Picture: Daily News

 

Daily News reported that Thailand's tourism minister spoke up during the no-confidence debate in the Thai parliament yesterday.

 

Billionaire minister Pipat Ratchakitprakan defended PM Prayuth Chan-ocha's 120 day reopening to foreign tourism plan that is up at the middle of next month. 

 

This after the ATTA Association of Thai Travel Agents effectively called it a non-starter saying that foreigners were not ready to return in any substantive numbers until the fourth quarter,  next October 2022. 

 

Many are saying that the 120 day reopening plan should be a more realistic 500 day plan.

 

Pipat - who has presided over the most disastrous period in Thai tourism history and who once said that the virus would be blown away on the hot Songkran winds in April 2020 - is pressing on. 

 

In addition to Phuket and associated areas in the south - where his and the TAT's pet Sandbox has attracted a smattering of tourists and returning expats - he said that by October 1st Bangkok, Pattaya, Cha-Am, Hua Hin and Chiang Mai would be reopened.

 

Then - to coincide with the PM's plan - 21 other provinces would follow suit on October 15th.

 

These include Chiang Rai, Nan and Phrae in the north, Udon, Nong Khai and Ubon in the NE, Ranong and Songkhla in the south as well as Ayutthaya, Ratchaburi and Kanchanaburi elsewhere.

 

He added a few caveats about getting the local populations 70% vaccinated.

 

ASEAN NOW notes that the minister's pronouncements can be seen in the light of his support for the prime minister during the no-confidence debate. 

 

A more realistic analysis about the return of foreign tourists - namely that it won't pick up any pace until the end of 2022 - came from Sittiwat Chiwarattanaporn of ATTA. 

 

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Lives on a different planet !

9 minutes ago, webfact said:

Billionaire minister Pipat

That's your biggest problem right there. 

 

9 minutes ago, webfact said:

Pipat - who has presided over the most disastrous period in Thai tourism history and who once said that the virus would be blown away on the hot Songkran winds in April 2020

????

8 minutes ago, webfact said:

Billionaire minister Pipat Ratchakitprakan defended PM Prayuth Chan-ocha's 120 day reopening to foreign tourism plan that is up at the middle of next month. 

 

This after the ATTA Association of Thai Travel Agents effectively called it a non-starter saying that foreigners were not ready to return in any substantive numbers until the fourth quarter,  next October 2022. 

A billionaire living in an alternative universe as opposed to the real experts predicting late next year.

This guy has assets totalling over 5.4 billion baht and owns 56 plots of land across several provinces.

 

You'll need to Google for the source, cannot post here.

11 minutes ago, webfact said:

Pipat - who has presided over the most disastrous period in Thai tourism history and who once said that the virus would be blown away on the hot Songkran winds in April 2020 - is pressing on. 

Can Pipat and his hot air just blow away as well.  The man is so far out of his depth in projections and insane views on numbers arriving and the money it will bring.  One has to think he plays with Tarot cards daily and see's an old gypsy who gives him the view from her crystal ball.  I wouldn't even buy a lottery ticket from this man as his predictions are always far fetched.

13 minutes ago, webfact said:

These include Chiang Rai, Nan and Phrae in the north, Udon, Nong Khai and Ubon in the NE, Ranong and Songkhla in the south as well as Ayutthaya, Ratchaburi and Kanchanaburi elsewhere.

 

All with different "sandbox" rules? Yes, I'm optimistic.????

23 minutes ago, webfact said:

In addition to Phuket and associated areas in the south - where his and the TAT's pet Sandbox has attracted a smattering of tourists and returning expats - he said that by October 1st Bangkok, Pattaya, Cha-Am, Hua Hin and Chiang Mai would be reopened.

define reopened

 

everything is shut and the police are arresting (abusing) people for sitting on the pavement alone and extorting Bt10k a pop from every one of them - shameful abuse

It does beg the question, if his efforts in charge of TAT are an indication of his innate management abilities, how did he amass this wealth?

 

Was it all inherited?

None of what any of these government people say has any relation to reality or to anything upcoming in the future, it's all just to get through the day at hand. It's like when in a primitive society you ask a local Is this the way to such-and-such a site, and they say Yes, or It's that way, when they have no clue; they just got themselves through the immediate situation. There is no idea of truth. 

Good hot air balloon, bad politician.

 

48 minutes ago, smedly said:

define reopened

 

everything is shut and the police are arresting (abusing) people for sitting on the pavement alone and extorting Bt10k a pop from every one of them - shameful abuse

If you give the mafia an opportunity to extort you, they will take it. 

