Koh Samui: Foreign tourists set to be welcome subject to rules from July 1st

[webfact]

File photo

 

Thai business media has reported that the holiday island of Koh Samui plans to open up to foreign tourists along similar lines to Phuket from July 1st.

 

Visitors must fly in and have been vaccinated with two doses of Covid-19 vaccine to qualify.

 

They will then be tested with a swab or PCR test at the airport then go to their quarantine hotel for three days.

 

After this they can do limited travel for the next three days according to the Samui Sealed Route Model.

 

They will not come into contact with local people.

 

Local people who come and go to the island will be subject to stringent testing to keep Covid-19 out of Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao. 

 

After seven days foreign tourists will be allowed to go to the neighboring islands of Koh Tao and Koh Phangan. 

 

Ratchaporn Phoomsawat of the local tourism business association revealed the details yesterday and also commented on the ongoing vaccination program on Samui saying that 25% of the people had been jabbed.

 

There are 55,000 more to go including 20,000 people on the neighboring islands. 

 

There is currently just one flight into Samui, he said, and Bangkok Airways are in on the July 1st plan. 

 

A test will be done at the airport then when the result comes in next day the three day quarantine, three day limited travel option comes in.

 

Phuket is also planning to open up to foreign tourists from July 1st. This is known as the "Phuket Sandbox".

 

Ratchaporn told the media that ten 3-5 star hotels would be offering accommodation under the Samui plan. 

 

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[Chelseafan]

Great but once again lacking information.

 

How long before I would be allowed on to the main land or is that not an option ?

Do I have to book this as a package? If so, what are the costs ?

Is that one flight a day ? Week? Year ?

Are Bangkok arranging a direct flight from UK ? Paris?  Frankfurt?

 

I appreciate the sentiments but other than those desperate to get back, who is going to take up this offer?

 

 

 

 

[ChipButty]

I wonder what the cost of that flight will be? 

[petermik]

"Subject to conditions"... ain't nobody coming for a holiday to be put under any form of restrictions... forget it ????

 

 

[madmen]

Good news.... BUT.. 

 

 

 

 

[gearbox]

32 minutes ago, Chelseafan said:

Great but once again lacking information.

 

How long before I would be allowed on to the main land or is that not an option ?

Do I have to book this as a package? If so, what are the costs ?

Is that one flight a day ? Week? Year ?

Are Bangkok arranging a direct flight from UK ? Paris?  Frankfurt?

 

I appreciate the sentiments but other than those desperate to get back, who is going to take up this offer?

 

 

 

 

 

Whoever was desperate to get back is already back with the 15 days ASQ.  There will be no tourists coming, but it will be easier for foreigners living here to go back to their home country and then come back if vaccinated.

Also what is this "stringent testing" for locals? If I go to the Taksin Hospital in Surat Thani for a day, do I need to do a PCR test when catching the last ferry back?

[tlandtday]

Time to write of koh samui.  Many othe places to go.

[Rampant Rabbit]

They'll  be queuing up for sure, just not for  Thailand. What  a  kerfasffle, 3  days  this 7  days that 2  days this  blah  blah  blah,  no thanks better 0 days in Thailand, guarantee  100%  success.

[Rampant Rabbit]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Visitors must fly in

That's  my swim in cancelled  then!

[Rampant Rabbit]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

They will not come into contact with local people.

The  locals  will miss their  opportunities then.

[Hugh Jampton]

53 minutes ago, Chelseafan said:

Great but once again lacking information.

 

How long before I would be allowed on to the main land or is that not an option ?

Do I have to book this as a package? If so, what are the costs ?

Is that one flight a day ? Week? Year ?

Are Bangkok arranging a direct flight from UK ? Paris?  Frankfurt?

 

I appreciate the sentiments but other than those desperate to get back, who is going to take up this offer?

 

 

 

 

Samui airport not very big, doubt international flights direct, suppose change planes in bkk

[AlfHuy]

They will not come into contact with local people.

