[Prominent doctor urges postponement of Thailand’s reopening to foreign tourists in July]

Very predictable, but totally laughable. It's very easy for this mug in a labcoat to tell the country to postpone opening up, when he is still receiving a salary and his business doesn't rely on tourism.

 

I suppose at this point though, as others have pointed out, with the ridiculously strict measures in place, that the foreigners who could travel here would opt out in favour of somewhere less petrified of tourists.

 

 

 

[Thailand targets 3 million foreign tourists this year under phased reopening]

16 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

For 2022, the TAT expects 20 million foreign arrivals to spend 1.3 trillion baht, Siripakorn said.

Yo, Siripakorn, can you hook me up with a bit of whatever it is you're smoking please, mate?

Cheers.

[Koh Samui: Foreign tourists set to be welcome subject to rules from July 1st]

20 hours ago, Gulfsailor said:

By the end of June most people on Samui will have been vaccinated, so the local businesses will benefit from these tourists, not just a few large hotels. 

Yeah, we'll see about that, I think that is a verrrry optimistic outlook tbh.

[Koh Samui: Foreign tourists set to be welcome subject to rules from July 1st]

5 minutes ago, Gulfsailor said:

I think by locals they mean Thai people who don’t work in the tourism industry. Most tourism workers on Samui have already been fully vaccinated and most other residents will be by next month. I can imagine that after the 3-day quarantine tourists can only go to approved venues, restaurants, bars and on excursions where the staff is fully vaccinated. I think after 7 days of this it’s then up to the tourist to decide if they want to mingle with non vaccinated locals on or off the island. Regardless for long stayers it’s better than being locked in a Bangkok hotel room for 15 days….

Without question it is better than being locked up in Bangkok for a fortnight, no argument there. It's an improvement... but, it will not really benefit the majority of businesses or locally employed people on the island, if what you are suggesting is true. I realise it's a tough situation anyway you cut it, importing an Indian variant at this point could potentially be dire for Samui / the country, but to be honest as things stand they will not attract holiday makers with these terms and conditions. It still seems like an overreaction to me too. If they want to get the place back on its feet they'll need to make much larger concessions, and in any case, people won't be holidaying in large numbers for months to come.

[Koh Samui: Foreign tourists set to be welcome subject to rules from July 1st]

Unfortunately, the Thai tourist industry is DOA at this point. The bigger resorts will stay partially open in a strange limbo like state for a while longer I suppose, but they're merely shells of their former selves, kept upright from rigor-mortis.

 

No one will take the chance of going all the way to Samui (from Europe, Australia or US at least) if they read the fine print. Even the majority of the Chinese will not consent to being locked up for days in a forced quarantine situation, then be unable to travel around properly for a week, and even once they can, what will be open and welcoming them? And...these people are not allowed to come into contact  with the locals? So who then? Hotel staff only? They don't live locally? If this nutty restriction is somehow possible, then the local people will not even benefit from the foreign tourism - and all this for people who have both BEEN VACCINATED AND HAD A NEGATIVE TEST!!! Mind boggling idiocy. So again I say - the Thai tourist industry is done for.

[Thailand reports 4,887 COVID-19 cases, 32 new deaths]

27 minutes ago, tomyami said:

 

Here in ireland now have 40k a day queuing 4 vacs

hosp ICU and admissions, deaths and effected cases starting to see record lows no lying stats.

result a rolling opening later in the summer normality unless a new strain then we are all...

 

Your 'normality' ins't coming back bud, nothing approaching it will for more than a short spell, I fear. Sorry to burst your bubble.

 

 

[Thailand reports 4,887 COVID-19 cases, 32 new deaths]

Just now, Surelynot said:

Thanks to vaccines, 4.5 billion virus cases were averted and 10.3 million lives saved worldwide – including 2.7 billion and 6.2 million, respectively, in Asia alone. In the United States, about 200 million cases were averted and 450,000 lives saved.

 

 

DOH!

Covid vaccines have saved billions of lives? What you smoking there chief?

[Thailand reports 4,887 COVID-19 cases, 32 new deaths]

3 hours ago, RotBenz8888 said:

Does anybody believe in their vaccine? 

Does anyone in their right mind believe in any of them!?

