Koh Samui hotels to be proposed for alternate state quarantine

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

He also informed that tourists must travel via Thai Airways and must be quarantined in ASQ hotels. After 14 days of quarantine, the tourists will be allowed to travel in the island with special wristbands, which would show that they are not infected by the virus.

Sounds more like leper island !!!

[american2]

This is disgusting.  I smell major bribes here.

[sambum]

3 hours ago, phetphet said:

Don't forget being forced to use Thai Airways and pay their exorbitant fares.

Perhaps a new method to try and get them out of the s**t they are in. Can't see many tourists taking this up. 

The only other alternative to Thai Airways is Bangkok Air, and they (a) are not "approved", and (b) are not exactly cheap either - it normally costs less to fly from BKK to Phuket, which is much further away. A friend of mine who was on his way back to the UK from Australia wanted to have a stopover on Samui, but refused to pay the exorbitant fare, and stayed elsewhere. "Why do Bangkok Airways charge so much to fly into Samui?" he asked  - "Because they can" is my bog standard reply! 

[robertson468]

Typical Thai muddled thinking.  This will not happen and if this is the best you can do I suggest you get another job.

[Nanaplaza666]

Someone high up must have some investments in the samui hotels and some friends with Thaiairways . A bit of a monopoly in my mind . How about bangkok airways and people renting out their houses and smaller hotels ??? Geuss they don't give a !@#$ about them . The whole island is dead and again they are trying to help the richest first . 

[terryofcrete]

They can stuff that in their Mamma Soup ! They can have my money again when They have to beg for it .

[connda]

The Thai government should find some of the smaller islands and start the Cheap Charlie and Backpacker Cast-away Quarantine Service.

For 1/3rd the price of an ASQ Thai Quarantine hotel visitors are dumped on a deserted Thai island for 14 days and left to fend for themselves. 

Edited August 18, 2020 by connda

[fraggleRock]

Well at the rate MOST of Europe is shutting down again and requiring 2 weeks quarantine on return for these countries I very much think, if at all anyone will be coming or can afford to take out 6 weeks minimum and the large costs for a deserted beach and nothing open.... Thailand are delusional, no ones coming as no one want to do two weeks on return also.   Koh Samui was known as having 'hostiles' enough already, now it must be horrendous.  Now known as guys here state, 'the leapers island'.

[Dice Man]

3 hours ago, miamiman123 said:

Who comes up w this stuff??? 
2 weeks in buri ram??? No way 

What was Anutin's 1st Prize?

[Miami007]

4 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

I actually think this is a sensible idea, if (repeat 'IF') it is open to all nationalities, and perhaps tweaked a little bit to make it more reasonable. And yes, all the residents who have been locked out would use it to return. So what? That is a good thing in my book.

 

Samui has a huge number of 'Snowbirds' that return every year, and it makes sense to figure out a way for them to return; it would likely make the difference between a total collapse of a tourist industry and one that hangs on by the skin of its fingertips until things return to (somewhat) normal. I am not sure of numbers, but over the years I have heard that there are around 10,000 people who 'winter' on the island (anyone have a number?) and given the number of cheap-ish rental houses, I believe that; in Mae Nam alone there are many, many houses that get rented out for 3-6 months a year, every year. Finally, many of those 'Snowbirds' are friends of mine, and I have already received 15+ inquiries from them, asking about the situation on the ground, if people are coming, and if I thought they could/should come; there IS a demand. 

 

If done properly and not too stupidly, this could work and could provide enough assistance to the island that it doesn't collapse economically. Yes, a big "IF', but...

 

Full speed ahead, I say.

 

PS If the national tourism people had a brain, they'd be chasing down all the Snowbirds/Long-Stayers they could find from any/all countries and creating a way for them to return all over the country; mass tourism isn't a good idea this year and won't happen, but getting the Long-Stayers back would provide enough life support to tide the industry over until such a time that the "10 Day Millionaires" can return and blow their wads.

 

Snowbirds, returning expats, retirees may be the only segments that would potentially be interested in that plan.  No typical 1-2 week tourist will fly on a bankrupt airline, then get locked into a hotel room at a high price for 7 days and then spend the next 7 days at the pool, gym in the hotel.  

