ThailandPlus: Tracking app now mandatory for foreign tourists

[the green light]

10 hours ago, bdenner said:

That's not good! Probably work as well as the online 90 day reporting site.

 

I assume the app will be required by returning Farang "residence" as well. How many of them don't use smart phones?

 

Certainly won't when their phone is turned off.

 

I guess the TAT will have to revise their figures again - down!

what happenned to visitor who do not have a smart phone .

just El cheapo.. are they allowed to enter thailand.? 

can they get the COE form?

 

another crazy idea that has no merit at all.

 

how about all these burmese. ?

.

 

[the green light]

10 hours ago, bdenner said:

That's not good! Probably work as well as the online 90 day reporting site.

 

I assume the app will be required by returning Farang "residence" as well. How many of them don't use smart phones?

 

Certainly won't when their phone is turned off.

 

I guess the TAT will have to revise their figures again - down!

THIs government is SO SO SO STUPID. they do not understand how to lure tourism back to thailand.. However they keep alienating them.. they must think that the Chinese tourist will flood the gates again.

 

Let us forget the Burmese. they are brought into the country for slave work.

 

Let us look at what the government wants :

1.Rich tourist that can buy the elite visa, buy condo and invest at least 3million Baht.

2. Rich tourists who can spend Bht50k per day. 

3.. quarantine 14 days + insurance

4. tracking them whenever they go. and of course use their whereabout against them

and how they spend their money.

 

That is the amenity to lure tourism back to thailand.

1. baht is excessive high. It is on the verge to be declared currency manipulation by the US.

2. Most rich tourists are older and single. If married they will rather drag their wife to Hawaii of other places in Europe which is safer. .The only reason to come to thailand is the beautiful girls.. and now all bars are filled with ugly grandmother  which is not worthy bringing to the hotel for the night. That is not attractive.

 

3. government always impose so many rules on a weekly basis. restaurant open or close , limit time, and restriction of movement in the country without a permission.

 

3.No plan for any vaccination because the government depends on their home grown vaccination.

 

 

[SwampyThai]

I would like to see them trying to get it to work on my iPhone 4 ????????

[Knobby37]

Bring it on, can’t wait to see the confusion when you turn up without a phone etc I know two people here that would not have a clue how to use a smart phone, how about thailand suppling a phone with data or an Apple Tracker when they come out

[aboctok]

8 hours ago, Russel said:

I landed two days ago so I've avoided it 

For now.

[rioD]

Or load the app and try to help the covid situation. Why does everyone feel so special that they need to be able to spread disease with impunity?

All tourist would have endured far more testing and screening than all Thai nationals.  If anything it would be a Thai infecting the tourist not the other way around as most Thai haven't ever been tested.  Only desperate. small minded sheep would have no concerns with a corrupt government tracking their every movement 

[the green light]

10 hours ago, apex2000 said:

What about tourists who do not have a mobile phone?

What about tourists who do not have an Internet connection to their phone?

No consideration of these people.

they will not get the COE form

 

 

[Captain Monday]

10 hours ago, apex2000 said:

What about tourists who do not have a mobile phone?

What about tourists who do not have an Internet connection to their phone?

No consideration of these people.

They should not be allowed in Thailand unless accompanied by an adult

or if aged and infirm, a caregiver. 

 

[simon43]

1 hour ago, Winky Wilson said:

What if your a Buddist or a Monk and don't have desire for cell phone? This is a form of forced suffering. Very unThai.

Monks in Thailand have multiple smart phones, usually the latest model....

[rioD]

2 hours ago, cjinchiangrai said:

Or load the app and try to help the covid situation. Why does everyone feel so special that they need to be able to spread disease with impunity?

 

Most people aren't sheepish and or paranoid like you. Most people wouldn't want a corrupt government tracking their every move.  AS for the COVID situation all tourist are screened and medically cleared, while conversely most Thais have never even been tested. Therefore Thais are much more likely to spread the virus more than a medically cleared tourist

[Blumpie]

The only thing that I find shocking is the number of old men who purport to own no cell phone.  

But I digress,

take the tin foil off your head and wrap your cell phone in it.  Turn it off.  Also, walking around naked avoids detection.  Note that you will have to wear a pouch to put the cell phone in, around your neck only.  

Remember it's not abnormal unless you think it is.  

