The Sandbox program was not a huge success. Reopen until a 1000 people get the flu and the government kicks into hysterical mode. 

As usual Thailand is behind in the world when it comes to common sense, we haven't seen too much of that anywhere else either, but always less in Thailand. Too much of a hassle to go back there, too many other places I can go and have a great time without the hassle. Good luck Thailand, you're going to need it.

4 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

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.

Pure speculation.

Apparently, this is how other countries feel about coming to Thailand. I don't blame them. I don't think many will come with this kind of publicity.

"Thailand: the country with the most complicated entry restrictions on Earth"

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/advice/thailand-country-complicated-entry-restrictions-earth/?fbclid=IwAR22GmeiylK5okbam0Te2yJvNBTXg5wjE4PrCTE4qTPTXbKmyxPFzPLuDFE

1 hour ago, bolt said:

AQ is confiend to hotel room, so you CAN"T go out its not a Sandbox where as you can go out during the day, thats supposed to be November plans.

October is just a filler, November will be 5 Sandboxs types

So, November, I can leave my Chiang Mai hotel at 7am and return at midnight if I want?

 

...or am I stuck in a hotel still...in which case, what is the context of Chiang Mai "sandbox"?

3 hours ago, Fujionrye said:

What does reopen mean?

 

I wonder if bars will be allowed to open and sell alcohol, and they drop the curfew hours in these destinations on Nov 1st?

Also will they drop the ridiculous quarantine and allow fully vaccinated and tested tourists to travel freely from day one?

1 minute ago, hotchilli said:

I wonder if bars will be allowed to open and sell alcohol, and they drop the curfew hours in these destinations on Nov 1st?

Also will they drop the ridiculous quarantine and allow fully vaccinated and tested tourists to travel freely from day one?

U will still ask the same in january..belive me.

4 hours ago, Fujionrye said:

What does reopen mean?

 

Exactly. It means whatever they declare it to be 2 days before 1st November. I have yet to read anything on "no quarantine", no stupidly expensive PCR tests (we sell you the cheaper ones but don't use them - they're not reliable), no busload trips with back to the hotel in the evening (and so forth).

14 minutes ago, BadSpottedDog said:

Apparently, this is how other countries feel about coming to Thailand. I don't blame them. I don't think many will come with this kind of publicity.

"Thailand: the country with the most complicated entry restrictions on Earth"

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/advice/thailand-country-complicated-entry-restrictions-earth/?fbclid=IwAR22GmeiylK5okbam0Te2yJvNBTXg5wjE4PrCTE4qTPTXbKmyxPFzPLuDFE

Ha, ha, ha, Beautiful(l) Isn't?

18 minutes ago, BadSpottedDog said:

Apparently, this is how other countries feel about coming to Thailand. I don't blame them. I don't think many will come with this kind of publicity.

"Thailand: the country with the most complicated entry restrictions on Earth"

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/advice/thailand-country-complicated-entry-restrictions-earth/?fbclid=IwAR22GmeiylK5okbam0Te2yJvNBTXg5wjE4PrCTE4qTPTXbKmyxPFzPLuDFE

And that is the exact problem! Holidays should not be complicated at all. Neither before, during or after….
 

And besides that who wants to risk getting arrested for drinking alcohol on their holiday or being dragged of to an expensive quarantine hotel, if tested positive? No normal person or family wants to risk that.

 

As long as they keep these crazy rules in place, tourism is dead here.

 

3 hours ago, TooMuchTime said:

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

Exactly- when the COE requirement first came in it was an uncertain fraught and stressful process. While that might have improved ,you can imagine how prepared Thailand would be to cope with any significant uptick in demand based on their appalling record. Travellers of a normal tourist nature simply won’t live with that risk and faffing.

5 minutes ago, khunpa said:

And that is the exact problem! Holidays should not be complicated at all. Neither before, during or after….
 

And besides that who wants to risk getting arrested for drinking alcohol on their holiday or being dragged of to an expensive quarantine hotel, if tested positive? No normal person or family wants to risk that.

 

As long as they keep these crazy rules in place, tourism is dead here.

 

I totally agree with u.I went to BKK im march..stayed 15 days in quarantene..Had plan to stay 5-6 months.After 2 months i had enough.So i went back home.Im NOT going back before this idiot rules is gone.They still think thailand is nymber one for the tourist.Its NOT even on the list anymore.

Eveything they talk about money allways number one.They try to lure the money of tourists in many ways.Even if totally reopenthey will make us pay in someway that costs us alot.BELIvE ME!

 

All this malarky about reopening this date them maybe that date. In the meantime I'm in Uzbekistan, No COE, no Insurance required, 6 month triple entry visa. Great food and people. Oh, and no quarantine after 1 negative pcr test. See you next year!

