wensiensheng

How can he or anyone else know at this point, that there will be no effect on thai tourism? Data has yet to be analyzed by scientists and conclusions reached on the key questions. clearly the jury is still out.

Possibly, although you were replying to my post, so whether you choose to quote me or not is immaterial.

I can’t really see the point of tracking down people as far back as 15 November. If they were positive when they arrived, many would be over it by now and in any case would have started community transmission if they were positive. Test and trace would be impossible even if Phuket was doing that, which they most certainly are not. Up to this month I didn’t know any one who tested positive, in the last 10 days 5 people living in my street have tested positive from three households. Zero attempt by the authorities to test and trace. Two isolated at home because they did their own atk tests, three sent to quarantine hotel.

Originally who said over 60. Later they changed it to unvaccinated over 60.

The information you give from the website is interesting. It suggests that results of the survey may be skewed upward in terms of English proficiency because the large masses who don’t want to learn English, would not form part of the survey. in terms of westerners learning Thai, this thread is about the proficiency of Thai’s speaking English. If you want to talk about westerners speaking Thai, start a new thread as it’s a different subject.

I’m thinking of visiting Singapore for a week. The question I had about the pass is how long the health insurance has to be valid. I mean, I live in Thailand on a retirement visa and will use a re entry permit for traveling in and out, so does the health insurance have to be for a year, until my 1 year visa expires, 90 days, or some other arbitrary time period? if anyone has any information on that I would be very interested to know.

I think you are missing the point of my anecdote. I was referencing the endemic ripping off of tourists in Thailand. Of course there are fixed price shops to buy ice creams, I had a ton of the stuff in my freezer that I bought from Macro.

Who said I was happy? I paid it as a sort joke, proof of the type of scams going on type thing. I’m not happy the guy thinks I would be such a sucker to pay such an inflated price and I made sure in a joking way that he knew, that I knew, he was ripping me off. and you are missing the whole point of the story. Ripping off tourists is endemic in Thailand from a humble ice cream seller, to big companies to government and everything in between. THATS the point. it’s the case in other countries of course, prices are higher in tourist areas, higher in tourist season etc. the difference is that everybody pays those prices if in a tourist area and in tourist season AND there is usually some semblance of government action to protect tourists from price gouging to the extent that the tourist might not come back. I see no such action from the Thai government. but I take your point. If the tourist is happy with his “bargain”, then fine. But what happens with those tourists who get gouged and aren’t happy? Might they not come back?

Coming off a beach in Phuket the other day an ice cream vendor on a motorcy sidecar type thing, charged me 30 baht for an ice cream. My girlfriend bought the exact same thing from the exact same guy at the exact same place the previous day for 10 baht. Only difference is that she is thai. i paid the 30 baht just for the joke of it, but it sums up how tourists get cheated all the way up and down the line. Always have done.

I follow your logic. Where it falls down is when the cops allow those same people they just fined, to continue on their way still helmetless, without licence ( therefore no insurance) and without passport. can you explain that?

To be fair, Thais cheat Thais just as much, but tourists are easier marks and have more money to lose.

I can’t see this getting WHO approval based on the extent of the trials referenced in the article. And no WHO approval means not accepted by other countries. So presumably this is for those who have no intention to travel and are sufficiently uneducated to take a vaccine on trust rather than scientific evidence. personally I’ll give it pass, but my wife is turning down every other vaccine while she waits for this one. Based on……nationalistic fervor?

How many thai people have that opportunity though? I think the point of the conversation is the ability to swim for the general population as a whole, not just the chosen few. that’s not to deride your wife’s achievements, she has made the most of the opportunity given her.

In my area of phuket you would be very hard pushed to find a bar that ISNT open. And I don’t mean bars masquerading as restaurants, I mean straight up common or garden bars and bar complexes. Despite the governor supposedly issuing orders that bars remain closed. Most don’t even bother to close early if they actually have customers.

True Tall Guy, as I and many other pointed out when Thailand announced its mix and match policy, other countries are mixing and matching but NOT with sinovac and sinopharm as part of the mix. Your list seems to bear that out. Whether for political or medical reasons, or both, the two Chinese vaccines just aren’t very accepted in the Western world.

You mean they don’t do this as a matter of course? It’s their job after all.

True. Start with domestic tourism, expand to SE Asia tourism and when conditions are right, go global. It’s what I would do. long haul travel is pretty risky right now unless you’re a single person or couple who can afford to be very flexible with your travel pans at a moments notice.

Where in Thailand is there a place that you cannot be contacted? Mobile coverage is pretty universal and most people have a mobile phone.

Define “significant”. A bit oftiredness and/or sore arm for a couple of days isn’t significant. Of all the people I know in the UK, Singapore and Thailand, only one had “significant” side effects and that was over in a couple of days. They did feel bad for those two days though. so based on my little study, your statement “AZ and Pfizer likely to result in significant side effects,” is entirely false. agreed, sinovac seems even less likely to have significant side effects, but don’t play up what isn’t there on the others.

I had some fraudulent transaction on my Thai bank credit card. Reported them and got a full refund in 14 days. Not much fuss in the process at all.

Domestic tourists have long been the potential savior for tourism. Just look at other countries where staycations have been popular due to the uncertainty of international travel. it’s just that Thailand mistakenly opted for a Phuket sandbox for international travelers, thereby hitting every imaginable headwind, and at the same time killed domestic travel by cutting the island off from the rest of the country. it seems obvious to me that domestic tourism recovers before international tourism. Thailand missed out that step.

Yup, compared to Norwegians and Germans the ordinary thai people have a much better standard of health care. in other words, the survey is ridiculous in its content.

I think this hits the nail on the head. The readiness of any country to accept an influx of international tourists who, in the main, will wish to party to at least some extent and mingle freely, can be judged by the restrictions placed on its own residents. You can make the case that an island like Phuket is a special case because it can be segregated from the rest of the country and different rules applied within its confines, but curfews, alcohol restrictions and entertainment venue closures are a strong indication that the Covid situation is not considered to yet be adequately under control. but obviously some people will come and maybe 1% of the former level of visitors is better than nothing, but the governments own restrictions indicate Thailand isn’t ready for a mass influx of visitors, so perhaps it’s just as well that it is very unlikely to actually happen.

Indeed. But has the whole country ever performed 100k tests throughout the duration of one day? Not to my knowledge they haven’t. Not saying it can’t be done, just that afaik, it hasn’t been done so far.

I don’t think scientists are that worried about delta now. Seems to me they are worried that more cases will lead to a new and worse variant. Not sure quite how things ever get back to normal if that’s the case.