International arrivals in Thailand increase after restriction easing

[PJ71]

1 hour ago, PETERTHEEATER said:

Er....those are escapees not arrivals......????

They were tourists that had been on holiday.

[PJ71]

50 minutes ago, San Fran Dan said:

March23 it was empty at 11:30 

March 28th it was busy at 1830

[hotchilli]

6 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

Was it because of the not needed PCR test at departure or is it because people are coming for coming Songkran holidays??? I guess it is the last one...

The last one is also a non-event.

[AMFWolfie]

6 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

Was it because of the not needed PCR test at departure or is it because people are coming for coming Songkran holidays??? I guess it is the last one...

You are 100% right, If they checked their figures pre-Covid the trend for this time of year would be the same sort of percentage. The lack of PCR test before flying to Thailand has nothing to do with it. Who in their right mind would come to Thailand knowing full well they will get a PCR test on arrival and all that entails without first checking you are clear before risking coming here!! Just poor news for news sake.

[PJ71]

58 minutes ago, fransb said:

We landed at Suvarnabhumi last night at 7 PM. It was not busy at all. Maybe a few hundred people arriving on 3-4 flights and yet the organization of getting everyone to their respective hotels was a mess. There are only 5 desks for hundreds of SHA+ hotels. This is the biggest bottleneck. I don’t want to imagine it getting any busier with this system. You can’t have thousands of tourists standing around waiting in the already too small arrivals area.

There was 1000 of tourists standing around at the immigration booths before Covid.....

[RichardColeman]

26 minutes ago, kiwikeith said:

Funny how the people that are dying in the U.K. are of average age 82.5 yrs of age and triple dosed 

Called natural old age death in my book

[terryofcrete]

4 hours ago, Sheryl said:

think what happened is simply that, knowing that pre-departure test would cease to be needed from 1 April, many people who would otherwise have travelled in late March delayed their trips.

Any sane person would get tested before leaving home because it might help you not fall into the trap of being scammed for a quarantine after arrival if testing positive ... richer Thais are not eejits... this is money from heaven ... must be a quota of positive tests per day to keep the money tree in bloom ... 

[Bim Smith]

I left on Friday and departures was chaos. Not because the of the volume of people but only 4 desks open. Immigration and security was a joke and the duty free was a building site with few shops open and burger king the only food outlet open. The baggage system failed leaving us sitting on the aircraft for three hours before we took off three hours late at 3am. The airport is far from ready to accept mass tourism again any time soon. Normal average daily arrivals 200 thousand a day and they are celebrating 11 thousand arrivals? This government have dug a hole so big I doubt they can find anyway out soon. They have wrecked the country.... What a joke.

[welshguy]

I went to the canary Islands for 4 weeks, in Jan/Feb...booked again to go next week for a fortnight,

 

Simple to do, no , just need to get a Spain "health pass", (done in minutes on line) no tests etc , then you are free to enter and spend your money, nice to be welcomed too!

 

I "assume" hundreds of thousands of other "potential" tourists, are doing the same as me...ie. NOT going to Thailand!

 

Ive been going to Thailand for 40 years now, got the use of a house over there, got friends and family there etc etc. I love the place,  However as time goes by (I was last there in Jan/Feb 2020), Im "missing" it less and less, also as time goes by, it reminds me of all the scams etc, that have been going on for years,

 

Now with all this Thai pass,  tests, quarantine hotels blah blah blah..it honestly makes me miss the place less and less. When this covid started, I thought, wow...I may never be able to get to Thailand again"! (or at least for a long time!) and I was honestly devastated..however, with the passing of time, other countries actually "WANTING" tourists to travel to their country, and spend their money there...then with Thailand doing the opposite?  I still "sometimes" think I may never go there again...Thing is ? Now? Im not that bothered  if I never go back..

 

Saying that? I am still maybe 50-50 I may go back October time this year...IF and thats a huge IF! the ridiculous restrictions are dropped!

 

As for the airport being busy now? I dont believe it!  It could have been busy (ish!) for a few days, as per many of the reasons other posters have suggested. Will it stay busy..? No way!

Edited April 4, 2022 by welshguy

[Trip Hop]

4 hours ago, 86Tiger said:

Ding, ding ding.  We have a winner.

