things that pirates do.
 

Be on the lookout for pirate flags and one wooden-legged guys with hooks on their hands, and especially avoid those pirates wearing an eyepatch.

14 hours ago, clearance said:

7) Water is dirty and Patong beach not looking good (I know it is not the best time to go there), we spend one day helping locals to collect garbage from the beach, some entertainment.

During the rainy season, after a big storm,  plastics, tree limbs, and coconuts etc floating around the adaman sea tends to migrate to the west coast beaches of Thailand. This happens several times each rainy season. 
 

Thankfully for beachgoers, it does get cleaned-up or washes back out to the sea fairly quickly, within a few days after arrival.

Other than the floating plastic debris caused by the storms, the actual water quality is allot better now because of far less tourists.

27 minutes ago, clearance said:

Yes, but in Bangkok, for the same ride, you will pay around 400-500thb including toll roads.
And how about going to Karon (around 7km) for 500thb? In Bangkok, you will pay 100thb for it. I know about Phuket taxi mafia and stuff, but why not lower prices now? Around 20 empty tuk-tuks near Bangla enterance, no clients, but no, they will charge the same price, no bargain.

 

Phuket taxi pricing has always been one of the great mysteries and frustrations of humankind.

In a free-economy, the demand/supply of a service normally leads to efficient price discovery over the medium/long term. This is obviously not the case with Phuket taxis.

Most locals don't use taxis, so I don’t  hear too many complaints about it. However, i can understand why some tourists get a bit peeved about the relatively high Phuket taxi prices compared to cheap Bangkok taxis.

That being said, Phuket taxis are still allot cheaper than taxis in developed countries. Indeed, 45 minutes in a standard airport taxi could easily cost close to 3000 baht or more in lots of other countries, but only 700 baht here in Phuket.
 

In addition, if you chose a hotel in the most popular west coast towns, you should be able to walk to everything and seldom need a taxi service anyway. 

There is a also the option of using the cheap pickup-truck bus service that mostly caters to Thai workers hoping between Phuket towns.

2 hours ago, zzzzz said:

there 2 bars in Kamala that have customers from 9 am -......

late afternoon a dozen or so guys siting there drinking everyday, night time,...no idea as i dont venture out

the other 8 or so, (except Divers)  are lucky to get 8 customers/day

3 bars/restaurants on the beach do a good business with 60 baht happy hour beers from 5 pm

From the areas I have recently observed in Kamala, Phuket Town, and Bangtao, it is a little slower than a normal low season, but life still goes on.

Kata, Karon, Patong have a relatively very-high proportion of tourist accommodation vs local/expat residents, and thus naturally they are deadsville until the borders are reopened. 
 

The great news for Phuket is that there is still no real alternative to Phuket in Asia, so things will definitely  come back to “normal” in the prime tourist hotspots once the kungflu hysteria is in the rear view mirror. 

ps- for those that think Vietnam may be the next best thing....I have been traveling to Vietnam for business and tourism many times since 1997. My last visit was in January of this year. Unfortunately, it has been going downhill fast in terms of all the things that made it great once. Its getting much more crowded, expensive, and dirty each year. Tourist scams are getting worse as well. Sadly, there have been huge negative changes overall in Vietnam over the last 5 years in particular.
 

There remains to be NO single place in Vietnam that can come close to challenging Phuket overall in terms of tourist attractions.

i dont know a specific shop for rentals near the airport.

However, there is a 500 meter long stretch of shops and a few guesthouses on both sides of the main airport road, immediately south of the airport.
 

You can walk along there and ask the shop owners or guesthouses where to rent a bike. 
 

Likely between 200-300 Baht to rent a scooter for a day.

6 hours ago, LALes said:

Nothing wrong with Bang Tao.  I body surfed there last month and it was fine.  Patong was always the worst beach on the island.  Polluted from too many tourists.  The Pattaya of Phuket beaches.  But even Patong is looking good now after a few months of no tourists.

Indeed. All the beaches seem to be much more inviting these days.

Phuket International Hospital(now Siriraj International Hospital) had a package deal. 
 

Birth + two nights in a nice hotel-like private room for 30k baht. Must arrange the package well ahead of the birth.

I was at Central Festival & Floressa this afternoon.
 

There was actually some relatively decent local foot traffic, considering the lack of overseas tourists.

Do you guys know a “professional” who can do a competent  job with a simple drywall installation on a house ceiling?