UPDATE: Pushback from local associations over the Thai government’s “Phuket Model”

[Raphael54]

Nobody in government has the balls to take any decision that creates even the minimum of risks. 

Interesting isn't it, in a government with so many ex-generals? 

[Dialemco]

5 hours ago, khunPer said:

I wonder how many "many" is in "Many hotels have not only shut their doors but shut down for ever"...????

Best accept there will be no International Tourism throughout South East Asia for the foreseeable future. So far as Samui is concerned it will be good time to realise it is time to restructure as so much expansion in the past few years has made it not the paradise many would like to believe but a crowded and polluted island so much unregulated building too many cars so take the time to make it the beautiful Island that it once was.

[Russel]

10 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

 

 

Explain please  

Edited August 31, 2020 by Russel

[geisha]

I’m not coming back for my usual winter stay this year. But if I wanted to, what would stop me ?

The long flight and Thai transport risks.

The worry that a load of Chinese invade my condo building .
Restrictions, real or self imposed, stop me travelling around.

Difficulties with Visa / documents / extension demands .
Being bored.

 Worrying  of another lockdown and no flights out.
Being obliged to fly with Thai.

 

Add to that , is it really wise to travel so far in these Covid times ?
I really  used Thailand as a hub to move around Asia, visit Bali , Myanmar and all the other Asian countries excluding Korea . But this year there might not be much choice. My choice is going to be a luxury spa in Padua Italy ,  lots of marvelous offers, and Sicily , and wherever else I’m allowed to go.

 

[Timwin]

When they started adopting the strict visa policies of much richer Australia around 2014 it went downhill quite fast. They were temp tourist guides from Russia, from UK etc in 2014 but a couple of years later all of that had disappeared. Language schools were full of students from all over the world, spending maybe a year or two in Thailand.  Then...very few. All of those small revenues streams into Thailand economy dried up. Then COVID made the situation much worse to the already weakened tourism sectors.

[billd766]

11 hours ago, rupert the bear said:

there are so many rediculous mistakes in this plan .scrap it and start again,why only europeans?what about asians?europe  or the rich european nations  have higher fatality nos than asian nations.any of them.even indo and india.its whether that persons test is negative is the important thing not where they come from.the level of intelligence is not existent.100k insurance no one tries this one on.only the sleaze bags here and guess what its a thai ins company.most people are revolted by the crudity of the corruption and racism of it.the health system claiming it cant handle it,well theres been no cases here and months to get up to scratch,doesnt fly again,porous borders here with chinese and lao coming in one side burmese the other,zero testing and a massive no of mainlanders here till april,there would appear to be a reservoir of infection.hk vietnam singapore have all had upsurges s korea too and thats a virtual island.once again it doesnt fly.the overcharging from the hotels,its absurd,s korea charges 80 USD  a night and thats a 1st world country.its never ending the stupidity greed and racism is there for all the world to see.people with valid visas property and families are still being told different stories every day of the week by smug half wit incompetents in govt.philippines allows foreign residents[visa holders] to come and go and they quarantine at home as do most countries.as the hotel assoc point out people wont use it and it smells like a toilet

Could you please learn about sentences and paragraphs. I gave up reading it after the first few lines.

 

quote from you. "any of them.even indo and india.its whether that persons test is negative is the important thing not where they come from.the level of intelligence is not existent."

 

From the BBC news this morning.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-53969118

 

India has set a record for the world's highest single-day increase in coronavirus cases.
The nation, the world's third-most infected, on Sunday reported 78,761 new cases in 24 hours, passing the number posted in the US on 17 July.

 

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

 

India is #3 in the world for corona virus with 3,642,613 total cases to date and 64,646 total deaths.

[flinc2020]

10 hours ago, Phuketshrew said:

You probably only need to look at who is behind this "Thailand Longstay Company" to find the real reason that they are keen on implementing this. Very few people in Phuket will benefit.

Yeah, and the fact that last year they made a loss even after getting a 24 million baht income they ended up with an overall loss of over a million baht. They need the boost, and mainly for their long list of shareholders! interesting names on that list too!

[DaRoadrunner]

14 hours ago, rupert the bear said:

never ending the stupidity greed and racism is there for all the world to see

Fear not, big daddy Farang will solve the problem with a vaccine.

 

13 hours ago, eeworldwide said:

It was going downhill long before Covid, and now it's well and truly gone forever.

True, but the Thais have their idiot heads stuck so far up their own a*** they cannot see reality.

[Meat Pie 47]

15 hours ago, nobodysfriend said:

Tourists will not come back in the numbers as before .

Covid is still surging elsewhere , people do not want to take a long airplane trip anymore .

There are enough destinations that are in easy reach for Europeans and Americans and they do not need to quarantine .

Thais can say ' bye bye ' to mass tourism for a long time .

The ones who will come back are the retirees , the long term stayers , the ones with a thai family .

To attract at least these people there is only one way to help them come back : facilitate Visa regulations .

They come here to spend their money , make them feel welcome .

 

Yes and most countries (like Australia) won't even allow travelers  to leave the country.

