Thailand Nov 1 reopening to go ahead providing COVID-19 situation remains stable

[Jonathan Fairfield]

File Photo. Travellers arrive at the airport, as Phuket reopens to overseas tourists, allowing foreigners fully vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to visit the resort island without quarantine, in Phuket, Thailand July 1, 2021. REUTERS/Jorge Silva

 

The proposed reopening of Bangkok and other major tourist destinations in Thailand will go ahead on November 1, providing the COVID-19 situation does not worsen.

 

Speaking on Saturday (Oct 10) government spokesperson Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said the reopening of Bangkok, Chiang Mai (Mueang district, Mae Rim, Mae Taeng and Doi Tao), Prachuap Khiri Khan (Hua Hin and Nong Khae), Phetchaburi (Cha Am) and Chonburi (Pattaya, Bang Lamung and Sattahip) will go ahead as long as there is not a sudden spike in cases or no large clusters are discovered between now and the end of October.

 

Following the reopening, the government expects to earn 1.5 trillion baht from tourism in 2022, Mr Thanakorn said. 

 

Domestic tourists will account for 850 million baht with Thais expected to make 160 million trips next year.

 

Meanwhile, the government expects 15 million foreign tourists to visit Thailand in 2022, generating 650 billion baht in revenue.

 

Mr Thanakorn said the 1.5 trillion baht revenue target is approximately half the amount the country's tourism industry earned in 2019 before the start of the pandemic. 

 

Mr Thanakorn also gave an update on the Phuket Sandbox, which has been hailed a success.

 

As of Thursday (Oct 7) 43,026 foreign tourists had visited Phuket via the Sandbox program.

 

Most tourists came from the United States, Israel, the United Kingdom, Germany and France.

 

Discover Cigna’s range of health insurance solutions created for expats and local nationals living in Thailand - click to view

 

 

 

 

-- © Copyright  ASEAN NOW 2021-10-10

 

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

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

 

 

 

 

 

[alyx]

Another fortnight of Scottish showers ahead, minus the therapeutic effect.

Let's hope they stick to their guns

[Fujionrye]

What does reopen mean?

 

[ezzra]

Thailand is desperate for the tourist's dollars and they will open whether the situation will improve or not, they were playing with small numbers of incoming for too long now, they need the billions to come in again and it will trump any Covid issues, Well, most of them...

[RotBenz8888]

17 minutes ago, Fujionrye said:

What does reopen mean?

 

Exchange AQ to SAH+. The rest Will probably stay the same. 

[TooMuchTime]

4 minutes ago, RotBenz8888 said:

Exchange AQ to SAH+. The rest Will probably stay the same. 

COE requirements means 99% of people will just go somewhere else that has no hassle.

[alex8912]

So if a "cluster" appears 10/30 or 10/31 then no opening 11/1?!!  That is exactly what the article says. Who the $&@" would book a ticket?

[brewsterbudgen]

1 hour ago, Fujionrye said:

What does reopen mean?

 

Bars and clubs open and alcohol being served? 

[EVENKEEL]

1 hour ago, Fujionrye said:

What does reopen mean?

 

I would assume it means these new areas will be offering the 7 day Sandbox routine for vaxx foreigners.

[Blumpie]

16 minutes ago, alex8912 said:

So if a "cluster" appears 10/30 or 10/31 then no opening 11/1?!!  That is exactly what the article says. Who the $&@" would book a ticket?

People who have been dropped on their heads many many many many... many times as an infant that's who!

[bristolgeoff]

If the hotel stay is cancelled then i,am interested.have the jabs.Don,t mind the psr test for flying.Always have travel insurance just don,t know that cost yet.Wait and see and dec or jan maybe the right time

[klauskunkel]

1 hour ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

with Thais expected to make 160 million trips next year

That's quite a few domestic trips. They must have included the scooter trips to Seven.

[IamNoone88]

Now its 15 million foreign arrivals in 2022. They expect to return to nearly 50% 2019 arrivals immediately ....... another great forecast.

[MasterBaker]

Phuket had this, up to 90 a week if i am not mistaken, now they have 160 a day and sandbox still running

[EVENKEEL]

As time goes on more and more areas of Thailand will be authorized to offer the Sandbox SHA stay. It will be good for the expats who work on rotation and can stay at a hotel close to home. I know some are die hard opponents of the SHA system, but it just means you have a limited supply of hotels and may have to pay more for SHA stay. What really baffles me are the tourists who bring their infant children here.

[Neilly]

2 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

Mr Thanakorn also gave an update on the Phuket Sandbox, which has been hailed a success.

Only by TAT...everyone else can see straight thru it ????

[StayinThailand2much]

2 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

Domestic tourists will account for 850 million baht with Thais expected to make 160 million trips next year.

Wow. That's a whopping 5.31 baht per trip! Has Mama gone up in price?

[bolt]

1 hour ago, RotBenz8888 said:

Exchange AQ to SAH+. The rest Will probably stay the same. 

I would say this flier is for October ONLY

 

November should be different, whereas the tourists are allowed out of approved (SHA+-AQ-ASQ-ALQ) hotel, but must return each night to scan – check back in with QR code, its similar to Sandbox

[StayinThailand2much]

22 minutes ago, brewsterbudgen said:

Bars and clubs open and alcohol being served? 