1 hour ago, smedly said:

define reopened

 

everything is shut and the police are arresting (abusing) people for sitting on the pavement alone and extorting Bt10k a pop from every one of them - shameful abuse

Opened sector by sector is the new verbiage Prayut is using, and with Anutin stating "Once opened there is no going back", ergo the new normal of "Learning to live with Covid"

When this delusional old man and all the other delusional old men, say Thailand will reopen on such and such a date, what exactly do they mean.  Tourists will be able to come to Thailand without restrictions, with some restrictions, or with the onerous restrictions currently in place in Phuket?  Furthermore, open for what, and what will be open.  I'll bet the bars aren't. 

2 hours ago, Will B Good said:

It does beg the question, if his efforts in charge of TAT are an indication of his innate management abilities, how did he amass this wealth?

 

Was it all inherited?

What do you think?  Careful what you say. 555.

3 hours ago, webfact said:

In addition to Phuket and associated areas in the south - where his and the TAT's pet Sandbox has attracted a smattering of tourists and returning expats - he said that by October 1st Bangkok, Pattaya, Cha-Am, Hua Hin and Chiang Mai would be reopened.

 

Then - to coincide with the PM's plan - 21 other provinces would follow suit on October 15th.

Even if they do 'open' things does it really matter if almost nobody comes?

This guy is one of the great losers of Thailand, and has shown over and over again, how ill equipped he is for this job of his. He and Prayuth have inflicted untold sabotage on the tourism industry, to the point where I will be very surprised if it EVER recovers. And I am talking years from now. 

5 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

This guy is one of the great losers of Thailand, and has shown over and over again, how ill equipped he is for this job of his. He and Prayuth have inflicted untold sabotage on the tourism industry, to the point where I will be very surprised if it EVER recovers. And I am talking years from now. 

it will recover alright, if they had an effective and well managed vaccination programme they would be on the road already, people do want to holiday. look how other economies, once a large number of the population are vaccinated, are recovering, the uk economy grew around 4% in the last quarter. sure, it will take a while to get back to pre-covid numbers, but removing the hurdles to entering the country will see ever increasing numbers of tourists and returners arriving

3 hours ago, JoePai said:

Lives on a different planet !

Planet is called Pixiland !!!!!

An off topic post has been removed. 

4 hours ago, webfact said:

He added a few caveats about getting the local populations 70% vaccinated.

 

ASEAN NOW notes that the minister's pronouncements can be seen in the light of his support for the prime minister during the no-confidence debate. 

 

Phiphat has to support the PM in the no confidence debate. He has no choice if he want to keep his Job.

He has also maybe promised some big pay days to his other Billionaire Club Buddies when the Country opens up mid Oct, but now due to a lack of Vaccines and various Countries around the Globe starting to look at Thailand's credibility and transparency over Vaccinations Etc, and the failure of the Phuket Dirtbox, he is up against a brick wall where all the lies and deceit are coming back home to roost, so has to use the lack of vaccination as a cop out.

 

4 hours ago, JoePai said:

Lives on a different planet !

I don't know what he lives on but I want some .... 

4 hours ago, Will B Good said:

It does beg the question, if his efforts in charge of TAT are an indication of his innate management abilities, how did he amass this wealth?

 

Was it all inherited?

Lets just say like many others he was "gifted wealth" rather than inherited and leave it at that.

1 hour ago, it is what it is said:

it will recover alright, if they had an effective and well managed vaccination programme they would be on the road already, people do want to holiday. look how other economies, once a large number of the population are vaccinated, are recovering, the uk economy grew around 4% in the last quarter. sure, it will take a while to get back to pre-covid numbers, but removing the hurdles to entering the country will see ever increasing numbers of tourists and returners arriving

Unlike many other countries there were a dozen major issues plaguing tourism here long before Covid. If adults were running the show, those would have been addressed. 

 

Instead, par for the course, the leadership will blame

everything on Covid now. Not taking responsibility is their M.O. It is simply how they roll. 

 

So, the tourists will come back, but fewer of them, and only the low to middle income tourists, who do not spend alot.

 

Many reasons why the rich ones come here once, and never return. I have cited those reasons countless times, in previous posts. 

It was never a "plan", as though Prayut had sat down and written out a document with a series of who-does-what-by-when action points.

It was an off-the-cuff remark by Prayut, nothing more, designed to buy time.

7 hours ago, Will B Good said:

It does beg the question, if his efforts in charge of TAT are an indication of his innate management abilities, how did he amass this wealth?

 

Was it all inherited?

Yutthasak is in charge of TAT, Pipat is the tourism minister.