Picture Daily News

 

Daily News had two quite different stories online yesterday as the Samui Plus Model reopening to foreign tourists began on the southern Thai island. 

 

After tourism minister Pipat Ratchakitprakan welcomed a few journalists off the plane and there appeared to be as many dignitaries as visitors,  the media dug down into the numbers.

 

The head of the local Samui tourism association Ratchaporn Phoonsawat put on a brave face and spoke of the future potential rather than the immediate reality.

 

He said that until the end of July there were 33 people booked to arrive on Bangkok Airways from abroad. 

 

With three flights a day that makes an average of about 0.67 of a foreigner on each flight. 

 

Not to worry, said Ratchaporn, it will go up and up as the Certificates of Entry at embassies around the world get issued and the word gets about that Samui is open.

 

Picture: Daily News

 

To do this he and the private sector will be marketing aggressively.

 

He said that 20 hotels are in the 7 day stay in Samui plan offering 400 rooms. Hotels and villas are onboard and the health department are adding more after inspections. 

 

After tourists have completed their seven days on the Samui sealed route they are free to go to 320 other hotels on Samui Koh Phangan and Koh Tao. 

 

Meanwhile the same media Daily News quoted the head of the Tourism Authority of Thailand Yutthasak Suphasorn who was far more gung-ho.

 

He said that the Samui Plus Model would attract 1,000 tourists in the first month and they would be spending 180 million baht. 

 

That means of course that on average they will spend 180,000 baht each (about $5,500).

 

-- © Copyright ASEAN NOW 2021-07-16

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

3 minutes ago, webfact said:

He said that the Samui Plus Model would attract 1,000 tourists in the first month and they would be spending 180 million baht. 

Totally delusional !

The special TAT calculator strikes again.

 

Every business shold have one. Available on Lazada.

 

 

Does any of this come as a surprise?

"Following a review under the recommendation on the gradual lifting of the temporary restrictions on non-essential travel into the EU, the Council updated the list of countries, special administrative regions and other entities and territorial authorities for which travel restrictions should be lifted. In particular, Rwanda and Thailand were removed from the list and Ukraine was added to the list."

 

https://twitter.com/ThaiNewsReports/status/1415863343206658049

26 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

"Following a review under the recommendation on the gradual lifting of the temporary restrictions on non-essential travel into the EU, the Council updated the list of countries, special administrative regions and other entities and territorial authorities for which travel restrictions should be lifted. In particular, Rwanda and Thailand were removed from the list and Ukraine was added to the list."

 

https://twitter.com/ThaiNewsReports/status/1415863343206658049

Quote

The European Union member states have agreed to restrict travel from Thailand.

 

Thailand, along with Rwanda, were removed from a list of countries which were permitted to enter the European Union during the COVID-19 pandemic.

That is going to upset quite a few people...

 

https://aseannow.com/topic/1224268-eu-restricts-travel-from-thailand/

Unless among the 33 foreign arrivals are Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Bill Gates, reaching that 180 million baht in the first month of Samui Plus is likely to fall short of expectations.

 

One can applaud the Thais for trying to raise Lazurus from the dead, but what we're learning is that int'l travel and tourism are not going to recover quickly, particularly while Covid isn't close to being brought under control.

 

I'll repeat some stats that give one pause:

 

Since vaccines were introduced in Dec 2020, 3.4 billion jabs have been given. The world of 7.8 billion needs 15.6 billion jabs to get everyone, or about 11 billion to get the key 70% level. If it took 8 months to get 3.4 billion, even with licensing agreements, how long might it take to hit 11 billion?

 

Add to that advice from (perhaps talking their own book) Pfizer saying that a booster might be needed to protect against the Delta variant, and it seems Covid still has the stage for the foreseeable future. Oh, and the Sinovac vaccine has shown to be less effective even after 40 days (50% drop in antibodies), and that only works against the early variants, not Delta. Anyone who got their second Sinovac jab at the beginning of June is already vulnerable again to the Alpha/original Covid strain.