 

Any thinking person knowing there is soon to be a change in requirements will postpone couple or even few weeks to arrive under the new "scheme."  It is only prudent.

I disagree somewhat? Most people book their flights way in advance, to take advantage of cheaper prices, especially with the limited service offered by airlines at present? Most will also resist paying for a fully flexible ticket, which means it will cost more to change the ticket than the pre-flight PCR itself?

 

TBH, whilst there is still any form of testing on arrival, I’ll still be taking a pre-flight PCR. 

[ukrules]

4 hours ago, KanchanaburiGuy said:

Aren't people in positions of responsibility supposed to be smarter than that?

You're forgetting where you are.

[SmartyMarty]

12,000 a day paying through the nose for useless and unnecessary covid insurance. What a scam!

[Burma Bill]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

the number of inbound flights has also increased.

I am sure there would be many more (if fully vaccinated) if one could get a visa on arrival instead of all the pre-flight hassle of a "Thailand Pass" and no test on arrival!!!

[ukrules]

26 minutes ago, Trip Hop said:

TBH, whilst there is still any form of testing on arrival, I’ll still be taking a pre-flight PCR.

If you test positive on arrival your own pre-flight PCR will be worth nothing, they're not going to even look at it before they ship you off to the 'treatment center'.

Edited April 4, 2022 by ukrules

[alyx]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

with many airport officials and hotel representatives greeting them for RT-PCR tests upon arrival.

Poorly phrased I guess

[Terry2905]

My Father passed away last night in the UK. I desperately wanted to go and see him before he died, but my funds are limited, and the extra costs of quarantine and PCR test on arrival, and the very high risk of testing positive on arrival, with the subsequent mandatory extra 10 days minimum quarantine in expensive hotel/hospital made that impossible. 

 

I didn't get the chance to see my Father before he died, solely because of the mandatory quarantine. 

 

I am beside myself with grief.

 

And Prayut is to blame!

 

 

[zzaa09]

7 hours ago, Willy Wombat said:

So a lot of people decided to go to Thailand all of a sudden just because they didn't need a pcr before leaving ?

 

I call fubar.

False manipulation and promotion of said numbers by the usual authorities and the ever-sensationalizing news sources. 

We should recognize their rather predictable patterns by now. 

[ukrules]

41 minutes ago, Terry2905 said:

My Father passed away last night in the UK. I desperately wanted to go and see him before he died, but my funds are limited, and the extra costs of quarantine and PCR test on arrival, and the very high risk of testing positive on arrival, with the subsequent mandatory extra 10 days minimum quarantine in expensive hotel/hospital made that impossible. 

 

I didn't get the chance to see my Father before he died, solely because of the mandatory quarantine. 

 

I am beside myself with grief.

 

And Prayut is to blame!

 

 

Those requirements were in place for a short while and were all removed some time ago.

[LukKrueng]

6 hours ago, Sheryl said:

To really have a sustained rise in numbers they will need to drop T&G/Thailand Pass altogether.

Dropping the quarantine for unvaxed would also help. We all know by now that vaxed and unvaxed people can get infected and infect others. The only argument now is the length of infecting period. Many countries around the world have realized it and pose no restrictions on healthy people, vaccinated it not

[zzaa09]

57 minutes ago, SmartyMarty said:

12,000 a day paying through the nose for useless and unnecessary covid insurance. What a scam!

By most instances, life is a scam.

Whattaya gonna do.....

[alphonse]

2 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Last week the Airport was the busiest I’ve seen it in two years....  at departures (on the 5 occasions I’ve exited)....  So.. does that mean every one is suddenly leaving ????

 

Of course - its a normal increase in activity as Covid restrictions ease world wide, as the fear of covid drops and as company travel increases, as tourism increases - general activity. 

 

 

The pre-flight PCR thing... that may have made some delay their flight by a week or so and re-book, otherwise I do not see how the removal of a pre-flight PCR test has or will make any difference. 

 

Once the very thin veneer of these announcements is scratched the only real improvement in ’tourist’ arrivals will only be noticed once any Thailand Pass requirements are totally abolished. 

 

 

Precisely, getting a pre-flight test is not difficult in the UK (although costly @ £100+) and is hardly the deterrent that is presented by the remaining demands for Thai Pass.

