ATTA chief outlines why Thailand should scrap quarantine: Europeans could benefit too

[gamini]

I don't think it's quite correct to say that people won't come here because they have to do 14 days quarantine. Especially if you want to stay three months. Most tourists anyway need to 3 days to recover from from the long voyage and jet lag. Many of Thailand's leading hotels have  multiple restaurant swimming pools and even a private beach. I stayed in the leading hotel with my friends just north of krabi it had a private beach speedboats many restaurants several swimming pools a lot of activities we stayed there for two weeks without hardly ever leaving the hotel just relaxing and having a good time, quarantine hotels like this will not be a problem for visitors/  but I would agree that small hotels far away from the beach would not be conducive to quarantining in

[Walter Travolta]

2 minutes ago, infrequentflyer said:

Any mention of American tourists is conspicuous by its absence.  I can only guess that is because of pandering to the Chinese...the most guilty party in the whole pandemic!  Doesn't Thailand value the U.S. dollar anymore?  

Agree that Thailand pander to the Chinese and I also agree they are the most guilty party in this whole sh*tstorm. But they aren't going to entertain allowing US citizens in when the US is still not in control of the scamdemic itself. Same as the UK. The report says 'some' European countries so probably the likes of Sweden, who, ironically never locked down or wet their pants throughout. I doubt Thailand and its tourism would cut their noses off to spite their faces over China and the US having issues.

[NoComment]

If they open up it will be for the benefit of the Chinese.

The Chinese will bring Covid to a country that has no Covid.

The tourism industry may be decimated, however, The Kingdom continues to carry on carrying on, the Bhat remains strong and the people that want to work have employment.

I hope that the people at the very top do not allow the Chinese to gain control of Thailand because if Covid.

This is much deeper than a few Chinese tourists spreading Covid on their visits.

Keep them out please.

Anyone agree?

[Walter Travolta]

7 minutes ago, NoComment said:

If they open up it will be for the benefit of the Chinese.

The Chinese will bring Covid to a country that has no Covid.

The tourism industry may be decimated, however, The Kingdom continues to carry on carrying on, the Bhat remains strong and the people that want to work have employment.

I hope that the people at the very top do not allow the Chinese to gain control of Thailand because if Covid.

This is much deeper than a few Chinese tourists spreading Covid on their visits.

Keep them out please.

Anyone agree?

Im not sure how influential allowing chinese tourists in affects how China will end up ruling Thailand. The CCP will dictate Thailand no matter where the Chinese take their holidays. So no, the Chinese will not take control of Thailand because of covid, they would have controlled it with or without covid. The benefit for the CCP releasing the virus has been to slow the worlds economies down while theirs continues to flourish. However, the likes of Japan have withdrawn many companies from China since the outbreak and I hope every other nation on the planet does the same and sanctions China from the map. There are many other countries where mobile phones can be manufactured cheaply. It just requires fresh infrastructure and training. Samsung already have manufacturing plants in Vietnam. We dont need China, their products are pretty substandard anyway.

[Bender Rodriguez]

8 hours ago, PingRoundTheWorld said:

I highly doubt Thailand would do something like this - but if they did offer people a scheme where they can quarantine in their own country before visiting Thailand they will get some takers.

euh, between your place, the taxi driver as to quarantine ?  the people at the front desks everywere ? the security guards at the airport ?  the flight attendants ?  the waiting hales / gates for people who don't fly to a quarantine zone ?

 

just impossible to suit your needs

 

any point could mean infection

[Tony125]

Visitors to the Bahamas Won't Have to Quarantine Upon Arrival Starting Nov. 1

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/visitors-to-the-bahamas-won-t-have-to-quarantine-upon-arrival-starting-nov-1/ar-BB19ExvU?li=BBnbklE

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, Donga said:

A few slip through and I have every confidence the Thai system of contact tracing will contain any outbreak, just as they did before. Pity so many on this forum don't give them credit. Let alone the effectiveness of one million health volunteers.

I have zero confidence in the Thai system of tracing.... why do I say that?

Because where I live no shop, no restaurant, no bar, no market, no vendor records you ever being there.

How in gods name are they going to contact me?

[Walter Travolta]

1 hour ago, Pedrogaz said:

Wait for second wave when the foreigners start invading the place.

Surely one requires a 1st wave to have occurred for a 2nd to happen?

 

[geisha]

5 hours ago, Jiggo said:

* Now was an appropriate time to open up to nationals from safe countries

 

What safe country's, oh yer Thailand, head in sand comes to mind lol

A good point. I’ve been chatting to my few friends who still spend a good few winter months in Thailand. They are mostly over 58/60 yrs old. Even if they did open the borders this high season, none of them would come. Why? Because no one fancies the long flight ( due to Covid worry), and also the thought of maybe catching the virus there . No one mentions what would happen if a tourist catches the virus while in Thailand. A long hospital stay probably in a private hospital ? The cost? Would the insurance cover it enough ? Could you get back to your home land easily ? Too many worries , so best to stay home where you know how you are going to be treated if ill. 