 

So, no massages, no eating in restaurants, no drinks, no nothing.

[AlfHuy]

Koh Samui visitors going undercover to order some food.

[jaltsc]

"...go to their quarantine hotel for three days...limited travel...They will not come into contact with local people."

 

Paroled murderers have fewer restrictions than these tourists.

[khunPer]

31 minutes ago, Hugh Jampton said:

Samui airport not very big, doubt international flights direct, suppose change planes in bkk

Direct flights from China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore have been flying daily before Covid-19 lockdown, and some of them even during a period upon reopening after 1st wave, plenty of international flight possibilities; you might be able to transit in Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, or Singapore, which a number of people already did before Covid...????

[carabaothai]

1 hour ago, Chelseafan said:

Great but once again lacking information.

 

How long before I would be allowed on to the main land or is that not an option ?

Do I have to book this as a package? If so, what are the costs ?

Is that one flight a day ? Week? Year ?

Are Bangkok arranging a direct flight from UK ? Paris?  Frankfurt?

 

I appreciate the sentiments but other than those desperate to get back, who is going to take up this offer?

 

 

 

 

yes, like Phuket we need to know more! Can we have a flight to BKK and then change to get a normal flight to Phuket or Ko Samui..... etc.... etc... 

[thenewgoo]

 

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Visitors must fly in and have been vaccinated with two doses of Covid-19 vaccine to qualify.

I stopped reading after that - Samui now off my holiday list, probably forever.

[GlassWayOverHalfFull]

1 hour ago, petermik said:

"Subject to conditions"... ain't nobody coming for a holiday to be put under any form of restrictions... forget it ????

 

 

People doing it already. Guess you don't live here

[Aarin]

Still quarantined at the  hotel and not free to go into town and eat and go to the bars etc.. NO NO this will not attract many people. No going on a boat trip to snorkel... nothing 

[CanterbrigianBangkoker]

Unfortunately, the Thai tourist industry is DOA at this point. The bigger resorts will stay partially open in a strange limbo like state for a while longer I suppose, but they're merely shells of their former selves, kept upright from rigor-mortis.

 

No one will take the chance of going all the way to Samui (from Europe, Australia or US at least) if they read the fine print. Even the majority of the Chinese will not consent to being locked up for days in a forced quarantine situation, then be unable to travel around properly for a week, and even once they can, what will be open and welcoming them? And...these people are not allowed to come into contact  with the locals? So who then? Hotel staff only? They don't live locally? If this nutty restriction is somehow possible, then the local people will not even benefit from the foreign tourism - and all this for people who have both BEEN VACCINATED AND HAD A NEGATIVE TEST!!! Mind boggling idiocy. So again I say - the Thai tourist industry is done for.

[AlfHuy]

Imagine you have both vaccines, travel to Koh Samui and test positive.

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2021/01/31/why-you-can-still-test-positive-for-coronavirus-after-covid-19-vaccination/?sh=117ece8264e2

[Dialemco]

Sounds like an offer cannot refuse. Will wait until whole country vaccinated maybe sometime next year. 

[Moonfire]

Mean while the strip clubs in Las Vegas are offering free Covid shots. 

[Gulfsailor]

3 minutes ago, CanterbrigianBangkoker said:

Unfortunately, the Thai tourist industry is DOA at this point. The bigger resorts will stay partially open in a strange limbo like state for a while longer I suppose, but they're merely shells of their former selves, kept upright from rigor-mortis.

 

No one will take the chance of going all the way to Samui (from Europe, Australia or US at least) if they read the fine print. Even the majority of the Chinese will not consent to being locked up for days in a forced quarantine situation, then be unable to travel around properly for a week, and even once they can, what will be open and welcoming them? And...these people are not allowed to come into contact  with the locals? So who then? Hotel staff only? They don't live locally? If this nutty restriction is somehow possible, then the local people will not even benefit from the foreign tourism - and all this for people who have both BEEN VACCINATED AND HAD A NEGATIVE TEST!!! Mind boggling idiocy. So again I say - the Thai tourist industry is done for.

