100 billion baht rescue package for Thai tourism mooted - foreign tourists wanted before year's end

[sambum]

40 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

As usual, both the tourism officials and the administration are disconnected from reality. The government should be doing everything to help small businesses stay afloat. Instead it is doing next to nothing. That is how little they care. 

 

And the tourism officials don't get it either. What are they thinking? Thailand is so irrestible, that a tourist will spend $2,000 to $4,000 for quarantine, spend a two week prison sentence in a hotel room, and then be subject to extreme restrictions? What planet are these people living on? 

 

At this pace, it could be a year or two before tourism starts to recover here. And by that time, tens of thousands of hotels, guest houses and related businesses will be bankrupted, vacated, or sold for massive discounts. 

 

The other aspect of this that is not being taken into account, as most Thais do not plan for the future, is that the longer tourists stay away from Thailand, the harder it will be to get them to come back. 

 

At most, let tourists from Any nation feel free to come here, and go into quarantine. Then they are done. Zero restrictions. A few will come. It is next to zero risk for Thailand. 

 

Doing nothing is sadistic and keeps millions of people out of work long term. 

"Thailand is so irresistible, that a tourist will spend $2,000 to $4,000 for quarantine, spend a two week prison sentence in a hotel room, and then be subject to extreme restrictions? What planet are these people living on?" 

 

"the longer tourists stay away from Thailand, the harder it will be to get them to come back."

 

Absolutely correct on both counts, and in many cases I think they will NEVER come back having found more "tourist friendly" destinations. And of course, you have the knock on effect of them telling their friends and neighbours and workmates how "Amazing" Thailand really is!

[0815]

7 hours ago, NE1 said:

 

Have Europe and the countries mentioned got Covid under control now ?

Did i miss something ?

They were asking Donald. He said YES! All under my control!

[Aussie Col]

1 minute ago, Older bolder said:

If they think tourists are going to come in by the thousands with a lot of restrictions  they need to think again... if they are going to let some tourists in they need to sort things out now..ie flight going in,3 of the biggest tourist companies are pulling out Thailand now..

If they  don't they will lose 10's of millions in lost revenue and millions of jobs

[Aussie Col]

4 minutes ago, sambum said:

"Thailand is so irresistible, that a tourist will spend $2,000 to $4,000 for quarantine, spend a two week prison sentence in a hotel room, and then be subject to extreme restrictions? What planet are these people living on?" 

 

"the longer tourists stay away from Thailand, the harder it will be to get them to come back."

 

Absolutely correct on both counts, and in many cases I think they will NEVER come back having found more "tourist friendly" destinations. And of course, you have the knock on effect of them telling their friends and neighbours and workmates how "Amazing" Thailand really is!

Excellent post and so true

[Mung]

3 minutes ago, GAZZPA said:

oh well, we all must be misinformed then, all is well in the tourist industry, don't know what all the fuss is about cause your mates in Turkey so must be alright.... wake up.

the point is that people have been travelling in and around Europe for weeks. Here in the UK the airports have been open for a long time, and the reason we don't have insane infection rates are because we have understood how to minimise infection, while living a normal life. Most people will not chance going on holiday, but quite a few are. Thailand needs to stop acting so anal about this, and actually adopt and apply measures to allow the country to even try and thrive in such a crisis. It could technically not be over for a few years yet at a worst case scenario, will Thailand still have it's borders closed in 2023?

[CrunchWrapSupreme]

I'm a "tourist" already here, a teacher still on my amnesty extended tourist visa from my last run, before the Corona lockdown. When are you quit messing around, and just stamp my Non-B already?

 

Hotels aren't really my thing, as I'm already renting a condo, but I'll be happy to patronize plenty of the fine eating and drinking establishments desperate for customers, as I've been doing. ????????????????

[dallen52]

7 hours ago, ChipButty said:

50% discount on all beers you might get a few takers

That's a lot of beers consumed to make up for the 100k plus Coe and ASQ and Government priced flight. 

Plus Covid19 testing.

Pre flight.

On arrival. 

Day 11 of ASQ.

