6 minutes ago, Geoffggi said:

This is frightening, so exactly which part of China were these so called high-end tourists supposed to be coming from WUHAN? it really does make one think. Plus with the news we are getting it is obvious that the Chinese do not want to spend 14 days in quarantine, can't in all honesty blame them for this but rules are supposed to apply to everyone so it is what it is ...............

The flight was coming from Guangzhou 

At the end of the day the people of Phuket can breathe a sigh of relief because of the audacity there government has in only wanting to garner more money for themselves through a plan such as this.  Phuket would have seen very few coins coming in to the actual people who need the money.  This farce of choosing people from supposed low infection countries over those with a higher infection rate is also a farce when you think about everyone having to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival and having to have been Covid tested as negative 72 hours before boarding and arrival.  As one can see by the current folks returning to Thailand, many are testing positive near the end of the 14 day period.  If they believe they can cherry pick the people who arrive and that they will not show up as positive tests while in quarantine again they are deluding themselves.  Either open up the country to all, while allowing only a manageable number in weekly on the off chance that they show a positive result, but then keep the cycle going.  The only way to truly end the nightmare is to just take it one day at a time instead of running scared like they are. 

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Chinese media has questioned the identity of those tourists, however, with reports unable to confirm any Thailand travel bookings among agents in Guangzhou.

 

Operators in Phuket are also puzzled.

 

"We have not been notified about the arrivals," Phuket Tourism Association President, Bhummikitti Ruktaengam told Reuters.

Looks like it was a non starter. So possibly, to save face they said it was delayed rather than saying the unthinkable, that not even 100 out of a billion Chinese wanted to come to Thailand. Not much hope for filling the other planes without a major rethink. 

4 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

The flight was coming from Guangzhou 

You also have to wonder if they did complete a pcr test on arrival and they had some positive results how that would actually look since they cherry picked this province to be a test case.

The whisy washy policies of the government and it's inability to stick  to one policy and go with that coupled with negative sentiments of the Thai people to allow tourist to come in works against any creditably of this government and make a mockery of this country...

6 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

The flight was coming from Guangzhou 

Yes but where were the people from as the travel agencies in Guangzhou reportedly said they had no knowledge of any bookings. 

13 hours ago, Blumpie said:

So I guess if you bought plane tickets, paid for COVID tests for your family (pictured above) you are S.O.L.  It's ok, it's Thailand, where things change second by second, minute by minute.

 

This is why people drink.  

The group for this flight are CP Group executives, details have been published in many media outlets. 

Thailand's richest family are CP Group. They will be on a shopping spree. The flight was to be followed by a private jet with seven high ranking Chinese businessmen. 

CP group among many other things have insurance investments.

Someone is going to make a truckload or loads, many of money. From C19 and health insurance.

Can you name the truckdriver? 

4 minutes ago, Geoffggi said:

Yes but where were the people from as the travel agencies in Guangzhou reportedly said they had no knowledge of any bookings. 

There were none, they all had to be booked through a Thai agency from what it sound like, and that looks very unlikely and suspicious as well.  House of cards starting to fall.

6 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

You also have to wonder if they did complete a pcr test on arrival and they had some positive results how that would actually look since they cherry picked this province to be a test case.

They can shut the island down like they did before where you couldn't get across the bridge apparently the airport is like a war zone and all these new mobile testing units donated by you know who

5 minutes ago, kiwikeith said:

The group for this flight are CP Group executives, details have been published in many media outlets. 

Thailand's richest family are CP Group. They will be on a shopping spree. The flight was to be followed by a private jet with seven high ranking Chinese businessmen. 

CP group among many other things have insurance investments.

Someone is going to make a truckload or loads, many of money. From C19 and health insurance.

Can you name the truckdriver? 

They won't make much until the rules are relaxed.

10 hours ago, Cali farong said:

 Thank you Thailand you are so intelligent 

Agreed, certainly safer here than most other countries, particularly in the west.

Those of less mature years see self interest as a higher priority.

2019 just like the 196 0is dead and gone.  Are masks for ever not sure but the world has changed people.

40 minutes ago, kiwikeith said:

The group for this flight are CP Group executives, details have been published in many media outlets. 

Thailand's richest family are CP Group. They will be on a shopping spree. The flight was to be followed by a private jet with seven high ranking Chinese businessmen. 

CP group among many other things have insurance investments.

Someone is going to make a truckload or loads, many of money. From C19 and health insurance.

