PHOTO: Sophon Cable TV (STV)

 

By Goong Nang(GN)

 

Pattaya – A leading Pattaya business and tourism association president is still pushing for Pattaya to be a sandbox to attract foreign tourists.

 

A sandbox is a program that allows international tourists to enter a district or city and stay at certified hotels for seven days while having freedom to roam the local area, with certain rules and Covid19 testing. The program was suspended in Pattaya and most areas last month due to concerns of Omicron, a Covid-19 variant that is fast spreading, but is still in place in Koh Samui, Phuket, and some other mostly island areas. Test and Go, a program allowing rapid entry to the country with a Covid19 test, is also currently suspended, limiting entry access to tourists overall to Thailand.

 

The only options in play at this time for foreign tourists to enter Thailand are sandboxes on the aforementioned islands or strict hotel quarantine for seven to ten days depending on vaccination status.

 

In turn, this hurts Pattaya which is highly reliant on tourism for the majority of its economy.

 

Mr. Boonanan Pattanasin, the president of the Pattaya Businessmen and Tourism Association, told TPN media, “We are pushing for Pattaya to be a ‘Sandbox’ same as Phuket. The Pattaya City Hall has volunteered to be a command center, track down tourists, and manage business venues. The sandbox provides more health safety measures than the Test & Go scheme with an effective ‘SHA Manager’ tracking system.”

 

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Full story: https://thepattayanews.com/2022/01/15/leading-tourism-and-business-association-president-still-pushing-for-pattaya-to-be-a-sandbox/

 

-- © Copyright The Pattaya News 2022-01-15

 

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Be just my luck to arrive in BKK for a 7 day AQ before going to Pattaya and seeing wife and they yoyo on the rules again

With Pattaya's current incredibly high reported infection rates, ironically it is the tourists that are more at risk of catching it from the locals.

 

There must be 10x as many daily new infections now going unreported and kept quiet. I have heard of a few that are positive that can't afford to lose their jobs after 2 years of having no income.

 

The risk to a tourist getting it after a few days of being here is high and prevents them from boarding their scheduled flights home as per current restrictions, on top of being faced with an expensive and useless forced hospital detainment.

 

Forget the 'family resort' idea, and open the bars. Only the most foolish of families would ever attempt to come here and risk children being separated and incarcerated in hospitals with the current draconian Covid detainment procedures and poor testing in place.

 

Cancel the Thailand pass and sandbox schemes entirely.  Shift the responsibility to the airlines, so they check that those boarding have a vax certificate, or that they present a negative test. They check that each passenger has a passport now anyway so its just one more paper.

 

Thailand has done as much as they can by now, as bungled as it has been. Try as they might, this is probably as good as it is going to get. We have to get on with life and learn to live with this as endemic, and accept that this will be with us like the common cold, just as they have announced.

 

If they want, we can still wear our masks around to give the impression we are doing something about it, so they can save face.

4 hours ago, webfact said:

A sandbox is a program that allows international tourists to enter a district or city and stay at certified hotels for seven days while having freedom to roam the local area, with certain rules and Covid19 testing.

Ridiculous idea.

10 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Ridiculous idea.

Yes, I can see it wrt islands like Koh Chang, Kho Toa and even Phuket.... but not Pattaya.

1 minute ago, jacko45k said:

Yes, I can see it wrt islands like Koh Chang, Kho Toa and even Phuket.... but not Pattaya.

It's like having an open prison with no doors or fences..

Expecting inmates not to stray.

6 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Be just my luck to arrive in BKK for a 7 day AQ before going to Pattaya and seeing wife and they yoyo on the rules again

If you are still in the UK why didn't you come back when they announced the Test n Go - just curious?

2 hours ago, topt said:

If you are still in the UK why didn't you come back when they announced the Test n Go - just curious?

Honestly ? 1, waiting date for 3rd vaccine jab - as I worried Thailand and UK would make 3rd jab mandatory for travel in 2022. 2. Waiting results from November blood test and arrange 1 years worth of tablets with NHS - i have excellent pharmacist !!. 3. They told me I had zero immunity to Hepititus and should take a series of 6 jabs over 5 weeks starting 8 Decemeber - which turned out to be useless as I cannot have the last 2 as the hospital suspended all operations due to staffing issues, and 4. simple cost of travel over xmas/new year. Just one thing after another. Could add in there that I needed a new credit card due to expiry date (11/22) and would be away in Thailand on arrival, and bank send 4 - yes FOUR - replacement cards all with the same expiry date  11/22 - and then the bank manager deciding to issue a new card as the card people were mucking me about !

 

Sometimes God just hates you !! 

37 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

1, waiting date for 3rd vaccine jab

I managed a walk in on 17th December for a booster when the hysteria just started so guess I was lucky.

 

38 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

and 4. simple cost of travel over xmas/new year.

Relative I guess as I flew 30th and for 1 way flights I did not think prices were excessive - and only booked 2/3 weeks before.

 

Considering how long you have been stuck there the rest sounds very unfortunate. Best of luck.

I am planning a June/July visit to Thailand during the oppressive heat in Las Vegas. Luckily, I did not sell my IL home that I purchased during my college years. Still have a place to move from Las Vegas to a milder place if Thailand does not pan out. 

16 hours ago, Gold Star said:

With Pattaya's current incredibly high reported infection rates, ironically it is the tourists that are more at risk of catching it from the locals.

 

There must be 10x as many daily new infections now going unreported and kept quiet. I have heard of a few that are positive that can't afford to lose their jobs after 2 years of having no income.

 

The risk to a tourist getting it after a few days of being here is high and prevents them from boarding their scheduled flights home as per current restrictions, on top of being faced with an expensive and useless forced hospital detainment.

 

Forget the 'family resort' idea, and open the bars. Only the most foolish of families would ever attempt to come here and risk children being separated and incarcerated in hospitals with the current draconian Covid detainment procedures and poor testing in place.

 

Cancel the Thailand pass and sandbox schemes entirely.  Shift the responsibility to the airlines, so they check that those boarding have a vax certificate, or that they present a negative test. They check that each passenger has a passport now anyway so its just one more paper.

 

Thailand has done as much as they can by now, as bungled as it has been. Try as they might, this is probably as good as it is going to get. We have to get on with life and learn to live with this as endemic, and accept that this will be with us like the common cold, just as they have announced.

 

If they want, we can still wear our masks around to give the impression we are doing something about it, so they can save face.

You make a lot of sense

13 hours ago, hotchilli said:

It's like having an open prison with no doors or fences..

Expecting inmates not to stray.

Most Pattaya inmates only go to three areas  WS, SB/LKM and S6

Meanwhile the cops are doing all they can to stop people having any fun. Given social media coverage of such, why would anyone want to visit Pattaya/ Thailand with that sort of <deleted> going on?

On 1/15/2022 at 10:49 AM, Gold Star said:

There must be 10x as many daily new infections now going unreported and kept quiet. I have heard of a few that are positive that can't afford to lose their jobs after 2 years of having no income.

Unless it's mandatory, why would anyone risk a false positive by having a test except if actually have symptoms?

18 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Meanwhile the cops are doing all they can to stop people having any fun. Given social media coverage of such, why would anyone want to visit Pattaya/ Thailand with that sort of <deleted> going on?

Is it the cops doing this, or those making the rules they selectively enforce? 

8 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Is it the cops doing this, or those making the rules they selectively enforce? 

Orders usually go downwards, and money goes upwards.