Allowing tourists back: Covid panel chief expresses concern but admits the economy needs them

[Matzzon]

1 hour ago, alyx said:

This announcement is poorly worded and quite misleading.

What announcement? It was a reply to you , with the knowledge i had.

This is the latest information I have seen regarding that issue:

 

Visa and Entry procedures for foreigners who are Permanent Residents in Thailand

Latest Update (14 July 2020, 21:00 hrs) Applications for entry by land/sea can only be made by those with urgent need for travel (must present proof of urgent need to travel). For all land/sea entry applications, the Embassy will have to send the application to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to approve before the Embassy can issue a Confirmation of Entry (COE), which may take longer than 3 working days.

 

 

Why do you not show me your info that tells i am wrong?

Edited August 28, 2020 by Matzzon

[transam]

3 hours ago, Keyser Soze666 said:

What kind of a country rely's on tourists to help the economy? Laughable.

You've never been abroad then.....Sorry to hear that....????

[AndresSP]

4 hours ago, Matzzon said:

The big problem here is that they never see the difference. When they call people long stay residents or name the ones having permanent residence, they still do not realize that is not what they should call tourists or tourism. Here they are mentioning people that in a way live in the country. At the same time they are trying to say that these are the groups with a high spending power. My experience of living over 20 years in Thailand is that a person who resides in a country long time tends to spend less and be more domesticated. According to me it´s the single traveller, pairs and families that go on vacation for 1-2 weeks that are spending much money.

That's exactly right. Few realize that but snowbirds and expats are often on a budget and know the best deals in town. 

They don't normally do diving and fishing tours, island hopping, dining at pricy restaurants/bars etc.

[alyx]

51 minutes ago, Matzzon said:

What announcement? It was a reply to you , with the knowledge i had.

This is the latest information I have seen regarding that issue:

 

Visa and Entry procedures for foreigners who are Permanent Residents in Thailand

Latest Update (14 July 2020, 21:00 hrs) Applications for entry by land/sea can only be made by those with urgent need for travel (must present proof of urgent need to travel). For all land/sea entry applications, the Embassy will have to send the application to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to approve before the Embassy can issue a Confirmation of Entry (COE), which may take longer than 3 working days.

 

 

Why do you not show me your info that tells i am wrong?

??? 555 no 

i did say I agreed with you 

I was scolding the content of the article not you ????

[321 BOOM]

3 hours ago, Oldie said:

I guess you want to give us the impression that Corona is not a big problem. Dieing is one thing. But you might suffer a lot and for a very long time. I don't want to get it. 

You might suffer from a traffic accident in LOS as well, I personally do not care about Corona and I personally not dressed a mask one single second.

 

Its nothing else than a media hype and governments all around the world surely like to jump on this train to implement more and more control measures. They creating nothing else as fear and rule through it.

[Matzzon]

19 minutes ago, alyx said:

??? 555 no 

i did say I agreed with you 

I was scolding the content of the article not you ????

Ok, sorry. I misread that. ???? 

[MRToMRT]

"Tourist" spending vs "resident" spending are incomparable.

 

The "tourist" spends a fixed amount for an average of between 3 and 14 days. Even if a "resident" spends less per day they are usually spending over the whole 365 day period.

 

"residents" spend much much more than tourists.

[richard_smith237]

2 minutes ago, MRToMRT said:

"Tourist" spending vs "resident" spending are incomparable.

 

The "tourist" spends a fixed amount for an average of between 3 and 14 days. Even if a "resident" spends less per day they are usually spending over the whole 365 day period.

 

"residents" spend much much more than tourists.

 

Money from ‘overseas’ vs recirculation of money from within Thailand.

 

Both are of course of benefit to the economy, however, money from overseas; i.e. Foreign Tourists provides greater stimulation to the economy. 

 

 

Additionally: your comparison of a 3-14 day tourist vs a resident is flawed. Tourism relies on year round international tourists, a conveyor belt of those 3-14 day tourists and thus - the spend is still over a 365 day period, much like the local resident. 

 

 

 

 

 

[MRToMRT]

3 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

 

 

 

Additionally: your comparison of a 3-14 day tourist vs a resident is flawed. Tourism relies on year round international tourists, a conveyor belt of those 3-14 day tourists and thus - the spend is still over a 365 day period, much like the local resident. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very good point! I stand corrected on that.

