Thailand Sold Itself as a Paradise Covid Retreat. No One Came

[rooster59 18,604]

Thailand Sold Itself as a Paradise Covid Retreat. No One Came

Randy Thanthong-Knight, Bloomberg News

 

 

(Bloomberg) -- It’s hard to imagine a more luxurious place to spend two weeks of quarantine than the Anantara Phuket Suites & Villas in Thailand, where visitors are pampered in private residences that can have their own pool and courtyard.

 

Yet more than three months after the resort and more than a hundred like it reopened to extended-stay travelers in an attempt to revive Thailand’s battered economy, foreign arrivals have failed to meet even rock-bottom expectations. Just 346 overseas visitors have entered the country on average each month on special visas since October, according to the Thailand Longstay Company, which helps facilitate the program. That’s well below the government’s target of about 1,200 and a tiny fraction of the more than 3 million who came before the pandemic.

 

The tepid response to Thailand’s highly publicized reopening illustrates the difficulties facing tourist-dependent countries as they try to shore up economic growth while also protecting citizens from Covid-19 before vaccines become widely available.

 

Thailand had hoped to lure retirees escaping the European winter and others who could stay for an extended period. They would have to go through quarantine, but that could be done in the comfort of high-end resorts in a country that had been relatively unscathed by the pandemic. After two weeks, Thailand would be theirs to roam for as long as nine months.

 

Full story: https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/thailand-sold-itself-as-a-paradise-covid-retreat-no-one-came-1.1549383

 

-- © Copyright Bloomberg 2021-01-16

 

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[PatOngo 47,423]

4 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

foreign arrivals have failed to meet even rock-bottom expectations

Get it through your heads, NOBODY wants to sit in a quarantine hotel for two weeks!

[HashBrownHarry 1,952]

2 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

Get it through your heads, NOBODY wants to sit in a quarantine hotel for two weeks!

Correct, no one wants to but should you wish to return to Thailand as it stands there's no other option.

 

Stupid for tourists to come i agree but for long term expats with families at the current time there's no other choice.

[Blumpie 1,601]

3 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

Get it through your heads, NOBODY wants to sit in a quarantine hotel for two weeks!

Bears repeating.

Can you believe they had this brilliant idea that they would have live bands you could watch from your balcony?  I mean really, that awful music playing boom boom boom in your room while you're trapped?  

The most idiotic idea I have ever heard of in my life.  

And it all went downhill from there.  

[Blumpie 1,601]

1 minute ago, HashBrownHarry said:

Correct, no one wants to but should you wish to return to Thailand as it stands there's no other option.

 

Stupid for tourists to come i agree but for long term expats with families at the current time there's no other choice.

The article is about tourists not expats.  

[PatOngo 47,423]

Just now, Blumpie said:

Bears repeating.

Can you believe they had this brilliant idea that they would have live bands you could watch from your balcony?  I mean really, that awful music playing boom boom boom in your room while you're trapped?  

The most idiotic idea I have ever heard of in my life.  

And it all went downhill from there.  

 

I think they have a Ministry For Stupid Ideas!

[Blumpie 1,601]

Just now, PatOngo said:

 

I think they have a Ministry For Stupid Ideas!

Honestly if you bumped all the stupid news stories that took place since covid about tourism just the headlines alone are beyond laughable.  Contradictions, cockamayney ideas, and things that are just impossible.  

They are baked. 

[TSF 2,674]

They just can't accept the fact that tourism isn't going to happen again until the bulk of the world's population has been vaccinated and global covid levels drop significantly so that international borders freely open again and quarantine is no longer necessary. 

[TSF 2,674]

5 minutes ago, Blumpie said:

Bears repeating.

Can you believe they had this brilliant idea that they would have live bands you could watch from your balcony?  I mean really, that awful music playing boom boom boom in your room while you're trapped?  

The most idiotic idea I have ever heard of in my life.  

And it all went downhill from there.  

Sounds like something they'd do at Gitmo.

[WineOh 5,144]

and now they want to charge future prospective tourists an extra 300 baht entrance fee on arrival..

 

Good job, Thailand.

Sounds like a watertight plan to me  

[HashBrownHarry 1,952]

12 minutes ago, Blumpie said:

The article is about tourists not expats.  

so what, my comment stands.

 

thank you.

[Andrew65 3,605]

If I still lived in Thailand, as I did for almost 20 years, I would probably go back there with the current quarantine deal. I wouldn't go back now, on holiday, if for 2 of my 4 or 5 weeks I couldn't even go out.

[Blumpie 1,601]

Just now, Andrew65 said:

If I still lived in Thailand, as I did for almost 20 years, I would probably go back there with the current quarantine deal. I wouldn't go back now, on holiday, if for 2 of my 4 or 5 weeks I couldn't even go out.

That's not the half of it.

You will need to quarantine when you get home too!  

There is no rationale to it.  

Understandably, they need to at least try to keep everyone happy but these guys have gone on to full on delusion over the last year.  

There isn't a single country on the planet who's tourism industry isn't devastated.  And there is no way out until the vaccine is widely available.  As all reports indicate, maybe 2022 - 2024.  

[PatOngo 47,423]

1 minute ago, Blumpie said:

That's not the half of it.

You will need to quarantine when you get home too!  

There is no rationale to it.  

Understandably, they need to at least try to keep everyone happy but these guys have gone on to full on delusion over the last year.  

There isn't a single country on the planet who's tourism industry isn't devastated.  And there is no way out until the vaccine is widely available.  As all reports indicate, maybe 2022 - 2024.  

 

Reality has never been one of their strong points!

[Andrew65 3,605]

2 minutes ago, Blumpie said:

That's not the half of it.

You will need to quarantine when you get home too!  

There is no rationale to it.  

Understandably, they need to at least try to keep everyone happy but these guys have gone on to full on delusion over the last year.  

There isn't a single country on the planet who's tourism industry isn't devastated.  And there is no way out until the vaccine is widely available.  As all reports indicate, maybe 2022 - 2024.  

Very true. I should be in line for the vaccine in a few months, so I might be able to come over later this year. I managed to organise a money transfer over to the UK with Bangkok Bank, so I no longer have a compelling reason to be there in that regard.

(I wonder if when countries do start to open up, vaccination might be a condition of travel?).