I think by locals they mean Thai people who don’t work in the tourism industry. Most tourism workers on Samui have already been fully vaccinated and most other residents will be by next month. I can imagine that after the 3-day quarantine tourists can only go to approved venues, restaurants, bars and on excursions where the staff is fully vaccinated. I think after 7 days of this it’s then up to the tourist to decide if they want to mingle with non vaccinated locals on or off the island. Regardless for long stayers it’s better than being locked in a Bangkok hotel room for 15 days….

[IamNoone88]

They will not come into contact with local people.

 

What?

[lom]

28 minutes ago, thenewgoo said:

I stopped reading after that - Samui now off my holiday list, probably forever.

No, please don't do that to us.????

[CanterbrigianBangkoker]

5 minutes ago, Gulfsailor said:

I think by locals they mean Thai people who don’t work in the tourism industry. Most tourism workers on Samui have already been fully vaccinated and most other residents will be by next month. I can imagine that after the 3-day quarantine tourists can only go to approved venues, restaurants, bars and on excursions where the staff is fully vaccinated. I think after 7 days of this it’s then up to the tourist to decide if they want to mingle with non vaccinated locals on or off the island. Regardless for long stayers it’s better than being locked in a Bangkok hotel room for 15 days….

Without question it is better than being locked up in Bangkok for a fortnight, no argument there. It's an improvement... but, it will not really benefit the majority of businesses or locally employed people on the island, if what you are suggesting is true. I realise it's a tough situation anyway you cut it, importing an Indian variant at this point could potentially be dire for Samui / the country, but to be honest as things stand they will not attract holiday makers with these terms and conditions. It still seems like an overreaction to me too. If they want to get the place back on its feet they'll need to make much larger concessions, and in any case, people won't be holidaying in large numbers for months to come.

[beano2274]

again no info about those travelling with Childen who cannot be vaccinated, will the quarantine be short or the complete 14 days?

[spidermike007]

This is nothing more than a Field of Dreams. Build it, and they will come. Abandon the foreign market, and they will come back. Abuse them, and they will forgive. 

 

Sorry guys, not the way the real world works.

 

My guess is there are many within this insipid administration, that are fuming at the National Economic and Social Development Council for speaking truth. This is an extremely rare occurrence, when it comes to tourism projections here. 

 

Just got back from Samui. Was discussing this with friends who live there. Alot of debate. My thought is, what would the tourists be returning to? In Lamai and Chaweng especially, 90% of all restaurants have closed permanently. 100% of massage shops and bars are closed. When they are "allowed" to re-open, how many will be able to afford to, and what are they opening to? Who is coming? Will the tourists come to a devastated "island resort" anyway? Will the businesses who have stayed open for an extended period without many tourists want to re-open? Many lost a fortune paying rent and expenses, when only a few domestic tourists trickled in. Now, with the massive failure of the health officials here, things are only getting worse for tourism. They have received zero in the way of assistance from the goons. Nothing.

 

Total, and shameful abandonment, in their time of need. What can one say? If they were being graded on this, Prayuth, Anutin and Phiphat would all get an F, or a 0.1, if that is even possible. 

 

Samui, right now. Images taken a few days ago.

 

 

[Gulfsailor]

16 minutes ago, CanterbrigianBangkoker said:

Without question it is better than being locked up in Bangkok for a fortnight, no argument there. It's an improvement... but, it will not really benefit the majority of businesses or locally employed people on the island, if what you are suggesting is true. I realise it's a tough situation anyway you cut it, importing an Indian variant at this point could potentially be dire for Samui / the country, but to be honest as things stand they will not attract holiday makers with these terms and conditions. It still seems like an overreaction to me too. If they want to get the place back on its feet they'll need to make much larger concessions, and in any case, people won't be holidaying in large numbers for months to come.

By the end of June most people on Samui will have been vaccinated, so the local businesses will benefit from these tourists, not just a few large hotels.