Thailand targets 3 million foreign tourists this year under phased reopening

[clivebaxter]

1 hour ago, Daithi85 said:

Ohh get over your self.another one who feels like he's a victim...

 

Victim of Thainess yes, Thais may be friendly enough but the establishment is not our friend.

[WineOh]

7 minutes ago, Gandtee said:

Together with their Mars programme. A landing expected by the end of the year.

 

Thailand's answer to the Challenger shuttle... ???? 

[mtls2005]

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Most of the three million arrivals are expected in the final quarter

 

So, 30,000 arrivals daily? Hmm. Good luck with that. Not enough aircraft/flights available. You can't just wave a wand and add 100+ daily flights.

 

 

 

 

[chaihot]

I was going to post a question asking if anyone had any ideas about types of visas and other rules that would be in effect for the Phuket opening ... but then I found this:

 

Quote

This for one means that the procedure of having to apply for a Certificate of Entry (with the existing requirements such as $100,000 insurance cover) through the local Thai Embassy / Consulate is still going on even under the Sandbox model. It can take quite some time to receive this certificate so any short term travel to Thailand is officially out of the question.

 

Quote

International tourists who wish to visit Phuket will however need to fulfill a long list of requirements, including having proof of being fully vaccinated against Covid-19. They will also need a Certificate of Entry from their nearest Thai embassy, and will be required to take a number of Covid-19 tests while on the island.

 

Oh boy.

Edited June 10, 2021 by chaihot

[decca60]

DIAGNOSIS : Delirium tremens

[condobrit001]

Current news from the UK indicates that there is increasing pressure to re-classify Thailand and Vietnam to Red zone countries. This would mean hotel quarantine on return at 175.00 GBP per person per night, even for married couples. With other countries like Australia making it almost impossible to come here the projected tourist figures are ridiculous.

[Andycoops]

13 hours ago, greeneking said:

If there was just one government department that should be held accountable for its work, it should be this one. And the inevitable embarrassment and resignations should start a wave of concern through all the others.

No, no it's all a misunderstanding and a couple of wais will suffice as usual or an inactive post 

but then they've been inactive since March 2020, so perhaps not.

 

[DFPhuket]

6 hours ago, kimamey said:

13 hours ago, madmen said:

This from a travel agent on the sandbox face book page. 

Expand  

That makes sense. The date of opening hasn't changed but the date of the first visitors is the 9th.

 

I assume that's the Americans we've heard about unless they changed their minds after the Thais changed theirs.

 

It appears that the travel agent being quoted has confused the July 1 sandbox opening date with this report about 20 US tourists arriving on July 9th. Of course everything about the sandbox is unofficial and mostly conjecture until the rules are published in the Gazette. However, I would be disinclined to believe that the opening date has been delayed because a travel agent posted it as fact in social media. 

[Mywayboy]

15 hours ago, RotBenz8888 said:

Haven't taken their antipsycotic pills-as usual. 

They're Dreamin

[thailand49]

4 million and dropping to 3, 2, 1,  unless the jab works they will continue to move the bar up and down!  ????

[hioctane]

1 hour ago, dlclark97 said:

Many Thais are being vaccinated with the Sinovac vaccine that reportedly is just over 50% effective for COVID 18 and far less effective for some of the new variants.  If 70% of the population is vaccinated with this vaccine that is just over 50% effective you might conclude this amounts to just over 35% of the population being fully vaccinated.  Why would any tourist come under these conditions?  When the whole population is vaccinated with the several more effective vaccines then maybe the tourists will begin to arrive but not anywhere in the numbers of recent past years.  Get rid of the ridiculous 40,000/400,000 nearly useless insurance requirement for some and raise that new arrival fee from 300 baht to 500 baht to cover the expenses of those sick or injured here who are unable or unwilling to pay their bills.  For expats in country add that fee to their annual extensions the same as those arriving.  Announced forecast of the income expected from this new fee would cover all unpaid medical expenses and still allow for the stated maintenance for tourist and other destinations.   

