Traveling to Thailand - Mission Impossible

Anything and everything about Thailand
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Gaybutton
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Re: Traveling to Thailand - Mission Impossible

Post by Gaybutton »

Regarding the last two posts above, we shall see.

I'm wondering how many foreigners will even want to travel to Thailand any time soon. As I've said, the past several high seasons were hardly distinguishable from the low seasons. I don't know what makes anyone think once Thailand opens the borders, now it will be any different. I believe if anything, there will be significantly fewer international tourists going to Thailand.

Again, I hope I'm wrong, but as I said, we shall see.
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Re: Traveling to Thailand - Mission Impossible

Post by gerefan »

Gaybutton wrote: Sat Aug 22, 2020 10:51 am I'm wondering how many foreigners will even want to travel to Thailand any time soon.
Agreed there may not be as many general tourists ...they have probably found other places to go.

Gays on the other hand are more limited in choice. In fact there is (or was) nowhere to compare it with.
gera

Re: Traveling to Thailand - Mission Impossible

Post by gera »

gerefan wrote: Sat Aug 22, 2020 3:56 am
gera wrote: Fri Aug 21, 2020 11:06 pm the idea of bringing long term tourists is viable and will be implemented.
Then they need to announce that very soon as it will take months for long term tourists to jump through all the hoops before high season starts.

I usually have 90 days in high season but am not buying any tickets or spending any money until the requirements are clearly laid down.
They already announced it. As to how many will be willing travel , look what is going on with elite card. After announcement, about 2500 new members already signed up (please, note I proved to be correct about this issue and you proved to be wrong: all elite card members from all countries are welcome). I am pretty sure there will be enough people willing to fill limited number of slots available for pilot Phuket project and if it proves to be safe , other locations including Pattaya will open up and the sky (more precisely, quarantine capacity) will be limit.
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Re: Traveling to Thailand - Mission Impossible

Post by bkkguy »

gera wrote: Sun Aug 23, 2020 12:16 amThey already announced it.
if you are talking about the “Phuket Model” then perhaps They and announced might need some clarification

as noted by the Pattaya Mail in the thread Here's a way you might be able to go to Thailand posted - but would you want to do this? posted by GB, but there have been similar articles in the Bangkok Post:
The proposal is initially approved in principle but The Pattaya News notes that the plan could be revised or changed many times before any final release or final approval. The next steps will likely see discussions with the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand and the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration to determine who will be able to return and how.
gera wrote: Sun Aug 23, 2020 12:16 amAs to how many will be willing travel , look what is going on with elite card.
ignoring the fact that the entry requirements for elite card members are covered by different entry requirement announcements and conditions, the most common complaint I have seen reported so far by elite card members is that the Thai embassies in many countries don't seem to be that familiar with the latest official announcements from the CAA and the CCSA, let alone being that helpful in helping applicants complete the pre-travel requirements

but obviously the “Phuket Model” details and various implementation problems may be sorted out and perhaps even extended to other areas to allow gerefan and his fellow hopefuls to be in Thailand, and perhaps even Pattaya, for the "high season" - whatever that means these days!

hope springs eternal as they say!
I can’t even be bothered to be apathetic these days!
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Re: Traveling to Thailand - Mission Impossible

Post by Gaybutton »

I see no information about whether any more flights out from Thailand can include foreigners stranded in Thailand who are trying to go home.
______________________________

CCSA names groups that can return

28 Aug 2020

Long-term foreign residents and foreigners with permanent residences in Thailand stranded overseas will receive priority when seeking to return to Thailand, under strict disease control measures, the head of a panel under the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) said.

Deputy army chief Natthapon Nakpanich, chairman of the CCSA's panel on the easing of Covid-19 restrictions, said the panel will recommend the CCSA allow these two groups of foreigners back into Thailand as they have high purchasing power.

Upon arrival, they will still be subject to a 14-day-quarantine, Gen Natthapon said, adding that about 100 of them are ready to return to Thailand and willing to follow the disease control measures.

However, the CCSA will have to be careful in allowing those returning from countries with high infections back into the country, Gen Natthapon said.

Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul on Thursday assured the screening system for returnees is efficient.

They will undergo medical examination before boarding a flight and will be re-checked upon arrival before being placed in state quarantine facilities, the minister said.

However, he has raised concern about migrant workers from neighbouring countries who have entered Thailand illegally without going through disease control procedures.

The public has been urged to keep an eye out and alert authorities about illegal migrants, Mr Anutin said.

