Visit Thailand but conditions apply: Tracking devices, set routes away from Thais and "Covid minders" mooted

[webfact]

Visit Thailand but conditions apply: Tracking devices, set routes away from Thais and "Covid minders" mooted

 

Picture: Daily News

 

Thailand's health authorities are proposing yet another way of opening up the country to foreign tourists. 

 

While tourism chiefs and the foreign ministry disagree about what to do the health department are now offering yet another approach. 

 

This will provide grist to the mill for netizens that have said Thailand's attempts to open up reminds them of North Korea.

 

Dr Tharet  Krasnairawiwong, director-general of the health service support department, has proposed the latest plan for short term stay tourists.

 

Here are the conditions that would allow tourists to perhaps leave their quarantine rooms:

 

* They will have to wear tracking devices to monitor their every movement.

 

*They will have to stick to routes where other Thai people do not go. They must not veer off course at all.

 

*They will have to be followed around 24/7 by Covid minders to ensure they don't stray and are healthy

 

* They will be encouraged to do fresh air activities - golf was mentioned in the Daily News story as a possibility. 

 

Despite these extraordinary restrictions Dr Tharet is convinced this is the way forward to kickstart the Thai economy and get the tourism ball rolling again. 

 

He cautioned that all of this was subject to further discussion. When pressed by Thai reporters about how much of the 14 day quarantine they would have to spend isolated in rooms he was evasive. 

 

That was up for discussion between the relevant authorities, he offered. 

 

Seven provinces have expressed an interest in this latest model for Thai tourism. They all have the necessary health provision should things go wrong.

 

They are Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai in the north, Phuket and Surat Thani in the south, Chonburi and Rayong on the Eastern Seaboard and Buriram in the North East. 

 

Elsewhere in the Thai media it has been reported that Chonburi - where Pattaya is located - were particularly keen with the prospect of offering gastronomy tours and massage as a possibility. 

 

Thaivisa notes that this latest pronouncement only adds to the utter confusion surrounding the reopening of Thailand. 

 

Nobody seems to be talking to each other as each section of the authorities come up with their own version.

 

Meanwhile the silence from PM Prayut Chan-ocha is deafening and the clamor of a  majority of the Thai public, according to polls, to keep Thailand sealed could remain an overriding and decisive factor in a huge political hot potato.

 

Tourists to North Korea are constantly followed about by government minders and not allowed to talk to locals or stray from set itineraries, we further note.

 

Source: Daily News

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2020-10-13

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

[NCC1701A]

6 minutes ago, webfact said:

*They will have to be followed around 24/7 by Covid minders to ensure they don't stray and are healthy

yes follow me for a day and make sure i don't stray. 

 

[Mavideol]

8 minutes ago, webfact said:

Thailand's health authorities are proposing yet another way of opening up the country to foreign tourists. 

and yet another desperate (non sense) move with the (always) included catch 22  .... 555

[pkrv]

Another day, another half-baked, non-coordinated announcement of plans/schemes/lures.

Awaiting the day when sanity and common sense will make an appearance and Thailand can start to move in the right direction.

Thailand, you can't hide forever; sooner or later things will have to change and embracing sensible plans designed to encourage visitors and restart tourism are what is needed.

[steelepulse]

Start lining then up as we all know the whole world wants to come to Thailand and subject themselves to all the insane hoops required to jump through.

[Surelynot]

I think the biggest problem they might face is marshaling the huge queues of people desperate to get into Thailand on these terms.

[Shey420]

Thailand, once at the top of the SE asia tourism market will fall straight to the bottom. Plan after plan fails and only gets  more ludicrous as new one are introduced.  But while they may look like they have egg on their faces they really won't until other countries in the region open up and start to benefit from their failures. This is the reason they will continue down this path of insanity. 

[Dmaxdan]

A Covid minder?  Of course! The perfect opportunity for Thailand to invent a new uniform. 

[Forza2002]

These daily idiotic ideas to boost tourism are making a Thailand a laughing stock around the world.... 

[KhunKenAP]

I think a rubber stamp every time they enter or leave a vehicle would work along with the minder, following like a blood hound.

 

Does going to the toilet count for another rubber stamp under my new scheme count?? This is currently under discussion with Prayut.

 

Hey, this is as good as all the other stupid ideas from the alphabet soup of Ministries and TAT.

[sweatalot]

Their "opening" would be an opening that is not an opening

[2long]

Like North Korea for many more reasons than just this!

[Virt]

Omg this is better than Benny Hill and Monty python ????????????

