Covid-19: "Necessary" app to trace foreign tourists mooted for October

 

Picture: The Bangkok Insight

 

The minister for digital economy and society told the media that several ministries had instructed the office of digital government to work on a tracing app suitable for foreign tourists.

 

It is hoped that the app will be ready for the expected return of some tourists at the start of October, already a stated aim of tourism and sports minister Pipat Ratchakitprakarn. 

 

Buddhipongse Punnakanta said that representatives from the health, foreign, interior, transport and tourism ministries had met to instruct the digital government office. 

 

Picture: The Bangkok Insight

 

He said that the app was important and necessary to trace foreign tourists in the event of a case of Covid-19.

 

Whether this will be a completely new app or a version of the one already in existence in Thailand - the Thai Chana app - remains to be seen, reported The Bangkok Insight. 

 

They also reported that the new app will be used alongside the Thai Elite Card for well-heeled foreigners. 

 

Source: The Bangkok Insight

 

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time to get the burner phone ready

 

17 minutes ago, webfact said:

He said that the app was important and necessary to trace foreign tourists

Tracing foeign tourists is always inappropriate. When will they get this?

 

A surefire recipe to avoid them coming. Or is it this what they want?

"They also reported that the new app will be used alongside the Thai Elite Card for well-heeled foreigners."

 

Say what????

 

 

Why not just make them wear a dog collar and leash? There are enough unemployed Thai's to lead the around! Morons!

2 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

Why not just make them wear a dog collar and leash?

They might get picked up by the Soi Dog Foundation and they'll attempt to find them good homes

This will be sure to get the foreigners flooding back in. They love having their moves tracked by Military Juntas.

38 minutes ago, webfact said:

He said that the app was important and necessary to trace foreign tourists in the event of a case of Covid-19.

 

It may also help to convince tourists what a bunch of ...kwits are running this country!

What tourist will want to be tracked by the state. When they arrive at a hotel they are reported via the TM30 system to Immigration. If they visit a shop or something like a zoo they have to give a contact number. Effectively they are being tracked whenever they are in crowded places anyway. Just pile on lots of extra regulations on tourists to ensure that they never come back to Thailand again.

If it's for well heeled elites I will be OK; I wear sandals.

Good and completely necessary considering how self centered and irresponsible most of them are today, but like the above post says, folks will use two phones etc. Better to just keep them out... 

Contact tracing involves ‘everyone being tracked’

 

Thus: IF this suggestion is to work, it only works if ‘everyone' has an App on their phone which traces their movement. 

 

What will happen - everyone deletes the app from their phone !!!

 

 

Ultimately, IF Thailand wants Tourists they have to be treated with far more respect than the current sanctimonious ‘we can’t have them doing that’ suggestions. 

 

The current suggestion imply an upside-down mentality of the decision makers, that tourists are privileged to come to Thailand and not a mentality that Thailand is privilege to receive tourists. 

 

 

A Pre-Flight Covid-19 test (with a negative result) for every visitor to Thailand should be sufficient. 

If Thailand doesn’t trust that, test upon arrival should add an additional level of measure - from there on in the TM6 card and TM30 (reported by the hotels) should be sufficient to track any positive cases if necessary.

 

The objectives ’should’ be to keep the economy moving while maintaining the replication rate of the virus below R1. 

 

Thailands continued attempts at zero domestic cases is killing its own economy. 

 

 

 

 

 

All fine and good, but how are these chaps going to differentiate between a "tourist" here for a few days/weeks and those of us who have lived here for a decade or longer? Are we going to be forced to install this tracking app too? 

7 minutes ago, from the home of CC said:

Good and completely necessary considering how self centered and irresponsible most of them are today, but like the above post says, folks will use two phones etc. Better to just keep them out... 

And what about millions of Thai’s employed in the Tourist Sector? the 17.6% GDP from Tourism? 

The 90% of Phuket who without tourism have no income?

 

What about when ‘you get car-jacked’ or robbed because people are so very very desperate they will do anything for food.

 

‘Better just keep them out’ is extremely short sighted. Its not a solution its a knee-jerk reaction. 

 

Thailand needs an intelligent and workable solution which provides a boost to the dying tourist sector and all the sub-trades to which money is filtered down through tourism. 

 

 

Because the implemented tracing system in shops, markets and malls worked so absolutely stellar. right?!

46 minutes ago, Sundown said:

"They also reported that the new app will be used alongside the Thai Elite Card for well-heeled foreigners."

Say what????

Must be something to do with shoes.

 

 

37 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

Why not just make them wear a dog collar and leash? There are enough unemployed Thai's to lead the around! Morons!

I was thinking something more like this, much easier to spot:

28 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

And what about millions of Thai’s employed in the Tourist Sector? the 17.6% GDP from Tourism? 

The 90% of Phuket who without tourism have no income?

 

What about when ‘you get car-jacked’ or robbed because people are so very very desperate they will do anything for food.

 

‘Better just keep them out’ is extremely short sighted. Its not a solution its a knee-jerk reaction. 

