High probability they didn't manage to sell one ticket for this fabulous offer. 
I've still got coffee stains down my t-shirt from spitting it out with laughter after seeing the 'Vegetarian Festival' excuse, one of the best efforts at trying to save face i've seen.

Thanks Thailand for bringing a smile to my face be it here or there????

25 minutes ago, Vivek wardhan bandi said:

We service industry people, dont have any income from last 8 months, we have spent all our saving and took loans to survive, hope the time will change,  the time will change , when thai govt allow tourists in this country, expecting this will happen soon,  with all safety precautions,  

It will not change anytime soon sorry to say

2 hours ago, chub said:

You would think that 'The Nation' journalist would know better than to attach a photo of a Taiwanese airliner to an article about a flight from Guangzhou to Phuket.    

The British guys working for The Nation may not know too well the geography of this part of the world... Far from UK ????

I'm interested that the backdrop would be of a China Airlines aircraft, which of course is a Taiwanese airline, not mainland Air China.

 

Oops that'll upset the puppet masters in Beijing!

So you have to pay full amount up front, airline tickets too. That Chinese group, were they reimbursed ? Would EU or other foreigners be reimbursed if the flight or Government stop their arrival ? Or if you test positive at the last minute , reimbursed, or huge amount of money down the drain ? Does anyone believe the airline company will reimburse or delay ? Too many unanswered questions apart from the ridiculous cost of the whole STV. 

Strange..if one is positive the cancel...but why they do quarantaine?? 

Stick your STV IN Your Momma Soup ! 

1 minute ago, Patjqm said:

Strange..if one is positive the cancel...but why they do quarantaine?? 

Well if someone is positive he’s sent straight to hospital for further tests / treatment, at his own cost.  They wouldn’t put him in quarantine to infect others in quarantine. 

I reckon this so called bunch of tourist supposed to come were not tourist as such, more like a bunch of travel agent and tour operators coming to survey Phuket to see if it's safe to start selling holidays to our Chinese friends 

China has not opened up foreign travel to the general population.  These 120 guests from China must be above just connected.  High speed train, submarine, automotive, copper, real-estate, gold dealers?  The first 120 tourists from your biggest threat or biggest investors?

1 hour ago, Siamic said:

There has been no Covid cases in Phuket for more than 3 months. It would be interesting to do PCR tests on 100 volunteers here and simply see how many false-positives show up.

Actually, if would interesting to do SARS-Cov-2 anti-body testing to see how many have been infected already. 

2 hours ago, Mak25 said:

I understand, if 1 person is found positive, the whole group will need to remain in ASQ for the rest of their stay in Thailand.

This is how I read it.  So after 7 days they can roam in some areas of the hotel.  So on day 12 someone tests positive then what?  They all redo 14 day in room quarantine?   How often are these hotel staff tested,  food service, cleaning service. Read a report virus can stay on a person's skin6 days.  These hotel workers as well as all health care workers need hazard pay

I doubt very much any of them will be diagnosed with Covid if tested, it will be recorded as a fever/flu just to save face.

The "Flip Flop" Government.

 

You watch this space....Any flight {If any actually arrive} that has a Covid Positive will mean that every country is banned!

 

Its a farce that every flight into or indeed out of Thailand has positive results...

Amazing Thailand!

Assuming they come here covid free it would be interesting to see how many return to china with covid! 

Excellent. Just a week In the nick then you get parole. 

 

Deal of the century. 

These crazy ideas about letting people in are never going to work.I own a condo in Thailand and to get in we have to send 3 million baht to our bank account are they crazy plus quarantine in a Hotel for 14 days plus take. Out health insurance at hugely inflated prices. They should just forget about it until next year or until we have a vaccine.Why do we need 3 million in a Thai bank madness.

1 minute ago, Miss Pickle said:

These crazy ideas about letting people in are never going to work.I own a condo in Thailand and to get in we have to send 3 million baht to our bank account are they crazy plus quarantine in a Hotel for 14 days plus take. Out health insurance at hugely inflated prices. They should just forget about it until next year or until we have a vaccine.Why do we need 3 million in a Thai bank madness.

It’s the misconception that the Thai government believe foreigners have loads of money at their disposal. They don’t appreciate that the older ones on long stay have a minimal amount of savings and a pension. Yes we probably have more access to money but the majority of foreigners have worked hard all their lives and accumulated savings none of which they wish to pass on to the Thai government on some so called Tourist scheme or should I say scam.

Not surprised at all that Chinese STV tourists would be the first to arrive. China's direct investment is now becoming increasingly critical to the survival of Thailand’s flailing and uncertain economic future. IMHO the ultimate goal of China's current expansionist policy in this region is building economic and physical links through many parts of Thailand's public and private sectors through total economic domination.

 

When you read the PMs published comments about countries rejecting China now because of the virus, but Thailand should pursue a deeper friendship with China, that's code for a closer alliance in the immediate future with their friend from the north. By 2025 Thailand will take a deep dive in its alliance with the Chinese Communist Party and essentially become one of its covert economic and political protectorates in SE Asia. This fits the current authoritarian political structure which is essentially controlled by the rich Thai/Chinese Elites in BKK.

 

I would expect many if not most of the STV tourists will come from China. Thailand simply ignores the egregious actions of China intentionally releasing the virus throughout the globe and never mentions it. Courting the China cash cow is the name of the game for Thailand now and in the future. 

 

19 minutes ago, Miss Pickle said:

These crazy ideas about letting people in are never going to work.I own a condo in Thailand and to get in we have to send 3 million baht to our bank account are they crazy plus quarantine in a Hotel for 14 days plus take. Out health insurance at hugely inflated prices. They should just forget about it until next year or until we have a vaccine.Why do we need 3 million in a Thai bank madness.

