11 hours ago, TheScience said:

So, nothing has changed.

 

I said it before. Thailand is utterly confusing it's hopeful tourist base to the point that the only sane thing to do is just wait a year or two unless you have family or are a desperate sex-pest.

 

This tells me that the people controlling the covid money machine simply can't let go. The nation be damned.

Holy moly I've read this forum for years and you hit the nail on the head for the first time.  

A true April Fools joke this scheme is.    

4 hours ago, CG1 Blue said:

Perhaps you can explain the purpose of testing tourists on arrival in Thailand when the virus is already circulating across the country?

Arrival tests only have an impact when trying to contain a virus. That ship sailed long ago. Most sensible tourist reliant countries realised this already. 

The purpose is money, just another scam added on.

Out of touch with reality and incompetent at governing the country.

Meanwhile the tourist dependant Thais still hang on by the skin of their teeth (if they are lucky) economically.

10 hours ago, cheapcanuck said:

Will they ever learn?

After they win the next fixed election

Till then all these things will remain to keep protesters/students etc off the streets

10 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

I was pretty sick for 10 days.  Just before I cleared covid with a negative test I ended up with a sinus infection and now have an eye infection above the same impacted sinus.....worse than the nastiest flu I ever had, laid me up in bed for several days, had the breathing gotten worse then I would have taken myself to the hospital.  So you say I should not have tested and then just gone about my business and walked around infecting others, is that your plan.....

You are still not dead. And may be....just may be, all your new infections appeared because your immunity system is weakened due to the vaccins? Could it be? Just a different thought.

Get rid of the Thai Pass I mean how much money are they making off these people from testing when they arrive and demanding the hotel room they make a lot more money if they just got rid of the thia pass

13 hours ago, TheScience said:

So, nothing has changed.

 

I said it before. Thailand is utterly confusing it's hopeful tourist base to the point that the only sane thing to do is just wait a year or two unless you have family or are a desperate sex-pest.

 

This tells me that the people controlling the covid money machine simply can't let go. The nation be damned.

What tourist base? The vast majority who used to come have moved onto more decisive and welcoming nations, not run by cowards, willing to decimate their economy and their people over a virus. 

35 minutes ago, peter zwart said:

You are still not dead. And may be....just may be, all your new infections appeared because your immunity system is weakened due to the vaccins? Could it be? Just a different thought.

Another conspiracy view, get real now.....

Another issue I see tourism much like trade when the buyer / tourist moves on and settles in they often have little or no interest in returning to the bad proposition and sorting thru the issues again as everything is established and settled.

 

So, someone or family that pulls stakes to go to Vietnam and likes the ease of entrance, prices, beaches and has sorted their accomodation out has no incentive to return. It's a holiday and the path of least resistance rules the day.

 

Soon, Thailand will need a serious and compelling incentive for tourists to visit and once again the nation will only have appeal only to exactly the type of people Thailand has repeatedly stated they do not want.

 

Having said all that maybe tourism and world economy so damaged they know no one is coming so keep barriers up because why not?

 

I can absolutely tell you that the unemployed and trust funded drifters I have thus encountered this year are nothing Thailand needs.

 

Did we not read a few days ago hopes were resting on ...wait for it... MONGOLIA.

 

Finally, the currency remains too strong and to bring this back to central point >>>

 

The additional taxes and medical jeopardy of being sent to covid jail based on a test after disembarking AND all attendant costs that continue to remain - AND all the built in potential scams that remain make Thailand imo  total NO GO.

I saw first hand yesterday why they're keeping testing on arrival.

 

Pivayate Hospital has a massive testing facility set up. Ot looks temporary but the number of a/c units makes you realise this is a long term venture.

 

The hospital is perfectly placed to get business to get business as tourists go from Suvarnabhumi to downtown Bangkok 

 

I just checked the ownership and it's major stakeholder appears to be the Yoovidhya family. Yes, the family of Red Bull fame. 

 

Don't think I need to say any more!

13 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Should be the opposite.  Testprior to flying if vaccinated and boosted and then no testing on arrival.  It isthe locales who pass on the infections.  I returned from the US 30 days ago and 16 days in I was infected with Covid.  Just now cleared it,

Basically no change at all.

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Travelers are no longer required to provide a negative RT-PCR test within 72 hours of departure. However, the RT-PCR test requirement for the on-arrival date remains unchanged. Travelers must have a fully paid hotel reservation confirmation for the arrival date which must include an RT-PCR test, ATK test kit, and airport pick-up. Thailand Pass must still be completed and approved prior to arrival in Thailand.

Thailand pass... I think many will pass Thailand.

13 hours ago, ukrules said:

it will take for them to catch on.

They've already caught on.

Get them in then fleece them... 

7 hours ago, razino said:

Malaysia - Singapore border open today at midnight, no covid test, no need insurance, but must be fully vaccinated.... vehicle can cross too .... 

