To cancel the Thai Pass would remove the control that is being maintained on the country. While businesses and families are going broke and struggling to make payments and keeping food on the table... the 1% are getting richer. This is a control issue. Allow only the wealthy (though why anyone with the $2 million would bury it here in this country or have the need to is beyond stupid). Yet, it only goes to prove that common sense is non-existent.

2 hours ago, webfact said:

The Thailand Pass registration system will remain in place indefinitely

... aka an act of considerable self-harm for Thailand and its beleaguered tourism industry.

Thailand Pass is simply a new name for a visa with more stringent requirements, especially insurance. Obviously, this is impractical for the numbers of people they expect from India, Malaysia, and China, so the government is developing "travel bubbles" with those countries that I would suspect will exempt them Thailand Pass, while keeping it in place for people from Europe and the Americas. Wonder if Russia will get a travel bubble too?

The way I read this is that they'll keep the system even after the pandemic is over.
His position may soon change to the All sports, no tourism minister.

“The Thailand Pass system cannot be cancelled because it holds data and important information on tourists which can be used to trace them when they travel in Thailand,”

 

And there you have it.

10 minutes ago, SymS said:

The way I read this is that they'll keep the system even after the pandemic is over.
His position may soon change to the All sports, no tourism minister.

You meant the Minister of Wet Pants....right

Seems to be impossible to do a Thailand weekend trip on short notice any longer.

 

This will remove lots of travel from people in surrounding countries. 

 

The system Thailand has chosen to follow will be the end of many visitors and the damages has to some extent already happened. 

 

However, for one that fall others will rise, this may help other south east Asian countries a bigger take of short term / weekend type travelers from South Korea, Japan, Singapore etc.  Vietnam and Philippines are similar destinations which may benefit nonetheless. 

 

For me personally I will not be able to travel like before, short notice, a trip to a place I used to call home for many years.  

2 hours ago, NanaSomchai said:

Straight from the horse's mouth indeed.

 

We are not welcomed here anymore.

 

Get out you dirty farangs! Make room for our Chinese overlords, our Indian neighbors, our Japanese Hi-So's and our South Korean high spenders!

 

Don't forget the Saudis!????

10 minutes ago, bberg said:

Seems to be impossible to do a Thailand weekend trip on short notice any longer.

 

This will remove lots of travel from people in surrounding countries. 

 

The system Thailand has chosen to follow will be the end of many visitors and the damages has to some extent already happened. 

 

However, for one that fall others will rise, this may help other south east Asian countries a bigger take of short term / weekend type travelers from South Korea, Japan, Singapore etc.  Vietnam and Philippines are similar destinations which may benefit nonetheless. 

 

For me personally I will not be able to travel like before, short notice, a trip to a place I used to call home for many years.  

You're very much right about this. It has always been Thailand's appeal: the ease of travel in and out on a whim, finding a place or an event you suddenly wanted to see. Now, you're stuck on a conveyor belt and need to reserve your place on it some significant time in advance.

Tourists have been tracked for a long time before the Pandemic every hotel and other places where tourists stay have to report within 24 hours of arrival full details of tourists passports. This information is also part of the tourist visa application process which requires applicants to declare full details of places where they have confirmed acommodation during their stay in Thailand 

3 hours ago, internationalism said:

yes, it can be cancelled.

At some stage it will be, as it is (and always was) half-functional.

All this personal data on the governmental sites is unprotected, doesn't even have to be hacked. Employees selling to mafia for some $1 per piece, but in thousands. 

Since I have started registering for thai vax on multiple (but suppose to be credible) sites, I have stream of sms and emails with local spam.

Further increased after registering with thailand pass.

They had 2 major leaks, 28.01 (just before re-launching T&G) and a week ago. Each time they had to put a warning on their pop up page, but never admitted their responsibility  

 

Conspirathist

3 hours ago, Geoffggi said:

There must be more behind this subject than they are prepared to let on, surely they can extract the data on current tourists and delete the data on ones that have returned home what is so difficult in this??

It's not even that complicated. Just stop adding data for new tourists. It's as simple as that. The minister's explanation reeks of a man who has absolutely know idea what he is talking about. This is most unsettling.

Then I will predict that the tourism industry and the economy of Thailand wil suffer dramatically. Many will not visit Thailand under these conditions and visit countries like Vietnam instead.

3 hours ago, Geoffggi said:

There must be more behind this subject than they are prepared to let on, surely they can extract the data on current tourists and delete the data on ones that have returned home what is so difficult in this??

They don't know how to delete records, only insert.

Are they going to do away with landing cards on arrival as all they are doing is duplicating the data.

Date of arrival,lenghtof stay,passport number and expiry, contact address and of course Customs declaration. Looks like the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

3 hours ago, RandiRona said:

I would suggest a less cumbersome and more effective way...Leg Bracelet tracker!!

Please don't even go there.... it's the only idea they did drop.

3 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Yes and since July 2021 the uptake for tourism has been miserable at best

And will continue this year while other countries open-up without this nonsense.

3 hours ago, ezzra said:

you have created it you can stop it and lame excuses will onle make look dumb...

Dumber?

