Multi-ministry drive to open up Thailand to foreign tourism by October 1st, tourism minister

[AndresSP]

5 minutes ago, chaihot said:

I just can't figure out how they know how much I spent and tipped on the Soi.  Even I don't know those numbers!

Yeah, sometimes me neither! The figures are likely based on the data provided by hotels, shopping malls etc. Those revenue streams matter much more for the government than the off-the-books economy. But even those numbers can be roughly figured out with data from Currency exchanges, atm withdrawals and such.

[QPRFC]

21 hours ago, darksidedog said:

I wonder what restrictions they will be planning for the lucky travelers who are obviously queuing already to kick the door down to get in?

I'll only kick the door down to come and clear out my apartment, have a few drinks with friends and then return to Vietnam asap! 

[Stoker58]

“Don’t panic! Don’t panic!”

They should just open the borders. All the silly restrictions they dream up will never work. No one wants to come to Thailand for 14 days of house arrest.

[ThailandRyan]

2 hours ago, bluesofa said:

Could be reminiscent for them, reminding them of the Wuhan lock-down earlier in the year, with reports of apartments being welded shut.

TAT's new slogan "Come visit from China and reminisce about your time locked in your house while enjoying the fine room and the view from the windows here in Thailand"

[CANSIAM]

1 hour ago, Andycoops said:

But as we have just learned 2 people who tested negative upon returning to Thailand were found to be positive more than 2 weeks later having spent the 14 days in quarantine.

The whole virus situation is a can of worms with no end in sight until vaccines are proved to work.

Could be an attempt to let the people think emergency decree is necessary much longer. Probably had a few beers with infected friends, Thailands tests per million extremely low, Rwanda Africa has more tests done. 

[RubbaJohnny]

Astronomical predictions used by TAT

 

1 Create a HUB (Thai speciality)

2 Extend to a Hubble 

3 Voila your Hubble Bubble

 

let them wrigley outta the hubba bubba, sheesh

[sandyf]

14 hours ago, NoComment said:

They just want the CHINESE to return.

The country that has destroyed the world economy and The Kingdom's tourism industry.

I personally will never understand the reliance on China.

The Kingdom can/has supported itself for many years. The Baht remains strong. 

Why oh why do they want to ruin everything by inviting the return of the Chinese.

Do they think that the USA, Brits, Aussie, German, Indian, the world, will be rushing to plan vacations surrounded by spitting, arrogant, unhygienic Chinese tourists?

The backpackers won't even visit. 

Look what has happened in Laos. A Western tourist(1 week or more) is as rare as rocking horse s**t because of the Chinese.

Cambodia and Vietnam must be rubbing their hands together with glee in anticipation for the influx of tourists.

I wish the powers that be at the very top would understand and put a stop to it all.

And who said McCarthyism was dead.

You are obviously so caught up in your own little world you cannot see what is around you, parts of Thailand are littered with Chinese graveyards and you wonder why there is an affiliation with China. I can only assume that you are one of those that would prefer to forget your country's past.

My wife is second generation Chinese with quite an extensive family that all live by both Thai and Chines tradition. Some of the comments on this forum are quite offensive and it is time the mods put a stop to this racist abuse.

 

Immigration continued over the following years, and the Chinese population in Thailand jumped from 230,000 in 1825 to 792,000 by 1910. By 1932, approximately 12.2 percent of the population of Thailand was Chinese.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_Chinese#:~:text=Immigration continued over the following,population of Thailand was Chinese.&text=Therefore%2C it became common for,to marry local Thai women.

[the green light]

You are being brainwashed to beleive in this stupid idea of " quarantine"...NObODY WILL COME TO THAILAND TO BE LOCKED IN HIS HOTEL FOR 2 weeks and pay $2,000. I want to see the "stupid tourist" who salavating to come to thailand and pay such a sum to pay for his jail cell for 2 weeks? it is totally absurd. NOBODY is adament in love with thailand to come over and pay money to be in self impose prison after beign tested negative in his country.  I can see be locked with 20 gorgous girls like somebody overseas we know.. that makes sense the $2k money. 

