Thailand reopening roadmap goes ahead amid COVID-19 vaccine rollout

[Swimfan]

2 minutes ago, edwardandtubs said:

Yes I know that we're talking about what happens when the quarantine requirement for vaccinated people ends.

Now they are experiencing first hand in Thailand what the virus is capable of I doubt they will be letting anyone in without quarantine now until they vaccinate the majority of the population. Given the speed they are moving at it’s going to be a long hard slog to get there. 

[madmen]

10 minutes ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

It's simple economics. People are in more debt, have less money and airlines have been ramping up debt for 18 months now. 

 

You can't leave Australia on a Cathay Pacific flight, so no wonder it has to be cheap, once you can leave watch the price double or triple from here.

I'm giving you facts that can be checked. Your crystal ball gazing. 

Economies will bounce back hard. Take a look at Australias recovery 

Australia's 'red hot' economic recovery explained: How we avoided the financial woes of COVID-19 - https://www.9news.com.au/national/federal-budget-2021-australias-economic-recovery-red-hot-in-wake-of-covid19-pandemic/4a8a1bfe-9b88-4c96-afc9-f7332282199f

 

Just some more fact. 

Edited May 3, 2021 by madmen

[Swimfan]

1 minute ago, DaLa said:

Yes, I thought that was the case too. However the announcement  above and plan is vaccinated travellers will not have to quarantine. They will have to stay on Phuket for 7 days and then will be able to travel onwards.

 

This will work for both tourists and ex-pats wishing to return without the present hassle, although there is no mention of all the other requirements (Covid insurance for example).

 

I am extremely doubtful it will go ahead. It is a recipe for disaster. 
with there being some many if’s and buts how many people do you really think will book ? 

[Swimfan]

15 minutes ago, madmen said:

How will it be more expensive to travel from now on? Less people and same amount of hotels = big discounts . Not rocket science. 

I am currently looking at flights from oz which by the way has locked borders and Cathay pacific is still cheaper than its ever been. 

I’m looking on sky scanner and I’m not seeing any cheap flights most are about 50% higher from Sydney. 
 

[Swimfan]

9 minutes ago, madmen said:

I'm giving you facts that can be checked. Your crystal ball gazing. 

Economies will bounce back hard. Take a look at Australias recovery 

Australia's 'red hot' economic recovery explained: How we avoided the financial woes of COVID-19 - https://www.9news.com.au/national/federal-budget-2021-australias-economic-recovery-red-hot-in-wake-of-covid19-pandemic/4a8a1bfe-9b88-4c96-afc9-f7332282199f

 

Just some more fact. 

But Australia doesn’t rely on tourism for a significant percentage of GDP

its actually a deficit average of 5 billion a year coming in verses 15 billion going out for international travel. 
it’s like comparing apples with oranges 

[BarraMarra]

Even when it calms down and people ie Tourists will be visiting do you real'y believe it will be cheap as in discounts in Thai Resorts ?. There response will be opposite ramp up everything to make up for lost revenue at the expense of yep you guessed it the Tourist. Most destinations wanting tourism to return will bend over backwards and give a healthy discount to encourage you to return. Sadly Mr Somchai does not think this way he thinks because Joe Tourist is so happy to return to Thailand he will over charge him for everything Som Nam Nah.

[Charlie Halliday]

July 1st reopening is a fantasy and will never happen. But if the country can deliver on its pledge to vaccinate half the country by year end, then there is nothing to stop the country opening up to travellers who've been vaccinated. No need for testing on arrival as that'll also deter most visitors. If they've had the jab, then they can visit, end of. If they fail to reopen for the next high season, the country will officially be bankrupted aside from the dozen or so conglomerates that own everything here. Its very very simple. Get us all vaccinated and allow people in who've had the same. Nothing else to discuss. 

[Uroller]

Dementia and government seem to go together in Thailand, every day is a new day and they have forgotten all about yesterday and all the things they said????????????