2 hours ago, Jotho said:

If a country needs a system to track tourists, then they are in no state to even recieve tourists... This freak show of a few in charge there is getting totally out of hand...  Having the need to monitor and control everybody 24/7 is Totalitarianism in its pure form and it is clear and obvious where persons like that stand...

Haven't the Septics had a system like this for decades, and the alleged greatest democracy on earth.

A TP to go holidays in thailand is akin to shutting down tourism only thai nationals and expats will tread, will airlines continue to fly with low occupancy to BKK seeing less choice on skyscanner and with more stops making longer journeys, he is an idiot

 

Cant see a lot of sponcers losing out

It is time to admit that the tourism industry has been sabotaged to the point where it will never recover, to any meaningful extent. Ever. Decades from now it will be limping along, and thousands of large hotels will either be closed, or they will attempt to convert them into low priced condos. 

 

And this applies to the expat community too. Tens of thousands have already left, and will not return, due to racism and xenophobia on the part of this utterly toxic administration. Expats bring alot to the table here, and many of spend alot of money here. Though some get by on meager pensions, alot of us spend 100,000 baht a month here, or more. 

 

Far too much timidity, far too little vision, far too little intelligence, competence, experience, non existent assistance to the vitally important tourism sector, no talk of the sacrifices needed to attract reasonably affluent tourists, and way too little, way too late. 

 

Thailand needs the world 20x more than the.world needs Thailand, and that concept is just starting to settle in. The long term effects of the lethargy, cowardice, lack of vision, the decision to choose submarine purchases over small business support, and the sheer hubris, arrogance and misguided fake pride are bringing down the nation, and contaminating its future. No wonder a million youths are discussing how to leave Thailand in their past, right now on FB. Where is their future? 

 

Tourism is not returning anytime soon. The average Thai seems to attribute this to Covid. And that is a significant factor. But, there were a dozen issues plaguing the industry long before covid reared it's ugly head, income was dropping dramatically, as the "number of arrivals" were up, pointing toward a dramatically lower quality of tourist, that Thailand was able to attract. The heavy hitters, and the wealthy tourists have found many other places that meet their need for a nice bottle of wine with dinner (that is not overpriced to a mind boggling degree), a sommelier at the hotel who knows their wine, reasonable luxury goods, so the wife can shop here while on vacation, law and order that addresses jet ski scammers, sewage being dumped into the ocean in resort areas, control over the taxi goons, and far better transportation options (high speed trains, helicopters available for transport, etc). And I am only getting started, as there were a dozen other things that needed to be addressed, and were not on any level, by anyone. 

1 hour ago, John Drake said:

Thailand Pass is simply a new name for a visa with more stringent requirements, especially insurance. Obviously, this is impractical for the numbers of people they expect from India, Malaysia, and China, so the government is developing "travel bubbles" with those countries that I would suspect will exempt them Thailand Pass

Correct, these nations will be exempt from Thailand Pass through different channels.

 

1 hour ago, John Drake said:

Wonder if Russia will get a travel bubble too?

I would say that is very likely, remember less than a week ago Russia and Thailand have signed treaties that allow them to facilitate extraditions of criminals from both sides of the fence.

 

Coupled with the Saudis expressing their interests in importing Thai workers into their taskforce and re-establishing democratic ties that have been severed for almost thirty years.

 

I'd say the writing is on the wall for the current Thai administration: Bye, bye farangs (read: whities, or Europeans or North Americans), we don't need you no more, our new partners are our ASEAN neighbors, the Chinese next door overlords, the Indians, the South Koreans, the Japanese, India, the Malays and now the Saudis.

 

Out with the old, in with the new.

 

Sadly for us, we are the old.

4 hours ago, RandiRona said:

I would suggest a less cumbersome and more effective way...Leg Bracelet tracker!!

How about implanting a chip, like my dog had to have to come here,

3 hours ago, NanaSomchai said:

Straight from the horse's mouth indeed.

 

We are not welcomed here anymore.

 

Get out you dirty farangs! Make room for our Chinese overlords, our Indian neighbors, our Japanese Hi-So's and our South Korean high spenders!

 

Oops!!!

You forgot the Saudi's!!! ????????

Get rid of that Thai Pass

big brother is watching you !!!  

great ----guaranteed to keep tourist out !!!!

Thailand Pass is a state registration system and it can not simply be cancelled.

 

Of course it can - the state created it and the state can end it.

 

“The Thailand Pass system cannot be cancelled because it holds data and important information on tourists which can be used to trace them when they travel in Thailand,” Mr Pipat said.

 

It doesn't hold any such information. It tells them where you'll be on your first and fifth nights in the country, and who your insurer is. None of that helps them trace anyone.

 

Since July 2021, anyone visiting Thailand has been required to register using the Thailand Pass system.

 

Thailand Pass went live on November 1, 2021.

 

Mr Pipat said that the registration system is no longer complicated

 

Exactly how many times did he use the system himself in order to come to this conclusion? Thought so.

If it's so effective at tracking and tracing, why after 2 successful COE's and 1 Test and Go did it take 3 days to approve my 4th application? I used the exact same passport, vaccination and insurance documents for each one.

4 hours ago, Geoffggi said:

There must be more behind this subject than they are prepared to let on, surely they can extract the data on current tourists and delete the data on ones that have returned home what is so difficult in this??

Read proposal to introduce Thailand Digital Gateway.