Thailand tourism return: Government told to "be brave" and open travel bubbles allowing Chinese tour groups

[TKDfella]

You can almost feel the panic that these institutions, TAT etc. are having with the various everyday roundabouts and swings. Instead of finding something, some new direction, a re-education in skills (which the PM has already said he wants less of...academia) to give those people that are suffering, some concrete opportunity, they persist in some form of impossible illusionary hope. Sad, very sad.

[hotchilli]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

A collection of tourism businesses and organisations headed by the Thai-Chinese Chamber of Commerce will be contacting Thailand's Covid-19 co-ordinating committee (CCSA) this week to press the government to establish travel bubbles with low risk countries, reported Thai Rath.

Here we go, starting another cycle... it's getting boring.

[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, Emdog said:

Difference between being brave and stupid, but we can't ask powers that be to make that distinction as they have experience with neither.

T.A.T has vast experience with the latter.

[DefaultName]

These businessmen, are they going to come into personal contact with the Chinese tourists?  Or only with their money, safely converted to ones and zeros in the banks?

 

Or are they planning to sacrifice the little people on the altar of Mammon?

[ChouDoufu]

it's possible, but they'll have to do away with the quarantine.  that's a deal killer for short term tourism.  the insurance not so much, as covid cover thru travel insurance can be had for $50 a month.

 

england has approved their vaccine, deliveries are starting in the usa, and russia is planning on starting vaccinations next week.  if china+thailand can get a certain percentage of their populations innoculated, they might be able to get something viable by spring festival.  with current cell phone tracking, they can confirm potential visitors have not been in danger zones for the past few months.

 

will need proof of vaccination, travel/health insurance and multiple tests.  easy enough.

 

mark your calendars - spring festival will be 11-17 february.  visit the buffets now while you still have the chance!

[Cake Monster]

 

8 hours ago, webfact said:

The move particularly relates to starting travel bubbles with twenty provinces in China. 

What a surprise that its the " Thai - Chinese Chamber of Commerce " asking for the Chinese Touroids to start arriving in LOS in their droves.

The effects of the lost Money stream back to China, is starting to hurt the Chinese Tour Operators who send the Minions here to " Holiday ".

Just this week there was a state shutdown in Southern China due to another outbreak of Covid. They most certainly do not have their Virus under control, and to to pander to them now would be playing Russian Roulette with the entire population of Thailand.

[Darkside Gray]

Chinese are not aloud to travel at present so waste of time!

[superal]

Vaccine now being rolled  out  globally . If not mandatory will you have the vaccination in Thailand ?

[Dogmatix]

Thailand is a cheap destination for Chinese tourists and they come here for their first trip abroad. The more sophisticated Chinese travellers generally go elsewhere. Chinese tourists I saw in the Hotel Nacional in Cuba a couple of years ago were travelling independently and were very polite, spoke fluent English. I don't think those types are interested in what Thailand has to offer them.  But as long as there are enough first time Chinese travellers wanting a low end product, they will still come here.

 

The TAT does a good job at promoting pie in the sky ideals of what the government would like tourism to be not taking reality into account.  The truth is that they did nothing much to craft the tourism product or attract tourists. It is a bit like manufacturing. Thailand didn't really understand why foreign manufacturers invested (for sweated labour) in the 80s and 90s and it came as a shock when they moved to cheaper labour countries. They made little effort to adapt to attract them back with their foreign ownership laws and poorly educated non-English speaking workers etc.  The same applies to the tourism product.  It is ridiculous that hotels and other tourism businesses have to hire Burmese or Filipinos because they speak better English than bone headed Thai workers and also learn Thai.  The Education Ministry gets the biggest budget but has little to show for it and all industries suffer as a result.  

[Traubert]

2 minutes ago, Cake Monster said:

 

What a surprise that its the " Thai - Chinese Chamber of Commerce " asking for the Chinese Touroids to start arriving in LOS in their droves.

The effects of the lost Money stream back to China, is starting to hurt the Chinese Tour Operators who send the Minions here to " Holiday ".

Just this week there was a state shutdown in Southern China due to another outbreak of Covid. They most certainly do not have their Virus under control, and to to pander to them now would be playing Russian Roulette with the entire population of Thailand.

Source?

[Olivie]

Chinese citizen can't go outside china without vaccine and they need to be quarantined...in that way, the Chinese government is sure they will spend their money in China...
When will Thai gov understand they won't see chinese for at least one year??

 

[ChouDoufu]

2 minutes ago, Darkside Gray said:

Chinese are not aloud to travel at present so waste of time!

 

are you sure about that?

 

thai consulates in china are offering STV and SETV.  no problem for individuals to apply.  it's only in/out-bound GROUP tours that are restricted.

 

if the hubble-bubble is set up, group tour restrictions will be relaxed.

[Traubert]

2 minutes ago, Olivie said:

Chinese citizen can't go outside china without vaccine and they need to be quarantined...in that way, the Chinese government is sure they will spend their money in China...
When will Thai gov understand they won't see chinese for at least one year??

 

False.

