Thailand Sold Itself as a Paradise Covid Retreat. No One Came

Randy Thanthong-Knight, Bloomberg News

 

 

(Bloomberg) -- It’s hard to imagine a more luxurious place to spend two weeks of quarantine than the Anantara Phuket Suites & Villas in Thailand, where visitors are pampered in private residences that can have their own pool and courtyard.

 

Yet more than three months after the resort and more than a hundred like it reopened to extended-stay travelers in an attempt to revive Thailand’s battered economy, foreign arrivals have failed to meet even rock-bottom expectations. Just 346 overseas visitors have entered the country on average each month on special visas since October, according to the Thailand Longstay Company, which helps facilitate the program. That’s well below the government’s target of about 1,200 and a tiny fraction of the more than 3 million who came before the pandemic.

 

The tepid response to Thailand’s highly publicized reopening illustrates the difficulties facing tourist-dependent countries as they try to shore up economic growth while also protecting citizens from Covid-19 before vaccines become widely available.

 

Thailand had hoped to lure retirees escaping the European winter and others who could stay for an extended period. They would have to go through quarantine, but that could be done in the comfort of high-end resorts in a country that had been relatively unscathed by the pandemic. After two weeks, Thailand would be theirs to roam for as long as nine months.

 

Full story: https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/thailand-sold-itself-as-a-paradise-covid-retreat-no-one-came-1.1549383

 

-- © Copyright Bloomberg 2021-01-16

 

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4 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

foreign arrivals have failed to meet even rock-bottom expectations

Get it through your heads, NOBODY wants to sit in a quarantine hotel for two weeks!

2 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

Get it through your heads, NOBODY wants to sit in a quarantine hotel for two weeks!

Correct, no one wants to but should you wish to return to Thailand as it stands there's no other option.

 

Stupid for tourists to come i agree but for long term expats with families at the current time there's no other choice.

3 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

Get it through your heads, NOBODY wants to sit in a quarantine hotel for two weeks!

Bears repeating.

Can you believe they had this brilliant idea that they would have live bands you could watch from your balcony?  I mean really, that awful music playing boom boom boom in your room while you're trapped?  

The most idiotic idea I have ever heard of in my life.  

And it all went downhill from there.  

1 minute ago, HashBrownHarry said:

Correct, no one wants to but should you wish to return to Thailand as it stands there's no other option.

 

Stupid for tourists to come i agree but for long term expats with families at the current time there's no other choice.

The article is about tourists not expats.  

Just now, Blumpie said:

Bears repeating.

Can you believe they had this brilliant idea that they would have live bands you could watch from your balcony?  I mean really, that awful music playing boom boom boom in your room while you're trapped?  

The most idiotic idea I have ever heard of in my life.  

And it all went downhill from there.  

 

I think they have a Ministry For Stupid Ideas!

Just now, PatOngo said:

 

I think they have a Ministry For Stupid Ideas!

Honestly if you bumped all the stupid news stories that took place since covid about tourism just the headlines alone are beyond laughable.  Contradictions, cockamayney ideas, and things that are just impossible.  

They are baked. 

They just can't accept the fact that tourism isn't going to happen again until the bulk of the world's population has been vaccinated and global covid levels drop significantly so that international borders freely open again and quarantine is no longer necessary. 

5 minutes ago, Blumpie said:

Bears repeating.

Can you believe they had this brilliant idea that they would have live bands you could watch from your balcony?  I mean really, that awful music playing boom boom boom in your room while you're trapped?  

The most idiotic idea I have ever heard of in my life.  

And it all went downhill from there.  

Sounds like something they'd do at Gitmo.

and now they want to charge future prospective tourists an extra 300 baht entrance fee on arrival..

 

Good job, Thailand.

Sounds like a watertight plan to me ???? 

12 minutes ago, Blumpie said:

The article is about tourists not expats.  

so what, my comment stands.

 

thank you.

If I still lived in Thailand, as I did for almost 20 years, I would probably go back there with the current quarantine deal. I wouldn't go back now, on holiday, if for 2 of my 4 or 5 weeks I couldn't even go out.

Just now, Andrew65 said:

If I still lived in Thailand, as I did for almost 20 years, I would probably go back there with the current quarantine deal. I wouldn't go back now, on holiday, if for 2 of my 4 or 5 weeks I couldn't even go out.

That's not the half of it.

You will need to quarantine when you get home too!  

There is no rationale to it.  

Understandably, they need to at least try to keep everyone happy but these guys have gone on to full on delusion over the last year.  

There isn't a single country on the planet who's tourism industry isn't devastated.  And there is no way out until the vaccine is widely available.  As all reports indicate, maybe 2022 - 2024.  

1 minute ago, Blumpie said:

That's not the half of it.

You will need to quarantine when you get home too!  

There is no rationale to it.  

Understandably, they need to at least try to keep everyone happy but these guys have gone on to full on delusion over the last year.  

There isn't a single country on the planet who's tourism industry isn't devastated.  And there is no way out until the vaccine is widely available.  As all reports indicate, maybe 2022 - 2024.  

 

Reality has never been one of their strong points!

2 minutes ago, Blumpie said:

That's not the half of it.

You will need to quarantine when you get home too!  

There is no rationale to it.  

Understandably, they need to at least try to keep everyone happy but these guys have gone on to full on delusion over the last year.  

There isn't a single country on the planet who's tourism industry isn't devastated.  And there is no way out until the vaccine is widely available.  As all reports indicate, maybe 2022 - 2024.  

