SURVEY: Majority of Thais don’t want foreign tourist – do you agree?

[Mr Meeseeks]

On 10/11/2020 at 5:42 PM, robblok said:

Trans it does not take a genius to know that those who are working in tourist related area's are not happy. But they are not a majority. My ex wife works in tourism, is now locked in Vietnam. She is not happy about it either. 

 

But the majority is quite happy that people who come in are screened for covid and quarantined. Nobody wants a new lockdown. 

 

Maybe you should remember the lockdown and how bad that affected everyone. Its better to have a small number of people suffer then everyone. 

 

This poll too says that only around 20% wants to let people in without restrictions. The rest is all for restrictions like quarantine.

 

I say let everyone get in the country that goes through quarantine. 

This is the correct answer.

[Mr Meeseeks]

6 hours ago, bornredi said:

in one year Thailand's  economy will be devastated and there will be huge huge increase in severe poverty, how do they expect all those people to keep all those hotels, resorts, from going completely broke 

 

and all those people dependent on the tourist dollar from sinking into severe poverty

 

 

your cure is far far worse than the disease 

 

There will be economic misery for those in the tourism industry but it will affect more people if they have a second wave and other sectors of the economy are shut down.

 

It's for the greater good, which many here seem to have trouble understanding.

[albertalaska]

Foreign money gets spent in the country and the people who earn it directly spend it all over Thailand in all businesses.   I am a perfectly healthy person who goes to SE Asia for 5 months every winter.  I would not even mind two weeks quarantine if it meant I could travel as usual.   But the country , where over 22000 Thais die on the roads every year, is closed  because of 59 virus deaths. Go figure.  I know how much my yearly money has built in their country for the last 35 years of my visits. Collectively we tourists have built much in their country.   Let us come back to our second homes please.  We will not be infecting anyone after quarantine. 

[tomazbodner]

There are several ways to safely open up the country. They however depend on people being responsible. Which they aren't.

 

Hence cherry picking from the start may be the right strategy, but at the same time the Chinese response to Thailand opening up to them exposed that in the country with nearly 20% of World population, where economy has recovered and is probably doing better than anywhere in the World - they could not find a single person willing to visit.

 

Now that is where all alarm bells should go off.

 

You open borders or not, nobody (other than pensioners, those who have partners in Thailand, or property here) is coming. And for that, exceptions could be made more humanely than they were shown in the recent days, where it got combined with significant financial contributions (somewhat a sign country is in trouble financially).

 

I'd therefore say it's better to keep borders closed and encourage domestic tourism to keep SOME tourism outfits alive, and redirect the those with lost employment into different industries that earn foreign currencies, as tourism numbers seen before COVID will never be reached again, and most of these jobs lost will be lost for a very long time, some forever.

 

By opening the borders (say Phuket bubble) they would scare away all the locals, then no foreigners arrive, they'd lose even more than if borders weren't reopened. Also keep in mind that places where most tourists come from are entering winter, and it's expected their infection rates would increase dramatically in the following months. With Thais possibly having survived COVID a year ago, they might no longer be immune to it, and anyway virus strain in the West is different from original Wuhan one, which would undo all the effort of closing down from the beginning.

 

Sweden has gone against the tide of other countries - but mentality there is very different from many other places.

 

Has Thailand done a good job? Well, look at all these tourists who feel safe here and refuse to leave. Easiest way to get rid of them is open the border and scrap the quarantine. They'd go up, one way or the other... in a plane or up in smoke.

[Rimmer]

Troll.derogatory post removed

[Kwasaki]

What can I say other than keep Thailand safe. 

They should let people in like my friend who has a wife and family here if checked and clear. 

His said he can't afford to come back at the moment it costs more than his prepared to spend so he keeps on working UK and sends money to his Mrs. 

