Thailand sticking with plan to welcome vaccinated tourists in July

[Peterw42]

I had a sandbox in the backyard when the kids were little. I had to get rid of it as feral cats kept <deleted>ting in it.

[Hoppyone]

3 hours ago, Thailand said:

Now there's a plan-not!

 

Can't see any way it could generate more than a few intrepid "tourists".

Hopefully TAT can successfully count to a hundred

[mar zarych]

Does anyone know, will said Sandbox tourists be required to purchase ANY kind of Insurance ? i.e. health, covid-19 

[Joe Mama]

It started out as a wonderful plan, yet you keep changing it, & making it more draconian...now instead of 7 days quarantine in Phuket, it's  been bumped up to 14 days!  You have to stay in a special HSA + hotel...but none of them have even been identified yet!   You cannot connect through Suvarnabhumi...only fly direct from wherever to Phuket...This is all on top of requiring all the regular entry BS...namely a COE which requires a $100K of Covid medical insurance policy, an affidavit from the FBI that you're not a criminal,  A Fit to fly exam & certificate from your doctor, A negative RT-PCR test witihin 72 hours before your departure, a valid entry visa, & God only knows what the hell else is going to be required!    You gotta be kidding me!  This is the most anti-Tourist plan I have every seen in my entire life!  It would be much easier to for a moron to get into Harvard Grad School then to try then to try &  get into the Phuket Sandbox!!! 

[DLock]

16 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

I had a sandbox in the backyard when the kids were little. I had to get rid of it as feral cats kept sh*tting in it.

 

...and ironically, that's pretty much what's happening here.

[wensiensheng]

1 hour ago, SteveB2 said:

 

Currently, Thailand sees about 30 people die per day with COVID-19.

 

The vast majority are those with other comorbiditys, in particular those who are morbidly obese, have sugar diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and the very old..

 

That works out at about 7 x 30 = 210 people per week - this is up at the highest COVID death rate there has been so far in Thailand.

 

Meanwhile, Thailand's annual death rate (all causes) is about 400,000 per year, or about 7,900 people per week.

 

https://pophealthmetrics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1478-7954-8-14

 

The COVID death rate thus currently represents just over 2 % of the weekly death rate due to all causes.

 

It would be 'mental illness' to focus exclusively only on deaths due to COVID when there are so many other equally tragic causes of death in Thailand. The suicide rate during thre last 12 months has quietly rocketted to approx 10,000 deaths(many caused by the financial stress due to COVID economic hardship)

 

The government will not be able to consistently control COVID-19 and all its strains to the point of zero deaths - the best it can do is to adopt a pragmatic approach that balances minimal deaths and hospitalisation(due to COVID) while allowing life to get back to normal again - accepting a balanced risk of death due to all causes.

 

 

 

 

The issue of suicide is a serious one. There should be government programs to help those for whom circumstances prompt such thoughts.

 

on the other hand, I am more likely to catch Covid than catch suicide.

 

the government needs to walk and chew gum at the same time. both issues need to be addressed

[sandyf]

1 hour ago, NorthernRyland said:

Well these people flip-flop every week so maybe by July 1st they will have decided to bring it back down to 7 days. You really can not trust these people.

 

My brother just got a ticket back to the US from BKK because he THOUGHT he could get back into Thailand via a 7 day stay in Phuket but now he's screwed. They could cancel the whole program next week due to some variant for all we know.

The entry requirements to Thailand have been pretty much the same for about a year, unlike the UK which changes every couple of weeks, the latest may well be a ban on Thailand.

I have a ticket to go in August but it looks like I will be faced with an 80K baht mandatory quarantine which would make it a non starter.

I had anticipated a 14 day quarantine on return in Oct but cannot stretch to both.

[wensiensheng]

7 minutes ago, Joe Mama said:

It started out as a wonderful plan, yet you keep changing it, & making it more draconian...now instead of 7 days quarantine in Phuket, it's  been bumped up to 14 days!  You have to stay in a special HSA + hotel...but none of them have even been identified yet!   You cannot connect through Suvarnabhumi...only fly direct from wherever to Phuket...This is all on top of requiring all the regular entry BS...namely a COE which requires a $100K of Covid medical insurance policy, an affidavit from the FBI that you're not a criminal,  A Fit to fly exam & certificate from your doctor, A negative RT-PCR test witihin 72 hours before your departure, a valid entry visa, & God only knows what the hell else is going to be required!    You gotta be kidding me!  This is the most anti-Tourist plan I have every seen in my entire life!  It would be much easier to for a moron to get into Harvard Grad School then to try then to try &  get into the Phuket Sandbox!!! 

