34 minutes ago, robsamui said:

Chuckle!
You've obviously of the generation which never heard of Pete Seeger or Peter Paul and Mary!

Who?  

 

I am definitely not of the generation you are referring to, although I might have heard the original when subjected to having to listen to a "golden oldies" station with my parents.

1 hour ago, baboon said:

Be careful what you wish for. They may make it even harder in a sulking fit.

Army men.    I think we are getting close to the 400 pushups, 2000 sit ups,  and a 30 km run requirement .    Don't make a face or they will double it. 

3 hours ago, Mung said:

Thailand, if you want the tourist numbers, then open your borders completely and do away with the ludicrous hoops that you've put in place. Surely you have a medical care system that can deal with infections? Maybe that is why you are not opening.. 

Mung, Yes, having visited a general Hospital in Isaan to see a niece of my thai lady. I saw the squalor and overcrowding in wards, beds in passageways, lack of any equipment and queues of people everywhere. I am not aware of any covid testing either. Running scared  - probably.  

Just now, smudger1951 said:

Mung, Yes, having visited a general Hospital in Isaan to see a niece of my thai lady. I saw the squalor and overcrowding in wards, beds in passageways, lack of any equipment and queues of people everywhere. I am not aware of any covid testing either. Running scared  - probably.  

the nice thing about many US hospitals is that they are not crowded at all.   The average person  can not afford to go to one

40 minutes ago, cjinchiangrai said:

This plan was never going to be that attractive to normal Chinese. No time and too much hassle. They would need to be invested somehow.

 

You don't need to leave China to go to the beach, or skiing, or even find companionship. There is also not the huge price difference that attracts the falangs. 

 

But will they feel at home on the beach in Pattaya??

 

Thailand isn't the exotic, mystic and unexplored destination is was just 20 years ago, now it's all hardcore exploitation of tourists to make them drop the maximum amount of cash in the shortest time possible like all other "popular" destinations.

1 hour ago, Brunolem said:

About covid, the 19 is for the year (2019), not the ranking of the virus

Covid-19 is actually the name of the illness triggered by the virus. The virus itself has been named SARS-CoV-2. But you're essentially right, as the "19" indeed stands for the year (i.e. 2019) in which the first cases emerged.

20 minutes ago, steelepulse said:

Who?  

 

I am definitely not of the generation you are referring to, although I might have heard the original when subjected to having to listen to a "golden oldies" station with my parents.

I woulda thought that Van Halen's completely different song title and lyrics might have given you some kind of clue . . . ????

The charter flight was virtually taxiing on the runway 

The virtually Chinese 'tourists' were nowhere to be seen

The virtually Chinese were told that they would not be refunded

The virtually vegetarian festival cancellation was just a misunderstanding

and on and on it goes...

 

 

 

 

 

The "future" is called such because it has not happened. Those who try to predict the future are refered to by various names; mystics, fortune tellers, sooth-sayers, charlatans and officials.

Pathetic Thailand...its getting harder and harder to tell people I live in this Kingdom...

30 minutes ago, Misterwhisper said:

Covid-19 is actually the name of the illness triggered by the virus. The virus itself has been named SARS-CoV-2. But you're essentially right, as the "19" indeed stands for the year (i.e. 2019) in which the first cases emerged.

 

... good explanation.

As for the "20" version, they're welding it together as we speak but running late already. That's the actual reason why that flight to Phuket got delayed I reckon, 555 ...

 

Altough I have been many times to the land of l1es and always enjoyed very well I have deleted it now from my bucket list. Once the world opens up there will be many more and better options than a country run by a muppet show.

This must be a HUGE loss of face for those responsible for creating this visa and especially those upholding the...well...lie ???? 

52 minutes ago, robsamui said:

But will they feel at home on the beach in Pattaya??

 

OMG!!

 

Can you just imagine how many litres of pi$$ is being dumped by all those people??

8 hours ago, steelepulse said:

A tribute to Eddie Van Halen, nice.

 

Where have all the good times gone.

 

 

 

I think the first one was Marlene Ditrich, Van Halen wasn't even born yet at that time.

2 hours ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

The post implied that Thailand, for a long time, has been turning off tourists. I pointed out that as recently as 2019, almost 40M people either hadn't got the word or disagreed. My personal survey of tourists over the years didn't include any from this year (none to be found) but I wouldn't expect even the most enamored of Thailand tourists to visit at this time, what with all the extra hassle and costs involved, to say nothing of the fact that most tourist destinations are ghost towns, with almost all restaurants, hotels, and attractions closed.

Thank you for the clarification, and I apologize if I took it out of context based upon what the OP was about.

Well, if we look at it from the more positive side, actually this is really important information for the TAT. The corona gave them an imminent opportunity to see what kind of tourists that usually go to Thailand, and what they are willing to sacrifice in order to get there. Without the corona, this information would have been hard to come by. Now they have 100% proof. 