[ChC1]

32 minutes ago, alphonse said:

Precisely, getting a pre-flight test is not difficult in the UK (although costly @ £100+) and is hardly the deterrent that is presented by the remaining demands for Thai Pass.

Pre-flight test is £20 for anti-gen and £50 for PCR. Slightly more expensive for same day result but less than £80 can be found. You can check the price from Express Test by Cignpost, they are based in Heathrow airport terminal so supposed to be expensive ones. Their price is very reasonable, and there are discount code available online to further reduce the cost.

[Tubulat]

9 hours ago, Willy Wombat said:

So a lot of people decided to go to Thailand all of a sudden just because they didn't need a pcr before leaving ?

 

I call fubar.

What do you expect, they believe in their own fairy tales.

[Tubulat]

6 hours ago, PJ71 said:

When i left 28th March departure hall was the busiest i'd seen it for 2 years and i travel every month.

I'm not surprised, everybody wants to leave the LOS

[garyk]

1 hour ago, zzaa09 said:

By most instances, life is a scam.

Whattaya gonna do.....

Only if you let it scam you!

[PJ71]

12 minutes ago, Tubulat said:

I'm not surprised, everybody wants to leave the LOS

Do tourists not normally leave where they've been for holiday?

[kuzmabruk]

9 hours ago, khunjeff said:

"If the tests are positive they will have to be treated."

 

This sounds kind of like a threat. Isn't normal medical practice to treat people who have symptoms, rather than everyone with a positive test result?

I dun thinking that removing the pre-flight test allows for the capture and containment of many positive on arrival soles, at fair and only slightly above market price forced accommodations.  With the pre-flight test in place these soles would have had to remain at home and would have been unable to share a portion of their bank savings with our local hotel/taxi/hospital operators. 

[superal]

4 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Last week the Airport was the busiest I’ve seen it in two years....  at departures (on the 5 occasions I’ve exited)....  So.. does that mean every one is suddenly leaving ????

 

Of course - its a normal increase in activity as Covid restrictions ease world wide, as the fear of covid drops and as company travel increases, as tourism increases - general activity. 

 

 

The pre-flight PCR thing... that may have made some delay their flight by a week or so and re-book, otherwise I do not see how the removal of a pre-flight PCR test has or will make any difference. 

 

Once the very thin veneer of these announcements is scratched the only real improvement in ’tourist’ arrivals will only be noticed once any Thailand Pass requirements are totally abolished. 

 

 

Cancellation of pre flight pcr tests can make quite a savings for a family I would think but if testing positive in Bangkok and sent to hospital , that could be a financial nightmare . Indeed what would happen if the bill could not be paid ? Cannot rely on the insurance companies who we all know are all too happy to assist .

[stigar]

9 hours ago, Danderman123 said:

When I arrived on April 1, the airport was very quiet.

i arriveed 25tj march

 

wery quiet 

[Marc666]

At the moment just waiting for my PCR test result in the quarantine hotel.Just finished eating my Grab delivered pork with basil,so just a few observations on my trip.

 

Flight Sunday 12 30 Thai Airways from Heathrow,terminal 2.Terminal very busy,check-in line for Thai Airways snaked around,2 hours to check-in.Quick look at Thai Pass printout,no checking of onward travel.

 

Full plane,mixture of many thai people.tourists etc.

 

At Bangkokk first need to go through Thai Pass desks for checking.Then onto passport control.Both reasonably quick.Passport control quite thorough in checking Thai Pass and hotel details,didn't look at insurance at all.

 

After baggage collected hit the real bottleneck of transport to the hotel.After finding the name of your hotel amongst the maybe 200 printouts stuck on boards you are sent to a zone.The lady in charge of our zone was doing her best but the system was on the point of collapse.She was in charge of numerous hotels,who when their transport arrived would notify her my phone ! Transport either 8 seaters or saloon cars,totally inadequate to handle even the small influx of flights at 6 am on a Monday morning.

 

Our hotel close to airport,but the round trip to the hospital for the test,then drop off to the hotel and back to the airport must take more than one hour.

 

So this last step a bit of a mood killer and in my opinion this part of the Thai Pass is totally impossible to sustain if numbers only increase a little.

 

PS Literally finished the last sentence and reception just called to say both me and my partner's tests are negative.Yipee,time to relax a bit more and make a trip to 7-11 for some Winstons.