It is crazy but you forgot 500k baht in home country bank,  must also have B visa.... 

Do yourself a favour and scrap the STV now then. Stop embarrassing yourself thailand... we all know the real reason it’s been delayed it’s because hardly anyone has signed up!

 

 

thousands of enquiries about the STV doesn’t mean you’ve had overwhelming interest... I bet half of those enquiries were somewhere along the lines off “ which countries are eligible?” Not real interest.

 

cowboys.

 Utter Fruitcakes pre and simple.....

1 hour ago, geisha said:

So you have to pay full amount up front, airline tickets too. That Chinese group, were they reimbursed ? Would EU or other foreigners be reimbursed if the flight or Government stop their arrival ? Or if you test positive at the last minute , reimbursed, or huge amount of money down the drain ? Does anyone believe the airline company will reimburse or delay ? Too many unanswered questions apart from the ridiculous cost of the whole STV. 

You don't actually think that there was a group of 100 tourists who had their trips cancelled at the last minute due to a vegetarian food festival, do you?

Why does anyone think this is actually a group of tourists? Obviously they're not tourists. No tourist which go through such an insane thing. Thailand/China for whatever reason have people they want to bring from China to Thailand. Obviously there's some purpose. Probably China wants them in Thailand, it's likely mutual (China has 'politely asked' for them to be allowed, or a large brown paper suitcase was handed to the right people). The incredible geniuses involved here figured it would be a good idea to make it look like they were trying to do something for tourism by allowing a few tourists in, using utterly absurd rules which absolutely no person would be willing and capable of bothering with (and if such a person did exist, it's fair to say there is not a shortage of excuses to say it is not currently possible, please try again next month/year/don't call us we'll call you krap). For whatever reason, something went wrong. The Chinese spy/businessmen/whatever needed time to prepare, got sick, felt like a delay, or maybe it was going to be too blatant so that whatever they're doing would be too obvious, so they delayed (and came up with the worst excuse I've heard for anything since my classmate in grade three told the teacher that burglars stole her homework).

I'm not saying this is necessarily anything of importance, it might be something very trivial, but whatever it is, it's not a group of Chinese tourists, they want to do something other than tourism, assuming there actually is a group of people who will be coming from China. No one that cashed up is that desperate to spend weeks locked up then wander around abandoned tourist areas then go home. If I had enough money that I wasn't put off by those fees, I'd certainly be in a position where I'd have something better to do than jumping through ridiculous and inane hoops so the sake of being locked up and spending time in a trashy ghost town. I don't know what the real story is, it may be pretty innocent, it may be utterly nefarious, but it certainly isn't the same as the cover story.

Please tell us the truth. No one likes to come with all the crazy insane rules!

3 hours ago, connda said:

"But but but - then it's time for Loy Krathon and Yee Ping festivals.  If the foreigners area allowed in they put all Thai tourists in dangers."

Yeah, if they can cancelled the flight because of a vegetarian food fair, then what are they gonna do at the last minute regarding a very large, important, national holiday?  Just saying...

 

It's not a 'Vegetarian Food Fair' but a very important 9-day religious festival, especially for the Thai-Chinese. It's a massive event in Phuket and very worthwhile to see. You ain't seen nuffin' like it.

5 hours ago, chub said:

You would think that 'The Nation' journalist would know better than to attach a photo of a Taiwanese airliner to an article about a flight from Guangzhou to Phuket.    

So you think the journalist who wrote the article also selects the accompanying pictures?

 

Ever heard of a layout or graphics department?

this scheme is just a token gesture to keep the small minority from the thai tourism industry who have been asking the thai government to open up off their backs, and by saying this they can now turn round to the tourism industry and say "well we tried" as its set up to fail. 100% no cases is impossible to guarantee. 

14 hours ago, Hayduke said:

 

And as the most ‘special’ of Special Tourists from the Heavenly Kingdom….

 

…it’s a safe bet these VIPs won’t have to fill out massive volumes of nonsensical visa paperwork, jump through an endless maze of bureaucratic obstacles, or suffer the full range of quarantine imprisonment.

 

That’s...of course...if they actually show up...

 

 

They are like you say visitors and there are no tourists it's all <deleted>. 

Quote

If infected persons were found among STV tourists, the operation will not proceed to the second phase, or even the third phase that would allow tourists to travel freely, if they are proved to be free from infection.

 

This is nonsense, if all tourists are Covid free, why are you requiring the quarantine and the multiple tests?  In my opinion, if tourists are found to have Covid, it would indiquate their protocol during this pandemic is the right one...  Why are they asking for insurance if they will just scrap the whole thing if a tourist have Covid?  The government should have a protocol on how to handle tourist with Covid right now, do not wait until you have one... penalizing everyone for 1 tourist is such a knee jerk reaction.

 

"Do not worry we will handle the situation if a tourist is found to have covid during quarantine, it will not disrupt the future of the STV project"  is a much better message than "We will stop everything if someone coughs, so don't plan coming here"

12 hours ago, Mavideol said:

555 if I remember correctly, in the past it was published that average Chinese spend 5,000 baht during their short stay in Thailand, if it still be correct then 120 Chinese x 5,000 baht = 600,000 baht.... that supposely will save Phuket's tourism 555

These are not normal tourists, 

They are CP group executives. 

They possibly have been vaccinated as well. They are not coming to spend 5000 bht. 

They are on a mission much bigger than 5K BHT