 

Testing and quarantine does not garuantee health safety. There is always a risk.

 

So Thailand must do what the rest of the world is doing live with this pandemic.

 

 

 

 

[the green light]

42 minutes ago, sandyf said:

And who said McCarthyism was dead.

You are obviously so caught up in your own little world you cannot see what is around you, parts of Thailand are littered with Chinese graveyards and you wonder why there is an affiliation with China. I can only assume that you are one of those that would prefer to forget your country's past.

My wife is second generation Chinese with quite an extensive family that all live by both Thai and Chines tradition. Some of the comments on this forum are quite offensive and it is time the mods put a stop to this racist abuse.

 

Immigration continued over the following years, and the Chinese population in Thailand jumped from 230,000 in 1825 to 792,000 by 1910. By 1932, approximately 12.2 percent of the population of Thailand was Chinese.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_Chinese#:~:text=Immigration continued over the following,population of Thailand was Chinese.&text=Therefore%2C it became common for,to marry local Thai women.

this guy is not talking about marrying a thai chinese woman--good for you. and he is not a racist by observation but a fact. live with it. this guys is right in his assessment.

 

The other guy is talking about the slob chinese tourists that comes to thailand-- just a number for TAT. they have no respect of thai culture, walks on old relic walls, shove and

push everywhere you go and fill cheap restaurant ,Never spend money on anything expensive

 

let us not burst the tahi tourisn bubble.. th governmetn will not let their people leave.

 

the only toursim that spend money on everything and support the lower class people are the Farangs and retirees. There are in thailand to spend money only.

 

[at15]

good to see some discussion of progress. a lot of you guys are not in touch with reality, if still completely closed 6 months from now there would be zero 1-2 star resorts/hotels left in tourist areas, a year from now your talking about 3-4 star ones closing down. not gonna happen. 

 

my prediction is q4 2020 for some of these safe countries in the region. USA will be allowed to enter in q1 2021 (some hoops to jump through but nothing absurd). 

Edited August 20, 2020 by at15

[Andy185]

twin countries , what is this supposed to mean ?

I heard they were thinking of opening up Phuket first but nothing certain yet 

[TonBrow]

On 8/19/2020 at 9:43 AM, JoePai said:

As long as they are quarantined properly I can see no problem

They will have to add lower cost hotels to their Alternative State Quarantine (ASQ) list, if they expect any foreign tourists. Currently, the minimum cost is 30,000/15 days in a 5-star hotel. All the quarantine facilities for foreigners are in the most expensive 5-star hotels in Bangkok and Phuket. The average cost is around 70,000/15 days with the higher end reaching about 200,000 and up.

[BernieOnTour]

On 8/19/2020 at 5:28 AM, RotBenz8888 said:

Thailand and China.

 

23 hours ago, AndrewMciver said:

"TWINNING"

 

A new version of saying 'CHINA' version 2453

Yep, essentially, 1st October means: the Chinese “Golden Week”

[CANSIAM]

11 hours ago, MRToMRT said:

How about a "retiree to Thailand" bubble/twinning. I have given you 30 years of my taxable and now retirement life and money and now you just cast me aside.

 

We don't even get a mention. 

 

 

Exactly, its utter BS, all the plans one reads daily trying to get the 7-14-30 day tourists back, but the retirees overlooked and keeping that 800+k in their banks.

[robert888d]

Every week they say something different. 

[vermin on arrival]

8 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 The UK... with one of the highest CV fatality rates among the countries in the world... ya think...not a great example? 

 

Yes, but a lot of that was due to poor policies at nursing homes (as in so many countries) and at hospitals. Apparently 20% of the infected were infected during their visits to the hospital.

[Redline]

Obviously twin means China 

[Aussie Col]

18 hours ago, Andrew65 said:

Who's gonna go on holiday to spend a week or two in quarantine? Quite expensive, and also that alcohol is banned in the official places in Thailand. I would think there will be much better & cheaper options elsewhere.

Make i easier for Fanargs to return and they will, but not with 2 weeks quarantine.