[stuarty]

5 hours ago, Deli said:

IF there will be an opening on July 1st, I would be one of the people working in tourism, being in touch with visitors. As a foreigner actually I am not able to get any vax ( and would never accept any SIno Syrup ) on time. And I'm not the only one. Apart from that, what happens to all the migrant workers who made the tourism business running ?

Guys, this won't work.

Are you not in touch with local tourists now?

Also, are you not a bit over-concerned given that all tourists from July 1 will either be vaccinated or done quarantine?

[grandpa]

15 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand started the preliminary vaccination programme in late February with the first 200,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine from Sinovac and 117,000 doses from AstraZeneca. The inoculation project continued with 800,000 more doses of Sinovac vaccine in March and one million more in April.

 

15 hours ago, webfact said:

Until today, some 1.47 million people in Thailand have been vaccinated – with one or both doses.

2 million doses available but onl 1.47 million people vaccinated in 3 months!  Pathetic!  At that rate, in 12 months time only 6 million people will have been vaccinated, some with 2 doses!  But as long as everyone in Phuket is vaccinated, the rest of the country can rot, including those working tirelessly in hospitals up and down the country who still have not been vaccinated!

The Government in this country are all selfish arrogant money grabbing fools!

[SmartyMarty]

The government printing office must be very busy printing all these maps. I’ll wait for the final final final edition. 

[billd766]

7 hours ago, edwardandtubs said:

Vaccinated people are going to come of course. Do you think a healthy vaccinated young person from the UK gives a damn about 2,000 cases?

And how will they leave the UK for a holiday? The UK has stopped just having a holiday offshore.

 

Will the foreign tourists be able to comply with all the changing rules in Thailand? Who would want to come on holiday and spend the first 14 nights in quarantine?

[kimamey]

12 hours ago, internationalism said:

so they have wasted thousands of vax in the touristy areas, not only phuket, but also samui, while there was still the second wave in bang kae and pathumthani markers and strait after the third wave starting at thonglor.

By wrongly allocating those shots now thousands of health workers are exposed and have to self isolate or do quarantine. Hospitals are overstretched and some are closing all together.

 

yet TAT doesn't seem to care, what is happening within their country

I think the clue is in the name.

Tourist Authority of Thailand.

They do tourism so they probably don't concern themselves about anything else.

 

In the UK the treasury was more concerned about opening up the economy and the health department was worried about the infection rate.

It's less disconnected than in Thailand but the general idea is the same. 

Edited May 3, 2021 by kimamey

[sammieuk1]

Sounds more like a long winding expensive atlas than a roadmap ????

[edwardandtubs]

1 hour ago, billd766 said:

And how will they leave the UK for a holiday? The UK has stopped just having a holiday offshore.

 

Will the foreign tourists be able to comply with all the changing rules in Thailand? Who would want to come on holiday and spend the first 14 nights in quarantine?

The ban on non-essential foreign travel is due to be lifted in the UK in a couple of weeks.

 

No I don't think anyone would want to come to Thailand with 14 days quarantine. The whole point of this thread is to discuss what happens IF quarantine is lifted.

[Susco]

7 hours ago, madmen said:

How will it be more expensive to travel from now on? Less people and same amount of hotels = big discounts . Not rocket science. 

 

That is now, while everything is still closed, so they take what they can get, just wait until it reopens.

 

When everyone want to travel again, the tourism sector is gonna set the price.

 

I'm in Thailand, so i can not verify it, but I have read that in countries where the pubs have reopened, the price of consumptions has increased......to make up for the loss of the past months.

 

What you think the airliners gonna do. They will have to apply with more strict rules, and have to recover from the bankruptcy most of them are in. Hence increased prices.

 

Same will go for hotels - restaurants, and whatever else you can think about. They will try to recover their losses, with less customers than normal.