[DrTuner]

None of the STV nonsense either. Back to what it was pre covid or nobody is coming.

[paulikens]

maybe he should have been making noise about it a long time ago, still at least someone from the thai tourism industry has said something and its better late than never

[Bkktodd]

6 hours ago, Enzian said:

Speaking for myself (and a little for the out of work Thai female I'm currently supporting) I'm not so sure I want anything to change. It's such a pleasure to walk down Sukhumvit soi 11 at 8 on a Saturday night with few people and fewer vehicles. If this is ever over we'll look back on these moments as a bit of dream-like paradise never to be seen again. And I know I'm being totally unrealistic.

A bit selfish?? There are other expats that have thai females.  Maybe the same ones

[Bkktodd]

4 hours ago, Donga said:

Some countries, many in the region are very much safer than others. Chances of anyone having Covid is less than 1 in 20,000 people in Japan, South Korea, Australia, NZ, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia. One chance in a million if from Taiwan or Vietnam and one in 8 million if from China. These odds contrast with Europe and US which are more like one in a 1,000.

So you start with odds of 1/20,000, test 3 days prior to departure and then upon arrival. What odds then?

A few slip through and I have every confidence the Thai system of contact tracing will contain any outbreak, just as they did before. Pity so many on this forum don't give them credit. Let alone the effectiveness of one million health volunteers.

Thailand is not Europe or US. The community discipline and use of face masks, now roundly recognised (compared to initial WHO and Western experts ignorance), is so much stronger in Thailand. Climate also helps.

Allow visitors from safe countries. Test them, self isolate even and get hundreds of thousands of Thais back to work.

So how about letting those in WITH TESTING AND QUARANTINE from the risker countries. If you dont have covid. You dont have it no matter where you come from. .  Let the chinese has free rein again without the quarantine.  Ironic 

[smudger1951]

9 hours ago, TonyR101 said:

Thailand does need its tourists back in the country, not only from select regions but from all over the world. I might be a dreamer but my suggestion would be -

 

1, Re-start scheduled international air flights into Suvarnabhumi Airport on a limited basis enabling Thai Immigration to handle the flow without undue airport crowding.

2. COVID test all arriving passengers and extend the arrival card to include more details of each passenger's programme in Thailand, prior to passport control.

3. Provide a lockable security tracking bracelet for each arriving passenger, collecting data similar to what we currently have on our Smart Phones, for a period of 14 to 20 days after arrival.

4. Advise passengers of hefty penalties for any avoidance of current health protection rules, and increase the strength of tourist police to make random passport checks, and assist tourists in keeping to the rules.  

 

The costs of tourist testing and hire of tracking bracelets, would be charged as a fee/deposit on arrival.

Tony, I could buy into that. Thailand needs us and we want to come. I would be happy to self-quarrantine like arrivals do here in UK. Lets get this show on the road.

[joecoolfrog]

On 10/2/2020 at 10:36 AM, LeamchabangLarry said:

Are you <deleted> kidding me?  Is this guy a sociopath?

Actually he was simply stating obvious facts. Any form of quarantine will prevent Thailand's tourist industry from recovering to anywhere near where it needs to be.

 

[joecoolfrog]

4 hours ago, gamini said:

I don't think it's quite correct to say that people won't come here because they have to do 14 days quarantine. Especially if you want to stay three months. Most tourists anyway need to 3 days to recover from from the long voyage and jet lag. Many of Thailand's leading hotels have  multiple restaurant swimming pools and even a private beach. I stayed in the leading hotel with my friends just north of krabi it had a private beach speedboats many restaurants several swimming pools a lot of activities we stayed there for two weeks without hardly ever leaving the hotel just relaxing and having a good time, quarantine hotels like this will not be a problem for visitors/  but I would agree that small hotels far away from the beach would not be conducive to quarantining in

Lol , do you honestly believe that those in quarantine would have unfettered access to all the hotel facilities?

There is also the question of cost / scarcity of flights and insurance / Visa implications.

Only a small percentage of snow birds will jump through these hoops, barely any regular tourists will.

These schemes are just smoke and mirrors , as of yet there has been zero effort to realistically welcome back visitors.

[patman30]

this is good to hear but it was expected
as we all know it only applies to the Chinese,
who are the only "tourists" being let in atm

[Surelynot]

2 minutes ago, patman30 said:

this is good to hear but it was expected
as we all know it only applies to the Chinese,
who are the only "tourists" being let in atm

atm....good one.

[dieter1]

Former Chief Science Officer for Pfizer

if Thailand will stick to the paradigm of " no cases" , it will have to close the borders for ever.

The following article sums  the facts of the whole scenario very much up.

If someone is not willing to read a text with this length about the subject, he/she should refrain from posting about it in the future- sorry .