If they must quarantine make it easier to quarantine to near where they are going to stay

[vermin on arrival]

8 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Thailand, in the end, took the steps necessary to control and limit the virus in the country, and avoided the kinds of mass deaths and illnesses seen elsewhere.

 

Other countries like the U.S. abjectly failed to do so, and have paid the price not only in economic losses, but also in hundreds of thousands of dead citizens.

 

Between the two, I know where I'd want to be living right now.

 

 

 

Yes, but it's not an either or. It's not complete shut down of borders and attempt for total suppression of the virus or complete uncontrolled epidemic. There are middle paths. Just because I might be criticizing certain aspects of what Thailand has done does not mean I am espousing the "policies (or non policies)" or situation in the US or Brazil or wherever. Thailand did some good things and some bad things. Certainly, I am not planning on going back to the US any time soon. It seems whenever someone says something is not it seems in Thailand or offers some critique on Thailand in any way some people come back with the argument that the only alternative is the situation in the situation in the US, and this is not true. This does not foster a reasonable discussion to get to the full truth of the issue.

 

If I could just get back home to Taiwan, I wouldn't even be discussing things in the forum because I would have a life, but I am trapped here with my life destroyed due to the suppression policies in the region (no way to get back even getting  tests and quarantines since I am just a normal guy and don't qualify for the special permits as the big shots do-I am in a complicated situation with no end in sight) Have a good day : )

[vermin on arrival]

7 hours ago, Andycoops said:

But as we have just learned 2 people who tested negative upon returning to Thailand were found to be positive more than 2 weeks later having spent the 14 days in quarantine.

The whole virus situation is a can of worms with no end in sight until vaccines are proved to work.

They are probably immune with small particles of dead virus being picked up in the final test.

[FarFlungFalang]

5 hours ago, sandyf said:

And who said McCarthyism was dead.

You are obviously so caught up in your own little world you cannot see what is around you, parts of Thailand are littered with Chinese graveyards and you wonder why there is an affiliation with China. I can only assume that you are one of those that would prefer to forget your country's past.

My wife is second generation Chinese with quite an extensive family that all live by both Thai and Chines tradition. Some of the comments on this forum are quite offensive and it is time the mods put a stop to this racist abuse.

 

Immigration continued over the following years, and the Chinese population in Thailand jumped from 230,000 in 1825 to 792,000 by 1910. By 1932, approximately 12.2 percent of the population of Thailand was Chinese.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_Chinese#:~:text=Immigration continued over the following,population of Thailand was Chinese.&text=Therefore%2C it became common for,to marry local Thai women.

About 4 or 5 years ago they pulled a 200 year old Chinese boat out of a creek where I live which is half way between Yasothon and Amnat Charoen!

[balo]

1. October will work, as long as everyone are willing to risk they could get infected by this virus. 
Because the virus will live for many years, vaccine or not.  

So you as a tourist have to accept you could get sick. Your insurance company also have to accept it.  There are no easy ways out of this, but we need tourism back , our businesses back. 

Social distancing is the key, I would stay away from crowds if I can. 

 


 

[sandyf]

6 hours ago, the green light said:

The other guy is talking about the slob chinese tourists that comes to thailand-- just a number for TAT. they have no respect of thai culture, walks on old relic walls, shove and

push everywhere you go and fill cheap restaurant ,Never spend money on anything expensive

 

Of course it is racist, and has been since the days of McCarthy, and Trump has again picked up the baton.

I have been to China a couple of times, niece was at uni there, and in some respects they are streets ahead of the west. China is an insulated country and the Chinese have developed their own social environment and I would be the first to say it is not quite in keeping with western etiquette, western nations however have no excuse for their anti-social behaviour.

The xenophobic rhetoric on this forum goes much deeper than cultural or social differences.

[richard_smith237]

4 minutes ago, sandyf said:

Of course it is racist, and has been since the days of McCarthy, and Trump has again picked up the baton.

I have been to China a couple of times, niece was at uni there, and in some respects they are streets ahead of the west. China is an insulated country and the Chinese have developed their own social environment and I would be the first to say it is not quite in keeping with western etiquette, western nations however have no excuse for their anti-social behaviour.