1 hour ago, webfact said:

That means of course that on average they will spend 180,000 baht each (about $5,500).

They can borrow my broken calculator if it will help.  Adds a zero to everything so each tourist will spend ON AVERAGE 1,800,000 .

 

As for the high rollers  , the never ending bender and bell ringing will probably kill them off.

I am wondering how will a 0,67 tourist board the plane???

1 hour ago, ikke1959 said:

I am wondering how will a 0,67 tourist board the plane???

you naked and covid safe on the first. All your belongings on the next plane 

????

1 hour ago, ikke1959 said:

I am wondering how will a 0,67 tourist board the plane???

it's obviously a ghost.

2 hours ago, Walker88 said:

Unless among the 33 foreign arrivals are Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Bill Gates, reaching that 180 million baht in the first month of Samui Plus is likely to fall short of expectations.

If that 180 million includes their hotel then I think it's entirely feasible LOL...have you seen how much they're charging? It boggles the mind! ????

1 hour ago, ikke1959 said:

I am wondering how will a 0,67 tourist board the plane???

Maybe there's a Snow White panto on ? 

4 hours ago, webfact said:

He said that the Samui Plus Model would attract 1,000 tourists in the first month and they would be spending 180 million baht. 

But if only 33 turned up, that would be 594,000 baht, then that would be a big loss of face ?

seriously why would anybody visit or live in samui with phuket offering wayyyyy more in every respect...... ? and yes I have been there....

4 hours ago, webfact said:

He said that the Samui Plus Model would attract 1,000 tourists in the first month and they would be spending 180 million baht. 

 

That means of course that on average they will spend 180,000 baht each (about $5,500).

Indeed it's easy to spend 180,000 baht during a typical two weeks tourist holiday when looking at the accommodation prices on Samui, i.e. total spending is only about 12,000 baht per day per person.

 

1,000 tourists, i.e. not arrivals, during the first month equals 33 arriving tourists every day, so with 33 people already booked it equals one day, so 29 more days to find tourists for in the first month, or coming 30 days.

 

I've been reading through the regulations, and the quite long Q&A section, and I unfortunately think, even I really wish some tourists back on the island, that many of the potential visitors might choose another holiday destination with less, and more simple regulations.

10 minutes ago, WhiteBuffaloATM said:

seriously why would anybody visit or live in samui with phuket offering wayyyyy more in every respect...... ? and yes I have been there....

More privacy, for example...

Folks at the top need their lithium prescriptions refilled.

1000 tourists will spend 180,000 THB each. 
I want some of whatever they are smoking.

2 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

I am wondering how will a 0,67 tourist board the plane???

In pieces.

Off topic troll post removed

"Samui Plus: Just 33 foreigners have booked flights to holiday island - but TAT say 1,000 tourists will spend 180 million baht in first month"

 

Yep, 1000 tourists may spend that amount of money, but it won't be in Thailand...

I think the guy who do the calculations on the calculator has the bad hand tremor and he entered too many zeros...

A troll post has been removed

lol....and how many are press and travel agents on a freebie promotion tour. There is a logic to the low numbers and that is that people, I won't say tourists, wishing to visit their loved ones will opt for the litter box as it has better escape tunnels....The death island isn't attractive at the best of times. You can also expect Thailand to go red everywhere soon so they are literally flogging a dead horse ????

Think twice…

4 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

I am wondering how will a 0,67 tourist board the plane???

Not sure but they won't be able to use the excuse that they got infected by other passengers

7 hours ago, webfact said:

He said that until the end of July there were 33 people booked to arrive on Bangkok Airways from abroad. 

 

With three flights a day that makes an average of about 0.67 of a foreigner on each flight.

Could have warned me I was having a drink... 

4 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

I am wondering how will a 0,67 tourist board the plane???

Legless?

They really don't engage brain before opening mouth! 

The sad thing is that I'm sure some Thai's read/hear about this and get their hopes raised only to be deflated a month down the line.