[Peabody]

I think the biggest problem will be squeezing the 500,000 pax on the 6 Thai flights in Oct-Nov-Dec. 

[rasmus5150]

1 hour ago, Peabody said:

I think the biggest problem will be squeezing the 500,000 pax on the 6 Thai flights in Oct-Nov-Dec. 

My October flight with TG, was just cancelled ????

[torturedsole]

11 minutes ago, rasmus5150 said:

My October flight with TG, was just cancelled ????

We've a scheduled flight booked for end of November LHR-BKK return. Absolutely no chance now and will have to be rebooked to May/June 2021 and even that's being optimistic. Will hold fire on the rebooking until nearer the time for obvious reasons.

 

We've also a scheduled Thai AirAsia domestic return DMK flight booked but this is Premium Flex so will be moved out until mid-2021.  

 

Sad times for all.  

[Tounge Thaied]

It's a start. Re-opening has to start somewhere, somehow. First off... the hotels, 4 and 5 star, have been severely discounted, if flights are reasonable also, this IMO makes it doable. I would reduce the " One Kilometer" rule to a 14 day quarantine on resort grounds, with the tourist released after the 14 day quarantine and two successful negative tests. 

[torturedsole]

4 minutes ago, Tounge Thaied said:

I would reduce the " One Kilometer" rule to a 14 day quarantine on resort grounds, with the tourist released after the 14 day quarantine and two successful negative tests. 

There'll be no tourists flying to LOS at great expense only to have to endure a fourteen night quarantine.  The whole idea is plain daft.  

[Tounge Thaied]

2 minutes ago, torturedsole said:

There'll be no tourists flying to LOS at great expense only to have to endure a fourteen night quarantine.  The whole idea is plain daft.  

You may not be one to participate... but I bet there are many who will. Think long term... "tourists" who have the time to put in two weeks at a nice resort, to then be released into Thailand. I suspect the "great expense" is not as great as you think. It is a relative idea for sure... to you it may be a great expense, others who have the time and money and various reasons to come back, will not. 

[Peter Denis]

5 hours ago, torturedsole said:

There'll be no tourists flying to LOS at great expense only to have to endure a fourteen night quarantine.  The whole idea is plain daft.  

The problem is the makers of this plan don't differentiate between 'tourists' and 'long-term stayers'.

Imo no real tourist (max 5 weeks of holiday) will be so daft as to waste 2 weeks of their precious holidays in quarantaine (not to mention all the preliminary hoops that need to be tackled) when there are equally attractive tourist destinations that do not impose such a regime.

But the scheme would be attractive for those that were not able to return to Thailand (not being in one of the categories allowed to enter), as it would FINALLY give them the chance to return.  For them it is not the attraction of a 14-day + 1 week stay in Phuket (which for many will not be attractive at all) but they would be willing to endure that 3 week loss in order to be able to come back to Thailand.

So the scheme might initially turn out to be 'successful' after all, but for a different reason than what it was created for.  TAT must be blind to the obvious (or simply just wants to keep up appearances) that an imposed 2-week  Quarantaine will be an unsurmountable obstacle for 'real tourists' 

[steven100]

On 8/31/2020 at 3:32 AM, webfact said:

We will allow only foreigners who used to stay in Phuket and now want to come back

    morning laugh  ....   only those who use to stay,  because they know where everything is and they won't have covid.  

[Marco100]

On 8/31/2020 at 10:28 AM, CLW said:

Tomorrow it will be just 3 point tourist have to consider. And at the end of the week it's just a corona test left.

Let it be before departure or when you arrive at the airport.

Same with health insurance, make it compulsory at the airport (communicated clearly before arrival or booking the flight) at a reasonable price and people will pay.

Let's face reality, anything else is not applicable in real life or accepted by tourist.

I agree and think that the Phuket 4 Ts proposal sounds reasonable.  ( Was watching yday last update from Dr John Campbell and looking at figures it seems that although infections encreasesing in some countries ,  the mortality rate is decreasing sharply , specially in Europe , England . )

Testing before departure and at arrival and eventl after "x" days gives already a quite high protection , specially if Turist coming from low infected Countries. 

In the end what is worst scenario ? Tourist Industry Collapse or the 4 Ts Proposal ?

 

[Truth Will Set You Free]

On 8/31/2020 at 9:05 AM, eeworldwide said:

I think that thailand refuses or is unable, to view themselves from the outside perspective.

 

What made Thailand a popular tourist destination in the past, was that it was

• cheap
• carefree
• accessible
• fun
• exciting    

People came to Thailand because it meant they could get away from the bureaucracy which plagues the west; one could come here and clamber on a motorcycle and travel on pavements. You could dash away and be anonymous at a full moon party, or go up north and get lost in the jungle and fall in love with some crazy isaan girl and have mad sex parties until dawn (if that floats your boat) or you could take the family to a high-end resort in the south and have all manner of fun on boats and beaches.

 

You could be a pretty broke student backpacker with $50 in your bumbag, and you could stay in a crappy hostel and meet up with other fellow stinkies, and hitch it down to the south and have an adventure and make friends for life.