Hmmm.. ..i suggest that you dont hold your breath on this one

A post with a link and content from the Bangkok Post has been removed:

 

26) The Bangkok Post and Phuketwan do not allow quotes from their news articles or other material to appear on ASEANNOW.com. Neither do they allow links to their publications. Posts from members containing quotes from or links to Bangkok Post or Phuketwan publications will be deleted from the forum.

53 minutes ago, DLock said:

So, November, I can leave my Chiang Mai hotel at 7am and return at midnight if I want?

 

...or am I stuck in a hotel still...in which case, what is the context of Chiang Mai "sandbox"?

 

I believe that by November 1^st or 15^th, the 5 other Sandboxes will be ready, BUT it’s not announced or Royal Gazetted yet

 

So my plan is wait until November, for the NEW 5 sandboxes are announced, and then enter via that route, I’ve already done Sandbox in Phuket and even though 14 days was too long, 7 days will be fine as long as we’re allowed out using same principle as Phuket sandbox.

 

The areas are

1. Bangkok,

2. Chiang Mai (Muang. Mae Rim, Mae Taeng and Doi Tao districts),

3. Prachuap Khiri Khan (Hua Hin district),

4. Phetchaburi (Cha-am district) and

5.Chon Buri (Pattaya, Bang Lamung and Sattahip districts), government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said on Saturday. 

Edited just now by bolt

Thailand is only properly open when the onerous CoE requirements are lifted.

3 hours ago, cclub75 said:

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.

Kindly define your definition of Covid scaremongering? using the words that you would happily say to the face of a family of a deceased Covid sufferer

'Providing' means 'if'..which means not likely

8 minutes ago, GeilGeilertzen said:

 

and another thing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL. 

5 hours ago, Fujionrye said:

What does reopen mean?

 

And what does it mean specifically regarding quarantine for folks who arrive in Bangkok?

4 minutes ago, GeilGeilertzen said:

 

The short answer to this is that it’s 7.8 billion other “farang”,  and that Thailand is a country that farming is very well suited for.  
 

In the big pictures, who cares about a few hundred thousand foreigners that bought some apartments stuffed on top of each other in a cement block on a few rai.   

No one should because it’s not important at all.  
 

Let it be like it is no with freehold in these cement blocks and let thais have full control over what’s the real land and that is worth something.  They are patriotic just like most others are and should be about their country. 

Pity that 99.9999999% of wealth in Thailand is owned by very few.

The most unequal society in SE Asia.

Think you will find a large percentage of the population despise the HiSo Bangkok elite.

Doubt an Isaan rice farmer is interested in the legal technicalities of condo development but more about a decent price for his rice crop 

Think your mistaking Thailand for a first world democracy.

4 hours 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?

Final meeting/decision made on the 26th is what Pattaya news states.  But again, the PM holds all the power, so he can change rules anytime

7 minutes ago, Cherrytreeview said:

Pity that 99.9999999% of wealth in Thailand is owned by very few.

The most unequal society in SE Asia.

Think you will find a large percentage of the population despise the HiSo Bangkok elite.

Doubt an Isaan rice farmer is interested in the legal technicalities of condo development but more about a decent price for his rice crop 

Think your mistaking Thailand for a first world democracy.

I lived in Thailand now for way over 20 years and are in my second marriage, have 2 kids and a third one on the way. We have employed Thai staff for over 20 years.  I don’t know about you and what you know that I don’t know about Thailand. 

3 hours ago, bolt said:

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

But where from.

8 minutes ago, Percy P said:

But where from.

from here or there, but lots of flights, try and look at the airport or up in the Sky you'll see them

4 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

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

If that's the deal they need to quickly organize several hotel into the ASQ model in Chiang Mai.

4 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

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

I'm hoping it means schools!

1 hour ago, stigar said:

(...) Eveything they talk about money allways number one.They try to lure the money of toEveything they talk about money allways number one.They try to lure the money of tourists in many ways.Even if totally reopenthey will make us pay in someway that costs us alot.BELIvE ME!urists in many ways.Even if totally reopenthey will make us pay in someway that costs us alot.BELIvE ME!

 

That is Thailand's permanent problem as a destination. It's not about hospitality or returning travellers, but 'getting rich quick', and squeezing the last baht out of the first-time tourists by any means (incl. rip-offs and scams).

 

Thailand's hay days as a Westerners' tropical paradise are long over. No wonder, TAT is more and more targeting Chinese and Indian first-time tourists who haven't heard yet about the common scams or turds in the sea...

 

 

2 hours ago, hotchilli said:

I wonder if bars will be allowed to open and sell alcohol, and they drop the curfew hours in these destinations on Nov 1st?

Also will they drop the ridiculous quarantine and allow fully vaccinated and tested tourists to travel freely from day one?

Apparently, covid loves people drinking alcohol and late evening hours. Have no fear! Thai govt knows what they're doing!