This plan was created without taking into account what tourists want and are willing to do.  Most tourists will either visit other countries with less hassle or stay home altogether.

[dallen52]

5 hours ago, Eindhoven said:

 

 Anutin has already had a hotel in Buri Ram 'approved' for ASQ.

 

 

Thats why i couldn't home isolate in Buriram province. 

Someone has a hotel earmarked for making a few isolation $$$

[Sheryl]

3 minutes ago, Miami007 said:

Snowbirds, returning expats, retirees may be the only segments that would potentially be interested in that plan.  No typical 1-2 week tourist will fly on a bankrupt airline, then get locked into a hotel room at a high price for 7 days and then spend the next 7 days at the pool, gym in the hotel.  

This plan was created without taking into account what tourists want and are willing to do. 

 

or that tourists aren't being allowed in, period.

 

Neither are retirees unless married to or parents of a Thai.

[Miami007]

2 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

How about instead picking the responsible, prudent middle ground, by....

 

--continuing to require testing and mandatory quarantine for inbound international travelers, but perhaps opening up the numbers and categories allowed in by expanding the current ASQ program to help tourism dependent parts of the economy. And...

 

--continuing to have a pretty much normally functioning economy (apart from the decline in tourists) by encouraging continued safety precautions among the local population such as mask wearing, social distancing, etc...

 

international travelers do not want to deal with a quarantine on arrival or return as most do not have an unlimited amount of vacation days!  Only retired, wealthy self-employed or non-working rich can afford 14 days of quarantine followed by a 1 week vacation followed by 14 days of quarantine when they return home.

The sad fact is that more than 99% of the population (even in the USA) is Covid-free.  We are locking up healthy people for the small chance of them having an illness that most people survive with mild or no symptoms anyway.

[dallen52]

3 hours ago, miamiman123 said:

Who comes up w this stuff??? 
2 weeks in buri ram??? No way 

Suits me.

And probably several thousand people who have Issan homes and families. 

But we are stuck out of Thailand. 

[3NUMBAS]

papering over the cracks again

[TERMINATOR3AB]

Wow   to go on holiday  in Thailand  I  will  need to  morgage  my house  

Only  get 4  weeks   so  2 weeks  in  Q   in Thailand  then  2 weeks Q back at  home  

Wonderful  holiday   hahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok  if I did do this  long  way from  Airport  to hotels  how  do you put the  virus on hold during this transfer?

Never  work  dream  on Thailand  

Oh  my country  not let  Thailand planes fly  into  it  anyway  untill at  least  maybe  12 months  or  more 

So why  put Australia  on thier  list  ??

[TERMINATOR3AB]

Sorry  forgot to mention if they allow  China to  come  no  way  would I be  there

 

China  made this all  happen  never trust  them

[CygnusX1]

8 minutes ago, TERMINATOR3AB said:

Oh  my country  not let  Thailand planes fly  into  it  anyway  untill at  least  maybe  12 months  or  more 

So why  put Australia  on thier  list  ??

Australians won’t even be able to travel freely within their own country for at least the next 18 months, according to a recent Government announcement.

[0815]

4 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

I actually think this is a sensible idea, if (repeat 'IF') it is open to all nationalities, and perhaps tweaked a little bit to make it more reasonable. And yes, all the residents who have been locked out would use it to return. So what? That is a good thing in my book.

 

Samui has a huge number of 'Snowbirds' that return every year, and it makes sense to figure out a way for them to return; it would likely make the difference between a total collapse of a tourist industry and one that hangs on by the skin of its fingertips until things return to (somewhat) normal. I am not sure of numbers, but over the years I have heard that there are around 10,000 people who 'winter' on the island (anyone have a number?) and given the number of cheap-ish rental houses, I believe that; in Mae Nam alone there are many, many houses that get rented out for 3-6 months a year, every year. Finally, many of those 'Snowbirds' are friends of mine, and I have already received 15+ inquiries from them, asking about the situation on the ground, if people are coming, and if I thought they could/should come; there IS a demand. 

