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‘Vaccine passports’ could allow foreigners to visit Thailand without quarantine: TAT


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1 hour ago, WineOh said:

Vaccine passports are a good idea, but...

 

Why would anybody fly 6,000 miles to visit deserted beaches, shuttered attractions & closed bars/restaurants? 

The impact that this pandemic has had on Thailand's once flourishing hospitality industry has been crippling. 

Many businesses have shut their doors for good.

Not to mention the fact that many foreigners have also lost their jobs in the west due this virus.

Yesterday I took a stroll down Khaosan Road & Patpong and it was eerily quiet at both locations.

I spoke to a few locals and they told me they don't know if many places will ever open again.

 

It's going to take years to get back to any form of normality, for locals & westerners alike. 

Of course!

Not to mention that until Thailand gets its population vaccinated, tourism isn't going anywhere because the 14 day quarantine will be up.

IT doesn't matter if you love it or hate it, this is the way it will be.  These childish headlines from grown men that don't know what they are doing that pander to ill advised sugar junkies.  

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3 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

A reasonable approach.

 

Although vaccinated people may still present a risk of transmission. Those who have been vaccinated and taken a pre-flight Covid-19 test have a minimal chance of carrying the virus in to Thailand. 

 

 

Other countries have a smaller ‘quarantine requirements’ i.e. a Covid-19 RT PCR test on arrival and quarantine for a day while awaiting test results. Not idea, but much better than what currently exists. 

 

The issue with any of the plans is that there is no water-tight solution and any easing brings additional risk of the spread of Covid-19.

 

 

Confirmed vaccination along with pre-flight and arrival Covid-19 tests (and track and trace) should handle the vast majority of risk while allowing opening Thailands tourist sector back up.

 

It is critical that Thailands tourism sector be allowed off its knees and take steps towards getting back on its feet - the potential devastation to millions without a robust social welfare safety net is essential not only to those individuals but the fabric of the nation. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Would you trust the TAT to have the professional knowledge and credibility to decide that a vaccination certificate can cancel all quarantine requirements, or have the knowledge and credibility to even professionally discuss this suggestion? No thanks.

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1 hour ago, WineOh said:

Vaccine passports are a good idea, but...

 

Why would anybody fly 6,000 miles to visit deserted beaches, shuttered attractions & closed bars/restaurants? 

The impact that this pandemic has had on Thailand's once flourishing hospitality industry has been crippling. 

Many businesses have shut their doors for good.

Not to mention the fact that many foreigners have also lost their jobs in the west due this virus.

Yesterday I took a stroll down Khaosan Road & Patpong and it was eerily quiet at both locations.

I spoke to a few locals and they told me they don't know if many places will ever open again.

 

It's going to take years to get back to any form of normality, for locals & westerners alike. 

I can understand your thinking, however this is Thailand and I personally believe that the enterprising Thais would have their businesses cleaned, re-painted, open and ready for trade before the first flight from the west had touched down.  I have friends in the UK that have to jump through hoops for months to open a business, here my wife was up and running ( not tourism related)  in a day when we first set up our operation here.

 

Back to your last sentence, I agree it will be the west that will pose the difficulty.  For example someone has to get BA to re-think their decision to cancel flights to BKK until November. 

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high season is winter time, not spring (too hot in thailand) or summer-autumn (rainy season). Even if not 10-14 days quarantine in thailand, tourists will have it in return to their countries (already to the UK, and now also to the USA).

 

before jumping into unknown, stick to the old ideas:

 

travel corridors with not infected countries. That first would be Asian countries, short, continental flights, allowing shortish stays, group travel and cheap enough for family holidays. China is the main country to have ready traffic, with korea, india following.

 

develop local tourism (the international one is 12% of gdp, domestic one 6% - not huge, but able to sustain)

 

limited quarantine on islands - beach resorts with 1km radius of free movement, after short time allowing on

all island, later to anywhere

 

in the meantime offer quarantine at cheap hotels hotels with less stringent health regulations. Starting from 1000b per night, allowing budget travellers (that price was offered for thai repatriating the last year, who didn't want to stay in military barracks).

 

 

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3 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Vaccinate those in high risk groups, the elderly first, front line workers (medical families). 

Then those who work with the pubic etc etc...  which of course includes those in the tourism industry. 

 

There are certainly many who work with the pubic. Not sure that will be accepted as a reason to give them a covid vaccination as a priority.????

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1 minute ago, internationalism said:

travel corridors with not infected countries. That first would be Asian countries, short, continental flights, allowing shortish stays, group travel and cheap enough for family holidays. China is the main country to have ready traffic, with korea, india following.

 

 

All of this is assuming that Thailand is COVID free and needs to remain that way. This is nowhere near true now and the only question is how many infections will be found if they test for them. The US under Biden is also saying you will need a negative COVID test.... before entering the country with the most COVID in the world. Doesn't anyone see the problem here?

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Its a non-starter as an idea.

 

Thailand has a policy of zero cases rather than  a controlled number and to change that would be a massive political decision that this govt would never take.

 

the vaccines themselves are not 100% so it would be inevitable that when you get a significant number of visitors to make a difference and be economically viable, ie more than a couple of planeloads, the virus would get in and be detected in a tourism area - think Bangkok, Koh Samui, Phuket, Pattaya.  Lockdown would quickly follow since limited local vaccination leading to <deleted> off tourists , cancelled flights and more chaos.

Edited by Orac
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1 minute ago, Orac said:

Its a non-starter as an idea.

 

Thailand has a policy of zero cases rather than  a controlled number and to change that would be a massive political decision that this govt would never take.

 

the vaccines themselves are not 100% so it would be inevitable that when you get a significant number of visitors to make a difference and be economically viable, ie more than a couple of planeloads, the virus would get in and be detected in a tourism area - think Bangkok, Koh Samui, Phuket, Pattaya.  Lockdown would quickly follow since limited local vaccination leading to <deleted> off tourists , cancelled flights and more chaos.

No, Thailand does NOT have a policy of zero cases. Thay always knew there would be asymptomatic cases- though for a long time those numbers were also low (mass testing in Rayong last year showed that). 

Note, China does not record asymptomatic cases in worldometers. Only once they show symptoms are they considered confirmed cases. At least we know Thailand's asymptomatic cases when they detect them. 

 

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