[People in Thailand look set to be restricted in choice of vaccine]

5 hours ago, RandolphGB said:

They’ll take the jab made by whichever vaccine company pays the government ministers and officials the most under the table to get the contract. Let nobody kid themselves, there is big money to made first and people’s health, wellbeing and the economy will be considered second. 

Certainly. As is ALWAYS the case with big pharma and government the world over.

[Thailand braced for infections spike after detecting UK COVID-19 variant]

20 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Yong said he was puzzled at how community transmission had occurred given Thailand's strict border controls, quarantine and testing protocols

 

Comedy gold Yong, comedy gold... ????

[6 million British tourists may travel to Thailand in 2021: Survey]

Nearly every claim in this article is absurd beyond belief.

 

Who comes up with this sh*te? Beggars belief. ????

 

 

[Vaccine to arrive in Thailand ‘early next year’]

3 minutes ago, TheFreqFlyer said:

I should mention even if a vaccine never eventuates (and many scientists and experts don't believe it will) all these other draconian measures are scary and disturbing enough. 

It's a brave new world,  or at least it better be. Huxley and Orwell being proven right more and more often.  Scary and sad in equal measure. Time to buy some land in deepest darkest Kanchanaburi and start prepping , methinks.

[Vaccine to arrive in Thailand ‘early next year’]

55 minutes ago, micmichd said:

Up to you. 

Then you either go to quarantine for 2 weeks or stay away from Thailand for one year, save up all your assets wherever you are, and then apply for a new visa in your country. 

Call it whatever you want, Thailand is a free country and can do what the majority of Thais want. And they want additional Farangs quite obviously.  

Im already here pal, lived here for years. Quarantine isnt necessary for me. If you think Thailand is really a free country then please give me the name of your dealer,  cos you're smoking some good s**t, clearly. 'and they want additional farangs'? Should that be 'don't want'? You sound like another masochistic self appointed Thai-defender to me. ????

[Vaccine to arrive in Thailand ‘early next year’]

12 minutes ago, micmichd said:

Yes, and the average age of a European was 35 years before vaccines were invented. Guess not many old Farangs would be in Thailand now if things hadn't changed. I wouldn't. 

Please don't confuse Covid bloody 19 with Smallpox or Polio. When the survival rate is c.99% globally, these diseases or the necessity to vaccinate against them are nowhere near comparable. ???? Edward Jenner would agree.  

[Foreigners in Thailand face fines and jail for overstaying as visa amnesty ends]

44 minutes ago, Trujillo said:

"Definitely would be better for Thailand for give extensions 1900thb every month for people who are still here and cannot go back, ..."

 

Why? And what do you mean by "cannot go back"? There are already provisions for those who are medically incapable of leaving by the 26th. Anyone who is physically able to leave should leave; if not, then they are gaming the system, clearly. 

 

The government has already bent the visa rules a number of times to (over)accommodate the foreign tourist. Remember, the average time for a "real" tourist to stay in country is about nine days. If you are an actual tourist, don't you have your life to get back to in your own country? And shouldn't a country go back to normal visa limits at some point? 

 

 If I were a tourist and was still here after...what? Four months or more of extra time on my 30 day/two week/week visa, I'd be feeling that I got a real windfall and at some time (this Saturday) it's time to get on with it. 

I don't understand all the kicking and screaming. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. 

Although I agree that they have been unusually lenient and that many of the so-called tourists stranded here after months may be less marooned holidaymakers and more self-exiled then stranded, does this really matter? I'd say you have it backwards. The Thais are looking a billion baht gift horse in the mouth and throwing it away. Yes the usual visa rules and regs will have to reapply at some point soon enough, but the world is still in relative turmoil (whether it's self imposed or not is another question) and the country has already and for some time now relaxed its rules in these areas while introducing new ones and tightening others, so following the 'letter of the law' is irrelevant to a large extent at the moment. If you're a business owner that has lost some majorly important clients, are now struggling to pay your rent and feed your family and have no easy way out on the horizon, you wouldn't turn down a few lodgers to help tide you over now would you???

[Foreigners in Thailand face fines and jail for overstaying as visa amnesty ends]

12 hours ago, Neeranam said:

Rather sad to blame the Thai government for your lack of planning.

????

