Safety First: Caution vital as Phuket becomes testbed for international tourists

[snoop1130]

Safety First: Caution vital as Phuket becomes testbed for international tourists

By Tanyaluk Sakoot

 

Passengers receive hand sanitiser on arrival at Phuket International Airport. Photo: AoT Phuket

 

PHUKET:-- Safety is the key priority in opening Phuket to receive ‘travel bubble’ tourists from Oct 1 under the government policy ‘Safe and Sealed’, the Director of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports (MoTS) Phuket Office, Jaroon Kaewmukdakul, has told The Phuket News.

 

Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakan confirmed the news in Bangkok late last week that Phuket would be the first province in the country to receive international tourists under the plan. The protocols to be deployed in Phuket have been dubbed the “Phuket Model” and are to be used elsewhere throughout Thailand if proved successful.

 

Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Governor Yuthasak Supasorn admitted to international media that opening the island to foreign tourists brought risk of exposing the country to COVID-19 infections.

 

Full Story: https://www.thephuketnews.com/safety-first- caution-vital-as-phuket-becomes-testbed-for-international-tourists-77106.php

 

-- © Copyright Phuket News 2020-08-25

 

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[schlog]

Safety first! Checked!

[bkk6060]

If people and businesses want long stayers to come back, this plan sounds reasonable with decent safety protocols to me.  

[AbeNormal]

“We are focussing on having the big hotels approved first, as they have more rooms to accommodate guests. They are also more accustomed to abiding by strict health regulations and they have the space to keep ALSQ guests separated from other guests visiting or staying at the hotel."

 

like a big cruise ship

 

There is no possible way to keep guests apart unless they are locked in their rooms

 

and if Thailand are using test kits from China (just like Sweden) what could possibly go wrong

[AbeNormal]

13 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

If people and businesses want long stayers to come back, this plan sounds reasonable with decent safety protocols to me.  

That is not who they have in mind

[huuwi]

out of this choosen hotels, what is the price range, and can the guest choose in what category they want to stay?

[steelepulse]

If the government wants to have people come back, they should be subsidizing the hotel rooms and tests.  This would show they are serious and putting their baht where their mouth is.  This is not going to happen of course, but it would relay a strong message that the government was serious about starting tourism back up.

[UncleMhee]

38 minutes ago, huuwi said:

out of this choosen hotels, what is the price range, and can the guest choose in what category they want to stay?

Government approved ASQ Hotels & some eye watering prices

BKK
thaiest.com/blog/list-of-alternative-state-quarantine-asq-hotels-thailand

Phuket, Pattaya, Buri Ram
thaiest.com/blog/thailand-alternative-local-state-quarantine-alsq-hotels

Edited August 26, 2020 by UncleMhee

[polpott]

14 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

If people and businesses want long stayers to come back, this plan sounds reasonable with decent safety protocols to me.  

What safety protocols? By their own admission they have no idea what they will be. COE from Thai Embassy? Covid test 72 hours before flight? $100k Covid insurance? No idea.

Also sending mixed messages about what happens after quarantine. Allowed to travel to Bangkok?

“We are confident that the tourists will not go home on the 15^th day of their stay. I think they will keep travelling in Phuket province"

Non "O" retirement visa holders can enter this way?

“We expect these long-stay tourists to stay in the country anywhere from 30 to 90 days,”

 

“We are also waiting for the CCSA to announce what rules we are to apply, and we have to wait for the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand [CAAT] to announce that Thailand will again be open to receiving international passenger flights."

 

Good luck with that.

[Oldie]

Since all this will not be cheap for the tourists it will keep the Cheap Charlies away. So I expect richer tourists here and not for instance the ones who use the shower at the pool to save their own water. 

[ourmanflint]

5 hours ago, UncleMhee said:

Government approved ASQ Hotels & some eye watering prices

BKK
thaiest.com/blog/list-of-alternative-state-quarantine-asq-hotels-thailand

Phuket, Pattaya, Buri Ram
thaiest.com/blog/thailand-alternative-local-state-quarantine-alsq-hotels

Those prices are a joke. So coming back as a couple is twice as expensive, even though sharing room. Screams Rip off

[Oldie]

28 minutes ago, ourmanflint said:

Those prices are a joke. So coming back as a couple is twice as expensive, even though sharing room. Screams Rip off

What did you expect? In some resorts you even get a free fever thermometer. Never got anything like this anywhere. 

