Thais don't want foreign tourists yet - poll says

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DragonMaster
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Re: Thais don't want foreign tourists yet - poll says

Post by DragonMaster »

Bkkguy, I think you missed the point I was trying to make. Many posters on here and other boards are speculating when they can book a trip to Thailand this year. The article published in the Post clearly indicates what is being discussed as far as promoting tourism into the kingdom. My point is, that they wish to promote a higher end tourist who is likely to stay in high end hotels and resorts rather than the crowd who comes annually to party. If I made that too hard to understand, my apologies.

We are talking near term here, not long term as you suggest. The current discussion covers a period through the coming high season and into 2021. Many people who had hoped to come this year may be excluded well past this next high season.
Jun

Re: Thais don't want foreign tourists yet - poll says

Post by Jun »

DragonMaster wrote: Sun Jun 21, 2020 9:57 pm they wish to promote a higher end tourist who is likely to stay in high end hotels and resorts
Lots of people wish they had a premium business. That's because it's often more profitable.
Mercedes have higher profit margins than Volkswagen, Apple have higher profit margins than Sony & so on.

When a country is stuffed full of cheap hotels and has a reputation for being seedy in parts, that country's not going to transform overnight into the Seychelles.
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bkkguy
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Re: Thais don't want foreign tourists yet - poll says

Post by bkkguy »

DragonMaster wrote: Sun Jun 21, 2020 9:57 pmWe are talking near term here, not long term as you suggest. The current discussion covers a period through the coming high season and into 2021. Many people who had hoped to come this year may be excluded well past this next high season.
sorry but I don't know that I did miss your point - in the sort term where are these "people" coming from ? Europe, the US, the UK? if you were running Thailand and you had zero community transmission would you want to let them in without quarantine? and in the short, medium and long term are travelers "for their annual fill of booze and boys" really the best you want to aim for?

and while I don't disagree with Jun's comments above about high end tourism, if you want to encourage unrestricted travel - short or long term - for these "people" then I think you have to acknowledge potential health risks
I can’t even be bothered to be apathetic these days!
Jun

Re: Thais don't want foreign tourists yet - poll says

Post by Jun »

Actually, if I were a very wealthy tourist, with say >$50 million in the bank, I'd be thinking of going to Cambodia & Angkor Wat right now, not Thailand.
After all, with a $3000 fee keeping the rest of us riff raff away, it's the time to see the place without hordes of tourists. If one has enough money stashed away, it might just make sense.

I'm not sure how many of those with access to private jets and so on think like this. Probably no more than a few hundred ?
Perhaps Thailand can attract a few of them, but it's not going to replace the revenue from the near 40 million volume tourists.
gerefan
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Re: Thais don't want foreign tourists yet - poll says

Post by gerefan »

DragonMaster wrote: Sun Jun 21, 2020 9:57 pm Bkkguy, My point is, that they wish to promote a higher end tourist who is likely to stay in high end hotels and resorts rather than the crowd who comes annually to party.

The current discussion covers a period through the coming high season and into 2021. Many people who had hoped to come this year may be excluded well past this next high season.
Another step towards destitution for the millions of workers who rely on the average tourist for their living. Just how many lost lives are they going to accept whilst welcoming the rich and famous only?

Incidentally I see that the general population are getting more and more annoyed and beginning to protest about continued closures while there are no further reported cases of Covid.
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Re: Thais don't want foreign tourists yet - poll says

Post by Gaybutton »

gerefan wrote: Tue Jun 23, 2020 12:21 am Incidentally I see that the general population are getting more and more annoyed and beginning to protest about continued closures while there are no further reported cases of Covid.
What worries me is even if and when these venues reopen, how many of these people will be rehired immediately? And what will happen to them if they lose their jobs again because even though they're open, there are not enough customers to support paying the entire staff or paying full salary?

My closest Thai friend works at a very well known store (I'm not going to mention the name). He had lost his job for nearly 2 months when they were forced to close. He got his job back when they finally reopened, but the entire staff was rehired with a 15% salary cut. That salary cut is still in effect and there is no word when they will be on full salary again, which wasn't all that much in the first place, or even if they will ever be on full salary again.

From what I understand, his situation is similar to many who have been rehired at various places.

