Omicron impacts tourist numbers

[ThailandRyan]

6 hours ago, Dmitry2222 said:

May be most of backpackers who plans to spend holidays in the peak of the season already arrived.

You say that in jest but this morning on the MR here in BKK there were 6 young backpacking folks, dreadlocks and all, with their backpacks headed to who knows where here in BKK.  I did not stop to ask them as they reeked of Patchouli oil...No not making a generalization just posting facts. 

[DefaultName]

25 minutes ago, stevenl said:

The world is slowly locking down again, people can't return. Many are forced to cancel their holiday plans.

Yes, but many looked at the quarantine, closures, constant rule changes, and didn't book in the first place.

[rick44]

Nobody has picked up on the fact that these numbers are completely different from the CCSA numbers...

[stevenl]

20 minutes ago, DefaultName said:

Yes, but many looked at the quarantine, closures, constant rule changes, and didn't book in the first place.

Yes, definitely did and does affect numbers. But that has no bearing on the decline in numbers the OP is about.

Edited December 19, 2021 by stevenl

[ourmanflint]

Wife took the plunge and booked us to arrive New Years Day, wants to see her family, it's been 2 years since our last visit. A couple of friends also on same flight. Lots of UK thais desperate to see family again, so hope this window of opportunity remains. 

Still feel a bit ripped off with the one night stay, but don't want to wait forever. Doubt we will be adding very much to the economy as have no intention of visiting any tourist areas this time, so no beach holidays, suspect most returning Thais will be the same.

 

[Mac Mickmanus]

2 minutes ago, ourmanflint said:

Wife took the plunge and booked us to arrive New Years Day, wants to see her family, it's been 2 years since our last visit. A couple of friends also on same flight. Lots of UK thais desperate to see family again, so hope this window of opportunity remains. 

Still feel a bit ripped off with the one night stay, but don't want to wait forever. Doubt we will be adding very much to the economy as have no intention of visiting any tourist areas this time, so no beach holidays, suspect most returning Thais will be the same.

 

There is the possibility that Thailand will ban flights from the U.K due to Omicron 

[ourmanflint]

2 minutes ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

There is the possibility that Thailand will ban flights from the U.K due to Omicron 

I know, in which case we will defer everything once again. The next 10 days will be interesting. UK is in a proper mess now thanks to dithering govt

[thecyclist]

Since these 3000 arrivals a day are exclusively high quality billionaires spending millions, the low number is good news :kee nok farang out 'farang have money too much' in. 

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, tomazbodner said:

No, it's countries shutting down over Omicron, so either they can't leave, or are afraid they could not return. Some people have jobs, you know... Can't stay on forced vacation somewhere for a year or 2 because borders are closed or flights cancelled.

So what countries have closed their borders because of Omicron?

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, Stephen55 said:

I was coming 3 Jan I told my travel on Friday to cancel we'll holiday here in Australia too risky to come to Thailand and go through the constant testing

Only nine people so far detected with Omicron, hardly a threat level yet.?

 

[NoshowJones]

4 hours ago, Letseng said:

Not all arrivals will go to Jomtien I guess. 

No, there is 2 or 3 stops before Jomtien. In normal circumstances  quite a lot of people got off at these stops and only a few at Jomtien.

Edited December 19, 2021 by possum1931

[Sunderland]

22 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Only nine people so far detected with Omicron, hardly a threat level yet.?

 

Catch up. Nineteen now. Five more on flights arriving in Phuket in the last 24 hours or so.

 

Still, better than Cambodia. They have recorded only 63 cases of COVID in the last 7 days, but 21 have died. Maybe their testing is different. Perhaps they just whack you on the head if you test positive.

[nobodysfriend]

33 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

So what countries have closed their borders because of Omicron?

Asia:

The Asian countries which have adopted toughest measure of sealing their borders to avoid the transmission of Omicron Covid-19 variant include Japan and Israel. Both have closed their doors to the foreigners and also introduced toughest restrictions for their native travellers. Recently, Israel’s government also gave permission for controversial phone surveillance for contact tracing.

Besides, there are countries in Asia including Philippines dependant on tourism which are mulling to suspend its doors for now on tourists, due to Omicron Covid-19 variant. South Korea and Thailand are also putting restrictions on their flight movement to curb the influx of foreigners and also putting in strict measures for any foreign travellers, who have already arrived in the country.

America: 

US is also among the countries which believes the spread of Omicron Covid-19 variant can be stopped at its borders. So, the country has blocked the entry of foreign nationals from southern African countries.

