6 hours ago, Soikhaonoiken said:

Dream on, they think tourists are biting at the bit to come to Thailand, but how wrong they are, the world is having an economic melt down, 

Some friends of mine wanted to come in January 21, but after pricing every thing up have decided against coming, they told me,.... £150 covid test to leave UK, 

£50 covid test in the middle East, and possibly another test in BKK,, then quarantine for 14 days at a Government cost of a minimum of £1000,  the Hotel they wanted to book was 2000B per night @45 nights = over £2,000 that's a total of over £3,800 including flight, that's before they have spent anything on leisure,

These are working class people, and said Thailand ain't a cheap Country to visit any more. 

plus poor exchange rates !!!

21 hours ago, Brad88 said:

Easier still is saving my money, time, and energy by choosing not to take advantage of either this "easier" option or any of the ludicrous schemes to bring in tourists while maintaining the ASQ. Let the powers-that-be come up with all the "targets" they want. I'm targeting my sanity by staying put until there's a truly attractive offer.

At least you had the sense to say "staying put" and not going somewhere else. 

Thailand is available. Know anywhere else that is.? 

14 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Tourists are people that travel, time is not a factor.

There are many that would like to travel to Thailand that do not see the quarantine as a deterrent.

Why is that so hard to understand?

 

PS. Shouting never enhances any argument.

Just now, sandyf said:

There are many that would like to travel to Thailand that do not see the quarantine as a deterrent.

 

Well it would be easier to understand if you explained how much people love being in quarantine.

 

New TAT slogan: "Quarantine, the best part of travel"

 

Honestly, I never cease to be amazed.

 

 

 

 

 

Just now, sandyf said:

Tourists are people that travel, time is not a factor.

There are many that would like to travel to Thailand that do not see the quarantine as a deterrent.

Why is that so hard to understand?

 

PS. Shouting never enhances any argument.

So you believe that a tourist has unlimited time to enjoy themselves, really now?  Most retirees who are tourists I would agree with that statement, but a general tourist who has limited time off and has saved for a trip of 3 weeks would never travel here for a 1 week vacation on the beach and 2 weeks in a lockdown hotel called ASQ. Now give me a lockdwn ASQ beachfront villa where the family could stay and make their own meals and never mingle with others then I would buy that.

21 hours ago, PatOngo said:

Will the penny ever drop??? ????

You are talking here about an unelected "PM" and his generals, mostly military academy graduates with an IQ of about 8% less than your average person from a western country.

That is one reason why the penny will never drop. ????

As far as who would want to visit Thailand for two months or up to half a year, and do a quarantine, it's just whoever would happen to see that as reasonable and positive.  People who only have 2 to 3 weeks of vacation time wouldn't, but plenty of people in the US retire in their 50s, or plenty of people over 65 have all the time in the world.

 

As far as Thailand being closed down, and not a good place to travel now, that hasn't matched my experience.  In the last 3 to 4 months I've been to Pattaya twice, to Cha-am, Sriracha, Kanchanburi, Korat, and Chantaburi, and it's been a fantastic time to travel.  There are specials on everything and lots of extra space due to tourism being slow.  It's not even as if all those places have been ghostly quiet; Bangkok residents are taking advantage of government vouchers and subsidies, and business specials.

Does he have access to medical marijuana? The term "pipe dream" probably came from opium smoking so maybe he has the good stuff?

30 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

So you believe that a tourist has unlimited time to enjoy themselves, really now?  Most retirees who are tourists I would agree with that statement, but a general tourist who has limited time off and has saved for a trip of 3 weeks would never travel here for a 1 week vacation on the beach and 2 weeks in a lockdown hotel called ASQ. Now give me a lockdwn ASQ beachfront villa where the family could stay and make their own meals and never mingle with others then I would buy that.

I know several people from my area in the UK that come here every winter for months, ranging from 2 to 6. The ones I have spoken to wouldn't be bothered by the quarantine. Being in my age group computer literacy and insurance are much more of a problem.

If I know half a dozen out of a rural Yorkshire area, how difficult will it be to meet 20,000.

19 hours ago, MasterBaker said:

Not sure they want tourists per se, but ASQ will bring pretty good money in someone's pocket

You can be sure that the Unelected "PM" and his generals will be top of the list.

16 hours ago, AlfHuy said:

That's a great business idea.

20,000 tourists a month.

All 2 weeks quarantine.

All suddenly tested positive after 7 days.

Max out the insurance cover of 100k USD

 

Bingo

"Max out the insurance cover of 100k USD".  The insurance companies will always gain out of this, all they will do is add more small print on their policies.

 

16 hours ago, Traubert said:

They all like to keep the grumpy lot on TVF on their toes, they've got nicknames for all of you.

I wonder what mine is? 

15 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

A  group of mostly Generals under an unelected "PM" with an IQ of about 8% less than your average Westerner says it all.