[Felt 35]

7 hours ago, connda said:

"...world not infringe on visitor's right to privacy?"  That would be based on how you personally define infringement of privacy rights.  An application tracking your movement 24/7?  I define that as technology that is just like those used to track criminals on parole, just without the lock.  Mor Chana is already out there but the Thai government needs the extra-special tracking capability to keep their eyes on the pesky foreigners who are all seen as risks to Thai national security.  This isn't anything new.  The government has wanted to implement this for years but it would have impacted tourist numbers.  With the "Covid pandemic" as a backdrop and an excuse, they now roll it out.  And my guess is that if "Covid" was eradicated tomorrow, the ThailandPlus (invasive tracking) will remain in place forever after.  "New Normal" means never going back to the way things were.

It just makes me ponder how long it will take before they come after long-stay expats.  In Prathet Xenophobe I don't believe the elites running the show can help themselves. Paranoia and ingrained historical distrust of all foreigners is the norm and it's something that the "New Normal" will never change even as countries in the West are told by the likes of the World Economic Forum and "experts" that their borders must come down.  Thailand will be the next to the last country on that list right before North Korea.

In the meanwhile, TAT will be forecasting tourist numbers pulled out of a magician's hat.  Informed tourists will weigh all the now required regulations and requirements (such as ThailandPlus tracking) and make up their own minds whether or not to make Thailand a vacation choice.
Some informed foreigners will accept it and show up (those who don't mind being tracked and herded into chaperoned tour groups that are closely watched and monitored); other informed foreigners (like most of my American friends who have been coming here annually for years) will balk and go somewhere where the host country's government is more accepting of foreigners and magnitudes less paranoid.  It will all be a personal choice based on a tourist's appetite for lack of privacy vs freedom of movement.
So....
The bottom line:  Thailand will never recover their previous numbers of foreign tourists in the next 5 or 10 years if ever.  And they've done it to themselves because my guess is a lot of the regulations and requirements will remain in place well after the Covid scare is over and the world moves on to the next calamity.  And the requirements and regulations will be there to embrace the next "crisis" whatever it may be.
ThailandPlusNewNormal.    Now there ya have it!

????Well said.

[onebir]

...waits for Nokia 3310 version...

[wasabi]

In practice I doubt any of these apps will prevent more than a handful of covid cases but are almost certain to drive away millions of tourists if they actually started forcing installation and usage of it. Furthermore it's getting late in the game to big brother their way out of a pandemic that seems to be easing by herd immunity and vaccinations anyway.

[Blumpie]

7 minutes ago, wasabi said:

In practice I doubt any of these apps will prevent more than a handful of covid cases but are almost certain to drive away millions of tourists if they actually started forcing installation and usage of it. Furthermore it's getting late in the game to big brother their way out of a pandemic that seems to be easing by herd immunity and vaccinations anyway.

Oh yeah, millions of tourists coming in during a pandemic.  Tens of millions.  Just look at the numbers.  ????  

I am ready for an asia fix.  It will be Vietnam.  Despite it's drawbacks and not as safe a destination I'm looking forward to the food there.  The home made french baguettes... Hue food.  Woo hoo!  

[Felt 35]

35 minutes ago, Captain Monday said:

They should not be allowed in Thailand unless accompanied by an adult

or if aged and infirm, a caregiver. 

 

 

I rode my bicycle nearly 90K today. I have no phone but I have a life.

Those who wish to control their own lives and move beyond existence as mere clients and consumers—those people ride a bike."

Wolfgang Sachs.????

 

 

 

[Burma Bill]

12 hours ago, rooster59 said:

now required to download the ThailandPlus app,

 For reference in Cambodia (Khmer Times today 21 February):-

 

"The  Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPTC) has set up a QR Code “Stop Covid” in an attempt to provide additional measures to increase the efficiency and speed of prevention and control of the spread of the COVID-19 virus".

 

Could be very interesting as many people do not own a smartphone and not likely to! This is in response to a third "hotspot" in Phnom Penh involving mainly infected Chinese nationals. 

 

[Burma Bill]

9 hours ago, IamNoone88 said:

so I already Thai Chana, Mor Chana, AOT, HugUbon and GoPhuket so far as "regulatory" apps on my phone. 

 1984!!

[SiSePuede419]

12 hours ago, bdenner said:

 

I assume the app will be required by returning Farang "residence" as well. How many of them don't use smart phones?