[Rancid]

Visit Thailand...just don't interact with or go anywhere near Thai people. Hmm, if it doesn't feel like you have visited a foreign country then why come at all, holiday domestically far cheaper.

[ravip]

7 minutes ago, 2long said:

Like North Korea for many more reasons than just this!

Does North Korea also have millions of tourists queuing up to visit there?

I wonder if there is a NorthKoreaVisa forum to get these facts correctly.

????

[finnsk]

I think now North Korea is a better choice.

 

I am afraid most of the world is finding the country unserious, without human respect and a little funny/stupid

[colinneil]

Yes folks they really walk among us.????????

Have these clowns no idea how stupid their ideas are?

[John Drake]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Here are the conditions that would allow tourists to perhaps leave their quarantine rooms:

 

* They will have to wear tracking devices to monitor their every movement.

 

*They will have to stick to routes where other Thai people do not go. They must not veer off course at all.

 

*They will have to be followed around 24/7 by Covid minders to ensure they don't stray and are healthy

 

* They will be encouraged to do fresh air activities - golf was mentioned in the Daily News story as a possibility. 

 

Dogs on a leash.

[AbeNormal]

1 minute ago, colinneil said:

Yes folks they really walk among us.????????

Have these clowns no idea how stupid their ideas are?

no, and that's the problem

 

also note that all DPM's were appointed not elected

[calbts2]

*They will have to stick to routes where other Thai people do not go. They must not veer off course at all.

 

So is it ok if they instead interact with only foreign expats and residents as to possibly infect them as their health and well being are not as important as Thais?

What makes "where other Thai people do not go" so special?

And are there "no Thai People" area maps available? How about a google maps version that shows a big red dot where Thai people are located. Umm that would pretty much be the entire country.

They will need to know the correct courses to follow right?

What are the punishments for veering "off course"?

 

Completely asinine!!!!!

[connda]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Visit Thailand but conditions apply: Tracking devices, set routes away from Thais and "Covid minders" mooted

Magical thinking abounds in the halls of Thailand's ministries. 

I have an idea.  Tourist collars, leashes, and "tourist handlers" for each muzzled foreigner.  And a soapy disinfecting bath after each walk, fed a bowl of som-tum, and then locked into an isolated "dog tourist house" for the night wearing a GPS ankle-bracelet.

Good idea, 'eh? 

[Justgrazing]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

where Pattaya is located - were particularly keen with the prospect of offering gastronomy tours and massage as a possibility

A pie , a pint and a pull .. that should get 'em in ..

[herfiehandbag]

37 minutes ago, pantsonfire said:

Is this a thai visa forum or a standup comedy show?

TVF is an internet forum. Thai governance however...

[herfiehandbag]

2 minutes ago, Justgrazing said:

A pie , a pint and a pull .. that should get 'em in ..

Well, it has worked, (for Pattaya) for the last thirty years or so!

[PatOngo]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

*They will have to stick to routes where other Thai people do not go.

However will they be able to rip off the farang now? I don't think this will go down too well with the greedy!

[connda]

43 minutes ago, pantsonfire said:

Is this a thai visa forum or a standup comedy show?

As the lines between the rational and sublime blur within the halls of Thai governance, so too do the lines between TVF-normalacy and stand-up comedy, the latter simply being a reflection of what we see within Thai governmental and non-governmental organizations which are starting to border on the absurd.

 

 

[PatOngo]

A copy of the OP needs to be sent to all travel outlets, Booking.com, Agoda.com etc. to show prospective tourists just what they can expect from these clowns! 

[connda]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Here are the conditions that would allow tourists to perhaps leave their quarantine rooms:

 

* They will have to wear tracking devices to monitor their every movement.

 

*They will have to stick to routes where other Thai people do not go. They must not veer off course at all.

 

*They will have to be followed around 24/7 by Covid minders to ensure they don't stray and are healthy

 

* They will be encouraged to do fresh air activities - golf was mentioned in the Daily News story as a possibility. 

 

Despite these extraordinary restrictions Dr Tharet is convinced this is the way forward to kickstart the Thai economy and get the tourism ball rolling again. 

These folks truly live in "La La Land." 

[BritManToo]

This is what happens when you let people buy their jobs and/or appoint them as a favour to their influential families.

Nobody in their life has ever said anything except 'yes sir' to them.

[madmitch]

Why don't they all admit that in the words of the Sweet classic Blockbuster

 

"We just haven't got a clue what to do!"