Tourism minister finally recognises that "virus free" expats can play important role in tourism recovery

 

Picture: Daily News

 

It has taken a while but Thailand's tourism minister has finally recognised the role that expatriates can play in spurring domestic tourism.

 

In the absence of foreign tourists due to the pandemic Pipat Ratchakitprakarn believes that foreign workers living in Thailand and foreign students studying in the country can swell the kingdom's tourism coffers at least as much as Thais, reported Daily News.  

 

Their story almost made this out as some kind of revelation, though expats throughout the country have been shouting about their needs and the positive role they could play for months if not years, notes Thaivisa. 

 

Daily News said that there are two million foreign workers and students who could boost Thai tourism. 

 

As an example of this they said that many expats have families living in Thailand - dad would travel to play golf while mum would go shopping at local markets.

 

Pipat was keen to work with local tour companies to inspire expats to discover the "unseen" Thailand. 

 

As always the devil is in the details. 

 

Exactly what the minister is planning was unclear.

 

Many have criticized the tourism ministry for providing stimulus measures and promotions for Thais but ignoring the potential of the foreigners living in Thailand. At least this is now being recognized from the top. 

 

 

Pipat acknowledged that expats and students had been nowhere during the pandemic and like Thais they are Covid-19 free.  

 

The same could not necessarily be said of foreign tourists whose reintroduction into the tourism fabric of Thailand remains problematic at , notes Thaivisa. 

 

Source: Daily News

 

 

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i'm doing my part right now.

 

staying in a hotel in Bangkok 100 meters from Crazy House. 

 

been here for 2 months and booked until October.

 

 

There are "virus free" expats?

Just now, NCC1701A said:

i'm doing my part right.

 

staying in a hotel in Bangkok 100 meters from Crazy House. 

 

been here for 2 months and booked util October.

 

 

Same here...booked into soi 11 for a year....party on.

Foreigners with WPs could maybe be eligible for the We Travel Together promotion...as for retirees, hotels and attractions already have pretty promotional pricing so probably no more incentives to travel are needed.

8 minutes ago, webfact said:

Thailand's tourism minister has finally recognised the role that expatriates can play in spurring domestic tourism.

I bet that was hard to admit, and he thought for a long time about actually deciding to announce it !

13 minutes ago, webfact said:

Pipat acknowledged that expats and students had been nowhere during the pandemic and like Thais they are Covid-19 free

Good to know that those of us who stayed in the country the whole time are covid-free. I was worried for a while that viruses discriminate based off nationality. 

So the TM30 reports are a thing of the past and no longer need to be done ? I might consider travelling if its true .

How about color coded wristbands, could be combined a rFID tag with passport and visa info?

Start with red for ASQ detainees, arrest onsight if found outside Hotel.

 

 

17 minutes ago, Thaiwrath said:

I bet that was hard to admit, and he thought for a long time about actually deciding to announce it !

Stuck in his throat. 

27 minutes ago, webfact said:

Tourism minister finally recognises that "virus free" expats can play important role in tourism recovery

In other news, all virus free tourists must exit the country before September 26th 

Those of us having been here 5 years or longer could be given an easy pathway to permanent residency forgoing all the immigration hoopla we go through 12 monthly and in doing so he will avoid gagging every time he has to say ex-pats are useful and an aid to the economy.

 

But then he was talking "foreign workers living in Thailand and foreign students studying " not retirees. ????

31 minutes ago, webfact said:

Exactly what the minister is planning was unclear.

 

31 minutes ago, webfact said:

dad would travel to play golf while mum would go shopping at local markets.

As usual, no contact with reality. 

3 minutes ago, RotBenz8888 said:

 

As usual, no contact with reality. 

Seems  so ! 

I also object  to being forced to learn to play  golf while my wife  goes shopping  unsupervised and unrestricted !

A good start would be to either extend the amnesty until the end of the year or make it easier for expats to renew long term visas.

'unseen' thailand .... 3C's Thailand ....  Health safe clean Thailand !!   

geeeze  !  .... when are they going to cease with their pipe dreams ...      lol    

 

After spending 3 weeks in Krabi, I’d like to visit Chiang Mai for a month or so.  As soon as the Eastin Tan hotel starts offering discounts I’m on my way.

17 minutes ago, RotBenz8888 said:

 

As usual, no contact with reality. 

Ground control to Major Tom

Golf's pretty expensive, even at my up country 4 star place it runs to several thousand by the time you tip the caddy etc. I told them I would pay the 25000 annual fee but they said no, farang can not.

16 minutes ago, Phuketshrew said:

A good start would be to either extend the amnesty until the end of the year or make it easier for expats to renew long term visas.

Obviously but they still don't do it for "some" reason ????

 

At least we now are clean farangs. Can Anutin confirm ? ????

Are we expats still barred from using the buses?

off you go to pay some merit.

You just lost your face.

1 hour ago, webfact said:

dad would travel to play golf while mum would go shopping at local markets.

Im not play golf and my wife shopping in internet + facebook! How we fit in your big picture?

And don't call my wife MUM!

It's so heart warming that he recognizes our importance now the industry is collapsing.

 

Of course, once the Chinese flood back in they'll be reinstating the TM30 (without telling anyone) and we'll be surplus to requirements again. 

 

They're so loyal it brings a tear to my eye ????.

 

 

 

How do they know we're virus-free? How do they know anyone is?

 

https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-data-explorer?zoomToSelection=true&time=2020-03-01..latest&country=USA~ITA~GBR~FRA~ESP~SGP~THA~KOR&testsMetric=true&interval=smoothed&perCapita=true&smoothing=7&pickerMetric=total_deaths&pickerSort=desc

Ah yes... The good ole expat and foreigner walking wallet. How about offer us people staying here over 3-5 years solid permanent residency for the price of $10,000.

1 hour ago, NCC1701A said:

i'm doing my part right now.

 

staying in a hotel in Bangkok 100 meters from Crazy House. 

 

been here for 2 months and booked until October.

 

 

Why Bangkok?

Time to start extra taxing our captives ????

Guy is not compos mentis - the fact that the Thai economy is not currently booming on the back of these expats already here clearly shows that whilst expats contribute to the economy, they will not grow the economy in any way. 100,000 expats is a pimple on the backside of a 40 million people tourism elephant !

 

As for expats taking advantage of promotions, I believe some will, but of those I know only one has - using his wife - for 1 weekend. The rest are all saving their money waiting to see what happens in the near future rather than wasting it 

 

 

2 hours ago, keith101 said:

So the TM30 reports are a thing of the past and no longer need to be done ? I might consider travelling if its true .

I was under the impression that the TM30 was not to be done every time one was leaving then going back home as it is considered as it is a holiday and not a new address. Hotels still have to register their guests anyway. I did my TM30 in February when I came here and haven't done it since although I went on three "holiday" breaks in the meanwhile