Just make the phone look like a Chang beer bottle. 

 

100% acceptance in the technology dinosaur crowd. ????

[skorp13]

You track animals and criminals with ankle bracelets, i guess tourists seem to fit one of those two categories. This will restore tourism surely LOL

[ujayujay]

14 hours ago, rooster59 said:

ThailandPlus: Tracking app now mandatory for foreign tourists

 

Image: Thailand PRD

 

Foreign tourists who have received the certificate of entry to Thailand are now required to download the ThailandPlus app, prior to their arrival, the Thai government has confirmed.

 

The app, which works similar to GPS, will enable officials to know the whereabouts of foreign tourists during their stay in Thailand in the event of a new outbreak of COVID-19.

 

First announced in November last year, the app has been developed by the  Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Digital Government Development Agency (Public Organization).

 

According to the Government Public Relations Department, the app “will create confidence among foreign tourists about their health and safety and help contain the spread of COVID-19 infection”.

 

“With this application, the authorities will be able to reach out to individuals sooner and will also alert local officials, if there is a high risk of transmission. Thai embassies and consulates overseas will provide foreign visitors to Thailand with information about how to download ThailandPlus”, the government said.
 
“ThailandPlus functions like the Mor Chana app, but it will link to information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, regarding the certificate of entry of the arriving foreign tourists, for screening and tracing, from their arrival in Thailand”.

 

The government said “the application would not infringe on the visitors’ right to privacy but would enhance COVID-19 tracing”.

 

In December, the Tourism Authority of Thailand shared the video below explaining how the application will work. 

 

ThailandPlus Application from TATnews Official on Vimeo.

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2021-02-21

 

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Good luck Thailand! These Methode may work with Tourists from China! Westerner don't come anymore!

[XBroker]

Gotta love how they just assume everyone uses radiation spewing, mind control garbage bc ... well they do & they're trendy. ????????????

[XBroker]

9 hours ago, Destiny1990 said:

Tm30 submitting remains still very important for security  I guess?

foreigners with proof of vaccine still need it?

Why Locals don't need this app?

 

 

Apparently racism is ok there.  Now when I see a thai here in the U.S., I will treat them also through the same lens of racism. What goes around really goes around.

[Destiny1990]

9 hours ago, habuspasha said:

I included proof of vaccine among the documents I showed immigration at the airport and no one at any of the stages of checking seemed to notice or care.

 I won’t go anyway with all these requirements ????

Edited February 21, 2021 by Destiny1990

[XBroker]

11 hours ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

i heard of a few countries who created various covid apps - all do not work.

apparently it is not so simple to create an app that works.

Yes, but they came up w/ a vax in 6 months and everyone on here should take it.. ASAP

????????????

[Rhys]

... let me see, the same same brain trust that wanted to put microchip tracking in Fighting Kocks is the same company for this Buddyplus?

 

[PolarAttack]

I think those without cell phones have more to worry about when they’re having their Covid test Anal swab done. 

[Soikhaonoiken]

I believe its got nothing to do with Covid-19, the Government has wanted to track farang for a long time now.... 

[richard_smith237]

29 minutes ago, Soikhaonoiken said:

I believe its got nothing to do with Covid-19, the Government has wanted to track farang for a long time now.... 

 

They’re after your secrets, the Thai government wants to know your favourite knocking-shop and which 7-11 steps you prefer to drink your beer on.... 

[richard_smith237]

1 hour ago, XBroker said:

13 hours ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

i heard of a few countries who created various covid apps - all do not work.

apparently it is not so simple to create an app that works.

Yes, but they came up w/ a vax in 6 months and everyone on here should take it.. ASAP

????????????

 

The Apps work, track and tracing apps work well. They failed in the UK because of ‘rights and privacy’ issues - it was a legal landmine with too many ’nutters’ concerned that they would be tracked and give up there level 5 clearance secret pub !

 

Similar apps work perfectly well in other countries which do not exercise such liberal freedom of personal rights - a good thing for some, not a good think if you want to track and trace (contact tracing) a virus. 

 

I was in a hotel in the Middle East and I got an alert on the App on my phone - I was in proximity with someone who had been in proximity with someone who’d tested positive. Impressive stuff.

 

Ideal for the necessity during these times and can be deleted until the next virus pops up !