SpanishExpat

Open up the country you moron! Stop with everyday more and more complex proposals and just reopen it! I still can’t get how a big percentage of Thai ppl is surviving. I am talking specifically about the islands where they depend 100% on tourism and just can’t go back to farming like in Isaan.

Don’t know what they are waiting for! The virus situation will be the same in 4-6months and even if they have a vaccine, it will take ages until everyone got it. 
 

My simple suggestion would be:

-Covid Test 14days before you travel 

-2nd test Max 72hrs before you fly

- people can just board showing both test results + Covid health insurance.

-3rd Test directly after landing and staying quarantined 24-48hr until they  got the result. 
 

YES..it would involve 3tests, but the risk would be extremely minimal. I am just bored of all those turnarounds of the PM and his government. They just should not waste their thoughts, as 99% of real, genuine tourists simply won’t visit TH, if they are required more than a test + insurance!

For me it’s all about reasonable pricing in regard for this idea. But knowing TH for quite long, I know there will be some scams involved. Thai Airways will be able to charge what they want, the offered hotels will be positioned in the upper/luxury segment and the Covid Tests will be overpriced like they have been all the time for farangs. 
 

If they were smart, they would offer that package, the planned 9months Visa at the lowest possible price. People intending to stay in TH for such a long period, will spend it anyway afterwards. 
 

As we are talking about one-way tickets, everything over 20k from Europe would be too much (and It was always below 20k pre Covid with Thai). Adding to that, there should be reasonable hotel prices for those 14 days of not more than 3k Baht/per Night..including the covid Tests.

The visa itself shouldn’t be more than 6k Baht (similar to the METV).

Altogether 68k Baht..that’s a reasonable price. 
 

However I doubt it will be offered for way more than 100k.

They need at least 30-40% of the former tourism numbers to break-even/survive. Everything including quarantine won’t  attract more them 5%. And most of those won’t be genuine tourists, rather retired people. 
 

They still didn’t get it. It’s the tourists who chose the destination, not the other way around! Thailand is not that unique so that tourists accept massive hurdles to travel there. 
 

It’s anyway too late now, as the Thai mindset in regard to the virus is just weird! 

Funny guy...2nd wave in Vietnam with those few cases!!:) 

And yeah...the cases went up again in China, Japan, Hongkong, Australia. But the big difference is that all those countries ACCEPTED that and got used to live along with the virus. Moreover they are not as heavily dependent on tourism as Thailand is.

That guy with his stylish hair cut sits in his ivory tower and surely won`t get an financial problems, even if Thailand would stay locked until 2022. Meanwhile, the majority of Thai people got salary cuts or lost their jobs at all.

Proud to be number 1 country in the world to contain the virus. Proud to have 0 local cases for over 2 months. Good for them, but let`s see what economic price Thailand will have to pay for that strategy!

It`s still 200 Baht for foreigners. Been there 2 weeks ago. Still, now they collect the money directly at the pier and not like they used to do at the national park gate. Before, if you booked a hotel around the pier (<deleted>ty area anyway), there was no national park fee.

Even though is fully booked during the weekends(2 weeks ago they told me that they just are allowed to sell 50% of the rooms due to social distancing), the island is DEAD during the week. I`ve seen instagram videos on Mondays or Tuesdays, where they had 2 tables occupied at the Ploy Talay Restaurant (the most famous one at the main beach) in the evenings.

In the past Samet got more and more popular with the Chinese, who prefer to stay around BKK and not fly to Phuket.

We stayed at one of the better resorts on the island and on both weekend days they ran out of Bacon/milk and cereals around 9 am. I think that says everything about the actual situations.

of course he is an angel, isn`t he?:) Seriously...EVERY TIME time i`ve been out at Thonglor and met hi-so friends or friends of friends cocaine is an issue the later the evening gets. I don`t consume it, but it`s always available...so all that bs about that guy has 0 credibility.

After all that`s the most logical next step. The can`t keep the quarantine forever! Anyway, locals shouldn't`t bother, as just a few tourists would take the hurdles with negative covid-tests, health insurance, prior embassy visit.

It still could be a nice alternative to the actual ASQ where you have to waitlist for months and just have a few hotels to choose from! However, if that happens, they should develop this idea from A to Z. And that means...after 14 days there should be the option for another covid test (which is NOT overpriced. If negative, those people are free to travel around Thailand.

lol..someone should tell that guy that he and his department are NOT in the position to set conditions!

Someone should tell him that the agencies/ employers don`t pick Thai workers because they are the only one who can pick fruits/ are the most hard-working ones. IT`S BECAUSE THEY ARE CHEAP LABOUR!!!

If they had some brain, they should be happy that some Thai people get this chance and not care about the quarantine payment. (which by the way shows that they have 0 exit strategies....just keep on with the quarantine until there is a vaccine. If there`s not...mai bpen rai...quarantine forever!) They get housing/food and obviously appropriate payment to support their families back in Thailand. Things that this useless government surely doesn`t care enough!

