Updated measures for entering the Kingdom of Thailand announced, starting April 1st

[Maybole]

This is designed to put money in the pockets of a few large hotel owners.

[Neeranam]

1 hour ago, BayArea said:

UK has over 86k positive cases per day in the month of March and they are fully open without restrictions.  

Maybe that's the reason! 

[Klonko]

Post-arrival restrictions are not the only problem for tourism in Thailand. Even if all restrictions are lifted, tourist infrastructure could not be properly maintained in the past two years and the next tourists will not revisit Thailand after negative experiences. I spent a few days on Koh Samet and the otherwise nice resort was not up to date, understandable with the low occupancy rates.

[puck2]

11 hours ago, champers said:

Comparing Covid deaths in my home country (UK) to here, I would say that Thailand have done a far better job. They lag behind in vaccinations, especially boosters but so too did other countries in the region includung S Korea, Japan and Australia, all 1st World nations.

Thailand has announced a staged approach targetting changing the status of Covid from pandemic to endemic on 1st July.

Three more months and Thailand should be fully open for business. Fingers crossed that there are no serious bumps in the road.

Of course, Thailand has done a better job ..... in NOT testing and manipulating the numbers . Only one hint: the people in the remote moutains, At the moment it's very dangerous to go in their villages, because of the spreading virus. And there are a lot of them in many parts of Thailand. The cases are only "reported(?)" when seeing a doctor.

[Ty Hareways]

Good Luck with that Thailand????

What a horrible bunch of cretins that run it and so clearly in it for money for themselves and their cronies.

Take your plastic smile and stick it up your <deleted>, normal tourists will still not return with these restrictions.

[ThailandRyan]

And in another OP currently running one must really shake their heads if this is true and not an April fools joke

 

https://aseannow.com/topic/1255373-thailand-reports-record-high-of-28379-new-covid-19-cases-92-deaths-23843-recoveries/?do=findComment&comment=17281506

[chai333]

Can anyone confirm the Gazette re 1 April rules includes

a SHA+ hotel 1st night must be within 5 hrs of point of arrival?

b Must stay in province of that SHA+ hotel for 1st 5 days (till 2nd test)?

Looks like a new form of quarantine to me

[JimTripper]

I don't care about the testing, it's being locked in a hotel or shuttle bus where they can grab me and take me to the hospital that worries me. 

[Chiang Mai Will]

So, if I were a potential Thailand tourist with no knowledge of the previous restrictions, my travel agent would advise me to:

 

1. Get a Thailand Pass -- Where do I get this? Google it! Don't forget to fill it in before you arrive!
2. Book and pay for a hotel -- Near the airport, an accredited 'listed' hotel -- or any hotel? You will have to Google that to find out!
3. Arrange for an RT-PCR test -- Where? You will have to Google that to find out!
4. ATK test kit -- Do I need this at the airport or at the hotel? You will have to Google that to find out!
5. Airport Pick-up -- Arrange this with your hotel. They will rip you off but it is, after all, 'Amazing Thailand'!
6. Make sure you book your Covid health insurance with a Thai company -- How do I do that? You will have to Google that to find out!
7. But note that if you are tested positive but are asymptomatic then you will still have to go to hospital but your insurance won't cover the cost! What sort of insurance is that? Well, that's why they call it 'Amazing Thailand'!
8. You may be restricted where you can travel -- dependant on Government rules at the time of travel! So I can't book up any itinerary with any certainty? Well, the rules change almost daily but you may be lucky!

Nah, can't be bothered with all that!

 

[sawadee1947]

14 hours ago, garyk said:

Time to move on

Move on ........into the past....????

[DjSilver]

The stupid idiots that runs Thailand doesn't understand that it's better to skip all pcr tests all together. Retards

[jacko45k]

2 hours ago, BayArea said:

UK has over 86k positive cases per day in the month of March and they are fully open without restrictions.

Yes, one has to wonder why you support this failing policy!

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

i am planning to get to thailand via bangkok test and go.

i contacted the hotel and they told my i must send to them my pssport copy

and pay via a link they provide.

i am affraid this is not safe, as i do not want to reveal

my digits to them.

my question is:

is there a way i can pay the SHA++ hotel package without sharing my digits with them?

like paying via agoda.com?

[issan101]

20 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,

Totally logical, but logic logic does not count in this case, as it does not benefit the scammers  in Thailand. The cost of a  test before arrival will go to a foreign clinic, hospital etc.. and that does not benefit Thailand. Every procedure is designed to fleece the tourist and have them spend money in Thailand.  Logic be damned

[BusyB]

20 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,

That's what's so utterly perfidious about the whole thing: this xenophobic myth that it's the dirty foreigners bringing it in.

[chai333]

Re above post about rules for 1st 5 days 

Sent a request to clarify to      [email protected]

Guess what?       site not found!

Anyone have an email for the ThPass fools?

[Lingba]

still a cluster<deleted>

[Irate priest]

1 hour ago, jacko45k said:

Yes, one has to wonder why you support this failing policy!

I have had two elderly relatives catch COVID last week both fully jabbed both fine now. We are fully open living normal lives and nobody is slightly interested in daily covid numbers. It is no longer a topic of conversation at work, we have moved on.

[ukrules]

5 hours ago, moe666 said:

I hate to tell you this but people are coming. I see them walking around the old city in Chiang Mai every day. Not in big numbers but they are here. Your statement that no one will come is so ill informed and clueless. 