Tourists are not worried about the Covid status of any country.  They will still go (as evidenced by the countries with zero restrictions). They just don’t want to quarantine and jump through hoops.

[thailand49]

1 hour ago, dlclark97 said:

Many Thais are being vaccinated with the Sinovac vaccine that reportedly is just over 50% effective for COVID 18 and far less effective for some of the new variants.  If 70% of the population is vaccinated with this vaccine that is just over 50% effective you might conclude this amounts to just over 35% of the population being fully vaccinated.  Why would any tourist come under these conditions?  When the whole population is vaccinated with the several more effective vaccines then maybe the tourists will begin to arrive but not anywhere in the numbers of recent past years.  Get rid of the ridiculous 40,000/400,000 nearly useless insurance requirement for some and raise that new arrival fee from 300 baht to 500 baht to cover the expenses of those sick or injured here who are unable or unwilling to pay their bills.  For expats in country add that fee to their annual extensions the same as those arriving.  Announced forecast of the income expected from this new fee would cover all unpaid medical expenses and still allow for the stated maintenance for tourist and other destinations.   

I agree with majority of what is being said, not defending the Sino I wouldn't take it unless necessary since the information isn't very transparent but what has been put out there from testing by other countries like Brazil?  the vaccine is near the 70% range if not higher in the beginning but tested against other variants it was reported % 50-60% but all reports show if infected you won't die from serious complication from the virus. Also reported recently in one country those vaccinated with the Sino over 6 months ago had little or no immunity in their blood thus stop using Sino and order Pfizer?

Believe it or not?????

[Isaan sailor]

15 hours ago, trainman34014 said:

The only 'Target' they should be setting is getting the Population Vaccinated !

Methinks the only target they should set is a Baht competitive with similar countries.

[onekoolguy]

14 hours ago, madmen said:

This from a travel agent on the sandbox face book page. 

This is an English forum. Why post Items in other languages that most of us cannot read?

[grain]

It's still way too soon. They just have to accept the fact that the global pandemic is still raging, and even countries that have fared very successfully, like Australia, are getting fresh outbreaks. Nothing is going to happen tourism wise until Thailand has vaccinated the vast majority of the population, and the rest of the world have vaccinated the vast majority of their populations, and we see a huge decrease in global infection rates. THEN will be the time to open up with quarantine-free entry to tourists who have been fully vaccinated and have a negative covid test result from 72 hours prior to entry. 

[Aarin]

Surely there is not 3 million Mental tourists that are going to come and be forced to do 14 days quarantine in Phuket or anywhere else at a cost they cannot control even if they have had 2 jabs?? Come on now this is getting silly

[khunpa]

This sounds like my bipolar stepson, who at times (when not properly medicated) thinks he will be extremely rich and begged to spread his wisdom abroad, once he gets his Thai University Degree.

[DerbyDan]

20 minutes ago, hioctane said:

Tourists are not worried about the Covid status of any country.  They will still go (as evidenced by the countries with zero restrictions). They just don’t want to quarantine and jump through hoops.

i would return to thailand now if the quarantine was lifted.

 

i dont care about crowds or open bars much. empty beaches and cheap rents are a plus.

 

 

[NorthernRyland]

 

17 minutes ago, onekoolguy said:

This is an English forum. Why post Items in other languages that most of us cannot read?

 

it says Phuket opens on the 1st BUT there are foreign tourists arriving on the 9th.

[NorthernRyland]

And they still want you to buy COVID insurance AFTER you're vaccinated and on quarantine island. What a joke.

[David T Pike]

Foreign Tourists? What about the Foreign RESIDENTS??? ????????

[shackleton]

They keep pulling the  numbers out of the air

Where are these Tourists coming from name some countries ????

[CanterbrigianBangkoker]

16 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

For 2022, the TAT expects 20 million foreign arrivals to spend 1.3 trillion baht, Siripakorn said.

Yo, Siripakorn, can you hook me up with a bit of whatever it is you're smoking please, mate?