Can you name the truckdriver? 

Maybe Robert?

12 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

I think it comes down to someone in power having an interest in the Thai Insurance companies as either a stock holder, or on the board of Insurance.  By only allowing those into the country who buy a policy from these companies he or a group get a percentage or a boost in there stock portfolios.  Again only speculation on my part, but to only allow those back in who have a long stay health insurance policy issued from a Thai company smells to high heaven.

"You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows"  

 

and it blows all over the world.    welcome,  to their  world .   

It's a complete shambles as they say  !!

1 minute ago, steven100 said:

It's a complete shambles as they say  !!

Fits in well in Thailand

For quite a number of years I taught in a primary school (10-to 11 year-olds) in the UK. I'm perfectly serious when I say that a handful of these kids would have been far more capable of organising Thailand's incoming tourist plan. And that includes the common-sense ability not to heap contradictory and embarrassing announcements one on top of the other, due to not thinking or planning ahead. 

 

In fact - having thought for a few moments more - they'd do a far more effective job of managing the whole country.

                           

How much longer are we supposed to suffer these continual rounds of "Open mouth, put foot in". Brains and rocking horses comes to mind, unfortunately on a regular basis.

1 hour ago, jesimps said:

It's just like any new immigration rules, someone on a whim thinks "That's a good idea" and it's put into effect the next day without any deep thought, discussion or informing staff at the many offices throughout the country. Why don't they learn from past mistakes?

Because you have to admit you made a mistake first.

They could not find 50 mugs for this. What did you expect seriously. 

Thailand needs to go global with this farce. This is the 3rd f ucking fail. Press attention should be heavy on these muppets

 

Best thing they can do now is just forget covid is happening and open up before thailand becomes the biggest joke in the world.

 

Not the best plan, but with this bunch of clowns at the wheel they just need to move on.

 

 

1 minute ago, JonnyF said:

They should just keep quiet about the whole thing until they are ready to open up. They are making themselves look stupid.

It's gone beyond looking stupid, it's reached the level of confirmation.

The Stv is now listed on the thai imm site in Canberra au, however the process appears to be haywire, to apply for the visa you need a coe, a coe needs confirmed insurances and asq and charter flights paid for in advance, but you cannot get a charter flight without the stv and hence you can't get the stv without a charter flight, good luck to anyone considering this option.

14 hours ago, Flying Saucage said:

Wow! So it's all a big lie, a big scam, a big bubble!

 

Welcome to Thailand, the land of lies 

Perhaps no genuine tourist booked to come anyway, decided too many hoops to negotiate 

14 hours ago, HiSoLowSoNoSo said:

Probably the same with the flight from Scandinavia.

It's a flight from Prathet Scandinavia, remember, a country that doesn't exist, which should give us a clue about the status of the tourists coming here, lol.

yes the insurance bit is a grabber, should do a red bull investigation into it

The longer they wait, the harder it will be to restore the industry. People have short memories. Thailand was already being forgotten by millions, before Covid, due to a dozen reasons. Now? Too many alternatives. This administration continues to see Thailand as the COTU (center of the universe). Say it ain't so! No humility seems to be getting learned as of now. Are any of the ministers in this ridiculously toxic and incompetent administration even capable of learning?
 
So, we have about 3 trillion baht missing from the economy, minus the little bit of domestic travel going on. 20%! Millions of jobs. How long will that vacuum remain? Will the army develop some guts, courage, creativity and stop the panic mongering? It is unlikely. And what about the people? They are not really a consideration. If you are not rich or connected, you do not factor in. Woe is the average Thai, who worked in tourism. 
 
What can one say? Desperation is setting in. Heads are going to roll, eventually.

 

Just returned from Samui. Utter devastation. 90% of the businesses on the beach road were closed, and hundreds of hotels are closed and for sale, at half price. Trillions of baht are going to be lost here. Annually. Tourism will NEVER recover. Not in our lifetimes. Too much timidity. Too much cowardice. Too little juice and creativity. Such small minds. 

 

Any week now these rich ghost Chinese nobody knows about will arrive and save tourism. 

Its amazing how many people are complaining about Thailand 

But still want to return 

I can understand the ones with family property here ect

But the normal Tourist does have a choice of waiting or going else where

There are other  places in the world to see

 

If it takes any longer to set up the STV system they will soon be able to skip charter flights and private aircraft and simply use the High-speed rail from China through Laos.

When can we classify a government as incompetent?