Two weeks ago in Bangkok I stayed at a SHA hotel and there was a steady stream of folks coming in after their test to get their rooms.

Compared to before this is pretty much nobody.

 

I don't know how many arrivals there would be on a typical March 2019 day but until we get back to those numbers they are failing.

 

 

[Mises]

21 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

  I returned from the US 30 days ago and 16 days in I was infected with Covid.  Just now cleared it,

You had it for 14 days. I felt ill on a Friday afternoon, tested positive Saturday morning, started a course of Ivermectin and I felt fine Sunday afternoon. Negative test Tuesday.  But I have not had the gene therapy so maybe that helped.  Ditto wife and daughter.

[AlfonsV]

The PCR test abroad before travel to LOSO is the minor issue. However, the awfully programmed Thai Pass procedure and the following impacts at arrival is the real obstacle - not only for tourists but for expats as well. Better 1 PCR test in old Europe and then let us in without any restriction.

 

Edited April 1, 2022 by AlfonsV
missing word

[Mises]

21 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

....  I returned from the US 30 days ago and 16 days in I was infected with Covid.  Just now cleared it,

You had it for 14 days.  I felt ill on a Friday afternoon, tested positive on Saturday morning and started a course of Ivermectin.  Felt fine Sunday afternoon and negative test on Tuesday.  Maybe the quick recovery is because I have not had the gene therapy or is it the "horse wormer"?  Ditto wife and daughter.

[Mr Derek]

19 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.....

Not impressed. Sound like you are one of those who have allergy complications. Me too. Whenever I get colds/flu it's a case of allergic rhinitis + allergic sinusitis + allergic bronchitis - makes the condition a hundred times worse than for 'normal' people. I have always just lived with it and never make any fuss.

And there was never any travel restrictions on account of that...

[tomacht8]

Tourist Arrivales in Thailand
230,497 in Dec 2021
133,903 in Jan 2022
152,954 in Feb 2022

The March figures for 2022 have not yet been published. I suspect that these have fallen significantly again due to the Russian war.

If Thailand continues in 2022 with these fearful mini-steps towards normalization in the tourism sector, they will only have 2-3 million tourist arrivals in 2022.

 

The complicated bureaucratic procedure and the financial risk completely stifles the desire to travel. And this applies not only to holiday tourism but also to business trips and medical tourism.

 

Many countries only require proof of vaccination for entry, which is checked by the airline at the check-in counter or a pre-flight C19 test for unvaccinated people.

 

And that was it.

 

Thailand loses billions in tourism revenue to its complicated system, which provides almost no benefit in terms of mitigating the C19 spread.

Edited April 1, 2022 by tomacht8

[ThailandRyan]

33 minutes ago, Mises said:

You had it for 14 days. I felt ill on a Friday afternoon, tested positive Saturday morning, started a course of Ivermectin and I felt fine Sunday afternoon. Negative test Tuesday.  But I have not had the gene therapy so maybe that helped.  Ditto wife and daughter.

Ivermectin has been dismissed as a prophylaxis  new articles and studies dismiss its use. But good on you to believe it worked, must be the placebo effect.

 

https://finance.yahoo.com/amphtml/news/study-finds-ivermectin-horse-drug-071103424.html#aoh=16488019830880&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From %1%24s

Edited April 1, 2022 by ThailandRyan

[jacko45k]

51 minutes ago, Irate priest said:

I have had two elderly relatives catch COVID last week both fully jabbed both fine now. We are fully open living normal lives and nobody is slightly interested in daily covid numbers. It is no longer a topic of conversation at work, we have moved on.

Ignorance is bliss.... it will take time but I expect Thailand to get there.  It is still an item of concern here.

[Inala]

22 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.

"....or are a desperate sex-pest" I think I fit that bill! ???? ???? 

[Mickmouse1]

15 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 .... 

Also no toll charges ,but for Malaysians only, fair enough.

 

[xtrnuno41]

Well just a good idea for Thailand, only money.

You do the test, cost you pcr test, is more expensive and certified stay in special hotel. 

Then you are found positive, you go to hospital and they claim everything on your assurance (which you still need) and your holiday is gone. Tricky way of making money. So maybe still do the pcr test at home, can save you a lot of nasty trouble far away from home. However if you are sitting next to someone with covid in the plane, you still have problems.

If you find just one person positive on a plane, you can put all passengers in quarantaine.

However never red they did so.

 

In the meantime covid is spreading in Thailand by Thai people. No numbers today in AN, but still 25000-ish?

Which is not much considering country size and people.

"My" country did 75000 some days ago and is going down now, but still 25000.

And we are way smaller in country size with just 17 million people.

7.94 million cases were registert, so or half population got it, or some even got it twice or three times or whatever. 

Knock on wood, i didnt get it, but im vaccinated, however refusing a third one.

In Israel they are already on jab nr 4. 

We had 22000 people dying on covid in 2 years, not much considering in 2019 we had 10000 people dying on flu in some WEEKS. They never made a point of that. just the way it was. 

 

[Mickmouse1]

Brunei was due to open land borders with Malaysia early this morning after 2 years of closure but sudden change of heart, postponed the opening by another 14 days.. People were gearing up to cross into the neighbouring cities to shop and booze etc but hopes dashed. Welcome to  S.E.Asia