 

On overseas funding though, all "residents" in the context of this thread are non-working so money is from oversea also?

[alyx]

55 minutes ago, Matzzon said:

Ok, sorry. I misread that. ???? 

????

[JusticeGB]

4 hours ago, Zikomat said:

Still trying to figure out how to open the borders without actually opening them. Not an easy task.

Easy peasy Immigration Officers with hands out gratefully receiving brown envelopes. 

[samsensam]

6 hours ago, Keyser Soze666 said:

What kind of a country rely's on tourists to help the economy? Laughable.

 

actually many countries rely on tourism to contribute, to a greater or lesser extent, to GDP

[grumpy 4680]

         I'm sure thailand could survive longer without tourists, if it spent  its money internally on helping Thais, instead of buying cheap old Chinese subs.

[hotchilli]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

On the one hand the economy needs tourists, on the other there are concerns about public health

No-one wants the hot potato.... 

T.A.T get there wish in Phuket, but it goes pear-shaped and puts Thailand back in lock-down, as infected people are traveling around the nation.
The PM agreed with it, he gets the blame and loses his seat.
The health ministers get the upper hand to delay the start, the economy continues down the toilet.

what to do, what to do.

Edited August 28, 2020 by hotchilli

[ExpatOilWorker]

5 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

No-one wants the hot potato.... 

T.A.T get there wish in Phuket, but it goes pear-shaped and puts Thailand back in lock-down, as infected people are traveling around the nation.
The PM agreed with it, he gets the blame and loses his seat.
The health ministers get the upper hand to delay the start, the economy continues down the toilet.

what to do, what to do.

Flush and start afresh with a new....government?

[connda]

If we don't open up the borders, the tourist industry will die!!!
"Agghhhh!!!"

If we open up the borders, all the Thai people will get Covid and die!!!!"
"Agghhhh!!!!"

The current dilemma revolving around International Tourism in Thailand.

[baansgr]

10 hours ago, Oldie said:

There are many expats with a house, condo, car and other investments. A tourist will never spend that much. Of course there are expats that live a very simple life here too. But there are also many tourists doing the same. 

Yep 46 kg chicken from Makro, 7 baht bottles of soda, old moped and 39 baht flip flops...I spend less in a fortnight than most tourists do in a day

[geistfunke]

How many months or years will it take until everyone understands that it is not necessary to test healthy people without symptoms of disease? Or the other way round, that people without disease symptoms should not be tested at all and certainly not against their will...
Let's look forward to Berlin tomorrow!  

Edited August 28, 2020 by geistfunke

[Bkktodd]

14 hours ago, Matzzon said:

The big problem here is that they never see the difference. When they call people long stay residents or name the ones having permanent residence, they still do not realize that is not what they should call tourists or tourism. Here they are mentioning people that in a way live in the country. At the same time they are trying to say that these are the groups with a high spending power. My experience of living over 20 years in Thailand is that a person who resides in a country long time tends to spend less and be more domesticated. According to me it´s the single traveller, pairs and families that go on vacation for 1-2 weeks that are spending much money.

Getting the retirement visa requirement was a 800,000b deposit in a thai bank.  The condo i rent monthly (17,000b) all add up.  Domestication still costs money. Most of esaan is supported by foreigners’ money.  Bitter pill HISO bkk people want to ignore 

[worldfun]

8 hours ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

Flush and start afresh with a new....government?

same with thai airways? start a fresh & call it china-thai airways?

[simon43]

17 hours ago, vermin on arrival said:

"He also mentioned the case of a person in state quarantine who committed suicide by jumping saying that all background checks were made and promising a full investigation into the case. He conceded that some details about the person may have slipped through the net."

 

Wow. Why didn't I see this reported?

Well, not the sort of news that you want to publicise ... someone kills themselves maybe because state quarantine facilities are so bad.... ????

[ifeelitall]

19 hours ago, Oldie said:

I guess you want to give us the impression that Corona is not a big problem. Dieing is one thing. But you might suffer a lot and for a very long time. I don't want to get it. 

If you're scared, stay home.

[Matzzon]

6 hours ago, Bkktodd said:

Most of esaan is supported by foreigners’ money.