1 hour ago, sandyf said:

There are many that would like to travel to Thailand that do not see the quarantine as a deterrent.

What is your source for that statement? It might be your opinion, but with nothing to back it up it is completely irrelevant. I'm sure you understand.

13 hours ago, Thomas J said:

What about people who masquerade as politicians? 

10 hours ago, the green light said:

So waht..

 

 Vaccination does not prevent you for infecting others.

 

until all Thai are vaccines then they will remove the quarantine..

 

 

Will they??????

19 hours ago, Hayduke said:

The people over at the “Ministry of Imaginary Numbers” will...never...be out of a job.

He's been to see the local monk,while asking the next lottery number winner,he asked about tourist numbers,the monk came up with 20,000...it's that simple.All this is not about tourism,it's about placating the tourist lobby.

dream on zzzzzzz

5 hours ago, rott said:

At least you had the sense to say "staying put" and not going somewhere else. 

Thailand is available. Know anywhere else that is.? 

 

Greece is open to tourism..........no quarantine.

 

Malta is open to tourism......no quarantine.

 

Canary Islands open to tourism......no quarantine.

 

UAE is open to tourism.....no quarantine.

 

Barbados is open to tourism.......no quarantine

 

I could go on and on............around the world lots of lovely sunny places with lovely beaches open to tourism...............

 

Who in their right mind is going to visit a "tourism shut down" Thailand and do 14 days quarantine at great expense, when you can go to many other lovely places and enjoy without quarantine.

 

 

22 hours ago, Oldie said:

They see many booze and sex tourists. Imagine in your home country very many Thais would behave like this. What would the people there think about Thais?! 

H0rny alcoholics?

6 hours ago, possum1931 said:

What about people who masquerade as politicians?

Possom1931

 

The problem with politicians and voters is that voters only seem to have recollection of the promises and not the results.  If government programs and politicians were evaluated based on their results rather than their promises it would be a lot more like the private sector where programs that did not perform were cancelled and politicians that did not keep their promises were fired.  As Reagan said, the closest thing to eternity is a government program.  This guy says 20,000 tourists who will remember when the number comes out substantially different. 

3 hours ago, RR2020 said:

 

Greece is open to tourism..........no quarantine.

 

Malta is open to tourism......no quarantine.

 

Canary Islands open to tourism......no quarantine.

 

UAE is open to tourism.....no quarantine.

 

Barbados is open to tourism.......no quarantine

 

I could go on and on............around the world lots of lovely sunny places with lovely beaches open to tourism...............

 

Who in their right mind is going to visit a "tourism shut down" Thailand and do 14 days quarantine at great expense, when you can go to many other lovely places and enjoy without quarantine.

 

 

Please go on and on. 

I was thinking of places in this part of the world or where people want to go, particularly for the sun. 

The UAE is scraping the barrel a bit. 

I keep seeing that Turkey is the nearest available place, but things change quickly. How about Sri Lanka.? 

2 hours ago, rott said:

Please go on and on. 

I was thinking of places in this part of the world or where people want to go, particularly for the sun. 

The UAE is scraping the barrel a bit. 

I keep seeing that Turkey is the nearest available place, but things change quickly. How about Sri Lanka.? 

 

Turkey is open.

 

Sri Lanka no.

 

Egypt is, so Sharm El Sheikh etc... on Sinai are all open.

 

Loads of places.

 

You can get updates here.

 

Coronavirus Travel Updates: Where Can and Can't People Travel? | Wanderlust

 

.

 

My original thoughts were alternative places for UK visitors to Thailand to go. Thailand is actually flexible and practical compared to the neighbouring states. Practical if you have time and are not skint that is. 

 

Your first suggestion Greece is a place I like very much but requires a two week quarantine on return, as do many others. And is not the warmest place at this time of year. 

 

Thanks for your helpful replies.

Never trust a man in a uniform 'briefing' you. 

Secondly, do we know if these are firm bookings or pie in the sky forecasts that come down every week?

I won't be travelling to SE Asia until the pandemic is declared officially over.  People must be crazy to quarantine for 14 days.  That being said, if the pandemic lasts another year or two I will rethink this.  

I would do a two week quarantine for a three month holiday.  Nothing less would be worth it IMO.

20,000 a month!!! 55555555555555, the govt. admitted there has been less than 1,000 arrivals on the STV since inception and they think that number’s going to jump spectacularly when no real change/improvement to the current state of play has happened. If the government are serious (huge bag of salt needed on that one) about restarting any kind of foreign tourism then there are 2 things, and only 2 things that will work and need to be addressed - 14 day quarantine and the overly complicated process/paperwork involved getting here. Look at what Sri Lanka is planning - test before you fly, test on arrival, test on 3rd day, stay minimum 14 days. Application on arrival which takes minimal effort and costs US$2. Start small regionally, once you have a good handle on it then you can start opening it up further country by country.