He added that the ministry has been working with other agencies in terms of deploying medical personnel and providing medical supplies, protective gear and treatments to deal with any potential second wave of local transmissions.

According to the Facebook account of the Thai embassy in Washington, the embassy and three consulates in the US have been given the green light by the government to send another 2,150 Thais stranded in the US in 17 separate flights back to Thailand next month.

Chansin Treenuchagron, acting president of Thai Airways International Plc, said the company will arrange special chartered flights which will fly directly from Denmark, Germany, the UK, South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong to Phuket as part of efforts to support the government's policy to boost domestic tourism after Covid-19 eases.

Flights are expected to begin in November, Mr Chansin said, adding that the company will operate two flights monthly on each route and will increase flights if demands increase.

Thailand and Singapore have discussed the possibility of reopening travel for businesses as the two work towards a green lane travel procedure that's safe for all.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... can-return
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Re: Traveling to Thailand - Mission Impossible

Post by Gaybutton »

Folks, obviously the situation is a bad one. Now that Thailand has been virtually free of Covid-19 for nearly 4 months, nobody wants a second outbreak and lockdowns all over again. But the tourism industry is in real trouble and so are the millions of Thais out of work.

Part of the article says: "people could find other jobs until tourists return" - as if that is easy for them to do. It is certainly easy to say that when you're not the one who needs to find a job. Not only that, but if a new job requires relocating and finding a place to live - even if it is only for trying to find a job - along with buying your own uniforms, which most uniform jobs in Thailand require, how is anyone supposed to do that if they have no money? My guess is a great many people who returned home don't have enough money to even look for a job locally, much less travel to find a job. And when Thais do manage to find a job, they usually are not paid until they have worked a full month.

Also, this recommendation that the borders continue to be closed for 6 more months makes little sense to me. How can anyone know what the virus situation will be 6 months from now or any period of time? They can guess to their heart's content, but the only way to know what the virus situation will be 6 months from now is to wait 6 months and see. If there has been no significant improvement, what then? Close up for another six months?

I see it as a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. The only way I can see that sufficient tourist numbers would return would be for Thailand to open the borders normally. But how can they do that? Simply pretend the virus problem does not exist?

How many potential tourists would want to come only to face the 14-day quarantine or the possibility of finding themselves stranded in Thailand or their expensive holiday forced to be cut short if another outbreak occurs while they are in Thailand and everything, including flights out, gets locked again. None of that even takes into consideration what international travelers may face upon return home. Also none of that guarantees how many Thais would manage to find tourism related employment. If Thailand were to open the borders tomorrow, would you be on the next plane?

I doubt major tourism businesses currently closed are going to reopen unless tourist numbers return and I doubt tourist numbers are going to return if major tourism businesses are closed. Where does that leave everything?

On the other hand, if they continue keeping the borders closed, the problems involved with that are obvious.

The push for domestic tourism is working, but only to a minor extent - certainly nowhere near enough to put a dent in these problems, let alone solving them. So far it is much more of a failure than a success.

I have no idea how to solve any of this and I'm glad none of the decisions rest with me. I wish I could see a win-win situation, but all I see is a lose-lose situation no matter what they do.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tourism debate escalates behind closed doors in Thailand as tourism officials and leading doctors debate for and against allowing in tourists

By Adam Judd

28 August 2020

Even as plans begin to come in on the so-called Phuket model of tourism and airlines cautiously begin to announce charter flights for long-stay foreign tourists later this year the debate over bringing back foreign tourists is heating up behind closed doors according to multiple sources in the Thai Government.

Thailand has reached almost one hundred days without a confirmed locally spread case of the Covid-19 Coronavirus, leaving itself in a tough position compared to countries who chose the suppression method vs. a total elimination policy.

However, as Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha said this week after touring Rayong and Chonburi and seeing for himself the impact the closed borders were having on the economy in places like Pattaya, keeping the borders shut until the world has a vaccine for another six months or more simply isn’t feasible.

The Tourism Council of Thailand Chief Chairat Trairattanajarasporn agrees, stating that Thailand’s world famous tourist industry that welcomed a record breaking forty million foreign tourists last year may face total collapse if foreign tourists are not allowed back in during the fourth quarter. He also said roughly four million people were already completely unemployed and that number would escalate to roughly ten million directly unemployed if this continues, the majority being informal workers. As many as fourteen million people could face loss of their jobs, businesses and careers he warned in the long run.