You must be joking! Why are you trying to make it sound so good, and make foreigners monet so important?

 

As it should be, the government contribute to most of the money in Isaan. Your little try to say that most of Isaan is supported by foreigners money is totally absurd. In reality there is maybe about 1 foreigner in every 500 families, and even there I think I am exaggerating. Now even if most foreigners have a better monthly income than the ordinary Thai, you can not possibly say that that monthly income can be compared with the money of 500 families.

Also in the foreigner buys things for his money, the outcome is only that the shop owners and already fairly rich people get the money. Do go on posting about that the one little foreigner that resides with a Thai family see to that Isaan is supported. He supports the family he is living with and maybe married into. Get a grip on reality and just stop making people more important than they really are. The important thing is that Thailand gets back the part of the GDP from tourism that they have lost. That can only happen by tourism with people coming visiting 1-2 weeks up to a month like before. Not by approximately 150-160k expats that are living in Thailand. That´s just a drop of water in the big ocean.

[Stargeezr]

Thailand need their expats way more than they realize. Tourists visiting a few weeks or

even a few months, do not do the following things. They do not buy condos, houses, or

cars, motorbikes, etc. Tourists do not buy appliances when the original ones break, like fridges

stoves, air conditioners, pumps for their pools, lawn mowers and other tools. Tourists are 

not buying as much fuel in their stays as an expat does through the entire year. Expats also

do buy not only groceries at the stores, but they tend to go out to restaurants to eat as well,

just not every day.  With the wonderful need to run to the border, or at least get their visas

refreshed every 90 days, or spending the extra money for their stay in Thailand adds up as

well as their home and auto insurances and health coverage as well.  I believe the government

should get serious in supporting the expats before there are no more expats because of the

treatment they have to endure, to stay in this tropical country.

Geezer

[bkksteve123]

22 hours ago, steelepulse said:

Why not stock up on the $5 15 minute covid test and require anyone boarding for TH take this test?  

 

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/08/milestone-fda-oks-simple-accurate-coronavirus-test-could-cost-just-5

And how many people will book a holiday (flight and hotel) knowing that there is a risk they test positive upon arrival and they have to quarantine for 14 days OR board a plane back home? Answer: very few.

[dapperdan]

They may find out, after all the bluster, that not that many genuine tourists want to come. Only the hard core group, who they seem to distain. And the zero dollar Chinese.

[Bluetongue]

20 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Money from ‘overseas’ vs recirculation of money from within Thailand.

 

Both are of course of benefit to the economy, however, money from overseas; i.e. Foreign Tourists provides greater stimulation to the economy. 

 

 

Additionally: your comparison of a 3-14 day tourist vs a resident is flawed. Tourism relies on year round international tourists, a conveyor belt of those 3-14 day tourists and thus - the spend is still over a 365 day period, much like the local resident. 

 

 

 

 

 

But I live here and get 98% of my money from overseas, it is not recirculated

[WhatsNext]

On 8/28/2020 at 8:59 AM, Matzzon said:

 My experience of living over 20 years in Thailand is that a person who resides in a country long time tends to spend less and be more domesticated. According to me it´s the single traveller, pairs and families that go on vacation for 1-2 weeks that are spending much money.

 

On a day by day basis you are right, but consider the retirees in Hua hin as an example : Many buy a house / condo and plenty spend around 10MB or more for that. Also car(s) are bought and everything that comes with a house, furniture, electronics and so on. Then there is the maintenance which gives permanent work.

 

Plenty of people here where i live spend yearly more than 1MB above all the mentioned purchases. This each and every year, i think that's quite a bit more than Alex and Nancy the backpacker who come for a month, or the UK lowso that spends his cash on soi bukhao in Pattayaaaaaaa

[vermin on arrival]

13 hours ago, geistfunke said:

How many months or years will it take until everyone understands that it is not necessary to test healthy people without symptoms of disease? Or the other way round, that people without disease symptoms should not be tested at all and certainly not against their will...
Let's look forward to Berlin tomorrow!  

That is actually the path Taiwan is/has been primarily taking within Taiwanese society

Edited August 29, 2020 by vermin on arrival

[Aussie Col]

The longer they leave it the longer it will take to get them tourists back as in the meantime a majority of them former Thai tourists will holiday where their money goes further.