Edited May 3, 2021 by Susco

[stubuzz]

So where are the details of the Phuket opening? Can you book any hotel after July 1st?

[AgentSmith]

Quote

According to the government, all people in Thailand, regardless of nationality, are eligible to receive the vaccine and can register for the vaccination programme via the Mor Prom (“Doctors Ready”) Line official account, or at hospitals and health promotion hospitals nationwide.

Can someone inform Hua Hin hospital because they missed the memo and refused to register my parents (70+) today for vaccination. ????

[Jingthing]

11 minutes ago, AgentSmith said:

Can someone inform Hua Hin hospital because they missed the memo and refused to register my parents (70+) today for vaccination. ????

The consensus understanding at this point is that Thais will be first and that even high risk foreigners as your parents are based on age are excluded until much later. Perhaps August. 

[AgentSmith]

5 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

The consensus understanding at this point is that Thais will be first and that even high risk foreigners as your parents are based on age are excluded until much later. Perhaps August. 

If that's really true then my view of this country will be forever changed. I'm putting that very mildly. That said, I keep reading in the news all nationalities are eligible for vaccination. Is that a lie then?

 

It's also frustrating to see private hospitals being kept out of the loop. Several western vaccines have been approved by the Thai FDA now. If only they'd allow hospitals to import the vaccine themselves. I'd happily pay for my parents and myself to get a jab. I don't mean to be skipping the line just because I have money. This is about my parents first and foremost. I don't mind to wait another month or two even though with the new mutants I'm also in a risk group now.

[Jingthing]

25 minutes ago, AgentSmith said:

If that's really true then my view of this country will be forever changed. I'm putting that very mildly. That said, I keep reading in the news all nationalities are eligible for vaccination. Is that a lie then?

 

It's also frustrating to see private hospitals being kept out of the loop. Several western vaccines have been approved by the Thai FDA now. If only they'd allow hospitals to import the vaccine themselves. I'd happily pay for my parents and myself to get a jab. I don't mean to be skipping the line just because I have money. This is about my parents first and foremost. I don't mind to wait another month or two even though with the new mutants I'm also in a risk group now.

It appears to be true. 

Non Thais ARE Included. 

Just not in the earlier phases.

The big story is that HIGH RISK NON THAIS are not being included either in the first phase which is only for high risk Thais.

This is horrible.

Where is the press?

Where are our embassies?

 

CRICKETS.

Edited May 3, 2021 by Jingthing

[Jingthing]

To add for Americans an organization called Democrats Abroad Thailand is trying to work on getting embassy action on this. I can't say that I'm optimistic that they'll succeed.

 

https://www.democratsabroad.org/megjdriscoll/democrats_abroad_thailand_covid-19_task_force_takes_up_the_call_for_vaccines

[holy cow cm]

8 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

To add for Americans an organization called Democrats Abroad Thailand is trying to work on getting embassy action on this. I can't say that I'm optimistic that they'll succeed.

 

https://www.democratsabroad.org/megjdriscoll/democrats_abroad_thailand_covid-19_task_force_takes_up_the_call_for_vaccines

You go Girl!

 

[hioctane]

20 hours ago, Albert Zweistein said:

Welcome to rainy Thailand. So NO MORE quarantine at all when vaccinated ?

This is only in reference to the tourism reopening plan. Phuket in July and the other toursim cities (including Pattaya) in October.

 

 

20 hours ago, madmen said:

Yesterday thread said Thailand was opening 2022 but now Phuket is still on? I need to book a ticket but to bloody scared 

Vaccinated people have been traveling, now even to countries with sky high cases. I just got from Colombia. Curfew every night and 24/7 curfew Thurs-Sun. I am taking a calculated risk. Since I am vaccinated, even if I do get infected, I likely won’t be hospitalized and risk dying.

 

16 hours ago, internationalism said:

so they have wasted thousands of vax in the touristy areas, not only phuket, but also samui, while there was still the second wave in bang kae and pathumthani markers and strait after the third wave starting at thonglor.