I think their next step would be to loosen the requirements, slowly, and then observe what kind of tourists they are actually able to attract and what tourists are willing to sacrifice to go there.

All this said, it could look like the TAT has a greater impression of itself than reality could justify. Maybe Thailand will never really be a destination for the few rich (like Monaco, for ex.), but always a cheap - though nice - place to go for a relaxing holiday. I think the TAT have to get down from their high horse and realise this. Because it looks like this is the reality. 

7 hours ago, Fairynuff said:

So that plane that was about to take off?........... 

It disappeared like MH 370.

Some Thai authority was un truthful .

After all these years, I have followed the letter of the law , here in the Kingdom.

 

Im shocked and disappointed.

It would appear as though they thought no one would notice, or care.

 

atta boy carry on, nothing to see here.

at a glance, it seems the Issan farmer has far more credibility than the Authorities that are government.

 

In the immortal words of Don Henley, “ I could be wrong, but I’m not”

 

get your popcorn ready, the next 3 weeks will be the best show on earth.

 

And rest assured, the good guys win,

They already have.

 

After that “ Daddies Home “.

Its going to be Awesome, if your a good guy.

If you are a dark, lying, cheating, corrupt, fraudulent type...... good luck,

there are bad days ahead. Leo te khun.
 

This will be Universal Law, nowhere to hide.

Sources say .

13 minutes ago, 86Tiger said:

OMG!!

 

Can you just imagine how many litres of pi$$ is being dumped by all those people??

You do not have to guess, it looks pretty yellow to me and says it all.

6 hours ago, Ganesh108 said:

The world's wretched and destitute? ???? I didn't know that Somalian pirates, Liberian lepers and Bangladeshi beggars are amongst us in the guise of tourists. 

You forgot the IS terrorists.

6 hours ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

39M tourists (2019...not so long time ago) disagree with you...and as an aside, every tourist I've spoken to during their stays has said they were having a wonderful time and would definitely come back.

39 M ARRIVALS, not all tourists. Amongst them business men/women, Thai living abroad returning or visiting and so on.

Are you in the TAT board ?

9 hours ago, farang85 said:

Thailand have very good medical facilities , lot of  nice hotels to quarantine  . with 100K USD insurance  , 2 week quarantine , pre covid test  .  I am damn sure no farang will  leave there own country to goto thailand if they have covid .   do they really need this STV  <deleted> of   flying with charter flight/ low risk/high risk country <deleted> on top of paying 10000 THB to thai long stay  ?

Please cut down a bit on your consume of yaba, dear ???????? ???? 

STV is only a test. If covid cases don't happen, they will reopen. If nobody applies, no covid cases, fast reopening...

25 minutes ago, OumarhindaOunsingha said:

and what tourists are willing to sacrifice to go there

Zero. Nada.

 

Tourism = leisure, having fun. Not sacrifice.

7 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Meanwhile Natthaphanu said that 22,000 CoE (Certificates of Entry) have been processed worldwide from those gathering paperwork to return to Thailand. These include applications from work permit holders, teachers, students, spouses of Thai nationals, experts, the sick and businessmen.

 

Wouldn't it be amusing if only five or ten people came? How many tourists will be willing to jump over these hoops? 

 

And now, the few remaining tourists here are being asked to leave? They should be given free visas, and 10,000 baht vouchers to stay! Commendation letters too. And for incoming tourists, free quarantine. All expenses, including meals, picked up by the army, using their multi trillion baht slush fund.

 

Nonsensical stupidity. Lack of science. Fear mongering.

 

Let us make your stay as uncomfortable as possible. And by the way, you cannot consume alcohol either, during your quarantine. Who comes up with this stuff, and why does the nation tolerate the nonsense, the utter incompetence, the malfeasance? How much longer will they tolerate the extremely regressive army? My prediction, is that when Covid is dead and gone, it will be a very slow recovery. It will take many years.

 

And even ten years from now, I doubt if Thailand will see 20 million tourists a year. They will be lucky if they have 5 million tourists per year, five years from now. The longer they wait, the harder they fall.  
 

No, within two years they'll have another virus or even another reason that will stall recovery if there is any recovery.

I really don't care where tho they are because I don't base people on their race (although we all have our characteristics, i.e. chinese are loud by nature, and whites are fat by nature) but I digress...

 

Isn't it something that the Thai government actually reads this forum?  Oh my goodness.  

You couldn’t make this stuff up Thailand and it’s ridiculous government is becoming a laughing stock for the tourist industry

4 hours ago, Surelynot said:

I think there are dark forces at work that don't want tourists or expats in Thailand.....it is a long term move to eventually end up as another North Korea.

I am wondering more and more if they are not hiding something. Suppose tourists are coming and after arriving back in their home country it shows they are infected. This will destroy the Thai reputation of being a (self declared) medical hub.