That's bc they'd never dream of asking neighbors what they ask of international tourists. Moreover, lots of export from Thailand to Malaysia. Finally, lots of Muslims heading for HY for a bit of weekend fun.

 

But do note the irony and double standard.

These guys are complete morons and have this PCR on arrival back to front, they surely cannot be that stupid but maybe this is about $$$$$$ for their hotel buddies. 

 

It should be negative PCR prior to boarding from a foreign nation and negative Rapid Antigen on arrival then you are free to go and enjoy your holiday. I can only see their ridiculous policy as a revenue collecting exercise and another deterrent for travellers not to come to Thailand.

12 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Thailand pass... I think many will pass Thailand.

So does this mean you have to have hotel booked that will give you a RT-PCR test and a test kit???

1 hour ago, peter zwart said:

You are still not dead. And may be....just may be, all your new infections appeared because your immunity system is weakened due to the vaccins? Could it be? Just a different thought.

and maybe not. Actually, just not.

51 minutes ago, TheFishman1 said:

Get rid of the Thai Pass I mean how much money are they making off these people from testing when they arrive and demanding the hotel room they make a lot more money if they just got rid of the thia pass

In Thailand profits have always been thin from the somtam seller to big C. It's the cheap labor and only this that makes Thailand appealing - aside from a few national parks.

 

Top university graduate out if school is paid 12k pm for dead end office job.

 

It's not the corporations although there must be incentive but rather individuals that personally benefit as largesse streams upward.

12 hours ago, falang07 said:

And you apparently have not died so the question is why even bother to test and all this <deleted> around it.

People have accidents and survive. Sure, they might be paralyzed, they might have brain damage, they might remain vegetables. But they survived! So why bother with all this drink and drive, seat belts, etc. Just let people drink, drive like idiots, smash themselves (and others!) up, instead of all this <deleted> around road safety!

4 minutes ago, kiwikeith said:

You must have been lucky to have not caught it from the Locales in the USA, vaccinated or not the vaccine does not prevent infection or spread, but now your over it, same as me I'm over Omicron did not feel worse than a mild cold, and I have natural immunity now.

Even Dr Fauci now admits natural immunity is there and has been present in many for some time even to the delta variant. 

He always did maintain that infection produced a level of immunity. That's common sense and he never claimed otherwise.

3 minutes ago, kiwikeith said:

So does this mean you have to have hotel booked that will give you a RT-PCR test and a test kit???

Yep.

It's good news for those of us who live here. Removes the need to waste time and money getting a pre-flight PCR and hey, test positive on arrival, I'll argue strongly that I can home isolate in my house.

 

Cost saving for a family of 4 is considerable but as many point out, why take the risk of an on arrival positive test? The bigger the group of visitors, the higher the risk that 1 will test positive and then goodbye holiday ...

 

There's only one solution that will encourage travel: require visitors over 18 to be vaccinated and then leave it at that. Unvaccinated for any reason, 5 days hotel quarantine on arrival. 

1 minute ago, BKKBike09 said:

It's good news for those of us who live here. Removes the need to waste time and money getting a pre-flight PCR and hey, test positive on arrival, I'll argue strongly that I can home isolate in my house.

 

Cost saving for a family of 4 is considerable but as many point out, why take the risk of an on arrival positive test? The bigger the group of visitors, the higher the risk that 1 will test positive and then goodbye holiday ...

 

There's only one solution that will encourage travel: require visitors over 18 to be vaccinated and then leave it at that. Unvaccinated for any reason, 5 days hotel quarantine on arrival. 

I would make an exception for pretty ladies with an hour glass figure to be exempt ????

Here's another solution that will never happen:

 

Thailand keeps its barriers to entrance. All.

 

But everything covered for free. All of it from visa to hospitalization, taxi, tests, insurance... all of it.

 

That would demonstrate it's dedication to public health, tourism and transparency.

 

That b300 can cover it 555.

 Let’s pretend there really are tens of thousands of new internal cases in Thailand every day. <deleted> actual difference would it make if an occasional tourist arrived with a bad cold.

None.

10 hours ago, sammieuk1 said:

The only thing that's changed is the day April fools ????

Yes, it must be April fools day thinking there might be a change in the right direction.

Covid is alive and well here. In Pattaya all Covid wards in all the hospitals are full. They now send you home to quarantine. 
The latest government announcement virtually changed anything at all. No incentive at all for tourists. Amazing how out of touch the powers that be are in relation to the rest of the world. Sad.

Thailand is awash with covid,yet the ones punished are the covidites joining them

14 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Should be the opposite.  Testprior to flying if vaccinated and boosted and then no testing on arrival.  It isthe locales who pass on the infections.  I returned from the US 30 days ago and 16 days in I was infected with Covid.  Just now cleared it,

Plus this new rule from Thailand does not change the rules applied by the airlines. Many of them (most?) still require a PCR test before boarding for Thailand. Bottom line : this new rule is a lot of pissing in the wind!