And of course the fit to fly medical certificate. 

And compulsory insurance coverage for the duration. 

I have a retirement extensions visa Non O. 

And a home in Buriram province, but the 140k baht cost of getting back to Thailand and my partner is just not feasible for me..

Not yet.

5 months out of LOS already,  but... life goes on. 

[tribalfusion001]

4 minutes ago, Mung said:

the point is that people have been travelling in and around Europe for weeks. Here in the UK the airports have been open for a long time, and the reason we don't have insane infection rates are because we have understood how to minimise infection, while living a normal life. Most people will not chance going on holiday, but quite a few are. Thailand needs to stop acting so anal about this, and actually adopt and apply measures to allow the country to even try and thrive in such a crisis. It could technically not be over for a few years yet at a worst case scenario, will Thailand still have it's borders closed in 2023?

Well, I've just booked for 4 days in Rome and 4 days in Athens. All the tourist attractions are pretty quiet, so I'm grabbing the chance to see them whilst they are, Airbnb rates have dropped too.

[Sujo]

I dont give a rats what thailand throws into the tourist industry to get me to go.

 

If the country i am in wants me to quarantine when i get back then im not going anywhere. No matter what thailand does.

 

My first choice at this stage is vietnam, i trust them more than the thai figures.

[GAZZPA]

11 minutes ago, sambum said:

"Under this plan only those from countries deemed to have the virus under control would be allowed entry and they would then be subject to quarantine and severe restrictions on where they are allowed to go." 

 

"Countries that would be eligible were China, Taiwan, the US and those in Europe"

 

With more than  5,000,000 (5 MILLION) cases, and HUNDREDS more each day (sometimes THOUSANDS) I would hardly deem them to have the virus under control - or do the Thai politicians believe everything that comes out of Trump's mouth in the same way as they believe everything their own Ministers say?

 

And even in Europe, with the number of cases in the UK sitting at 308,134, with 46,413 deaths and hundreds of new cases each day resulting in places like Leicester under lockdown again. and many other places facing new restrictions, I wouldn't think that they have it "under control"

(P.S. I am a Brit, and the way my countrymen ignore the rules is sickening - kudos to the majority of the Thai people for at least recognising the danger, and taking the advice seriously - pity the Army didn't!) 

 

get your facts straight fella,, there are not 308,134 cases sitting in the UK.. That is the total number of infected since this started... Most have recovered and new cases have fallen dramatically. There are 73 people in intensive care in the UK at the moment,, in a country with 70 million people this is quite literally a tiny drop in the ocean. 

 

The UK is managing it well, very well in my opinion. It is balancing the risk of the virus against opening the economy and treading the line cautiously. Yes there will always be idiots who dont practice social distancing in the UK and everywhere else including Thailand,, but I dont know 1 single person that ignores it and I see the 2 metre rule, masks and no crowds in shops everywhere i go without exception... Well done fellow Brits I say, we will get through this.. 

 

i think Thailand could learn a lot from the Brits regarding the virus and how to balance the economy... Yes Leicester had a "small" outbreak and they immeditaley locked down the city,,, well thats right isnt it? That is the way to do it, shut down the outbreak but let the other parts of the country continue cautiously, I don't know what you are talking about. At least here they are starting to allow people to go back to work (carefully) and getting money back in peoples pockets.. the virus is here, there is no perfect solution to dealing with it but the UK is doing a great job in my opinion, first in flattening the curve and now with cautious stimulation of the economy.. what have Thailand done apart from shut the doors and now living with a very real economic crisis?

[Sujo]

I had a meeting in kuala lumpur today. Got in an elevator and saw a strip of foam with lots of tooth pics. You take a toothpic and use it to push the floor number, then put it in a cup.

 

Never saw that before. Masks are compulsory.

 

Meeting the prime minister and the king on sunday, will be interesting the protocol protection for that.

