Tourism organisations bullish on return of "Test and Go"; THA predict 300,000 foreign tourists in February

[cheapcanuck]

Sorry but that 300K is wishful thinking. Especially with the two separate night hotel stays. I predict half of that number, 150K.

[gearbox]

36 minutes ago, CLW said:

I give the new 1+5 hotel and testing requirement 1 month until it will be scrapped and reverted to the old Test&Go scheme.

Personally I have no problem with being tested as many times as they want but the hotel requirement on the 5th day is just ridiculous.

There would be a few half baked tweaks soon, only to demonstrate activity, without any tangible results. The northern winter is more than half through, soon the Mediterranean resorts will start opening.

Australia just abandoned pre and post flight PCR tests completely, they need to do this and more to attract any meaningful numbers.

[gearbox]

1 hour ago, PEE TEE said:

Samui was busy over the new year but now the beaches are almost empty again . i cant see with all the hassle of paperwork insurance test and go and test will bring them back . will see by the end of Feb 

Wait for the Samui sandbox numbers in a month or two...looks like it would be again 1000 visitors coming with 100 flights.

[portlandtree]

5 hours ago, RAZZELL said:

Between 2-300k in February?

 

They'll lucky to get 100k which is 1/40th of pre-covid levels.

 

 

RAZZ

555 555 555 ain’t no sane tourist coming vacation gets cut in half for twice the price

[Cake Monster]

2 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

I'd rather stay in a hotel room for 5 days and take 2 tests than risk going outside, mixing and running the gauntlet in he 2nd pcr test. 

Yes ! That second test is the real kicker.

Get a positive on that one, and spend the entire rest of your Vacation ( assuming 2 weeks ) in Quarantine.

After which you have to do another to fly back to many Countries.

 

 

[Shocked farang]

Test and go is still too much hassle for many people, like me. The sweet spot for tourists to come back to Thailand is:

1) Only fully vaccinated people are allowed. 

2) You take a PCR at least 72 hours before arrival. 

3) You get your normal Visa and are free to go anywhere you want in Thailand. 

That's it! Just stop asking for things that will make people's lives miserable. 

Nobody wants to travel to destinations that gives them hassles. 

[kennw]

3 hours ago, skorp13 said:

I feel the 5th day test and back in the hotel will put a lot of people off, were better off leaving it as it was!

Totally illogical, Arrive, test, one night in hotel, morning negative, out you go but must come back day 5 for second test, stay one more night. Smoke and mirrors to call it test and go.  

[Surasak]

All pigs fed and ready to fly.

[kennw]

9 minutes ago, Shocked farang said:

Test and go is still too much hassle for many people, like me. The sweet spot for tourists to come back to Thailand is:

1) Only fully vaccinated people are allowed. 

2) You take a PCR at least 72 hours before arrival. 

3) You get your normal Visa and are free to go anywhere you want in Thailand. 

That's it! Just stop asking for things that will make people's lives miserable. 

Nobody wants to travel to destinations that gives them hassles. 

Came in to Bangkok from Aus via Singapore. About 20 passengers on the Sing to Bk leg. Now in ASQ 7 days. My advice DONT travel internationally.

[wombat]

Where from?

[Wandering druid]

In 2 years they have made predictions time and again only to be a lot less. Here's my prediction remove the quarantine completely like many other destinations and watch the tourist numbers grow, untill then keep dreaming!

[mrbojangles]

2 hours ago, Misterwhisper said:

My hunch is that the only place where these 300,000 will appear in February is in TAT's doctored arrival statistics. 

There'll be an apology tomorrow stating one of TAT's children had been playing with the calculator again

[Bluedan]

surely these announcements are only to appease the suffering citizens of thailand and give them a little hope to cling to?  or there is simply a deluded view that tourists are so desperate to come here that they will risk a hospitel holiday plus all the other extra tests and expenses.

or maybe its both

Those who manage to navigate their way through these hoops then get to walk around in the tropics wearing face masks....sounds like the perfect vacation 

[paul1804]

2 hours ago, PEE TEE said:

Samui was busy over the new year but now the beaches are almost empty again . i cant see with all the hassle of paperwork insurance test and go and test will bring them back . will see by the end of Feb 

Quite a few people on Bophut each this afternoon!

