2 minutes ago, connda said:

Stupid regulations will abound until the elite in the countries begin to suffer financially.  When that happens the lid comes off the Lockdown and things go back to normal.  Until that time, expect to see some really silly stuff.

I can assure you that it is not the poor who own the shuttered five star hotels. The elite is already being impacted financially. The difference is that they can tolerate financial losses where the poor cannot.

1 hour ago, ukrules said:

I guess that's the end of any and all tourism to Cambodia until this is over.

 

What I don't understand is the need for both cash and insurance, why not just insurance?

 

Obviously with cash there's a lot more room for corruption.

Cash for embezzlement, insurance for if you actually get sick and need treatment so that the cash remains available for said embezzlement.

5 hours ago, problemfarang said:

yes. And also think like this: You go for a new NON-O ... 14 days in laos or cambodia and another 14 days in thailand... 28 days... damn

Also, to get the entry certificate for Thailand they are currently asking you to apply at least ten days before you enter.  Assuming that in person is the only way you can do it, and quarantine in the second country is strict, that's an extra ten days.

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

Just as well, saves me a fortune on flights, hotel bills, beer and hookers.

A fortune?? You mean a few hundred bucks?

44 minutes ago, Keyser Soze666 said:

A fortune?? You mean a few hundred bucks?

Well maybe he would normally enjoy boatloads of hookers and beer

1 hour ago, blackcab said:

It's worse than that. The announcement says that everyone will have to pay for $165 testing. Then, if any one person on the plane tests positive, everyone in the plane will be quarantined. Everyone will then pay $1,281 for their quarantine, whether they test positive or not. If you test positive, your treatment and quarantine will cost a minimum of $3,255.

 

First you need a $50,000 medical insurance policy and a covid 19 negative test in the previous 3 days.

 

Enter Cambodia, then pay for a test. You then have to gamble $1,281 and 14 days on whether anyone else in the flight has the virus. Hopefully, your health insurance will refund you for this part of the process. If everyone tests negative, it's self isolation at your home address/hotel and another test on day 13.

 

You must really, really need to enter Cambodia to go through that. One positive result and everyone is locked up.

 

this was exactly my point. lol and imagine Laos will do the same. So far Laos want only medical certificate and 14 days self-quarantine. No money so far.

 

22 minutes ago, vermin on arrival said:

Well maybe he would normally enjoy boatloads of hookers and beer

At .50 cents a beer and 5 bucks a hooker he really would have to. He must be exhausted when he gets home!

2 hours ago, BritTim said:

Actually, my expectation is that the passport country will not matter. I envisage all the countries in a travel bubble having the same quarantine requirement and other restrictions for those entering from infected countries. If, say, travelling from the US to Thailand, you would have to undergo quarantine in Thailand before onward travel to another Covid-19 free country within the bubble. That is what will enable relatively safe travel (even with full planes) between virus free countries. All this is going to take time to negotiate, but is clearly in the interests of the countries involved.

 

i agree with this one. I was also thinking the most important is where you are entering the country. If you are coming from a low-level danger country i think things will be different then someone coming directly from the USA or Brazil... 

8 hours ago, PerkinsCuthbert said:

I'm afraid it would have to be. Imagine the queues backing up if the IO had to flick through each passport to check each arrival, claiming to have come from a CV-19 free country where he/she has spent the previous 14 days.

They were easily able to do this the least time I passed through the airport,  took about 2 minutes.

Does anyone know a link for for official govt. news re tourism into Vietnam?(not heresay, please; I'm sitting in the US living a nation-wide panic attack)   Or any Asian country that's open?  I was kind of counting on Cambo...

 

Thank you

33 minutes ago, cubism001 said:

Does anyone know a link for for official govt. news re tourism into Vietnam?(not heresay, please; I'm sitting in the US living a nation-wide panic attack)   Or any Asian country that's open?  I was kind of counting on Cambo...