[GAZZPA]

10 minutes ago, Mung said:

the point is that people have been travelling in and around Europe for weeks. Here in the UK the airports have been open for a long time, and the reason we don't have insane infection rates are because we have understood how to minimise infection, while living a normal life. Most people will not chance going on holiday, but quite a few are. Thailand needs to stop acting so anal about this, and actually adopt and apply measures to allow the country to even try and thrive in such a crisis. It could technically not be over for a few years yet at a worst case scenario, will Thailand still have it's borders closed in 2023?

I completely agree with all that. I amy have misunderstood your post, I thought you were trying to suggest this is all a hoax and everything is alright in the tourist industry, sorry fella. 2023 it could be, but I hope 2022 as it gives the virus 2 years to burn out which is pretty much the timeframe of pandemics of the past. but as i have just posted balance is the key, you cant stop it now,, but people need to eat so a cautious and controled balancing act is needed which Thailand seem incapable of doing.

 

[Dialemco]

1 hour ago, jwbrit said:

OK look, forget tourism for a while. It can't happen. Your focus should be on encouraging businesses to relocated from China to Thailand. While you're sleeping businesses are moving to Vietnam and they will be the big winner. Get in the real game.

Bit to late they are relocating to Vietnam

[Jumbo1968]

6 minutes ago, Sujo said:

I had a meeting in kuala lumpur today. Got in an elevator and saw a strip of foam with lots of tooth pics. You take a toothpic and use it to push the floor number, then put it in a cup.

 

Never saw that before. Masks are compulsory.

 

Meeting the prime minister and the king on sunday, will be interesting the protocol protection for that.

There are ways and means of managing Covid, the Thai way is close the borders and let businesses go bust and people starve.

[GAZZPA]

4 minutes ago, Jumbo1968 said:

There are ways and means of managing Covid, the Thai way is close the borders and let businesses go bust and people starve.

sad but true.

 

[Enoon]

40 minutes ago, sambum said:

 

And even in Europe, with the number of cases in the UK sitting at 308,134, with 46,413 deaths and hundreds of new cases each day resulting in places like Leicester under lockdown again. and many other places facing new restrictions, I wouldn't think that they have it "under control"

 

 

"Under control" means having it within manageable limits, being able to quickly identify and isolate outbreaks, preventing it from consuming an "unacceptable" level of healthcare resource.

 

The same as applies to any disease outbreak.

 

It is not the same as Eradication, which is what many seem to think it means.

 

We live with it and carry on, as we had to (until an oral vaccine enabled near eradication) with outbreaks of Polio.

 

Problem for Thailand is that it is unable to contemplate a situation in which it has to concede what its "controllers" know full well.....that it only has, like everyone else, a tenuous control.

 

Hence all the lies, obfuscation and unworkable schemes, as it continues its desperate efforts to create the "image" of eradication.

 

The "leadership" will see the people starving before it abandons its self-delusion of golden, glittering, exceptional.....perfection.

 

 

 

 

[LivinLOS]

7 hours ago, ezzra said:

this is sound like a PR stunt and for public consumption to show that the are still relevant and justify their positions and big salaries 

Quote

The Association of Thai Travel Agents' (ATTA) chief Wichit Prakopkoson promoted the "Save (sic) and Sealed" travel plan

Clearly slogans like that is worth the big bucks ????

[sitanonchai]

I'm not interested,

 

To get some tourist back ;

 

- stop double standards

- same price for thai/farang at all venues

- get rid of this corrupt government and replace all policemen with real policemen

- stop cheating tourist

- safe roads

- etc etc

 

I can go on for hours but the 3 monkies will never understand.

 

Situation will worsen by the day and I don't mind.

 

 

[Airbagwill]

so the hotels are begging for money and government advisors ae saying stricter border vigilance is required.

 

As the nature of this country's government tends towards "law & order" via dictums their natural bias is towards strict controls....... it will be interesting if they can relinquish their inbuilt  flex actions enough to save the economy from total collapse.

 

despite their low ?Covid figures the baht is receiving a huge international battering, so it looks as if the international community are not impressed with this governments reliance of states of emergencies and nape-of-the-neck dictums.

[Airbagwill]

2 minutes ago, sitanonchai said:

I'm not interested,

 

To get some tourist back ;

 

- stop double standards

- same price for thai/farang at all venues

- get rid of this corrupt government and replace all policemen with real policemen

- stop cheating tourist

- safe roads

- etc etc

 

I can go on for hours but the 3 monkies will never understand.