[spidermike007]

18 hours ago, Onrai said:

I agree the economy is dependent on tourism. Bangkok is the most visited city in the world. Tourism accounts for 6-7% of GDP. There is a sea of empty hotels on Phuket and Ao Nang. Imagine developers who can’t service their debt. Imagine the banks with hundreds or thousands of bad loans. Imagine the thousands of unemployed workers. It is inconceivable that the the government isn’t aware of the havoc caused by shutting down the economy. Unless you believe Thais aren’t involved in the tourist industry and the government is unaware of the hurt to a major sector of the economy then it stands to reason everyone wants things to get back to normal. 

The question is what is the safe way to do it? If you agree the USA adopted exactly the opposite approach- are they any better off? Agreed they have limited flights into the US but you are allowed to fly domestically from one Covid hot spot to another. 
This is akin to allowing Burma or Laos or Vietnam or Cambodia to fly freely between countries and reinfecting each other as they do so.  In short, people keep spreading the virus in the USA, the economy is worse off because not only do they have to worry about Covid, the economy is seriously shut down because no one feels safe. Yes the Thai tourist economy is hurting but Covid is under control. I welcome what you consider a safe way to open up the economy  without jeopardizing the progress Thailand has made in containing the virus. I can’t help feeling what you call fear mongering has kept us safe and the laissez faire defiance to social distancing, personal protective gear, and masks, for the ill convinced conviction that these safety precautions impinge on a US citizens personal freedom has exacerbated a volatile situation. Where is the middle ground?

If the country decides to take risks, everyone must rely on themselves because this is a war between virus and humans and people need to survive,” Chulalongkorn University Faculty of Medicine lecturer Thira Woratanarat added. 

Dumb and dumber. This numskull has been droning on and on forever. While collecting a fat salary. No regard for the masses. None. 

 

So many distortions here. First of all this appears to be a fairly low grade virus. What percent of fatalities here were under 65-70 years old? What percent did not have underlying conditions? He makes it sound like a second wave would knock out the population. Millions of tourists were here in Nov. Dec. Jan. and Feb. Many were likely infected. Yet? 58 deaths. Less than two days on the highways here. Do they shut down the highways? 

 

Adults 65 and older account for 16% of the US population but 80% of COVID-19 deaths in the US, somewhat higher than their share of deaths from all causes (75%) over the same period.

 

There are so many variables here. Is it worth taking a small risk, so that the economy can recover, and the people can live? 

A simple plan. A non antigen test 72 hours before the flight. And Thailand ups their game, and invests in some modern technology, and provides on the spot antigen testing at Suvarnabhumi or elsewhere. It is easy. You pass two different tests, using two different methodologies, and you are covid free.
 
Welcome. No health insurance required. No groveling at a consulate. No quarantine. Welcome to Thailand. Have a great trip. And thanks so much for bringing a bundle of cash. Our people really need it. 
 
No panic. No fear mongering. Double testing. You are safe. We are safe. Life is good. 

 

Abbott has received FDA emergency use authorization for a COVID-19 antigen it is pricing at $5 that delivers results in 15 minutes. Other companies including BD and Quidel already sell antigen tests but Abbott’s scale led some analysts to identify its entry to the market as a potential game-changer. Abbott plans to ship 50 million kits a month starting in October, making mass testing more feasible.

[Onrai]

4 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

There are so many variables here. Is it worth taking a small risk, so that the economy can recover, and the people can live? 

A simple plan. A non antigen test 72 hours before the flight. And Thailand ups their game, and invests in some modern technology, and provides on the spot antigen testing at Suvarnabhumi or elsewhere. It is easy. You pass two different tests, using two different methodologies, and you are covid free

Sounds like a reasonable plan and much less restrictive than the STV failure. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could get the government to give it a go. 

[UB40]

On 10/11/2020 at 12:44 PM, EricTh said:

You have to go the embassy anywhere to get your COE , don't you?

 

It's better than being send back to your home country if they found out you have the virus when you reach Thailand.

All wrong. Why do a PCR-test? Its useless and not suitable for a virus detection. They should stop the nonsense, fear-mongering and return to normal procedures

[Moo 2]

Totally agree, and I don't want Thai foreigners in my country neither!  They can't read English and

have a bad habit of overstay their 3 month visa by 5/10 years.