 

Rather presumptuous to assume I am or that I have any issue re: the upcoming end of the amnesty. I am fine to remain in Thailand for the foreseeable future, thanks very much. Even if I was having to leave, would that invalidate ANYTHING I have said above? No, no it wouldn't.

[Foreigners in Thailand face fines and jail for overstaying as visa amnesty ends]

11 hours ago, micmichd said:

You forgot one thing : Thailand has no domestic CoviD-19 cases A BECAUSE they banned foreigners from CoviD-19 countries or forced them in quarantine.

And it's now up to Western countries to handle the pandemic and get vaccinated according to WHO standards. 

This is besides the point I am making totally - read my comment more closely. Those who have been here since April on the amnesty are in the exact same boat as anyone else who has also not left the country. Also, I would ask - how EXACTLY do you or anyone else know how many cases of Covid Thailand has had? Are you taking a corrupt, unelected bunch of venal, self serving toads and their lackeys at their word? Or have you been visiting every hospital and household across the kingdom issuing covid 19 tests for the 70m people around the country? I know the Thai authorities sure haven't. I wouldn't believe a word of it. No one has any idea how many people may or may not have Covid in Thailand, and never have. If those who they were planning to kick out had left the country and re-entered etc. then your comment may have some bearing on my former one, but evicting thousands of people who pose no more risk in this regard than any Thai citizen, seems nuts to me, especially when the country is so desperate for tourist income right now.

[Foreigners in Thailand face fines and jail for overstaying as visa amnesty ends]

12 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

It would, appear that way to the uninitiated but the Thais know exactly what they are doing.

 

The economic crisis will be more than mitigated by the face the regime will gain from defeating the COVID-19 virus and getting rid of all the foreigners hanging on is just an added bonus. 

Hahaha! Is this really a serious comment!? 

 

I have lived here for many years so I am not what you might call 'uninitiated' in the ways of Thai culture/thinking etc.

 

I would say that the 'mitigation' that any face saving the current regime might garner ( it is already massively unpopular with more and more Thais - as we are seeing from the hundreds of thousands gathering in BKK) will be found wanting when compared to their failing economy in the coming months. It is after all, one that is so heavily reliant on both foreign tourism and foreign investment. Although it would definitely seem there is a lower instance of COVID here, and this probably is the case, the fact that it presents as mild symptoms for the vast majority of people - symptoms which can and are often confused with other corononaviruses like Flu and Rhinovirus - coupled with the fact that the Thai government have done very little testing means that we have NO REAL IDEA of the levels of Covid in Thailand. What we do know is that there are a myriad of businesses going under, millions now out of work, many thousands now destitute and potentially many hundreds of thousands more soon to follow. The knock on effect has yet to be felt. I know which I would choose between a high covid infection rate and massive swathes of crucial industries decimated and an economy very negatively impacted for years to come. The fact that they need the extra money as badly as they obviously do, YET are still willing to evict thousands of folks that would put 100s of millions or more back into their economy is perhaps a comment on how they feel about westerners remaining here, I'll agree with you on that much. How myopic can they be? Very, as we have seen time and again.

[Foreigners in Thailand face fines and jail for overstaying as visa amnesty ends]

12 hours ago, genericptr said:

Given the absolute shambles tourism is currently in, I still can't believe they're going to send all these tourists home without even offering some alternative visa.

 

What's the explanation for this behavior?

The explanation is simply that they lack common sense or a basic understanding of economics. This government could barely boil an egg between them, let alone forge and enact an effective economic policy regarding the current situation. Regardless of how lenient they have been on those who have been stranded here (and I would be the first to say they have been), Thailand is now facing its seventh month of near 0 foreign tourism, with a negligible number of tourist arrivals since April. Their economy will have shrunk massively by the end of the 4th quarter of 2020 and with no obvious answer to their dire economic woes on the horizon it does seem utterly insane to evict perhaps as many as 400,000 essentially foreign 'tourists'. People who will continue to pile money into the economy and potentially travel / continue to travel around the place providing some much needed support for near destitute tourist reliant business around the country. Furthermore the government would need only slap a 2k baht fee on creating and renewing 30 or 60 day visas for those who are here and have been since April (and therefore pose NO risk re: Covid) which is effectively what they are going to do for people ENTERING from the outside world - people who in their eyes at least, DO pose more of a risk, so I ask again - why not boost their revenue substantially by doing this, rather than booting out billions of baht that they sure as hell won't get back any time soon from any foreign tourists with a laughable 14 day quarantine and god knows how many other asinine hoops to jump through! Typical Thai government thinking I'm afraid - one word for it - woolly. 