10 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Interesting, not ONE person here would  NOT do the same if their child were in the same position. 

Leave the guy alone, he never chose to be a billionaire.

Was a total BS!!!! Sure everyone of us would use money and power to solve the situation. But it`s the mindset of that moron and so many spoilt hi-so Thai brats which makes the difference! He just didnt`t care and drove away with a mindset "no one can harm me due to my hi-so standing". 

1 minute ago, tribalfusion001 said:

It's the trickle down effect, it takes months to trickle down and eventually most people will suffer through the loss of tourism. Even if tourism started up again tomorrow, the numbers would be nothing like the 39 million from 2019, more like the numbers of 20 to 25 years ago.

Sure that`s true. That`s why I would propose to start a quota system. Like every country which has had less than lets say 3-5 active cases per 100.000 people within the last 30-45 days will get on the "can fly in" list. Those tourists would have to show a negative covid test, health certificate, use the tracking app and if there stay in longer, take another covid test after 2 weeks. 

>90% of the tourists would still NOT come, but the ones coming would be an absolute minimal risk. Such an approach would surely save a lot businesses/jobs here. However, of course no Thai official would come up with such a strategy/ noone would approve that. 

Funny, as it`s IMPOSSIBLE to bring all those migrant workers back risk free! They will be transported like cattle to some quarantine camps and spend there 2 weeks. One infection there and it would go viral! 

Like always..Thailand is great in theoretical stuff, but thats not enough. Apart from the the migrant workers, the truth is that farangs married to Thai nationals already have to wait MONTHS for a room in the quarantine hotels. I know 2 independent case where the embassies told them that I would be close to impossible before November.

If the government doesn`t find an appropriate exit strategy to reopen the country step by step without quarantine in a few months, they will be in a huge mess for a long time. 

6 hours ago, Yinn said:

Hmm, I think everyone (thai) will get vaccine. Better than loose business, job.

 

I agree people lazy to wear mask now a bit. Still necessary supermarket, plaza. 

Because we win covid already.

 

No case now 50+ day already. If have, everybody be serious again, sure.

And thats (and I am glad about it) the difference between western countries and Thailand! Here, your government may force everyone to get vaccinated, threaten with disadvantages/punishments etc, whereas in western countries it`s still the individuals decision. 

I will get the vaccine for sure, but I won`t rush like a robot to get it as soon as it`s released. 

Thats all based on the assumption, that there will be a vaccine. So I hope it for Thailand, as they are not taking the few % probability in account that there won`t be a vaccine at all. 

The fact is that those „repatriation flights“ will never end, if TH continues like that. How long will they put everyone in quarantine? I Know 2cases with valid Schengen-Visa, who flew to FRA last week to visit their boyfriends. So there will be more and more doing that, as time pases. If they visited Europe during Christmas 2019, their visa are valid until End of 2020, but just with Max 90 days per trip.

Moreover, the upper middle class and the hi-so class won’t let themself being caged in TH forever. So it will be fun to see how long the government keeps the „mandatory state quarantine“.

Bored of those "there are no flights out" arguments. Sure, their are specific regulations to every country, but for Europe it`s 0 problem to fligh back! Just Qatar flies 2x daily out of BKK and then from DOH to all major European cities 1-2x per day. 

Checked Expertflyer yesterday and for my flight there are actually me + 2 others booked in Business Class and around 20 in Economy. 

I understand that it`s comfortable to say " i need the amnesty, as there are no flights", but for Europe it`s just not the truth! Everyone who books now a flight for the next 10-14 days to Europe, has basically 0 risk to get it cancelled. The airlines still flying adapted to it, and won`t cancel out of nothing (like it happened back in April/May)

12 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Have a friend who visited immigration yesterday, and was told he needed to be out of the country by July 31st. They told him no more amnesty or extensions. 

 

We hope that will change. 

But that`s TH. IO often prefer to give the easiest answer, instead of a honest "we don`t know it yet". Of course, it`s all about rumors, but back in April they said they will 100% clarify/give an update to the amnesty situation once the 31st approaches.

They have done lots of brainless things in the past, but I guess this time they had enough time to think about potential consequences. Not extending the amnesty and announcing that 1 week before, would cause a chaos. It`s true everyone had enough time to leave, but other countries like Indonesia have given the "we won`t extend the amnesty" clarification with several weeks in advance.

Well it`s his and his government fault. Praising week after week how great they were with 0 cases. And lots of Thais were/are naive enough to believe that. They should have continued testing like in the early stages. After all one thing is sure...they were/are not hiding 1000ends of covid deaths and that`s they most important fact. 

They should have been honest from the beginning. Thai people would have gotten used to live along with a few active cases, which still impose 0 risk to the national safety in general. However now, every new case will be seen as potential 2nd wave and cause panic.

Guess I was in a "restaurant" then last Saturday here in BKK:) We didnt`t eat, but shared a couch with other people, had shared jugs, sisha, music and people playing pool. 

Sorry...but they are just killing the whole scene! Owners who can afford the bribes/have contacts are already back to normal!