However, some prominent Thai doctors vehemently disagree and state that the country should learn to be self sufficient and stay closed for at least six months until the situation is more relaxed around the world. These doctors are also advisors with the Ministry of Public Health and the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration. They claim that the Thai Government has the resources to prop up the hospitality industry and tourism industry if they chose to do so and that people could find other jobs until tourists return.

Dr. Thira Woratanarat, a prominent doctor at Chulalongkorn University, has been no stranger to the media and his daily warnings that any plan designed to bring back tourists right now puts the entire country at risk of draconian lockdowns and shutdowns that could then happen during the New Year holiday period, devastating the entire country instead of one sector. He said the tourism situation, although difficult, would be nowhere as difficult as another three to four month country wide lockdown like in April.

Dr. Thira also stated that the Thai Government must completely shut down the Myanmar border on the North and take drastic action with the growing Covid19 issue there in the Rakhine area. Dr. Thira strongly supports another six month border closure and no foreign tourism program until the situation improves.

Behind closed doors, although many of the current plans are approved in principle, the debate continues as the fourth quarter of the year approaches quickly. Generally, the November, December and January period of the year is the busiest for the tourism industry welcoming millions of tourists and sustaining business for an entire year.

If a solution is not found, warn business and tourism leaders, the tourist industry in places like Phuket, Samui and Pattaya may never recover.

https://thepattayanews.com/2020/08/28/t ... -tourists/
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Re: Traveling to Thailand - Mission Impossible

Post by firecat69 »

Is this the same Gaybutton who posted such a rosy picture of Pattaya not so long ago?

"Pattaya's farang tourist industry consists of Beach Road, Second Road, parts of Third Road, parts of Naklua, Jomtien, and Dongtan beach. That's it. Those are the only areas of Pattaya most gay and straight farang tourists ever see. There is much more to Pattaya than that and everything else, and I mean everything else, is open and doing quite well. Thais are their customer base, not farang tourists."
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Re: Traveling to Thailand - Mission Impossible

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firecat69 wrote: Fri Aug 28, 2020 7:34 pm Is this the same Gaybutton who posted such a rosy picture of Pattaya not so long ago?
Are you actually still going to try to argue with me about it?

I stand by exactly what I've already said. The tourist-dependent businesses are in deep trouble. The rest of Pattaya is doing just fine.

Get yourself an elite card, come here, see for yourself, and prove me wrong. Until you do, I don't care much whether you believe me or not. I'm here. You're not. As far as I'm concerned, argument over.
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Re: Traveling to Thailand - Mission Impossible

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I suggest reading Barry Kenyon's September 2 article for the latest update on traveling to Thailand.

https://www.gaybuttonthai.com/viewtopic ... 62#p102462
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Re: Traveling to Thailand - Mission Impossible

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Resumption of tourism between China and Thailand 'not happening any time soon'

Sep 7, 2020

A senior official of the Chinese embassy in Bangkok has ruled out early reopening of tourism between China and Thailand, as the two countries are not ready to open the sector.

China has been recently reopening for domestic tourism, but has not yet welcomed foreign tourists, or urged Chinese people to travel abroad, said Yang Xin, minister counsellor and deputy chief of mission at the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China to Thailand.

Even Chinese tourists want to visit Thailand, but Thailand is unlikely to open for foreign tourists, he said in an exclusive interview to Nation Multimedia Group.

The Thai government has not yet reopened the tourism sector, as it was still worried about potential import of new Covid-19 cases. The government only plans to allow first 200 long-stay tourists to enter the country next month. About 10 million Chinese tourists visited Thailand annually in recent years out of some 40 million every year.

Yang said that China was currently reopening travel for business persons who could apply for fast lane clearance when they enter China for doing business. Foreign business persons are not subject to 14-day quarantine but they can visit only limited places essential for their business activities.

He said the Chinese government has managed to control the Covid-19 outbreak and now schools nationwide have been reopened after they were closed for eight months.

China this year has not set a target for economic growth but would focus on job creation and people's living standards, he said.

The government has implemented many stimulus packages to support people and businesses especially small and medium-sized enterprises, said Yang.

Regarding Hong Kong, Yang said that the special administrative region had returned to stability following the enforcing of the security law. He reiterated that China wants to maintain the one country, two systems principle, but foreign interference was trying to create a two-country system.

As for the Thai government’s decision to defer the purchase of two more China-made submarines, Yang said the ties between the two countries has deepened and widened to many areas. He added that officials from both sides are working closely together on the submarine deal and will continue doing so.

https://www.nationthailand.com/business/30394111
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