[Cake Monster]

23 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

If people and businesses want long stayers to come back, this plan sounds reasonable with decent safety protocols to me.  

So, included in these " Safety Protocols " would be a 100% comprehensive testing of the Phuket Population, on a regular basis .. say every 2 weeks ( the incubation period ) with them all being Quarantined on the Island also.

Nobody will visit anywhere there is even a small chance of contracting Covid.

There is absolutely no point allowing certified Covid free Tourists to anywhere that is itself not 100% clear of the disease.

[oompie69]

13 hours ago, AbeNormal said:

“We are focussing on having the big hotels approved first, as they have more rooms to accommodate guests. They are also more accustomed to abiding by strict health regulations and they have the space to keep ALSQ guests separated from other guests visiting or staying at the hotel."

 

like a big cruise ship

 

There is no possible way to keep guests apart unless they are locked in their rooms

 

and if Thailand are using test kits from China (just like Sweden) what could possibly go wrong

Word choice in first sentence-"big hotels".  I think they might have meant "expensive", but did not want to shoot themselves in the foot.   

[sammieuk1]

Here's one price that must include a free house and car with chauffeur forever at the end of it????

 

 

Price:

• Pool Villa 220,000 THB per person per 15 days 
• Two Bedroom Pool Villa for 4 person stay 650,000 THB per 4 persons per 15 days

Features  ALSQ package:

• Full board meals including breakfast, lunch and dinner
• Complimentary high speed internet
• Designed area for periodic screening tests
• Twice daily temperature check
• Nursing service
• Round trip airport transfer to and from hotel
• 3 times COVID-19 screening test conducted in property on day 0, 5 and 13 by a doctor
• Admittance to hospital if testing positive for COVID-19
• Ambulance service on demand
• Certificate report on status of each patient under observation
• Certificate of COVID-19 free certificate on day 13 prior to the patient's release
• Have a happy holiday with us again after this rinsing extraction ????

[Felt 35]

????Remarkable. The place in Thailand where it took of clearly different reasons very lo.....ng time to get actual and straight forward covid-19 information to the general public in January/February/March and after Bangkok the province with most infections from Covid-19 shall be a testbed for potential returning tourists????

[AbeNormal]

4 hours ago, oompie69 said:

Word choice in first sentence-"big hotels".  I think they might have meant "expensive", but did not want to shoot themselves in the foot.   

it will work for Chinese it is exactly what they do with them anyway

[torturedsole]

This is going to be a very, very long, drawn out process, obviously. 

[oompie69]

21 hours ago, polpott said:

What safety protocols? By their own admission they have no idea what they will be. COE from Thai Embassy? Covid test 72 hours before flight? $100k Covid insurance? No idea.

Also sending mixed messages about what happens after quarantine. Allowed to travel to Bangkok?

“We are confident that the tourists will not go home on the 15^th day of their stay. I think they will keep travelling in Phuket province"

Non "O" retirement visa holders can enter this way?

“We expect these long-stay tourists to stay in the country anywhere from 30 to 90 days,”

 

“We are also waiting for the CCSA to announce what rules we are to apply, and we have to wait for the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand [CAAT] to announce that Thailand will again be open to receiving international passenger flights."

 

Good luck with that.

Agree fully with you.

This is just passing the buck to save face.

If the government was serious about moving forward, one combined meeting with all concerned parties should be enough to decide on a coordinated implementation plan. Looks to me that each individual agency is using the excuse of waiting on another to make a firm decision.

Given all the experience this government brings to the table in the area of Chain-of- Command I am a bit puzzled by it all. 

[polpott]

1 hour ago, oompie69 said:

Given all the experience this government brings to the table in the area of Chain-of- Command I am a bit puzzled by it all. 

There is no "chain of command" in Thailand. All policies/decisions rest with Prayut. He consistently ignores the advice of subservient bodies. They just make irrelevant noise to justify their own existence.