Very true. I should be in line for the vaccine in a few months, so I might be able to come over later this year. I managed to organise a money transfer over to the UK with Bangkok Bank, so I no longer have a compelling reason to be there in that regard.

(I wonder if when countries do start to open up, vaccination might be a condition of travel?).

40 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

Thailand would be theirs to roam for as long as nine months.

 

I think a couple of things they might have miss judged ?

 

1. People might be scared to travel, like me for example, I would love to go and see my frail and aging mum and adult daughter back in my homeland, not going to happen until I get the vax, the risk is too high, and I would of course take my family with me, but it ain't going to happen for at least another 9 months, and that is, only if my lifts quarantine for those of us vaccinated, it's enough to pay for airlines, car hire and accommodation, but to add quarantine on top of that is not feasible.

 

2. People don't want to be away from family and friends for more than 2 weeks when going on holidays unless they are travelling to many more destinations on extended leave like long service leave or accumulated annual leave.

 

3. Most would be looking to keep their jobs (the lucky ones) to pay their mortgages, cars and save some for reserves in case they lose their job.

 

Not all farangs are rich, I guess the ATM Farang rumours are spread all around Thailand, e.g. I see Farang take 10,000 baht out of the ATM 5 times in one night and that was just for drinks, they rich, maybe some are asset rich, cash poor, and I would imagine any Farang doing 5 ATM withdrawals at that amount in one night is a first timer, learning the hard way.  

6 minutes ago, Andrew65 said:

(I wonder if when countries do start to open up, vaccination might be a condition of travel?).

 

That's a given, until at least it's no longer a threat.

Check out airfares as well. They have tripled,quadrupled or more for economy class seating, because tourists can't be crammed into aircraft like sardines anymore. Tourists are now better off spending their tourist cash at home.

Qantas has floated the concept no-one can get on their aircraft unless they have been vaccinated, how long before other airlines have the same requirement? And how long before every potential tourist is vaccinated?

The issue with all of these schemes and ideas is committee and in Thailand the added facet of Kraeng-jai.

 

Its difficult enough in any country to get a committee to agree on something. 

 

In Thailand committees are run in almost dictatorial fashion whereby the seniors make decisions while the younger subservients in the group, perhaps more moderate, with it and in touch with reality think ‘thats a stupid idea’ but do not speak up for fear of contradiction the boos, ostracism and missing out on the chance at their time at the top by which time common sense has been trained out of them and they are too old, too stuck in the old ways of doing things to remain in touch.....   and so the cycle continues.... 

42 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

 

I think they have a Ministry For Stupid Ideas!

It is called "The Government"

28 minutes ago, Liverpoolfan said:

and now they want to charge future prospective tourists an extra 300 baht entrance fee on arrival..

 

Good job, Thailand.

Sounds like a watertight plan to me ???? 

Exactly. I was waiting for my 2 jabs then I was going to endure the quarantine. The 300 baht tipped me over the edge. Costa Rica it's going to be then. Probably done me a favour!!!

6 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Qantas has floated the concept no-one can get on their aircraft unless they have been vaccinated, how long before other airlines have the same requirement? And how long before every potential tourist is vaccinated?

 

I think it will go this way...  Anyone travelling needs to show a vaccination certificate* - Airlines will require this on checkin as they are responsible for the return flight should a passenger be refused entry. 

 

 

*this certificate could come in the manner of an international recognised App with a simple display of our Covid status and vaccination status. Or it could be something as simple as the existing yellow-booklet which holds vaccination records (usually used for Yellow fever for those travelling into certain countries in Africa).

Quarantine in a hotel in thailand sounds like a episode from Black Mirror.

5 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

The issue with all of these schemes and ideas is committee and in Thailand the added facet of Kraeng-jai.

 

Its difficult enough in any country to get a committee to agree on something. 

 

In Thailand committees are run in almost dictatorial fashion whereby the seniors make decisions while the younger subservients in the group, perhaps more moderate, with it and in touch with reality think ‘thats a stupid idea’ but do not speak up for fear of contradiction the boos, ostracism and missing out on the chance at their time at the top by which time common sense has been trained out of them and they are too old, too stuck in the old ways of doing things to remain in touch.....   and so the cycle continues.... 

Added to which, generations of promotion by means of nepotism and purchase rather ensures that buffoons are in charge.

47 minutes ago, Blumpie said:

The article is about tourists not expats.  

Thailand hoped to lure retirees and others who could stay for extended periods? Did you read the article? 

Thailand been selling its self for many years now starting with bar and massage workers and everything in between...

What they seem not to understand, or want to confront, is that there's a pretty good chance that the tourist industry here - and perhaps everywhere - will NEVER return to what it was. Covid & its successors are likely to reduce international travel permanently, and not just for tourism.

 

What a half-competent government would have been doing for the last several months is considering seriously their policy options for rebuilding the Thai economy based on manufacturing and digital capabilities. But No No, that would involve change, energy and education for the masses. No can.

"...rebuilding the Thai economy based on manufacturing and digital capabilities". Haven't they already done that, pretty much?

Thailand may become a covid hot spot as surrounding countries are unable to arrange vaccination programmes if this materalises international tourism is unlikely probably for several years

49 minutes ago, Andrew65 said:

Very true. I should be in line for the vaccine in a few months, so I might be able to come over later this year. I managed to organise a money transfer over to the UK with Bangkok Bank, so I no longer have a compelling reason to be there in that regard.

(I wonder if when countries do start to open up, vaccination might be a condition of travel?).

Shall we quaff a few red wines on Soi 22 when you get back over mate?