Not quite. Alcohol only in disinfectants...

[Guderian]

2 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

The proposed reopening of Bangkok and other major tourist destinations in Thailand will go ahead on November 1, providing the COVID-19 situation does not worsen.

Please define "worsen" for us. As restrictions are lifted and people get out and socialise more the daily new case numbers are bound to rise quite significantly. Does that constitute "worsen"? How about the daily death toll attributed to Covid, only 84 deaths reported today, thankfully, but at what point is it regarded as having "worsened"? A woolly statement at best, providing an excuse for the politicians to do pretty much as they please. 

[jaiyen]

But they forget that to get tourists in there have to be planes flying to make it happen ! Not many airlines flying right now or for a long time into the future

 

[cclub75]

1 hour ago, Fujionrye said:

What does reopen mean?

 

That's the X billions THB question.

 

Enough of this propaganda.

 

"reopening" means... The same old stuff (COE, rules, insurances, tests, vaccine yes/no, special hotels, blablablabla)... with just another word.

 

In a normal world, "reopening" would be "reopen the borders" (closed since april 3 2020), drop the "emergency decree", open all businesses, stop the Covid scaremongering, drop all the meaningless rules, reopen all the schools, etc.

 

But we all know that on november 1, none of this will happen.

Edited October 10, 2021 by cclub75

[internationalism]

5 minutes ago, StayinThailand2much said:

Wow. That's a whopping 5.31 baht per trip! Has Mama gone up in price?

suppose to be 850bln, not mln.

so 5310b per trip.

Usually those trips are just extended weekends. Personally I spend well below 1000b per day (hotel 500b, massage 300b), so I don't think thai are spending more than me.

 

"the government expects to earn 1.5 trillion baht from tourism in 2022"

this statement is false. t's not tax for treasury, but tourist spending. Probably only 10% of it would come in taxes 

[bolt]

1 hour ago, RotBenz8888 said:

Exchange AQ to SAH+. The rest Will probably stay the same. 

How can the costs be minimum 15,000 thb

That’s not correct, I’ve found a booking for 7 days on AGODA quarantine package for 7,800

 

This is a mess as usual

 

[StayinThailand2much]

9 minutes ago, Guderian said:

Please define "worsen" for us. As restrictions are lifted and people get out and socialise more the daily new case numbers are bound to rise quite significantly. Does that constitute "worsen"? How about the daily death toll attributed to Covid, only 84 deaths reported today, thankfully, but at what point is it regarded as having "worsened"? A woolly statement at best, providing an excuse for the politicians to do pretty much as they please. 

Spot on. Just look at other countries like Australia or New Zealand; almost hysteria because of a few hundred or even a few dozen new cases...

 

Then there is Thailand, where there was a similar hysteria about a year ago, when there were only few cases. Now it seems that no-one expects cases to drop much below the daily 10,000 new cases. 

 

Return to 'normal' now, and I wouldn't be surprised to see 15,000 or 20,000 daily new cases for the foreseeable future.

Edited October 10, 2021 by StayinThailand2much

[bolt]

3 minutes ago, jaiyen said:

But they forget that to get tourists in there have to be planes flying to make it happen ! Not many airlines flying right now or for a long time into the future

 

Nonsense loads of flights, I've travelled to Thailand 3 times in the last 12 months

[mtls2005]

2 minutes ago, Guderian said:

Please define "worsen"

My sense is that they learned from the Phuket Sandbox not to set firm thresholds and associated actions - see the 90 new case per week "benchmark" for Phuket.

 

 

Other than maybe schools, where I think they will close them down if infection rates spike, "for the children", they'll just rough it out with regards to "tourists" and "opening".

 

They feel like they can vaccinate their way out of this.

 

Barring some new variant, or hospitals becoming overwhelmed, I think it's safe to say they'll force the re-opening even if conditions were to "worsen".

 

 

 

 

 

[charmonman]

18 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

As time goes on more and more areas of Thailand will be authorized to offer the Sandbox SHA stay. It will be good for the expats who work on rotation and can stay at a hotel close to home. I know some are die hard opponents of the SHA system, but it just means you have a limited supply of hotels and may have to pay more for SHA stay. What really baffles me are the tourists who bring their infant children here.

That has always baffled me even pre-covid era.

[charmonman]

So this announcement is maybe we will, maybe we won’t- have fun making your plans!

[smedly]

19 minutes ago, bristolgeoff said:

If the hotel stay is cancelled then i,am interested.have the jabs.Don,t mind the psr test for flying.Always have travel insurance just don,t know that cost yet.Wait and see and dec or jan maybe the right time

and will you still come here if entertainment/bars are shut and a curfew is running at 10pm and 90% of the city is closed (Pattaya) and you have to stay in a 4+ star hotel at 3000 plus baht per night and must take 3 PCR tests at 3000baht each and if you test positive be force quarantined at your own expense for at least 14 days - seriously are you mad

 

They might be saying / claiming Thailand is open meaning you can come here after agreeing and paying but Thailand is far from open when you get here - it is shut and shuttered with a state of emergency still in place and Covid still spreading throughout the country