Don’t forget Mother Nature. There’s a reason why this is the low season. Low cloud and steady drizzle with peals of thunder ALL morning in southern Phuket. I haven’t been to the beach (it’s raining ????) but I bet red flags are flying all along it.

 

come to Phuket, our rain is warm might not catch on as a marketing slogan.

[DLock]

Apart from some "residents" returning home and a few intrepid tourists that fancy a beach all to themselves and not much more, this Sandbox idea will struggle to generate 10k tourists.

 

...it will also obliterate the BKK ASQ hotel model, and transfer the financial problems to BKK.

 

They seem to be getting vaccines, so just focus on vaccinating the entire country, then opening with zero restrictions before considering you next dumb@ss move.

 

Fail.

[DrJack54]

28 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

I had a sandbox in the backyard when the kids were little. I had to get rid of it as feral cats kept sh*tting in it.

Was its name Bangla rd.

Edited June 5, 2021 by DrJack54

[wensiensheng]

1 hour ago, NorthernRyland said:

My brother booked one for 1600/night. Not sure about the quality however but it's certified.

Certified as what? SHA Covid hotel certified? Ok, but what does that mean? That you can stay there? But what else?

 

the SHA approved is just a list of hotels within the so called sandbox scheme. nothing certified about them at all as far as I can see.  Just a list. 

[ThailandRyan]

4 minutes ago, wensiensheng said:

Don’t forget Mother Nature. There’s a reason why this is the low season. Low cloud and steady drizzle with peals of thunder ALL morning in southern Phuket. I haven’t been to the beach (it’s raining ????) but I bet red flags are flying all along it.

 

come to Phuket, our rain is warm might not catch on as a marketing slogan.

36 in BKK now but feels like 41 with the humidity, sunny with a mix of clouds.  Drove out to a place for dinner last night we like, and would normally have been around 12k Thb for the 4 Lobster Tails, The 500 grams of Wagyu beef and, the lobster raviolis, and spaghetti.  Fewer than 10 people in the place and the price at the end of the evening for our small 3 person family was only 5300Thb.  Wonder what the same would be at the place in Karon we would go to from Rawai when we lived there.  Here in BKK everything on the high end has been reduced by up to 50% as far as dining in as they are dying.  Even if I flew back to the US and then returned fully vaccinated to Bangkok I would expect to be quarantined for 14 days without ever being able to leave the Hotel but I could see my Condo from the window.  A sad reality and state of affairs.

[stretch5163]

4 hours ago, johnhender said:

I want to go to Bangkok not Phuket which is tired, expensive and Played out If Bangkok doesn't open by October I am going somewhere else. I wish I know how they screwed everything up so bad , but it doesn't matter no one will ever know the truth 

If you British ive heard the Falkland islands are good this time of year and green lol........

 

[Sydebolle]

Let's cross the bridge once we get there - seeing is believing! For the time being I am getting hammered nonstop with contradictory bits and pieces of "news" - not that I worry but it seems, to me, that there are nothing but headless chicken in all those ministries and no coordination whatsoever from one bureau to the other one. 

[wensiensheng]

2 hours ago, madmitch said:

A few people have spoken about expensive rates at the SHA hotels. Try looking at Booking.com where acceptable hotels are available for under 1000 baht per night. That's an absolute bargain.

 

Hotels are being realistic, realising thet there aren't going to be too many people taking advantage of this scheme.

 

The problem is that other businesses are also aware that the number of travellers will be very low and won't be opening, so you're paying for a hotel in a virtual ghost town with low season weather and beaches.

Any hotel that spends money to get  ready for guest arrivals under the sandbox scheme deserves to go out of business.
 

It’s low season, a lot of places mothball during normal years. Now, during a Covid outbreak, who in their right mind would spend money expecting tourists to materialize.

[Pottinger]

9 minutes ago, wensiensheng said:

Certified as what? SHA Covid hotel certified? Ok, but what does that mean? That you can stay there? But what else?

 

the SHA approved is just a list of hotels within the so called sandbox scheme. nothing certified about them at all as far as I can see.  Just a list. 

 

I can almost guarantee that if you have to stay in an approved hotel for 14 days, they are not going to allow you to wander around Phuket island spreading and picking up diseases; there will be restricted movement, probably within the hotel vicinity, so best prepare two phones and leave the one with the app in your hotel room if you insist on going a-roaming.

[DLock]

4 minutes ago, wensiensheng said:

Any hotel that spends money to get  ready for guest arrivals under the sandbox scheme deserves to go out of business.
 