By wrongly allocating those shots now thousands of health workers are exposed and have to self isolate or do quarantine. Hospitals are overstretched and some are closing all together.

 

yet TAT doesn't seem to care, what is happening within their country

Health care workers and hard hit areas are prioritized too. This is NOT taking vaccines from them. This is more of a test before general vaccination country wide.

 

15 hours ago, Deli said:

IF there will be an opening on July 1st, I would be one of the people working in tourism, being in touch with visitors. As a foreigner actually I am not able to get any vax ( and would never accept any SIno Syrup ) on time. And I'm not the only one. Apart from that, what happens to all the migrant workers who made the tourism business running ?

Guys, this won't work.

Sounds like foreigners are included as long as you live in the areas they are targeting. If you don’t want to accept the vaccine they are giving, then you are taking the risk when the tourists come. Albiet, the risk is minimal because the tourists are vaccinated.

 

11 hours ago, Swimfan said:

Have you not noticed they  have reinstated full quarantine even for vaccinated people. 
vaccinated people can still catch and pass on the virus. Though at probably much lower levels than the unvaccinated 

This has nothing to do with the July Phuket plan.

 

10 hours ago, madmen said:

I'm giving you facts that can be checked. Your crystal ball gazing. 

Economies will bounce back hard. Take a look at Australias recovery 

Australia's 'red hot' economic recovery explained: How we avoided the financial woes of COVID-19 - https://www.9news.com.au/national/federal-budget-2021-australias-economic-recovery-red-hot-in-wake-of-covid19-pandemic/4a8a1bfe-9b88-4c96-afc9-f7332282199f

 

Just some more fact. 

US is looking to completely open around May 19. About 40% of the population has been vaccinated. It looks like the economy will be roaring back too.

 

10 hours ago, Swimfan said:

I’m looking on sky scanner and I’m not seeing any cheap flights most are about 50% higher from Sydney. 
 

It depends where you live. I think since there is no traveling in Australia, flights are expensive. I have been looking at flights from the US. Flights are as cheap as prepandemic. Not as dirt cheap as when there flights through China, but still cheap enough.

 

10 hours ago, BarraMarra said:

Even when it calms down and people ie Tourists will be visiting do you real'y believe it will be cheap as in discounts in Thai Resorts ?. There response will be opposite ramp up everything to make up for lost revenue at the expense of yep you guessed it the Tourist. Most destinations wanting tourism to return will bend over backwards and give a healthy discount to encourage you to return. Sadly Mr Somchai does not think this way he thinks because Joe Tourist is so happy to return to Thailand he will over charge him for everything Som Nam Nah.

I have been looking at hotels in Phuket in July in anticipation and I see dirt cheap hotels available.

 

5 hours ago, grandpa said:

 

2 million doses available but onl 1.47 million people vaccinated in 3 months!  Pathetic!  At that rate, in 12 months time only 6 million people will have been vaccinated, some with 2 doses!  But as long as everyone in Phuket is vaccinated, the rest of the country can rot, including those working tirelessly in hospitals up and down the country who still have not been vaccinated!

The Government in this country are all selfish arrogant money grabbing fools!

Phuket is a test plan to see if 70% is enough to reach herd immunity and to see if vaccinated tourists will cause any problems. There is a limited supply of vaccines to spread it across the country all at once.

[Rainville]

13 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

Hardly anyone will travel here for a good few years. 

 

Young people? It's going to be much more expensive to travel from now on and young people don't have that disposable income any more. Certainly not during a global recession.

 

We won't see mass air travel for a while yet either. 

 

I'm not sure what you're smoking but speaking as a 'somewhat young' people (33yo) from Switzerland, me and all my friends have lots of cash as the pandemic forced us to stay at home doing nothing but work. We've booked dirt cheap flight tickets to Vietnam/Thailand for October. We also booked hotels, the cheapest I've ever seen btw. 

