1 hour ago, RichardColeman said:

Yes, feel free to also spit in the eye of everyone stuck outside too !

Richard, maybe I shoud'nt be be shocked at all the gloating comments on this one. Like you and so many others I won't be back till next year. 

6 hours ago, webfact said:

 

Even China, according to the minister, is advising caution and has suggested waiting until the hot season next year.

 

Resurgences of the virus in China this month during cooler weather have added to the feeling of caution. 

China China China !! ????

"Mooted" is that not just a silly word, ever considered, considered.

6 hours ago, webfact said:

And it could be next year's hot season - March at the earliest -

 June 2021 by any chance????????

6 hours ago, webfact said:

An interview between Thailand's tourism minister Pipat Ratchakitprakan and the Thai media has poured cold water on plans for quarantine to be scrapped. 

Sounds more like Pipats been hobbled by Prayut... talks of all different things, and plans of reducing quarantine times are on the back burner.

Only the introduction and results of a vaccine will change anything.

Forget the first quarter of next year.

5 hours ago, shackleton said:

Looks like more Domestic holidays coming up next year 

These 4 day weekend holidays work wonders  

 

I'm finding the mid-week breaks great.

1 hour ago, Deli said:

And the numbers of suicides due to running out of money will rise. Just complete madness.

The whole country shutting down again is complete madness.

All factories, import/export businesses can operate so the majority can work to make a living.

Thailand has 70 million residents to take care of resorts via domestic travel.. if the price was right.

3 hours ago, JP canada said:

Lots of site seeing and adventure stuff to check out and open such as Khao Sok national park and yes even JB island. Some companies on certain days still are  doing Similan Islands also and with the lack of tourists the time has never been better to see some of these places. I just went on a tour of PhangNga with the wife and friends... it was awesome.

     My Thai partner and I are just back from a 2 week trip with stops in Krabi, Phuket, Phang Na, Ranong, and a couple other places on the way.  Had a great time and, as you say, the lack of tourists makes it a good time to go.  Fewer boats when we were snorkeling and fewer tourists on the islands we stopped at.  There seemed to be enough tour companies operating in the places we stopped at--we did a couple private boat tours with snorkeling and one snorkeling outing on a group speedboat with mostly Thai tourists--about 30 in all.  

6 hours ago, rott said:

"STV the only way to visit Thailand in the future."? 

Is the SETV being scrapped then.?

Read the article again.  STV is here to stay for now.

2 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Yes, feel free to also spit in the eye of everyone stuck outside too !

Hardly. Mass tourism is not allowed, and that is excellent news in terms of protecting my livelihood, family and friends.

7 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

Excellent news. 

 

I shall enjoy my holiday in Phuket this coming month in the absence of international tourists and sleep safe in the knowledge that the authorities are doing their best to keep COVID-19 out of the country.

@Mr Meeseeks glad its all working out for you. your name should be mr ME ME ME

2 hours ago, nobodysfriend said:

Thailand should distribute enough money to those in desperate need .

Instead of spending billions on projects that could easily be delayed for some time  ...

 

You mean, like submarines? The Thai waters are not even deep enough to support a submarine. Such a egregious blatant waste.

The reason maybe that China and South Korea suffering a second wave which maybe far worse than the first as no substantial herd immunity few local infections during the first wave. Is this about to happen to Thailand?

Interesting. Was just in Chiang khan, Thursday & Friday. The place was packed. During the week not so much. 

 

Have been several times this past 6 months and noticed many of the popular hotels etc, renovating, adding parking, painting, and other upgrades. 

 

Around us in Nong Khai, not so much. Although there seems to ve some excitement around the rail station and the China/Laos link. 

 

People are hurting around us. Many not working (not that many did before as most are lazy), but those wanting to work are finding it difficult. 

Another major shut down i think would be devastating for some. 

 

It seems that a few here just do not understand how it really works. All the speculation by the various ministers about tourism and actually anything else means nothing. The real person in charge is the PM unless he says it or gives the go ahead to look into it it will not happen. Stop listening to minister so and so because they are just flapping

4 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Yes, feel free to also spit in the eye of everyone stuck outside too !

Nobody is "stuck" outside. There is a clear path for anyone who wants to work through the process and the quarantine and associated costs. I know of many who have done it. It's a choice to stay outside.

Quote

March at the earliest

Several airlines have already canceled March international flights to Bangkok. But April flights are as normal. April 2021 is also more likely because it would be a year since the lockdowns started, plus April is in the second quarter of the year, March is in the first quarter. Economic planners like to work in quarters.

9 hours ago, webfact said:

 

Pipat said that 14 day quarantine would continue for now with many countries still in the grip of the pandemic.

 

They should annonce what they will do when people are vaccinated in 2021. Will they keep quarantine, insurance, etc??

1 hour ago, Dialemco said:

The reason maybe that China and South Korea suffering a second wave which maybe far worse than the first as no substantial herd immunity few local infections during the first wave. Is this about to happen to Thailand?

No second wave happening in China, 1245 in hospital.  Same as before give or take.

9 minutes ago, daejung said:

 

They should annonce what they will do when people are vaccinated in 2021. Will they keep quarantine, insurance, etc??