[Mavideol]

usually they post this type of non sense BS on Monday's..... nothing but wishfull thinking

[Mavideol]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

Meanwhile the Thailand Tourism Business Association echoed the optimism but cautioned against the government backtracking again. 

nothing else to expect from TAT then,  but backtracking on their optimism  555

[tomyami]

Charging people for testing to come into your country as a tourist is over.

Will go cambo next month

[orang37]

Ah yes, the annual February surge of air-pollution devotees who come here to spawn ...

 

in your dreams, THA

[AjarnMartin]

Do THA get their promotional data training from TAT? ????????????

[Devlin]

I visited Thailand under test and Go in December. I was astounded at the bizarre and extreme over the top precautions the authorities are taking, especially with Omicrion, it's a cold we're talking about, not Ebola!  Space suits in pharmacies, hotels and airports is simply bizarre! Temperature checks at 7-11s and hotel foyers...really! In the UK, I  travel to work daily by bus, train, and visit the shops daily. Aside from the elderly, it's only the weird, odd, strange socially inept people that still wear masks.  If Thailand doesn't abandon the Covid Theatre soon, it is finished as a tourist destination for ever, whether that be High class elite tourism or mass popular tourism.  

[BTB1977]

That's not how you spell Bull$hit. 

[tomyami]

11 minutes ago, Devlin said:

I visited Thailand under test and Go in December. I was astounded at the bizarre and extreme over the top precautions the authorities are taking, especially with Omicrion, it's a cold we're talking about, not Ebola!  Space suits in pharmacies, hotels and airports is simply bizarre! Temperature checks at 7-11s and hotel foyers...really! In the UK, I  travel to work daily by bus, train, and visit the shops daily. Aside from the elderly, it's only the weird, odd, strange socially inept people that still wear masks.  If Thailand doesn't abandon the Covid Theatre soon, it is finished as a tourist destination for ever, whether that be High class elite tourism or mass popular tourism.  

I was there in pattaya in april it was a waste land a part from soi boakao caution at the airport was just theatre, thai's are scared of there shodows they are incapable of seeing covid for what it really is especailly omicrom and no leadership dosent help

 

[trainman34014]

Ah yes; another case of think of a number, double it and add 200,000 !

[connda]

Already masked?  Then you're perfectly outfitted for February in Chiang Mai and the North.  N95 masks?  Even better.  Don't understand farang?  You will when you get here.

[connda]

8 hours ago, ezzra said:

Indeed, the less hassles and cumbersome procedures one has to go trough just to come for a holiday, the more tourists will come, simple commonsense really...

It's not the Test And Go part of the procedures that keeps my friends in the US from making their annual visits to Thailand.
It's the Test and Incarcerate In An Expensive Covid Prison which has put the brakes on their travels. 
They'll show up again when No Test - Just Go returns, i.e., Old Normal - if it shows up.  As long as they are jamming swabs through tourists noses and throwing them in Covid prison if they don't like the results, nobody I know is gonna come under those conditions.  I wouldn't either.

[internationalism]

but majority of those T&G "tourists" are in fact coming for holidays to visit their families. Many of them might have already foreign passports or would travel on their foreign passport if they have 2 citizenship 

[sawadee1947]

I wonder where they take all these clairvoyants from?????

[connda]

4 hours ago, cheapcanuck said:

Sorry but that 300K is wishful thinking. Especially with the two separate night hotel stays. I predict half of that number, 150K.

And virtually all of those who come will be uttering, "We didn't know we'd be put in a Covid Prison if we tested positive," as they are enjoying their stay locked up in an expensive hospital. Especially those forcefully separated from their kids.
I don't see how anyone in the right minds comes here with The Sword Of PCR-Testing dangling over their heads by a horse-hair.  No less bringing their children too.  <head shake>

[Black Angus]

Looks like someone from TTA has joined the THA. The only people coming to Thailand will be Thais and Expats to their families,

     Anyone else thinking of going will have just been release from the Madhouse. Even when all these virus has been cleared it will take a very very long time to return to normal. We can be looking at two to five years at the very least if ever.

                    Sad to say the Old Thailand has gone.

[spidermike007]

They are wildly optimistic. If they had not added the 2nd nite of quarantine (5th day of the trip), they would have had a chance of 100,000 tourists. This act of extreme foolishness and ignorance, means 50,000 tourists a month, at best. They just cannot help shooting themselves in the foot. One step forward, three steps backward. This is what is known as Prayuth Progress.