Cheers.

[joebrown]

I believe any Thai establishment having a board people can play darts on, is required to have license to do so.  I hope TAT have a license for the dart board they use for target practice.  Makes me wonder whether there's a daily prize for the member of staff who gets nearest the bull "s##t' !

[GlassWayOverHalfFull]

16 hours ago, madmen said:

Phuket will be pushed back to October and October pushed back to January and January pushed back to...... 

Nearly 6,000 negative posts. Well played Sir. You are in the running from most negative poster on ThaiVisa which is the most competitive trophy on the internet. 

[GlassWayOverHalfFull]

11 minutes ago, David T Pike said:

Foreign Tourists? What about the Foreign RESIDENTS??? ????????

What's the question? You want to be a tourist also? Not sure how this relates

[spidermike007]

As I already posted, more dreaming is taking place, and it is getting to the point where the expectations are delirious, delusional, and based on little but hope.

 

Of the 28,000 who came so far this year, no doubt 27,500 were returning expats. Expect 5,000 to 10,000 total for the remainder of this year. Unless they do away with all restrictions. 2021 is a write off.

2022 might be better. They might get as many as 500,000, maybe.
2023? If Covid is gone, maybe 2 million. 
Could climb to 4 million by 2024. 

Tourism here is essentially over, as a livelihood. Too many mistakes have been made. Too many opportunities lost. Trillions of dollars in infrastructure down the drain.

Prayuth, Anutin and Phiphat could not have done a better job of sabotaging a vital industry, if they were actually trying to do so. If anyone did not see the reasons to oust these guys before, the vaccination drive alone is all the indictment the nation needs. 

No question, with the exception of some infrastructure, Thailand has been moving backwards for the past decade. On nearly every level. It did have a good run. Those days are behind it. So much self sabotage has been inflicted on this rather resilient nation, it would be a near impossibility for it to pull itself out of the abyss, shake off the molasses, and move forward. 

A very dynamic leader like Thanathorn would at least give the nation a chance at having a future. The current creeps do not. 

Japanese companies are relocating. Despite the.constant lies, foreign investment is way down. Tourism is all but finished. I understand why nearly a million youth are on FB, trying to figure out a way out. The future must look very bleak to them. For many of us, who are fortunate enough to not have a business here, things are simpler, and less complicated. All we have to do is deal with the continuous daily drivel of these goons in charge. 

This will likely be a two to five year shake out. The financial devastation to the economy here is far worse than the 1997 crash. And it will be sustained. Massive unemployment. Millions are out of work. 

Tourism will not rebound to any significant degree. The people who made up 70% of Thailand tourism arrivals were crushed by Covid and the economic shutdown. The lower to middle income Chinese, Indians and Malaysians. I predict no more than 5 million tourists annually, by 2025. Let us not forget. There were already countless issues affecting tourism long before Covid. And the two year shutdown will only compound that. Trillions will be lost. 
 

[Cake Monster]

2 hours ago, richthai said:

Interesting calculation.  40M in 2019 spent 1.9 Trillion = B 47,500 per person
20M predicted in 2022 will spend 1.3 Trillion = B 65,000 per person.

Prices are down from 2019 and will take a while to recover.  So, are they expecting tourists to take extra long vacations?

No. Just expecting Tourists to be more gullible than they were before the Pandemic.

TAT have read about people around the World with pent up needs to go Travel, and they have accrued money to burn during the shutdowns they had to endure.

Therefore Thailand wants that Money.

The reality is however, that many people have been restricted travel to Thailand because of Quarantines, Tests Etc placed upon them by their Governments when they return.

This makes any Vacation very expensive, and there is a whole load more time to take from work ( if you are able ) for Quarantines.

[Darkside Gray]

2 x chances, no chance and not a cat in hells chance!

[sandyf]

2 hours ago, Laughing Gravy said:

The only way they could reach 3 million is if they remove any quarantine and then they may have a chance. A big may.

But the UK can expect 11 million visitors with their quarantine arrangements.