Canada has also imposed travel restrictions for travellers from southern African countries to contain the spread of Omicron Covid-19 variant. The country has already reported cases of Omicron Covid-19 variant. For now, the country has ordered that only Canadian nationals from the southern African countries can travel to the country.

Brazil has also imposed a ban on flights from southern African countries.
Mexico remains the only country in the continent that has ruled out border closures, due to Omicron Covid-19 variant.

Europe:

In Europe, the Germany has allowed its airlines companies to allow fly its citizens from the “high risk” southern African countries. The country has also made it mandatory for travellers visiting the country to spend mandatory 14 day quarantine, provided they test positive or negative for the virus.

The England has also kept south African countries on its red list. However, it has resumed its flight operations to the region while making mandatory 10 day quarantine period mandatory for travellers from these countries at their own expenses.

Switzerland has also significantly tightened travel restrictions. The country has made 10 day quarantine period mandatory for travellers from the south African countries entering it.

Oceania:

Australia has postponed its plan to relax entry rules to the people with the country’s visa for at least two more weeks.

The country has put blanket ban on travellers, who have been in the “high risk” southern African countries in the past 14 days.

Besides, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea have also put these southern African countries in “high risk” list.

Africa:

In Africa itself there are countries including Angola, Egypt, Mauritius and Rwanda which have imposed travel restrictions on southern African countries.

[tomyami]

Omicrom is ripping through EU,UK and US atm all on a knife edge, tourists are reluctant to travel incase it turns nasty this is not about thai pass or restrictions its external forces at play.

What ever happen here am in EU may well happen there, hope to go in jan but it wait and see here first.

[arithai12]

8 hours ago, nobodysfriend said:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/18/no-evidence-omicron-milder-than-delta-british-researchers-say

 

“We believe that it might not necessarily just be that Omicron is less virulent, but … coverage of vaccination [and] … natural immunity of people who have already had contact with the virus is also adding to the protection,” Health Minister Joe Phaahla told a news conference on Friday. “That’s why we are seeing mild illness.”

However, ICL said in a statement that protection afforded by past infection against reinfection with Omicron may be as low as 19 percent, according to its research."

The study, which involved AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines, also found a significantly increased risk of developing a symptomatic Omicron case compared with Delta for those who were two or more weeks past their second jab dose, and two or more weeks past their booster dose.

What you linked is not a peer-reviewed article. It looks more like (yet another) attempt by some researchers to get clicks and interviews and attention, by passing a half-baked "study" as science. It does not specify on how many people they conducted their research, and it does play with words -for the gullible- by calling it "no less severe" than Delta, when in fact they refer to the risk of infection and re-infection... which frankly is of limited interest. The real crux is the risk of ending up in ICU and dying, and everybody including this "study" admits there is not enough statistics.

Which is rather conclusive already, since the first Omicron cases where detected two months ago (reported one month ago) and with Alpha/Delta in two months we had lots of statistics.

 

So an article for those who are easily impressed by a headline without substance. Like the first death "with Omicron" in the UK, for which we know no details.

[arithai12]

4 hours ago, Stephen55 said:

I (fully vaccinated )have just postponed indefinetly my visit to Thailand I was arriving 3 Jan.Bangkok

I am not prepared to risk the situation of spending 10 days in a hospital or hotel room There are so many tests you have to take

1.before leaving Australia

2.arriving Thailand

3.departing Thaiand

and with omicron so virulent what tourist would risk it, its like playing Russian roulette

Until all governments drop the tests tourist's won't be coming and governments won't do that for obvious

reasons

¹

 

Your choice of course, but if you are waiting for a time when there will be no tests and no risks before you travel, be informed that there's a good number of letters left in the Greek alphabet.

[arithai12]

3 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

You say that in jest but this morning on the MR here in BKK there were 6 young backpacking folks, dreadlocks and all, with their backpacks headed to who knows where here in BKK.  I did not stop to ask them as they reeked of Patchouli oil...No not making a generalization just posting facts. 

Patchouli... consider yourself lucky, in my backpacking times last century it would have been quite a different aroma.

[RichardColeman]

Can but hope that Thailand does not ban UK travellers and Thai airways still flies but has 25% occupancy for a good sleep laying down. Hoping back in jan when the ticket prices drop, but big fears growing now with stupid governments

[MrJ2U]

8 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

Hua Hin seems to become a ghost town, with many shops closed and for sale and rent. We walked yesterday around in the city and it lost its glamour... Very sad to see...And with the new strain and the lockdowns in Europe it will not be better soon

It seemed more lively last weekend.

then came the weekdays.

So slow.

 

We stayed at the Hilton.

Beautiful!