 

https://hubpages.com/politics/Pfizer-Chief-Science-Officer-Second-Wave-Based-on-Fake-Data-of-False-Positives-for-New-Cases-Pandemic-is-Over

there is also an interview with Dr Mike Yeadon available:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch7wze46md0&feature=youtu.be

[Lancashirelad]

11 hours ago, LukKrueng said:

And then what? put them in capsules and ship them to Thailand?

Heard Elon Musk has some spare capsules lying around. ????

[Dan O]

While I don't subscribe to all the doom and gloom posters that continually complain about Thailand not wanting to let foreigners back into the country. I do agree with the desire to avoid bringing in new infections via tourism. I'd think there are ways to manage tourisms in order to control the spread of virus within the population and open to allow tourism to restart. 

 

It would be much easier if Thailand would stipulate a 2 test requirement in the home country 14 days apart with the last test 72 hours prior to flight. Then add a test 48 to 72 hours after arrival. That would give you a span of approx 21 days from beginning to end of testing and would only require about 3 to 4 days of quarantine.  I would also not allow Thai nationals to fly on the same flights as "tourists" unless they too received the same testing routine.  Origin country shouldn't have any bearing on who is acceptable to travel, just that you can prove you are virus free thru proper testing. While that would eliminate the vast majority of the spread there is always the chance of an outlier getting thru but at a much lower rate than currently and with much less physical and financial barrier to tourism.  

[Blumpie]

The government isn't going to do this, LOL.  

 

[dieter1]

 

covid 19 situation in Germany

some facts about this so called Pandemic,

this is an official side  showing the number of  available ECU places in German hospitals.

at this time  370 cases in ECU places with covid-19 in the whole country.

In the last 30  days ( I would assume the last 3 month) there is no significant rise of cases (flat curve).

The peak of covid 19 cases (real infections with severe/dangerous symptoms) was in March/April !!

And do not forget, nearly all of these are are old  people (mean of deaths are near 80 years old) and with severe other diseases.

people without positive covid-19 testing in ECU are 21792 cases!!!!

that is what they call the danger of second wave !!!

so the actual covid19 situation is in numbers in the region of "white noise"

4 people are dying with covid19 per day (mostly people in the end of their life span) . About 3000 people are dying every day in Germany because of other reasons .

https://www.divi.de/joomlatools-files/docman-files/divi-intensivregister-tagesreports/DIVI-Intensivregister_Tagesreport_2020_10_02.pdf

 

[WhyamIhere]

Can anyone believe anything that China says?  Lets invite them back now! 

[Gustomucho]

Quarantine is fine, better safe than sorry, everywhere the second waves are pushing everyone back inside, Thailand should stay careful.

[Destiny1990]

I came to the point that i no longer read their avalanche of new plans. So what’s this one about in max 7 words? Anyone?

[SiSePuede419]

This is how you do it by allowing people from low risk countries to skip the expensive, long 2 week quarantine...

 

But, the risk status of a country can change.  That makes planning risky unless you get refundable air tickets or plan to be there a long time, which puts you in the backpacker, flashpacker, digital nomad or retiree category. ????

[stretch5163]

21 hours ago, edward290453 said:

It's simple,  anyone entering Thailand, or anywhere really if they are infected with covid19. Their going to have a high temperature. Just scan everyone at customs.  High temperature,  sorry can't enter you need a covid test and maybe quarantine. Job done cheap and painless. 

Who says the yare definetly going to have covid if they have a high temperature absolute boxxox. What about asyatic people that show now signs or people with general high temperature due to other causes ?

 

And if thats the case that they do have covid then is it 14 days in hospital quarantine or shipped off back home. Considering most people are being tested before getting on flights this should never be the case. It should be stopped before you get on flight due to the fact youve already been tested.

[stretch5163]

19 hours ago, gamini said:

I don't think it's quite correct to say that people won't come here because they have to do 14 days quarantine. Especially if you want to stay three months. Most tourists anyway need to 3 days to recover from from the long voyage and jet lag. Many of Thailand's leading hotels have  multiple restaurant swimming pools and even a private beach. I stayed in the leading hotel with my friends just north of krabi it had a private beach speedboats many restaurants several swimming pools a lot of activities we stayed there for two weeks without hardly ever leaving the hotel just relaxing and having a good time, quarantine hotels like this will not be a problem for visitors/  but I would agree that small hotels far away from the beach would not be conducive to quarantining in

Obviously you are missing the point as the current Quarantine is exactly that QUARANTINE in your room for 14 days only being allowed out for fresh air for certain period. Food delivered to rooms and certainly no use of the hotel facilities.

 

How the hell can you compare that to 2 weeks in a normal resort with no restrictions ?  Never mind hardly ever leaving the hotel ....lol   oh lol oh lol

 

Quarantine is none of what you have even hinted at ? 

 

Seriously is that waht you think ?

[Don Mega]

starting to see tour buses in Pattaya again, was hoping they would lock down the borders even harder but alas the tourists are returning...... paradise is lost again.

Edited October 4, 2020 by Don Mega