The xenophobic rhetoric on this forum goes much deeper than cultural or social differences.

 

I know... we’re probably a little too ‘nanny state’ with our over reactions and over sensitivities to human rights issues.

We’d probably not want to ethnically cleanse a minority group like the Uyghur.

We’re not business savvy enough to force labor camps and impossibly low minimum wages and we most definitely are too weak to force land grabs outside of our territorial waters. 

 

I agree, our western etiquette is too weak....   I also think we are way too harsh on the Saudi’s, they’re great too.

 

I think its about time the US started illegally key-logging apps on phones, how else are they to get ahead in business ????

 

 

(yes, all of the above was sarcasm and satire aimed at an incredibly overly apologist post !)

 

 

 

 

[AndrewMciver]

Genuine question - has Thailand become a Chinese state? 

[DrTuner]

34 minutes ago, AndrewMciver said:

Genuine question - has Thailand become a Chinese state? 

More like an oligarchy run by SINO-thai vassals. It's a fully controlled proxy.

[sandyf]

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

I know... we’re probably a little too ‘nanny state’ with our over reactions and over sensitivities to human rights issues.

We’d probably not want to ethnically cleanse a minority group like the Uyghur.

We’re not business savvy enough to force labor camps and impossibly low minimum wages and we most definitely are too weak to force land grabs outside of our territorial waters. 

 

I agree, our western etiquette is too weak....   I also think we are way too harsh on the Saudi’s, they’re great too.

 

I think its about time the US started illegally key-logging apps on phones, how else are they to get ahead in business ????

 

 

(yes, all of the above was sarcasm and satire aimed at an incredibly overly apologist post !)

 

 

 

 

Remind me 

How long is it since segregation stopped in US schools or MLK tried to have a dream.

Which countries profited from selling Africans to America.

Who introduced Agent Orange into Vietnam.

Who gave the slightest thought for the Red Indians, or the Aborigines.

 

Every country has a past they would rather forget, but it doesn't stop them getting on the moral high ground, does it?

[Walter Travolta]

23 hours ago, rayw said:

Of course they wont and rationally should not need quarantining if from a similar COVID successfully managed country as Thailand.  Will be no point in any quarantine if say we allow tourism to and from say New Zealand or China which we can sensibly tourism twin with and where there is currently no Covid case much like Thailand.  But of course badly Governed countries like USA and UK (my own now sad homeland) would and must still need full quarantine for those that are essential travellers into Thialand, like husbands returning here to their Thai wives, and especially those with children. 

 

Way too much cynicism and negativity is expressed here on TVF, as I honestly think that the Thai Governmetn have handled this COVID crisis surprisingly very well, even if a little over the top at times (like the pointless alcohol ban for example).  However, I believe that a little too much precaution is far better than not enough as we see so stupidly in the USA and UK for example.  I personally am very glad I live here in Thailand where i feel far safer than if I still lived in the badly governed UK where COVID is truly still rife and a big problem. 

 

I have some positive hope for this hopefully soon to be available Sputnik 5 COVID 19 vaccine from Russia, which is one of the few places along with China that I trust these days to produce a safe vaccine and not for profit but for true care of people and public health. I say that logically and evidence based rationally, rather than politically.  I hope Thailand do the right thng and welcome this new very promiosing Russian vaccine too so it is soon readily available here and at low cost.  Apparently I understand that it should be supplied at not much, if any, more than development + produiction + distribution costs.  I would certainly trust a COVID virus from Russia once it has been passed by them as safe for distribution, and as a cowrad after a few weeks for it to show there is no unexpected side effects of course.  I certainly will never trust anything from the corrupt western greedy profits first rip off big pharma as we have enough evidence of their failures before putting greed before people.  

But you trust China? Wow........ just WOW!!!

[Truth Will Set You Free]

Here’s an old saying, if you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all........That’s why they putting out the BS...........

[Searat7]

I think they might be sending up trial balloons to get our reaction to the various schemes they are considering.  They also might pick up some helpful ideas here