 

Situation will worsen by the day and I don't mind.

 

 

All very laudable, but has absolutely nothing to do with the present crisis which issued on the governments handling of Covid.

Before Covid even with the faults you point out, they managed to attract nearly 40 million visitors - that is now almost zero..... a big slice out of 20% of the Thai economy.

[GAZZPA]

8 hours ago, ezzra said:

this is sound like a PR stunt and for public consumption to show that the are still relevant and justify their positions and big salaries where many airlines are not predicting things to go back to normal anytime soon but that will not those talking heads from dreaming big...

PR stunt! what part, the thousands of mass graves currently happening in South America? The thousands of scientists and the worlds best virologists working round the clock to find a vaccine? Who exactly is coordinating this global PR stunt,, be specific please..

[tribalfusion001]

6 minutes ago, Airbagwill said:

All very laudable, but has absolutely nothing to do with the present crisis which issued on the governments handling of Covid.

Before Covid even with the faults you point out, they managed to attract nearly 40 million visitors - that is now almost zero..... a big slice out of 20% of the Thai economy.

A very big slice out 21.6% in 2018 I read recently. I saw an infographic on this forum, the Chinese were around 48% of their tourism, western countries wasn't high as I thought they would be. It will be a very slow recovery for Thai tourism.

 

Found it on Google, March 2019. Most of the biggest countries tourists come from are either locked or have 14 day state quarantine when returning.

[androokery]

5 hours ago, Destiny1990 said:

Someone explain to him that nobody from Europe is even thinking about flying to Asia without a working vaccine so meanwhile the tourist industry workers better should shift back to farming rice.

 

Nobody? That’s not true. 

[heist]

Remember when it was all about flattening the curve? 

[GAZZPA]

3 minutes ago, androokery said:

Nobody? That’s not true. 

yes it is... 100% true. 

[DrTuner]

1 hour ago, ukrules said:

If Thailand really has had no mass spread of this virus of whatever it mutated from then it will quickly become the worst currently affected country in the world at the time.

 

Everyone news channel will be watching, everyone will be talking and reporting on it as they go through the same stages that other countries like the UK, Spain, Italy and France have already been through.

Interesting view. That would be an absolutely massive, world destroying loss of face for Thais. When everyone else has it under control already and Thailand becomes the last lost tribe in the Amazons ravaged by the latest mutation.

 

Might explain the paranoia.

[paulikens]

4 minutes ago, GAZZPA said:

yes it is... 100% true. 

@GAZZPA no it isnt. you and @Destiny1990 are talking nonsense,as i put in a previous post. people in europe are flying and will carry on flying with or without a vaccine including asia if they do open up. were not all wussies!!

[GAZZPA]

7 minutes ago, tribalfusion001 said:

A very big slice out 21.6% in 2018 I read recently. I saw an infographic on this forum, the Chinese were around 48% of their tourism, western countries wasn't high as I thought they would be. It will be a very slow recovery for Thai tourism.

 

Found it on Google, March 2019. Most of the biggest countries tourists come from are either locked or have 14 day state quarantine when returning.

its my understanding that Thailand barely makes the top 10 in global tourists. of course for a developing country that still means it relies heavily on those people because still 40 million. People will not be travelling but when they do I believe there are countries better placed to attract the tourists due to silly thai regulations, it just wont be worth it. for me its local all the way for the next couple of years, and after that Spain or Portugal if i fancy a bit of extra sunshine. long haul will be absolutely no,, i think many think the same.

[fangless]

8 hours ago, johng said:

Dirty foreigners,  please come back all is forgiven !

But you cannot take part in our activities, like the midnight marathon!!

[fraggleRock]

I think all the traffic is one way... OUT ... your moronic TAT.... no one wants to come here, after 15 years of living here I never want to return... its a floating turd in a barrel surrounded by hookers, scammers, killers corruption, drunk drivers commiting hit and run and high level homosexuals in power...