Pretty busy with a convention and Thais using the government subsidy program.

 

Like Ikke1959 said lots of for rent and closed shops.

 

I like it quiet though and especially the great hotel rates.

[EricTh]

The tourists are afraid that if they were to come to Thailand, they will be stuck in Thailand again should their home country initiate another lockdown and/or 14 days quarantine to return back home.

 

 

 

Edited December 19, 2021 by EricTh

[StayinThailand2much]

The old blame game - it's not Thailand's mismanaged arrival or Covid regulations, tourism and travel limitations, lack of personnel, or the pollution... No, it's those foreign tourists and that (foreign) virus (variety) they blame.

Edited December 19, 2021 by StayinThailand2much

[KhunBENQ]

11 hours ago, JR89 said:

Oh? My social feeds showed plenty of drinking, dancing and a pretty fun time to be had today.

And definitely more than in lock-down Europe. Crazy panic in many countries.

Adding to that the absolute p..s weather in Germany since weeks with nearly no sun to see might add to the desire.

My congrats to the snowbirds who managed to come in time.

Edited December 19, 2021 by KhunBENQ

[KhunBENQ]

17 minutes ago, EricTh said:

if they were to come to Thailand, they will be stuck in Thailand

And that applies to almost all tourist travel over Christmas/NY in other countries.

A another hard hit to the travel industry.

Coming back from the UK to Germany? Off to quarantine no matter whether vaccinated or recovered. Germany declares all neighboring countries "high risk".

Have fun booking.

[stevenl]

1 hour ago, StayinThailand2much said:

The old blame game - it's not Thailand's mismanaged arrival or Covid regulations, tourism and travel limitations, lack of personnel, or the pollution... No, it's those foreign tourists and that (foreign) virus (variety) they blame.

Well, that mismanagement etc would not explain this decline.

[Ganesh108]

For comparison, look at Mexico - places like Tulum and Playa del Carmen are booming, 30,000 tourists daily in Tulum. Maybe it's because you can virtually just hop on a plane and get 180 days on arrival? No bullcrap this, bullcrap that? And still Mexico has not been wiped out by Covid.

Thailand's over-cautious, over-bureaucratic approach will kill its tourism industry. 

 

 

 

 

 

[EricTh]

 

France and Netherlands are having a lockdown or closing its borders.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 20, 2021 by EricTh

[kiwikeith]

On 12/19/2021 at 1:45 PM, Gsxrnz said:

Saw the airport bus arriving in Jomtien yesterday,  If you doubled the number of passengers, and then doubled it again, the answer is four.

 

The world of observable reality is a cruel place.

Its not Thailand's fault, its the lockdowns in Europe and the airline restrictions, mad over-reaction. Hopefully that is true and it is all over in a few months

[kiwikeith]

3 hours ago, Ganesh108 said:

For comparison, look at Mexico - places like Tulum and Playa del Carmen are booming, 30,000 tourists daily in Tulum. Maybe it's because you can virtually just hop on a plane and get 180 days on arrival? No bullcrap this, bullcrap that? And still Mexico has not been wiped out by Covid.

Thailand's over-cautious, over-bureaucratic approach will kill its tourism industry. 

 

 

 

 

 

I believe you, some strange power has mesmerized politicians world wide, It could be a crypto currency virus, spreading wildly throughout the political world.

[khunphil]

On 12/19/2021 at 11:36 AM, ikke1959 said:

Hua Hin seems to become a ghost town, with many shops closed and for sale and rent. We walked yesterday around in the city and it lost its glamour... Very sad to see...And with the new strain and the lockdown in Europe it will not be better soon

Well , I went there 2 weeks ago, at reception, the hotel asked me my PCR test ! I told them I booked directly to them 2 days ago, and nobody asked for that ... so that say "Are you vaccinated", I showed them proof of it, then they said OK ! I told them "you know that this is different yes ?" ..they answered ... Hua Hin policy ... no comment. Hotel was 75% empty ....
Except this, it was not full but not a ghost town, but that was a long weekend. Beaches got many Thai people around ... all masked on...

[khunphil]

4 hours ago, Ganesh108 said:

For comparison, look at Mexico - places like Tulum and Playa del Carmen are booming, 30,000 tourists daily in Tulum. Maybe it's because you can virtually just hop on a plane and get 180 days on arrival? No bullcrap this, bullcrap that? And still Mexico has not been wiped out by Covid.

Thailand's over-cautious, over-bureaucratic approach will kill its tourism industry.

After googling about Tulum, it seems that Covid is not why the tourist could feel unsafe there ???? Crime is ramping ... But true, infection number are still low.