If there are any programs or Franklin Roosevelt types of "New Deal" government programs to retrain and/or hire people who can't get their jobs back, I haven't seen or heard of any.
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Re: Thais don't want foreign tourists yet - poll says

Post by ceejay »

Gaybutton wrote: Tue Jun 23, 2020 6:56 am If there are any programs or Franklin Roosevelt types of "New Deal" government programs to retrain and/or hire people who can't get their jobs back, I haven't seen or heard of any.
There is nothing from the government that I know of. One of the temples in Chiang Mai, Wat Lok Molee, which was until recently serving 700 - 1000 free meals a day, now plans on switching to providing some sort of retraining plan of this nature.
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Re: Thais don't want foreign tourists yet - poll says

Post by Gaybutton »

According to a new poll, the majority of Thais still oppose allowing foreigners to come to Thailand.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Majority against opening country to foreigners: Poll

12 Jul 2020

A majority of people are still opposed to opening the country to foreigners who are not infected with Covid-19, reasoning that the global coronavirus situation is still very serious, according to a survey carried out by the National Institute of Development Administration, or Nida Poll.

The poll was conducted on July 6-8 on 1,251 people aged 18 and over of various levels of education and occupations throughout the country.

A proposed "medical and wellness" programme would open the country to foreigners who test negative for Covid-19 to receive medical treatment. They would be required to undergo a 14-day quarantine before being allowed to return to their home countries.

A majority - 55.32% - disagreed with the programme. Of them, 41.41% strongly disagreed with it, saying those admitted could be carriers and cause a second wave of the pandemic, while Thailand already has many infections imported by Thai returnees from abroad. Another 13.91% said they disagreed because the situation does not yet warrant the entry of foreigners. even if they have health certificates.

On the other side, 23.10% agreed, saying this would enhance the repuation of Thai medical facilities and spur the economy; and 21.58% moderately agreed, reasoning that measures taken by Thailand had proved effective against the Covid-19 spread.

A second proposed programme would allow those foreigners admitted for medical treatment to travel around Thailand after undergoing a 14-day quarantine. Asked about this second programme, 37.89% were totally against it and wanted the Covid-19 to be 100% eradicated first because they had no confidence in the 14-day quarantine, while 14.55% disagreed with it, but less strongly, for fear of a second wave of the pandemic since Covid-19 was mostly imported by foreigners.

On the other side, 24.14% strongly supported the programme, saying it would help rehabilitate tourism and stimulate the economy, while another 23.26% said they somewhat agreed with it for showing confidence in Thai medical services.

The rest, 0.16%, had no comment or were not interested.

Asked about the travel bubble programme that would allow foreigners from countries free of Covid-19 to visit the country, a majority - 54.36% - agreed with it . Of that number, 25.90% strongly agreed, saying it would help spur the economy and revitalise the airline industry, while another 28.46% were in moderate agreement for the same reason.

On the other side, 29.65% strongly opposed the programme, and a further 14.95% were in moderate disagreement for fear of a second wave of the pandemic.

The rest, 10.4%, had no comment or were not interested.

Asked whether they were confident the government would be able to contain the Covid-19 spread if foreigners were allowed into the country under these programmes, 59.63% were not confident while 39.33% were. The remaining 1.04% had no comment or were not interested.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... gners-poll
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Re: Thais don't want foreign tourists yet - poll says

Post by gerefan »

If the residents of Pattaya, most of which have been laid off, were asked I bet they would vote overwhelmingly for the return of foreigners.
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Re: Thais don't want foreign tourists yet - poll says

Post by Gaybutton »

gerefan wrote: Mon Jul 13, 2020 2:29 am I bet they would vote overwhelmingly for the return of foreigners.
Yes, they certainly would. Many still have to line up for the free food handouts. I don't know how they are managing to survive with virtually no money. There are many more necessity expenses besides food.

Another problem for them is now there are fewer and fewer places available where they had been able to go for free food. Several organizations that had been handing out free food have stopped doing it. Meanwhile, as far as I can tell neither the city nor national government is doing much of anything to help these people. They don't do any food handouts.

Not only that, but even if every one of them find employment today, they would still have to wait until at least the end of the month before they would be paid anything. Many employers require uniforms or other forms of dress, but the employees almost always are the ones who have to pay for it.
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