Thailand has not ordered many vaccines so will have little effect as majority Thai population will not be vaccinated

 Looks like opening 2022 earliest

1 minute ago, Traubert said:

No second wave happening in China, 1245 in hospital.  Same as before give or take.

Hope you are right but figures do not add up China unlikely to announce true number of infections same as they did with the first wave

Hot season? The peak period is the cold season and Chinese New Year for the Chinese tourists.

 

Might as well wait until end of next year for the cold season.

Nice and quiet in Lam Plai Mat, I am all for keeping it that way, I like the figures for Thailand and do not want them to change, by allowing mass tourism yet.

 

As Brucec64 said, I quote:- "Nobody is "stuck" outside. There is a clear path for anyone who wants to work through the process and the quarantine and associated costs. I know of many who have done it. It's a choice to stay outside."

 

For a single person this is not hard to do, if he or she has a family or a loved one here and wants to return, also not very expensive. But I think the 14 days quarantine should be mandatory even for returning Thais.

10 hours ago, Brad88 said:

Pick a month...any month...it doesn't matter. Grab the chalk and write this on the blackboard a thousand times, Mr. Pipat: "Mandatory quarantine = no tourism."

I think he knows that. I think he also knows that the virus is still present, and indeed increasing, in many parts of the world. And that every single place that has eased restrictions has seen a dramatic rise in cases. Of course many thousands are losing their job, maybe even everything they have, in Thailand in and many, many other countries too. Of course it's a toss-up between that and untold thousands more dying. There is no right answer to the conundrum, but I guess saving lives wins over economic survival. Are the precautions overkill? Maybe, but as I said, those places that have eased off have suffered and just go into a cycle of lockdown-opening up-lockdown.

19 minutes ago, Johnthplumb said:

But I think the 14 days quarantine should be mandatory even for returning Thais.

 

It is.

1 hour ago, daejung said:

They should annonce what they will do when people are vaccinated in 2021. Will they keep quarantine, insurance, etc??

 

1 hour ago, Dialemco said:

Thailand has not ordered many vaccines so will have little effect as majority Thai population will not be vaccinated

 Looks like opening 2022 earliest

I was speaking of vaccinated foreigners wanting to enter Thailand, not of vaccinated people in Thailand.

The interesting thing about shielding everyone from the virus is that natural immunity will be low. I am not an advocate of sacrifice of lives for herd immunity or the might Baht, however, this is a concern. The USA has an estimated 53 million people who have had the virus and have some degree of immunity. That number is increasing dramatically. This will help make it unnecessary to vaccinate every single person in the country in order to contain the virus and dramatically lower the R value.

 

In Thailand, if they had a major outbreak, it will run right through. Is it only a matter of time? The four cases coming in from Burma underscore that they are on shaky ground. It is convenient to imagine plane loads of virus-infected foreigners coming in to destroy Thailand, but it may just be Thai citizens taking advantage of porous borders who do the real damage. Meanwhile, their are major impacts to the loss of tourism revenue.

 

I think they have done a great job with keeping people healthy, but one needs to wonder whether these policies are rooted in rational scientific reasoning or in xenophobia and an agenda to chase white foreigners out of Thailand to cement China's hegemony in the region. When comes the appropriate time to loosen up, will they, or will another agenda prevail? For example, talk of not trusting the efficacy of the vaccine could well be an example. If prevailing scientific opinion proves that the  vaccine is effective, then further quarantines for those who have proof of vaccination are not warranted. 

1 hour ago, mbenson said:

I think they have done a great job with keeping people healthy, but one needs to wonder whether these policies are rooted in rational scientific reasoning or in xenophobia and an agenda to chase white foreigners out of Thailand to cement China's hegemony in the region. 

 

Bingo!

11 hours ago, GeorgeCross said:

people forget vacationing right now involves TWO quarantines - one on the way out and one on the way back.

 

until both ways are open mass short term tourism is dead 

Sigh, the initial lockdowns were just too 'flatten the curve' yet nearly the whole world has closed its borders and crashed their economies for a virus with 99%+ survival rates

 

Could understand if it was Ebola, but seriously what is the point in this nonsense?

 

 

12 minutes ago, hydraides said:

Sigh, the initial lockdowns were just too 'flatten the curve' yet nearly the whole world has closed its borders and crashed their economies for a virus with 99%+ survival rates

 

Could understand if it was Ebola, but seriously what is the point in this nonsense?

 

 

Exactly. 

In our area the spiel was all so the hospitals didnt get inundated,

yet the hospitals have sat empty althroughout and nothing has changed many months later..

 

only workers being laid of, and people going without surgery and care.

Its lunacy.

Nothing to fear but fear itself

has never been more fitting.

 

Unfortunately there are to many idiot, scared, brainwashed sheeple buying into people like Fauci, propagating doomsday scenarios.

 

Even when the infection rates drop,

IMO the hardest part will be getting people to "unthink" this silly irrational fear.

If no-one got it, you cant catch it..might be a good Tshirt

 

Look at Australia.

No-one allowed out.

The prime-minister who obviously hasnt got it (why not just get tested anyway?)

has got to go in quarantine for no reason at all.

Complete idiocy.

 

Im just glad I've realised a positive aspect for being old and on the way out????