 

Thank you

Link: https://www.vietnam-immigration.org.vn/

Quote

It is informed that due to the COVID-19 outbreak recently, the Vietnam Government will deny to issue visa for ALL NATIONALITIES who enter Vietnam from Mar/15 to Apr/15/2020 (even if they already had the approval letter).

 

Please delay your trip and wait until everything is getting better.

The ban has been regularly extended, and is still in full force. Tourist entry into Vietnam (or any other Covid-19 free country) from the US is a long way in the future.

 

EDIT: Details as provided by IATA to member airlines:

Quote

Vietnam

Published 22.05.2020
1. Passengers are not allowed to enter Viet Nam.
- This does not apply to passengers on diplomatic or official duty. They will be subject to mandatory medical declaration and self-isolation.
- This does not apply to passengers who are experts, business managers or highly skilled workers. They will be subject to mandatory medical declaration and self-isolation.
- This does not apply to passengers approved by National Steering Committee on Covid-19 Prevention and Control.
2. For transportation of nationals of Vietnam returning to Vietnam, airlines must contact the Vietnamese Diplomatic Representative agency in the local country in advance.
3. All passengers will be placed on quarantine at a designated facility for 14 days upon arrival.
4. All visa issuances are suspended.
5. All passengers must fill out a quarantine form prior to arrival.
6. Passengers who travel for diplomatic or official purpose will undergo a medical examination at the border.
7. Nationals of Italy and Korea (Rep.) with a normal passport are no longer visa exempt.
8. Nationals of Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Spain, Sweden and passengers with a British passport are no longer visa exempt.
9. Passengers with a Certificate of Visa Exemption issued by Viet Nam are no longer visa exempt if they reside in China (People's Rep.), Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, Korea (Rep.), Norway, Spain, Sweden or United Kingdom.
10. Nationals of Belarus, Japan and Russian Fed. with a normal passport are no longer visa exempt.
11. Nationals of Belarus, Japan and Russian Fed. with a normal passport and with a Certificate of Visa Exemption issued by Viet Nam are no longer visa exempt.
12. Airline crew are subject to mandatory medical declaration as well as observing self-quarantine during their stay until the next flight schedule.

 

16 hours ago, PerkinsCuthbert said:

It's an absurd demand that will mean the end of mass tourism, upon which a significant section of the population has become dependent, if implemented long term; even more so with regards Thailand, if it imposes similar conditions.

..and impose they will

Expect tons of photo-copies too????

Don't worry, the other neighbor countries will follow soon with equal requirements. They just want to get rid of the people staying for years with the wrong visa as TV-ME, Non O-ME, so the border-and visa runners. Covid is a good reason to get rid of them and to force them to get the right visa with the financial requirements. Now they just jump over the border, spend nothing and they are gone for another 3 months.....That last, the financial requirements will be a problem for many.

I think you will see a full reversal of these policies in Thailand and Cambodia when no foreigners travel to the region and these places are as dead as a Dodo. Don't forget a lot of these decisions are made by Autocratic idiots who haven't a clue what is going on within the population.

 

Both Thailand and Cambodia have no qualms about reversing policies in 24 hours when it suits them.  They will also see that domestic tourism just is not filling the gap and the ridiculous entry restrictions that just will not work.

 

Moving on, the world is opening up as it is a balancing act between lives of a few against the economy for many, and we know which will win. The West has already accepted there will be further deaths, but that is the price to be paid or they risk anarchy and chaos. We are seeing this now in different forms.

 

I do not agree that it will be October or November, as many people are desperate now and won't be able to hang on that long.

non-o visa is DEAD IN THE WATER

10 minutes ago, Bender Rodriguez said:

non-o visa is DEAD IN THE WATER

What do you mean?

 

Can you expand on that statement?

I see Cambodia are not worried about starting up their tourism industry anytime soon.

Just now, cheapcanuck said:

I see Cambodia are not worried about starting up their tourism industry anytime soon.

