Thai travel stimulus schemes to be put on hold indefinitely, says TAT governor

[webfact]

Picture: Daily News

 

Thailand Tourism Authority chief Yutthasak Suphasorn told Daily News yesterday that he will be meeting with tourism minister Pipat Ratchakitprakan to discuss delaying two travel stimulus schemes.

 

The third phase of "Rao Thiaw Duay Gan" (Let's travel together) and Tour Thiaw Thai (Thailand tours) phase 2 were previously set to begin mid-May.

 

This has to be changed now that the country's Covid steering committee the CCSA has advised against travel due to the third wave of the pandemic.

 

Yutthasak was not prepared to say when the schemes will begin as that was dependent on how the pandemic goes from here.

 

He said that the priority right now was to fight the virus and proviode assistance to people in the tourism industry. 

 

The stimulus schemes proved popular with many Thais giving such things as discounts on hotels and travel though there was widespread corruption as well, notes Thaivisa.  

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2021-05-04

 

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[ThailandRyan]

9 minutes ago, webfact said:

This has to be changed now that the country's Covid steering committee the CCSA has advised against travel due to the third wave of the pandemic.

 

Yutthasak was not prepared to say when the schemes will begin as that was dependent on how the pandemic goes from here.

2022 at the rate things are looking, but then that is just my view.

[RichardColeman]

19 minutes ago, webfact said:

Yutthasak was not prepared to say when the schemes will begin as that was dependent on how the pandemic goes from here.

With yoyo Thailand , tomorrow's headline will be :

 

New travel scheme announced 

[MasterBaker]

even if 70% vax target will be achieved, there will not be any amount of tourists till the end of the year. there is article about THA numbers and those are very much spot on THA: 80% of hotels shut till October - won't be back to normal until 2023

[shackleton]

Thats all we need at this time more schemes to encourage people to travel

Let's get people vaccinated first 

[bluesofa]

34 minutes ago, shackleton said:

Thats all we need at this time more schemes to encourage people to travel

Let's get people vaccinated first 

Maybe the new scheme will be Let's Vaccinate Together.

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

This has to be changed now that the country's Covid steering committee the CCSA has advised against travel due to the third wave of the pandemic.

Or the pots becoming empty.

[Grusa]

"We have screwed, conned, milked and swindled as much as we can from this. Lets move on and try something else."

content://com.brave.browser.FileProvider/images/screenshot/1620128790023548905851.jpg

Edited May 4, 2021 by Grusa

[Golden Triangle]

6 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

2022 at the rate things are looking, but then that is just my view.

That soon ???? not sure about that matey ????

[internationalism]

o yes, we forgot.

the grand travel schemes, ridden by corruption by 10k of hotels.

That is 1 month into a third wave. Speedy reaction

[JackSalesman]

Well, I am sure Steiner's wunderwaccines next month will solve this problem. No worries! Keep the faith!

[MrJ2U]

7 hours ago, MasterBaker said:

even if 70% vax target will be achieved, there will not be any amount of tourists till the end of the year. there is article about THA numbers and those are very much spot on THA: 80% of hotels shut till October - won't be back to normal until 2023

Many countries aren't going to let people travel to countries with a measly 70% vaccination rate.  There is no herd immunity with this virus.  

[Jingthing]

14 minutes ago, MrJ2U said:

Many countries aren't going to let people travel to countries with a measly 70% vaccination rate.  There is no herd immunity with this virus.  

70 percent would be pretty good but I think its obvious by now that this  virus will be with humanity indefinitely. So countries could achieve herd immunity then slip out of it then achieve it again ad nauseum. I'm talking boosters baby. Annual boosters. 

[Jingthing]

As far as the future of mass tourism in Thailand maybe they should think about retraining those workers for new industries. 

[sammieuk1]

Blindingly obvious open the country to the fully vaccinated now without delay or restriction be ahead of the curve for a change instead of a year behind it ???? 

[Jingthing]

2 minutes ago, sammieuk1 said:

Blindingly obvious open the country to the fully vaccinated now without delay or restriction be ahead of the curve for a change instead of a year behind it ???? 

How many people want to travel to visit a semi lockdown zone?

[sammieuk1]

Just now, Jingthing said:

How many people want to travel to visit a semi lockdown zone?

Me for one ????

[edwardandtubs]

6 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

How many people want to travel to visit a semi lockdown zone?

Obviously not tens of millions like in previous years but certainly enough to give some hope to the tourist industry. Turkey is doing exactly that right now.

[edwardandtubs]

If one is in Thailand at the moment and fancies a beach holiday, where would be the best place to go right now? Asking for a friend.

Edited May 4, 2021 by edwardandtubs

[hotchilli]

18 hours ago, webfact said:

This has to be changed now that the country's Covid steering committee the CCSA has advised against travel due to the third wave of the pandemic.

Wait for the backlash from hotels who can't gouge anymore.

[starky]

Gotta love a good scheme

[Freeduhdum]

It seems someone didn't get the memo... Lol. 

https://asiatimes.com/2021/05/thailand-lures-the-rich-as-tourism-revival-hope-fades/

[Pattaya Spotter]

9 hours ago, Jingthing said:

70 percent would be pretty good but I think its obvious by now that this  virus will be with humanity indefinitely. So countries could achieve herd immunity then slip out of it then achieve it again ad nauseum. I'm talking boosters baby. Annual boosters. 

Even advanced Western countries may fail to ever reach herd immunity, but will have vaccinated enough people so that cases of the virus, though always present, will not overwhelm their medical systems. Basically another annual flu type illness.

 

 Reaching ‘Herd Immunity’ Is Unlikely in the U.S., Experts Now Believe

Widely circulating coronavirus variants and persistent hesitancy about vaccines will keep the goal out of reach. The virus is here to stay, but vaccinating the most vulnerable may be enough to restore normalcy.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/03/health/covid-herd-immunity-vaccine.html

[placeholder]

2 hours ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

Even advanced Western countries may fail to ever reach herd immunity, but will have vaccinated enough people so that cases of the virus, though always present, will not overwhelm their medical systems. Basically another annual flu type illness.

 

 Reaching ‘Herd Immunity’ Is Unlikely in the U.S., Experts Now Believe

Widely circulating coronavirus variants and persistent hesitancy about vaccines will keep the goal out of reach. The virus is here to stay, but vaccinating the most vulnerable may be enough to restore normalcy.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/03/health/covid-herd-immunity-vaccine.html

That's because in the USA covid vaccination has become a left-right issue with Republicans far less likely to get vaccinated. I don't know if any surveys have been takekn to determine the level of vaccine hesitancy in Thailand. But given that Thais are much more compliant about wearing masks than are Americans, I'd guess it's a lot lower.

[Stargeezr]

The mention of wide spread corruption, was the least surprising sentence of the whole article.

   Geezer

[daveAustin]

On 5/4/2021 at 3:33 PM, Jingthing said:

70 percent would be pretty good but I think its obvious by now that this  virus will be with humanity indefinitely. So countries could achieve herd immunity then slip out of it then achieve it again ad nauseum. I'm talking boosters baby. Annual boosters. 

Indeed. We're stuck with it. Looks like the baby boomers won again!