 

Thailand needs an intelligent and workable solution which provides a boost to the dying tourist sector and all the sub-trades to which money is filtered down through tourism. 

 

 

no, it doesn't because a solution that allows tourism in a pandemic doesn't exist (though many countries keep getting their health care systems repeatedly kicked in the teeth trying, though it is great business for the undertakers).  I couldn't stop laughing watching all the Brits running home from France when they declared quarantines, Monty Python in real life. Thailand doesn't need anything to do with that circus going on over there. What it needs, and also the rest of the world, is a workable vaccine. All the rest of this is BS, its just going around in circles between virus containment and rampant infection rates, whole nations banging their heads against walls in futility. Just because you want something to be a certain way because the alternative is painful doesn't alter the course of this pandemic - time for some people to grow up..

29 minutes ago, JusticeGB said:

What tourist will want to be tracked by the state. When they arrive at a hotel they are reported via the TM30 system to Immigration. If they visit a shop or something like a zoo they have to give a contact number. Effectively they are being tracked whenever they are in crowded places anyway. Just pile on lots of extra regulations on tourists to ensure that they never come back to Thailand again.

Well i myself will only come back after all this bs is over.....i can wait, Belgian beer costs 20 baht a bottle here....

The new normal. LOL yea ...Wont be returning thank ya. 

Lots of models available and ready to go. Make it so TAT.

 

 

 

 

24 minutes ago, djayz said:

All fine and good, but how are these chaps going to differentiate between a "tourist" here for a few days/weeks and those of us who have lived here for a decade or longer? Are we going to be forced to install this tracking app too? 

Please don't give them silly ideas

they could be tempted to do it

45 minutes ago, JusticeGB said:

What tourist will want to be tracked by the state. When they arrive at a hotel they are reported via the TM30 system to Immigration. If they visit a shop or something like a zoo they have to give a contact number. Effectively they are being tracked whenever they are in crowded places anyway. Just pile on lots of extra regulations on tourists to ensure that they never come back to Thailand again.

 

Chinese won't mind. They are likely the first group we can expect to return.

So much mooting by so many mooters epic fail????

why do they assume everyone has a smart phone, I know a few people who still use an old nokia looking thing also 1-2 people who dont have a phone and dont want.

33 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

And what about millions of Thai’s employed in the Tourist Sector? the 17.6% GDP from Tourism? 

The 90% of Phuket who without tourism have no income?

 

What about when ‘you get car-jacked’ or robbed because people are so very very desperate they will do anything for food.

 

‘Better just keep them out’ is extremely short sighted. Its not a solution its a knee-jerk reaction. 

 

Thailand needs an intelligent and workable solution which provides a boost to the dying tourist sector and all the sub-trades to which money is filtered down through tourism. 

 

 

There is no 17,6% of GDP from tourism.

That 17,6% is turnover, sales --- while GDP is Value Added.

A common misunderstanding that overrates tourism in the Thai economy.

 

3 minutes ago, tingtongfarang said:

why do they assume everyone has a smart phone, I know a few people who still use an old nokia looking thing also 1-2 people who dont have a phone and dont want.

Indeed why should I pretend to be smart?  This works fine for me to get calls and sms with a weekly charge all that is required to keep it operating.

22 minutes ago, Youlike said:

Well i myself will only come back after all this bs is over.....i can wait, Belgian beer costs 20 baht a bottle here....

Are you talking about Stella, or even Colruyt Cara or Lidl Argus. Those "beers" bring shame to Belgium, they are no better than Heineken.

Nice. After recent events, it should also apply to any Thai returning from overseas also, even after quarantine. 

 

It should be clear to everyone by now people will be made to comply, it may take a while yet but it wont be hard. if theres a will to do so, especially in places like Thailand it WILL happen. This is what id do,  make an app just like a tm card, youll be on the plane already and once landing itll be available to download in the airport and a requirement on entry prior to getting through immigration. To do it to the population one way would be to make it a legal requirement by mobile providers to provide the app at a level of the id and data contract. Im sure there are other simple methods and its only going to get easier to sync where you are at all times.

 

The only people it might e hard to track are those with a simple dumb phone but that % is going down every year so even that is a diminishing demographic.. in 20 years the tech will be inside the human body mark my words.

 

And dont think Thailand's incompetent leadership wont be able to because it will simply buy and install the tech required just like it does everything else. And 5 g will only make it easier. 

 

Not that there will be anywhere in the developed world that wont be doing the same,  Enjoy your time of privacy because in the future there will be very little. And to those born in the future it will be 100% normal and all they will know... cant miss what youve never had and today will just become another history lesson of how strange and dumb people were in the early 21st century who resisted it.... 

 

1 hour ago, Sundown said:

"They also reported that the new app will be used alongside the Thai Elite Card for well-heeled foreigners."

 

Say what????

 

 

If you break out your Uncle Tu Diamond Pinky Ring Decoder and translate the hidden message it reads:
"The new app will be used to track all dirty foreigners labelled as "temporary stays" in Thailand by Thai Immigration."
Tourists, Non-O, Non-B, essentially all foreigners without permanent residence or citizenship.