 

If done properly and not too stupidly, this could work and could provide enough assistance to the island that it doesn't collapse economically. Yes, a big "IF', but...

 

Full speed ahead, I say.

 

PS If the national tourism people had a brain, they'd be chasing down all the Snowbirds/Long-Stayers they could find from any/all countries and creating a way for them to return all over the country; mass tourism isn't a good idea this year and won't happen, but getting the Long-Stayers back would provide enough life support to tide the industry over until such a time that the "10 Day Millionaires" can return and blow their wads.

 

What's a snowbird please ?

[Virt]

Not returning to Thailand with the restrictions they suggest.

 

And quarantine does not equal 0 new covid 19 cases.

Looks towards Australia where 99% of the current outbreak leads back to those people quarantined at hotels.

 

Thailand is naive if they think they can keep their current numbers so low, when they open up borders.

They have to accept that numbers will rise no matter what, and then just deal with it, if they want tourism to return.

 

Personally i can live with missing a few vacations to Thailand and visit other countries instead, but it's sad for those people struggling on Samui and other places in Thailand that has tourists as their main income.

 

Looking forward to the day we all can look back at covid 19 as as closed chapter.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

26 minutes ago, Miami007 said:

 

The sad fact is that more than 99% of the population (even in the USA) is Covid-free.  We are locking up healthy people for the small chance of them having an illness that most people survive with mild or no symptoms anyway.

 

Percentages are great, until you start looking at the actual numbers...

 

 

40-50,000 new diagnosed cases per day in the U.S., and lately been running 1000+ CV deaths per day (the above numbers are a bit light because they reflect a Monday's tally).

 

[0815]

4 hours ago, Megasin1 said:

Countless posts of regurgitated crappe which are not in the least newsworthy. On a similar note I bought a lottery ticket this week and may win, I also may not but it can depend on many things. I have conducted a survey within my family but alas, with a 1 in 140 million chance they are not very positive about my chances. Whatever happened to the good old days when we had videos of motorcyclists driving into railway crossing barriers, real events that didn't originate from travel companies in Germany with a following of 150? Come on ThaiVisa please try a little harder, surely you can do better than these constant maybes, possibles and other contless rubbish......please....

I could also do with some advice on what action to take when you seem to have a non-functioning amulet....

Headlines and advertising make money ...

[mybeat]

Weird that they say Germany and not EU, I wonder if they will check for residency.

 

After 14 days travel only in island? No thanks, but I wonder if guests could come visit.

 

 

[Johnnyy]

Well my planned Samui holiday in November doesn’t look like much fun....

[Tidybeard]

That's a bummer .... the tourists must fly by Thai Air, but Thai Air don't fly to Samui.... only Bangkok Air.

I feel some money changing hands ...

[Aussie Col]

They let let people back in now with families here NOW,and let them people self isolate in their homes or hotels near their homes

[Sheryl]

8 minutes ago, Aussie Col said:

They let let people back in now with families here NOW,and let them people self isolate in their homes or hotels near their homes

 

No, they do not.

 

No self-isolation, only supervised isolation in designated Alternative State Quarantine facilities. In most cases not near their homes but as absolutely no visitors and no going outside the facility wouldn't  really matter even if it were.

[tribalfusion001]

A wristband that has GPS tracking probably just in case you try to escape to the mainland. Lamai and Chaweng are ghost towns with nothing open, great holiday this sounds.

[PumpkinEater]

After two weeks in lockdown...why the wristband? 
Quit this illogic mentality of “Only countries w low infection rate”...If the person is tested BEFORE flight and at entry into LOS then ALL countries should be included.

Just because I am a US Citizen does not mean that I have the Covid.. I don't, and can test to prove it.

I detest categorization!

[tribalfusion001]

23 minutes ago, PumpkinEater said:

After two weeks in lockdown...why the wristband? 
Quit this illogic mentality of “Only countries w low infection rate”...If the person is tested BEFORE flight and at entry into LOS then ALL countries should be included.

Just because I am a US Citizen does not mean that I have the Covid.. I don't, and can test to prove it.

I detest categorization!

It has written on the wristband either "dirty farang" or "virus spreading commie"...