riverhigh

Just another example of "the white elephant in the room". What does it matter what "effective and clear" measures you put in place when you are so far behind in the vaccine rollout. Focus should be  on procuring covid vaccines. I was at Jomtien Beach last Sunday and it was packed with Thais piled on each other, trying to escape the heat in the shaded areas. This idea of enforcing rules to control spread of infections is neither a practical nor workable solution. IMHO, vaccinne is the only way out.

Absolute rubbish statement. Private hospitals back in December of last year pleaded with the Thai government to allow them to order the covid vaccine but were turned down. Even now their are restrictions on how much they can order. The blame is solely on the Thai governemnt for this mess. Absurd to expect business to invest money to re-open their businesses in October which will never happen. Thai governemnet has my vote of no confidence.

Based on the recent success of vaccine rollout, quarantine measures, visa creation, etc., this little government PR stunt should be treated as such. There is nothing in reality to support the re-opening of international airports, on a full scale basis, withiin 120 days.

The more I read, the more I am convinced the only way out is vaccination. Lockdowns, social distancing, closing bars, etc., are not sustainable and enforceable in the long run. I am already seeing bars in Pattaya open with falangs drinking iced beer, no social distancing, no masks. Not justifying the Pattaya falang and Thai ber owners's disregard for rules just pointing out the reality of the situation.  

51 minutes ago, Lopchan said:

With no due respect, I think the BS is in your statement "The real contributors to Thailand are the stead fast retirees." 
Retirees are not the only real contributors. Many like myself, are not of retirement age, yet we are married and have a Thai wife and kids whom we support through our income from working.
Building a house, buying a car etc. contributes to the economy and to the livelihoods of THAI people. Just because you've reached the point where you're old enough to retire and have decided to make your home here, doesn't make you special.

When I read these "I'm just as good as you arguements with regards to living in Thaialnd", it just shows how much anxiety immigration causes. Many foreigners have adopted Thailand as their country but unfortunately Thai governemnt does not recognize them.  There are reasons why foreiners can not own land and perform certain jobs. Thailand is for Thais!

Thailand reserveed only 61 Million doses Astrazenica for an adult population of 60 million requiring 120 million doses. The rest of Astrazenica doses produced in Thailand will go for export. A fact the Thai government will never admit to. Thai military government more concerned about buying subamrines and developing a space program. No wonder there is high vaccine hesitancy in Thailand due to lack in trust in the Thai government. 

2 hours ago, welshguy said:

At last...some realism is hitting them.

I think once the population has been vaccinted and reached herd immunity, there will be a "V" shape recovery in the economy. The pent up demand for travel will be phenomenal. My prediction is 18 months tops, not 5 years, before a full recovery and then some. I think the article is overly pessimistic and not forward looking. Open the gates (international borders) and there will be stampede. I can see hotels being overwhelmed with tourists. In 18 moths time we will be seeing the sign "no rooms availalble" causing panic in the hesitant traveller. Call it wishful thinking (smile) but those are my thoughts.

5 hours ago, nightfox said:

I personally wouldn't be so delighted knowing I just got jabbed with Sainovac.

Recent studies show in Brazil and Indonesia that Sinovav real world reasults are doing better than the  results reported in the test phase.  Then again, there are some who just can't resist from pissing on someone's parade (smile). 

According to their procuremnt schedule (see below) they will have manufactured/ordered 40 million doses at most. This would amount to fully vacinating 33% (2 doses) of the Thai adult population of 60 million.  The Health minister should stop spreading misinformation and false hope. Based on the facts released by the Thai government themselves the Health Minister is speaking nonsense.

The strong arguement in favor of Americans living abroad is that they pay taxes on their worldly income and are obliged to live by the USA regulations. It's a two street: pay taxes, receive benefit.

Unfortunately foreigners not conforming with the Covid regulations stick out like a sore thumb. I don't know about Phuket but yesterday I was walking through the Royal Garden plaza in Pattaya and noticed 3 expats sitting in the designated rest area chairs with out their masks on. True the chairs were far apart and most probably transmission of covid was unlikely but they don't seem  to understand or care about the big picture. it would not surprise me that the chairs will be put away so that no-one will be able to sit down in the mall because the actions of a few selfish expats. I would like to add that when I was walking through the mall all Thais were in compliance.

"Tourism operators in Thailand have hailed the country’s plan to waive quarantine for vaccinated travellers from October as a positive step towards positioning the country for a robust post-pandemic recovery."

Positioning the country for a robust post-pandemic recovery ==> Whatever they are smoking I want some too. The Thai government should stop dreaming up non-sensical plans to attract new tourists and focus on retaining the long-term paying tourists.  Haven't they heard of loyal customer retention programs? Of course not! Long-term tourists are replaceble and should be happy to be here regardless of <deleted> immigration regulations.

From  orignal article:

“We are trying to see if we can become more customer-centric, looking at each pool of customers for long-term tourists,” Chayotid said. Thailand already offers year-long visas to retirees with various financial and other requirements, but the new scheme promises to be more enticing and focused, he said."

More enticing to who? Thailand or the long-term tourist. I see another worthless visa in the works just like before. An expensive visa that can be revoked by the governement at any time. Until they start talking about permanent residency for long-term tourists I am not interested.  I'm tired of the one-year <deleted> visa.

Before giving money to Mr. Tattoos money I would like to know how much moeny he inherited form his parents when they died, how much severance pay did he get when he quit his furniture business in London, how much did the UK government pay him to look after his parents, etc.  Is he is trying to get us to pay for his bills rather than spending his sons' inheritance?   Isn't it convenient that he gets diagnosed with final stages of cancer shortly after he gets off the plane in Thailand and happens to have good travel insurance? Are we sure he didn't have any pains before leaving the UK and decided not to go to a UK hospital. Sorry Mr. Tattoos, you may be the real deal but with all the fraud artists floating around I have my doubts. I appologise in advane to those who may find my remarks offensive but ....

For some good news: The 90 day online reporting system appears to be working. Just checked a couple of minutes ago.

"According to Tourism and Sports Minister Pipat Ratchakitprakarn, a meeting will be held next week with all relevant agencies to discuss  if it is still realistic to implement the so-called ‘Phuket Sandbox’ model from July, while infections in the country continue to surge."

Why bother having a meeting when the answer Is "no it is not realistic". Then again I guess it's good for Public Relations. Got to show that our diligent Thai politicians and government workers are earning their pay. Another photo opportunity for the press.

Was at Jomtien immigration yesterday to do my 90 day report (online 90 day reporting system down again) and to my surprise there was a large line up in the afternoon. I guess now I know why. Agree, very stressful for those who are legitimately stranded here. I felt the stress and tension in the air just lining up in the heat.  The immigration office was packed and a great incubator for covid19.  Not a positive experience, the separating of the 90 day reporters from the pack and leaving them outside had been abandoned.   As to Thaivisa posters who think this will be last time the  covid19 stranded forreigners will have their visas extended, I think you are being overly optimistic. Opening the borders in July, dream on. Letting lose a horde of vacinnated foreigners on an unvacccinated Thai population is unthinkable. Jus my opinion.