[Olivie]

4 minutes ago, ChouDoufu said:

 

are you sure about that?

 

thai consulates in china are offering STV and SETV.  no problem for individuals to apply.  it's only in/out-bound GROUP tours that are restricted.

 

if the hubble-bubble is set up, group tour restrictions will be relaxed.

yes it sure.
They need to be vaccinated if they want to travel outside China...but it's very difficult to get the vaccine for the moment in China.

[Olivie]

3 minutes ago, Traubert said:

False.

What is false?

[Mavideol]

just in case the Thai-Chinese chamber of commerce and TAT didn't see the news 555

 

All six Thai women who sneaked in from Myanmar test positive for Covid-19

https://news.yahoo.com/leaked-documents-reveal-china-severely-125207507.html

Leaked documents reveal China severely underreported coronavirus cases as the pandemic spread

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/china/

 China

Coronavirus Cases: 86,567   Deaths:4,634

• China / COVID-19

  • 91,826 total confirmed cases

    December 1, 2020

 

 

[ChouDoufu]

12 minutes ago, Olivie said:

yes it sure.
They need to be vaccinated if they want to travel outside China...but it's very difficult to get the vaccine for the moment in China.

 

i hope you can provide a link to an article detailing that requirement.  otherwise you are repeating disinformation.

 

the vaccine is not available to the general public yet.  i think only a few million doses have been distributed, mainly to front-line health workers.  as to required for travel, i don't believe the several thousand that traveled to thailand on the STV so far have been vaccinated.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 3, 2020 by ChouDoufu
that's better!

[Hans dillmann]

i would go . i live in Perth .  but 2 weeks in a hotel .. no thanks  .

 

[AlfHuy]

4 minutes ago, Hans dillmann said:

i would go . i live in Perth .  but 2 weeks in a hotel .. no thanks  .

 

Tell them you are half Chinese and are following a 50hours a week Mandarine course.

They will roll out the red carpet for you.

[Dogmatix]

25 minutes ago, Olivie said:

Chinese citizen can't go outside china without vaccine and they need to be quarantined...in that way, the Chinese government is sure they will spend their money in China...
When will Thai gov understand they won't see chinese for at least one year??

 

 

It is a good point. The Thai authorities seem to have overlooked that. Just jawboning about nothing and dreaming about having the wonderful Chinese hordes back. China has loads of tourist destinations for them to visit. So no loss to them. 

 

I noticed that family in the UK rediscovered British tourist locations and enjoyed visiting the same places we were taken to as kids before international travel became so cheap. Just loading up the car and going off is so much more convenient.  Many people in various choose domestic tourism again for the next few years, just like the Thais are doing, enjoying visiting resorts with no Chinese in them.

[Olivie]

7 minutes ago, ChouDoufu said:

 

i hope you can provide a link to an article detailing that requirement.

 

otherwise you are repeating disinformation.

 

 

Quote

First, workers at state-owned companies got dosed. Then government officials and vaccine company staff. Up next: teachers, supermarket employees and people traveling to risky areas abroad.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/26/business/china-coronavirus-vaccine.html

 

Quote

Waves of Chinese students and businesspeople are flocking overseas, apparently undaunted by the rampaging coronavirus. But first, many of them are making a beeline for Yiwu, a bourgeoning trading hub in eastern Zhejiang province. 

Quote

A Shanghai student who needed to return to his university in the United Kingdom told the Lianhe Zaobao newspaper that his Chinese classmates and others who must travel abroad for business had all been heading to Yiwu to jostle for vaccines.  

https://asiatimes.com/2020/11/chinas-new-wave-the-queue-for-covid-vaccination/

 

Quote

Some, like Cheng, simply want protection from COVID-19 — proven or otherwise — before they travel. One Chinese student who needs to return to France next month to complete her MBA found a CNBG booth at a Beijing expo in September offering vaccinations to students traveling overseas.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/11/27/asia-pacific/covid-19-vaccine-china-black-market/

[Olivie]

5 minutes ago, Dogmatix said:

 

It is a good point. The Thai authorities seem to have overlooked that. Just jawboning about nothing and dreaming about having the wonderful Chinese hordes back. China has loads of tourist destinations for them to visit. So no loss to them. 

 

I noticed that family in the UK rediscovered British tourist locations and enjoyed visiting the same places we were taken to as kids before international travel became so cheap. Just loading up the car and going off is so much more convenient.  Many people in various choose domestic tourism again for the next few years, just like the Thais are doing, enjoying visiting resorts with no Chinese in them.

 

China is also doing that because their economy isn't that good...so why would they let chinese tourists spend their money elswhere when they can spend it in China?

[Pdavies99]

8 hours ago, ezzra said:

As Thailand has lost its spot as the most popular cross-border destination for tourists from mainland China, according to a survey by HSBC Holdings Plc, as neighboring Japan and South Korea moved up the list.

so Thailand will have to really grovel and beg and offer freebees to the Chinese tourist to come here.. free seafood buffet and free massages comes to minds...

You are forgetting Thai logic...they can bring out countless facts and figures that show the World wants to come to Thailand.