 

And you get that information from where?

 

Cambodia is far more in need of tourism dollars than Thailand, which has a far bigger economy.

19 minutes ago, Scouse123 said:

I think you will see a full reversal of these policies in Thailand and Cambodia when no foreigners travel to the region and these places are as dead as a Dodo. Don't forget a lot of these decisions are made by Autocratic idiots who haven't a clue what is going on within the population.

 

Both Thailand and Cambodia have no qualms about reversing policies in 24 hours when it suits them.  They will also see that domestic tourism just is not filling the gap and the ridiculous entry restrictions that just will not work.

 

Moving on, the world is opening up as it is a balancing act between lives of a few against the economy for many, and we know which will win. The West has already accepted there will be further deaths, but that is the price to be paid or they risk anarchy and chaos. We are seeing this now in different forms.

 

I do not agree that it will be October or November, as many people are desperate now and won't be able to hang on that long.

Yup.  Zero percent chance they don't backtrack on the $3000 requirement.

3 hours ago, Vigilante said:

..and impose they will

Expect tons of photo-copies too????

Dwindling tourist numbers before corona showed what a busted flush Thailand was, 38baht=£1 don,t think i,'ll be back in a hurry,seem to remember similar crackpot schemes being mooted when aids appeared in the early 80s.

2 minutes ago, Oliver Holzerfilled said:

Yup.  Zero percent chance they don't backtrack on the $3000 requirement.

If they want to get any tourists this year, they will.

9 minutes ago, unheard said:

If they want to get any tourists this year, they will.

Excluding travel bubbles with a few Covid-19 free countries, I think they have already written off tourist income for the foreseeable future. If, by October, they can reach an agreement with China for supervised visits by Chinese tour groups, I believe they will be very satisfied.

 

EDIT: And being Covid-19 free is the only realistic chance they have of the Chinese authorities allowing visits by Chinese tour groups.

19 hours ago, Keyser Soze666 said:

Maybe an over reaction re the BLM thing, not sure that has come into their thinking tbh. But yea, I think us Westerners will be the last welcomed back in many countries..

 

As far as I can see BLM is only a problem when there are black people around.

So wouldn't it just be easier to deny entry to black people?

14 hours ago, Keyser Soze666 said:

At .50 cents a beer and 5 bucks a hooker he really would have to. He must be exhausted when he gets home!

Have you ever actually been to Cambodia ? Nearly everything is more expensive than Thailand.

2 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

 

As far as I can see BLM is only a problem when there are black people around.

So wouldn't it just be easier to deny entry to black people?

Indeed, and Jewish people were only a problem in Nazi Germany until they could be confined to ghettos and systematically exterminated. No Jews, no Jewish problem.

2 minutes ago, 4737 Carlin said:

Have you ever actually been to Cambodia ? Nearly everything is more expensive than Thailand.

Alcohol is dirt cheap, and food can be (albeit very poor quality).

1 minute ago, 4737 Carlin said:

Have you ever actually been to Cambodia ? Nearly everything is more expensive than Thailand.

I was there in March, almost everything was cheaper than Thailand.

Beer, cannabis, hookers, restaurants, hotels, taxi ....... all cheaper.

20 hours ago, PerkinsCuthbert said:

It's an absurd demand that will mean the end of mass tourism, upon which a significant section of the population has become dependent, if implemented long term; even more so with regards Thailand, if it imposes similar conditions.

end of mass tourism?

If this will happen, then the virus also has thankfully some good results. The mass tourism is one of the worst phenomenons of the last 10 years.

I read this on an international travel website this morning:

 

"It seems that some countries are competing with each other who can have the most draconian and traveler unfriendly entry requirements"

4 minutes ago, BritTim said:

Indeed, and Jewish people were only a problem in Nazi Germany until they could be confined to ghettos and systematically exterminated. No Jews, no Jewish problem.

So you can't tell the difference between 'victims' and 'troublemakers'?