 

You could go kickboxing and train with some of the best in the word. Go rock climbing, sky diving, snorkelling and deep sea diving, and all at competitive prices.

You could finish it all off with a couple of hedonistic nights in Bangkok, which might still only cost you 1500-3000 baht, if you weren't completely insane ( less than that 10 years ago)

You could visit the silk factories in the north and go camping in Kao Yai, or if you were elderly you could receive great medical attention and get pleasured by a pretty nurse into the bargain.

If you were american you could have a stab at setting up a business pretty easily ( it would fail after a year or 2  - but still have some fun).

 

Simply put, that has all gone; poof! Up and disappeared like a fart in the wind, never to return.

 

It was going downhill long before Covid, and now it's well and truly gone forever.

The problem lies within Thailand and their inability to appreciate tourists and to integrate - and hell - even to learn the bloody english language properly.

 

Nobody is getting on a plane to stay here anymore.

 

As long as covid exists it will be over.

 

Thailand needs to accept that the world is not standing at the departure gates across the globe straining at the leash to get here - and even if and when they DID get here - they'd soon find out how deathly BORING it is now!

 

There's a horrible pall of depression hanging over everything and the current political situation is further dragging everything down and is like a powder keg waiting to blow. 

 

You can't have FUN here anymore.

 

Pattaya is dead - its all GONE. The fun was in the relative anonymity - the great melting pot hodgepodge of people from all over the world - getting lost in clubs in Silom and China town and waking up hungover with a bad tattoo  - it's all gone. It's over.

 

Stupid hairbrained "Schemes" are not going to solve it  - because nobody is thinking about thailand. Nobody wants to come - everyone just wants their lives back - and that starts at HOME. And HOME is screwed because some Chinese clowns wanted to eat bats for dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well said my friend........but one thing missing, why is the baht still strong when the country is in need of tourist? 

Why is the baht still strong when the country is in need of tourist? Why, why, why??

 

[eeworldwide]

10 hours ago, Truth Will Set You Free said:

Well said my friend........but one thing missing, why is the baht still strong when the country is in need of tourist? 

Why is the baht still strong when the country is in need of tourist? Why, why, why??

 

I think it's gradually weakening.. It's now 41bht to the pound - which is a massive difference to 38 where it's been stuck for ages. It's been artificially buoyant for ages - but all things change.... Bonanza!! (As long as you're getting paid in foreign currency!)

[CLW]

On 9/1/2020 at 1:27 PM, Marco100 said:

I agree and think that the Phuket 4 Ts proposal sounds reasonable.  ( Was watching yday last update from Dr John Campbell and looking at figures it seems that although infections encreasesing in some countries ,  the mortality rate is decreasing sharply , specially in Europe , England . )

Testing before departure and at arrival and eventl after "x" days gives already a quite high protection , specially if Turist coming from low infected Countries. 

In the end what is worst scenario ? Tourist Industry Collapse or the 4 Ts Proposal ?

 

Agreed. If they would go ahead like this, at least a few tourists would come here in the "high season".

But certainly no one would like to be confined in a resort and treated like a leper.

[Nout]

On 8/31/2020 at 8:49 AM, Tropicalevo said:

There is no point in bringing in foreigners.

Banks will not change foreign currency.

I changed money here last week. 

[Nout]

These proposals are reasonable and in an early stage of development. Quarantine in a beachside luxury resort with access to a beach,   good food, books, communication devices and multimedia etc would be no problem for somebody looking at a 9 month stay. It is also a model for returning retirees. Certainly preferable to a grim, joyless winter in the UK.  I regard this as a feasible idea that needs fine tuning. 

[Nout]

On 8/31/2020 at 2:09 PM, Justgrazing said:

Very well put .. 

But not accurate. I am in Pattaya and I can assure you people are having fun. Last week I went to see a great band at busy bar with people laughing, drinking and dancing. The I went to a Go Go full of pretty girls dancing and it was pretty busy. After that I went to a nightclub busy, mad music and it didn't close till 4am. Sure Pattaya is very quiet but its FANTASTIC compared to being anywhere else.

[Jack Hna]

It really stinks to high heaven how the government hold a 30% share. Everybody in Thailand needs this to fail. Governments not content with ruining Thai air now they want to decimate their biggest earner and shaft all the small operators at the same time.

 

Protestors need to start protesting fully in english and make the world start looking at thailand and what is going on here. If they spoke English the world would listen and then Thai government loses face as it would be better publicised without fear of internal reprisals. Less fear.

 

 

[torturedsole]

48 minutes ago, Jack Hna said:

Governments not content with ruining Thai air now they want to decimate their biggest earner and shaft all the small operators at the same time

TG was never an airline. It was a junket of monstrous proportions and the genie will never go back in the bottle. TG's survival is now the ultimate litmus test for this government, so let's see what happens. 

 

Personally, I wouldn't make any future bookings with TG even if my life depended on it. Be warned and steer well clear if you prefer an easy life.  

 

 

Edited September 2, 2020 by torturedsole