 

All they will do is increase prices and cost of getting to Thailand as a genuine tourist, sadly that will never ever change!   

 

Ultimately the Thai Elite and Government could not care less and will blame the foreigners for all the poor Thai peoples problems!

[Olivie]

Quote

 Ethan Zhang needed to get back to work. Work was in Ivory Coast, however, and since January the global coronavirus outbreak had stranded the 26-year-old translator in mainland China. Then friends told Zhang of a way he could get his hands on what might be the world’s most coveted prize: a coronavirus vaccine.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/health-pharma/china-takes-risk-in-rushing-to-use-unproven-vaccines-1.4413667

 

Quote

In early November, Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm announced that hundreds of thousands of Chinese had been vaccinated by emergency decree, including 56,000 Chinese traveling abroad, of whom none have allegedly fallen ill with COVID-19

https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/geopolitics-of-covid-the-unprecedented-challenge-of-coronavirus-vaccine-distribution-a-12800062-e26a-4079-bf21-161080ae0f3a

Edited December 3, 2020 by Olivie

[ChouDoufu]

14 minutes ago, Olivie said:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/26/business/china-coronavirus-vaccine.html

 

https://asiatimes.com/2020/11/chinas-new-wave-the-queue-for-covid-vaccination/

 

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/11/27/asia-pacific/covid-19-vaccine-china-black-market/

 

you didn't bother to read those articles, did you?

 

you just googled china vaccine and linked anything with a headline that sorta, kinda fit, right?

 

no vaccine requirement to travel.

[Olivie]

13 minutes ago, ChouDoufu said:

 

you didn't bother to read those articles, did you?

 

you just googled china vaccine and linked anything with a headline that sorta, kinda fit, right?

 

no vaccine requirement to travel.

 

How do you understand "needing"?

Quote

As of November, Sinopharm said "hundreds of thousands" of people have been given its two-shot experimental vaccine and none had so far developed severe side effects beyond mild pain at the injection site. Many needing to be vaccinated were due to travel abroad for work, where coronavirus cases are still mounting, health authorities said earlier, but Sinopharm said only 56,000 vaccine recipients have gone abroad.

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/11/12/933956247/china-is-inoculating-thousands-with-unapproved-covid-19-vaccines-why?t=1606993089044

Quote

This year, travel restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic mean that some 600 million tourists — about 40% of the population — will travel within China during the holiday that began Thursday, according to Ctrip, China’s largest online travel agency.

https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-travel-hong-kong-holidays-china-04a9409e2c1fe0d1b947a8de39297f46

Is quarantine mandatory?

 

Quote

“To take a trip abroad, you will be quarantined for half a month when you arrive, and when you return, it’s another half a month of quarantine,” Zhao said. “One month is gone with you doing nothing at all. “

 

Edited December 3, 2020 by Olivie

[hlj]

If the government wants the virus to make things worse than it is now, bring the Chinese people here. I would prefer to leave the borders closed to Chinese until China does get the virus under control. Look at what is happening in other countries.

[ChouDoufu]

10 minutes ago, Olivie said:

 

You seem to know. Do you know any requirement from chinese government for its citizen to travel abroad? Any Chinese can travel outside China when he wants?

 

https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-travel-hong-kong-holidays-china-04a9409e2c1fe0d1b947a8de39297f46

Is quarantine mandatory?

 

as far as i know.......... individuals may travel outside china, but GROUP tours are still not yet allowed.

 

because so many countries are closed, because so many countries are high risk, because so many countries have expensive or logistically impossible requirements to obtain a visa, and because, well, there ain't no stinkin' flights, many chinese are OPTING to travel domestically.

 

i believe quarantine is still mandatory, 14 days in government approved hospitals at the traveler's expense. 

Edited December 3, 2020 by ChouDoufu

[Olivie]

1 minute ago, ChouDoufu said:

 

as far as i know.......... individuals may travel outside china, but GROUP tours are still not yet allowed.

 

because so many countries are closed, because so many countries are high risk, because so many countries have expensive or logistically impossible requirements to obtain a visa, many chinese are OPTING to travel domestically.

 

i believe quarantine is still mandatory, 14 days in government approved hospitals at the traveler's expense. 

I edited my post:
"Needing to be vaccinated to travel abroad'"...

Quote

As of November, Sinopharm said "hundreds of thousands" of people have been given its two-shot experimental vaccine and none had so far developed severe side effects beyond mild pain at the injection site. Many needing to be vaccinated were due to travel abroad for work, where coronavirus cases are still mounting, health authorities said earlier, but Sinopharm said only 56,000 vaccine recipients have gone abroad.

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/11/12/933956247/china-is-inoculating-thousands-with-unapproved-covid-19-vaccines-why?t=1606993089044

[ChouDoufu]

12 minutes ago, Olivie said:

 

How do you understand "needing"?

 

 

unclear from the article.

 

it may be "needed" by the traveler because they fear going to a high risk location unprotected.

it may be required by the country they plan to visit in order to obtain a visa.

it may be required by a school or employer.