 

So no.

• Plenty of people have extra money to spend. 
• Flights are currently very cheap and easily refundable/modifiable (at least from Europe)
• Hotel are dirt cheap as well, even for Oct/Dec. And you can cancel as far as 24h before arrival. 

 

When SE-Asia countries open to vaccinated tourists without quarantine, there will be a HUGE influx of tourists coming in. 

 

Only question is: which country will be the first to smell the golden opportunity. 

[Letseng]

22 hours ago, Swimfan said:

2000 positive cases a day and talking about opening the country. 
who is going to come ? 
Are they still counting on the return of the high spend Indians and Chinese. 

I live presently in an EU country of 9 mio population. We have daily infections of  ~2000, 28 daily deaths on average. We are opening. 2.5 mio vaccinated sort of. In Dec last year we had 9000 daily infections. Vaccine is in short supply, the arrival of "more" gets pushed down the road. If you have the right contacts you jump vaccination queues, get Pfizer vaccine. Others have the choice of Astra or nothing. Grass is no greener in "1st world".

[hioctane]

6 hours ago, JackSalesman said:

These strict lockdowns have little to no benefits. It just ruins people's livelihoods. 

 

USA: "There was no correlation at all between the aforementioned lockdown stringency index and total COVID deaths, compiled by Worldometer, through the beginning of March. The strictest states had an average COVID mortality of 1,423 per million and the laxest states of 1,449, while the average state was higher than both at 1,482.

 

A study by five University of Chicago scholars published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Scientists of the United States of America stated that: “We do not find detectable effects of [Shelter-In-Place] policies on disease spread or deaths.”"

 

Follow the science! 

 

The purpose of lockdowns is to “flatten the curve.” Less people are out so less people are getting infected. It gives hospitals a chance to catch up and gives vaccines a chance to work it’s magic.

 

As a fictitious example. Without a lockdown, 100k will die in 3 months due to infection and healthcare not being able to handle all these cases. With a lockdown, less people get infected and healthcare can manage all these cases. So in 3 months, maybe only 30k will die. It spreads the deaths over more time. It buys time for scientists to come up with vaccines and get people vaccinated which will slow infections further.

[candide]

8 hours ago, JackSalesman said:

These strict lockdowns have little to no benefits. It just ruins people's livelihoods. 

 

USA: "There was no correlation at all between the aforementioned lockdown stringency index and total COVID deaths, compiled by Worldometer, through the beginning of March. The strictest states had an average COVID mortality of 1,423 per million and the laxest states of 1,449, while the average state was higher than both at 1,482.

 

A study by five University of Chicago scholars published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Scientists of the United States of America stated that: “We do not find detectable effects of [Shelter-In-Place] policies on disease spread or deaths.”"

 

Follow the science! 

 

Source: nypost lol!

[rabang]

On 5/3/2021 at 8:56 AM, Mr Meeseeks said:

Hardly anyone will travel here for a good few years. 

 

Young people? It's going to be much more expensive to travel from now on and young people don't have that disposable income any more. Certainly not during a global recession.

 

We won't see mass air travel for a while yet either. 

Many economies are booming already, expecting an economic growth of 5 or 6 percent for this year. Plus many people have been saving for a year. There is massive pent up demand for everything that has been prohibited for the past 14 months or so.

Edited May 8, 2021 by rabang

[rabang]

On 5/3/2021 at 9:50 AM, Swimfan said:

Have you not noticed they  have reinstated full quarantine even for vaccinated people. 
vaccinated people can still catch and pass on the virus. Though at probably much lower levels than the unvaccinated 

Well the risk is almost null although not zero. Just because doomsdayers like to repeat this nonsense doesn't make it any more relevant. If there is no faith in vaccines we might just give up, unless we want to live in a perpetual row of lockdowns and closures.