["The bodies keep mounting up on Thailand's roads" - damning report airing on UK TV]

The simple, sad fact is that many people just don't care. They drive however they want to and they know they can get away with it. Furthermore, a large number lack the mental capability to grasp the rules of the road or how to properly drive a vehicle. When you put untrained, ignorant people on the back of motorbikes or behind the wheels of cars, what you have is a recipe for disaster, and we see it time and again, probably well over 62 times a day, in fact - nationwide.

 

Without a) clearly defined rules of the road or any respect for them shown by those using the road, b) proper training from a young age to ensure driving proficiency and c) a proper police force who will enforce aforementioned rules, Thailand hasn't a snowball's chance in hell in reducing the dire numbers of road traffic accidents / fatalities. Since I've lived here the yearly death toll has never dropped, in some years it has actually increased.

 

 

[Tears and heartbreak as flight ban keeps farang-Thai families apart]

3 hours ago, Don Mega said:

A little WuFlu goes a long way too...I'd prefer me or my family don't die from it.

Understandable. However, with a 97% recovery rate, this seems melodramatic, unless you or your family are high risk, there are plenty of other things far more worthy of your concern, in Thailand.

 

 

[Popular Thai Beaches Pricier Than European Resorts: It’s Not Just About the Higher Baht]

18 hours ago, GeorgeCross said:

i think this is the thing thailand doesn't understand, back when it was really popular you could stay on the beach for 300 baht and if you wanted some luxury 1000 baht max per night - now those figures are 2500 - 25,000 baht. i don't care how much the baht has rose, it has not rose 10 times and the beaches and resorts are not 10 times better, if anything they are 10 times worse.

 

oh and this of course:

 

 

i could not agree more with that, and not from a jaded expat perspective, but from a well read 40-something perspective. thailand just isn't cool anymore, its barely ever mentioned anymore in the types of articles it once was and when it is, it's lambasted for its uncleanliness and unfriendliness

 

 

Spot on. They won't learn until it's too late and they have lost all their tourism to cheaper, friendlier and less arrogant neighbours. The strong baht is a temporary and non-essential factor. It is much more than just that. Hotel pricing is one aspect. 

[Mercedes Benz driver gives ambulance the finger after refusing to get out of the way]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

Decha said that in this case the driver could be prosecuted for being insulting in public. 

How about for obstructing an ambulance in an emergency situation!? 

 

This <deleted> needs to be made an example of publicly. Pants pulled down and flogged / have some veggies thrown his way. Until then too many turds like this will not learn their lesson. 

 

Sadly, it ain't what you know it's who. Especially in LoS.

[Dual pricing: Retirees and expats may be charged more at Thai govt hospitals]

So even though someone like myself who will (in a relatively few years) contribute the same if not more than most average / working class Thais will throughout their lives in terms of tax - not to mention through my work in the company I am employed by I help to facilitate the growth of their economy via infrastructure we are involved in commissioning / engineering and constructing - I am still expected to pay more for standard medical care? If I didn't have emergency medical insurance it would be more of an issue. However it's the principle that is awry. Yet again we see Thailand's motley crew of myopic, airhead nationalists in government doing their utmost to make us foreigners feel just that little bit less welcome. ????

[Thai road carnage: deaths top 7,000 this year]

2 hours ago, darksidedog said:

they really have very little or no spatial awareness of others.

Precisely, I often wonder if Thais are impaired in some way in this regard. It's baffling and so ubiquitous that it genuinely makes me wonder - you see examples of it everywhere:

- walking around the cities here 

- shopping

- driving

 

It all adds up to the same likely mental deficit. 

 

' spatial awareness in humans is a function largely confined to the right superior temporal cortex '

 

Maybe they don't have one or it's severely underdeveloped??? ???? It seems to be an issue across Asia actually, but most certainly in Thailand.

 

Again, harsh but true - the more dimnos that kill themselves because of dangerous and incompetent driving, I would hope, the fewer of them around to hurt more responsible others. Of course, there's always the next generation. I just hope something changes for the better, for their sake... shan't hold my breath.