It’s low season, a lot of places mothball during normal years. Now, during a Covid outbreak, who in their right mind would spend money expecting tourists to materialize.

 

I think we all know the "optimism" of Thais, and no doubt there will be hundreds of hotels, massage, restaurants and shops that are preparing and hiring staff for the 1st July tourist extravaganza...

 

...and that first poor batch of tourists will be hounded from the moment they arrive, until they leave...

[lyskamm]

6 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Really ? You should watch our English news. Countries you mention are all on the plague list 

Starting Sunday Italy will be declared risk free country.

[Keesters]

A pig just flew over my house

[Keesters]

4 hours ago, Excel said:

Bhutan has a lot to offer I am told

My trip to Bhutan was far more enjoyable than my trip to Phuket. 

[WhatsNext]

19 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Normally have been around 12k Thb for the 4 Lobster Tails, The 500 grams of Wagyu beef and, the lobster raviolis, and spaghetti.  Fewer than 10 people in the place and the price at the end of the evening for our small 3 person family was only 5300Thb. 

 

Normally i would have paid 90 baht for the noodle soup with pork and rice noodles, and another soup with mama and fish. But because i felt so hiso today i asked to replace the pork with utternonsense and it was only 18.230 baht. 

Edited June 5, 2021 by WhatsNext

[Tubulat]

4 hours ago, Excel said:

Bhutan has a lot to offer I am told

Have there been once for 10 days, it was long enough.

I talk about 8 years ago, it was not allowed to go by yourself, only with a guide/gard.

[BadSpottedDog]

I really wish they would please address what happens if you need to travel (domestically) to Phuket, have lived in Thailand for years, and have not travelled at all since this whole thing started.

[robbioff]

7 hours ago, ezflip said:

So, it's not quarantine but it's imposed on you. Which makes it feel like it's almost a quarantine...

 

I'd rather wait for the country to be fully open and stay at a lodging of my choosing, giving my money to the locals who really need it and not those who bow to the powers that be.

This is exactly what they’re doing in Sri Lanka. These hotels aren’t cheap at all. Which is why not many tourists are coming...

[Dazinoz]

9 minutes ago, BadSpottedDog said:

I really wish they would please address what happens if you need to travel (domestically) to Phuket, have lived in Thailand for years, and have not travelled at all since this whole thing started.

 Just read on Farce book where it says that under the sandbox programme, Phuket will also reopen to Thais who have already received two doses of vaccines. Does not say anything about farang.

[Excel]

12 minutes ago, Tubulat said:

Have there been once for 10 days, it was long enough.

I talk about 8 years ago, it was not allowed to go by yourself, only with a guide/gard.

Really ! In corfu early 1980. A local Greek had a "thing going with an Albanian immigration boss so went on a day trip there. Boy you would never believe it in those days, couldn't take a pee without  some one checking on you. However one of our "guards" saw me with a Brit paper that had Notts Forest winning the Euro Cup on it. Believe you me this guy knew more about Brian Clough and the team than you could imagine. I gave him the paper to keep. That got me and my wife into a normally off limits local bar. Actually it resembled a pig stay more than a bar. Anyway great fun.

[NoshowJones]

5 hours ago, johnhender said:

I want to go to Bangkok not Phuket which is tired, expensive and Played out If Bangkok doesn't open by October I am going somewhere else. I wish I know how they screwed everything up so bad , but it doesn't matter no one will ever know the truth 

Thailand screwed everything up so bad because they are ruled by a self elected "PM" with only a Military Academy education to his name, with his cohorts in "government" not having a clue what to do next regarding this Chinese virus and vaccines, and changing things almost every day hoping that he just may get something right, but with no success so far.

A joke of a man and a joke of a "government".

[robbioff]

4 hours ago, smedly said:

I would like to know who they think they are protecting with this 14 day quarantine 

 

- are they trying to protect the fully vaccinated tourist from Thais

 

- are they trying to protect the not fully vaccinated Thais from fully vaccinated tourists

 

it really does not make any sense at all either way 

 

 

The bottom line - just accept fully vaccinated tourists into the country without all this ## nonsense (if they want to come) - simple as that  

It’s all about the money I’m afraid...trying to recoup some losses by fleecing people who want to visit/come back. 

[Excel]

1 minute ago, Dazinoz said:

 Just read on Farce book where it says that under the sandbox programme, Phuket will also reopen to Thais who have already received two doses of vaccines. Does not say anything about farang.

who cares other than HISO Thais

[Raphael Hythlodaeus]

6 hours ago, RoyJames said:

I would consider going if I could get time off work.

You must like a VERY quiet holiday without bars and most restaurants closed.