In the past two months, zero tourists came to Thailand due to the travel ban. A first for the Thai tourism industry, according to the Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT). The TCT wants commercial flights to be allowed again in July otherwise a disaster threatens for this industry, but the minister of Turime tempers expectations.
In any case, the tourism sector wants tourists to come again from countries with little or no Covid-19 infections, because they are running out of water. The Ministry of Tourism and Sports has released the statistics for the first five months, which clearly show that the state of emergency and the travel ban has proved devastating for tourism. The number of international tourists from January to May fell 60% year-on-year to 6,69 million. International tourism revenues fell 59,6% to 332 billion baht.
Chairat Trirattanajarasporn, president of the TCT, said tour operators urgently need foreign tourists: “'Most of us can hold out until the end of June, but many will stop paying debts and bills when there is no more income.' According to Chairat, agreements should be reached quickly between countries with low infections so that business travelers can fly to Thailand again.
“We believe that group travel and individual travelers can come back to Thailand in September because more preparation time is needed due to the visa process,” says Chairat. With a special app, the government can then keep an eye on international tourists if an infection flares up again somewhere.
Minister: No tourists in July
According to Tourism Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, no international tourists are likely to arrive in July. The country should not hope for a large influx of tourists this year anyway, he said. “In July, the door to our country will only open to two groups of foreigners: businessmen with an invitation letter from companies in Thailand and patients with doctors' appointments in Thai hospitals,” said Phiphat.
He also said the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has designated five offices in China to negotiate regulations for tourism startups with selected cities. A limited number of Chinese will then be able to travel to Thailand under certain conditions. To offer travel without a mandatory 14-day quarantine, the ministry wants to ensure that other effective screening measures are applied, Phiphat said.
Thailand will require tourists to present health certificates and Covid-19 insurance as conditions to enter the country. The government will then also conduct a Covid-19 rapid test upon arrival at the accommodation.
Source: Bangkok Post
I wonder what traveling will look like for the many here with a retirement visa. Can we go to family in the Netherlands and back for a week without jumping through 12 hoops and having to stay at home for 2 weeks?
And then there is a risk that Thailand will suddenly close its borders again while you are in NL/Be. if another contamination shows up, because they know something about surprise measures!
You have to be very attentive to keep following the Thai news gathering.
A quarantine of 2 weeks I can handle, is the lesser harm compared to further administrative, medical, and insurance requirements.
Well it is clear that you can forget the holiday in Thailand this year and next year only easy if you do a group trip.
They will make it as difficult as possible for all other tourists and when they come, most bars and restaurants are in ruins, so the government and the hiso get their way; away with the beer drinking unsuitable westerners. In this way they immediately set out to attract the better tourists.
Where they expect those who find a luxury resort enough and who hate the nightlife.
And then they can immediately increase the requirements for a visa under the guise of Covid 19 protection. My crystal ball says that next year we will not know Thailand again if we can enter at all.
What about people who have a house/condo in Thailand? When can they go back to their property? In some countries, they are the first to be allowed back in.
Best
And if you live in Belgium with Thai Nationality, can you go to Thailand at the beginning of July to visit family?
mvg
Same question for Thais (and “mixed family”) living in the Netherlands.
Someone with Thai nationality can simply enter Thailand, but will have to be in (state) quarantine for 14 days upon arrival. To be sure, contact the Thai embassy in Brussels. https://www.thaiembassy.be/?lang=en
An acquaintance of ours is flying from Ams to Bkk next week. She goes alone. Her husband was not allowed to come. She will return at the beginning of August with 2 of her children. The trip was discussed and discussed at the Thai Embassy in The Hague. All cooperation received. No further obstacles. Some extra check at IND. Everything went in good order.
Unfortunately, it is also gloomy for this year. Fortunately, I have planned my holiday for the end of February 2021, but in the meantime I am starting to have serious doubts. What will you find there soon if the weather starts up again. Love nature, but also want to look up the fun in a bar / club / restaurant every now and then. With the current reporting, there are also few bright spots that the government is doing everything it can to ensure that we are also welcome from Europe. Maybe later, despite my preference for Thailand, I will move to Vietnam/Cambodia.
Osen,
I have been staying in Thailand for about 6 months now, where the original intention was to hibernate for 3 months. I voluntarily decided not to return to Belgium, but to stay with my Thai girlfriend (< 3 years old) and help where possible. I sponsor Sue Richardson's Foodbank in Hua Hin, let me be clear.
I understand you completely, but on the other hand I am also beginning to understand that Phrayut and co want to use (abuse?) this crisis to solve old problems and frustrations.
The bustling and sometimes drunken farangs in Pattaya, Phuket, Samui and many other beautiful places have long been a thorn in the flesh of "the upper classes" in Thailand.
Many "tourists" rightly write many moving stories about the beautiful Thailand that they miss so much now, but actually they only want to come back in these uncertain times out of a kind of "egoism" and do not think about the possible damage they could cause by bringing the virus back here.
Mark,
I think you are right about the deep cleaning they would like to do. Just be shocked at the way this is happening now. They just leave a lot of entrepreneurs to suffocate and workers without pay and any prospect. It is also just that they immediately label all non-Asian tourists as undesirable. Yes, there are many abuses in the places you mention. We just have to wait and see how Thailand comes out of this situation. Do know that they are very flexible as a people.
How do you come to the conclusion that we would be unwanted? Visa rules have been the same for years, only the control has become stricter. Bad guys out and good guys in isn't a problem for pensioners anyway.
Thailand is more than the few places you list
And do you really think Thailand can stop the virus or any virus?
You have a very young girlfriend.
Moderator: Please credit the source.
Chinese seem to want to let them in. Does that minister not know where that virus comes from? Is that country a safe country? It seems to me that those tourists who spend hardly any money in Thailand on Thai companies, because they work with their own staff, guides, travel agencies, ... , could do.
If Western tourists are no longer allowed to come, they will simply go to another country, and he will lose it for good (?), while the Thai economy will bleed quite a bit, not to say break down.
That's right, they're sleeping. What nonsense, China is not a safe country at all.
The focus is on a number of Chinese cities that are considered safe, not the entire country.
That doesn't look very promising. !!
A rapid test on arrival of the accommodation, they will put a doctor at every hotel, B&B, to take this test, and how much will they charge for that test. ??
It is becoming clearer by the day that they are tired of Europeans.
Conclusion: go en masse to the neighboring countries and leave Thailand alone for a year or two, see what happens.
Also strange that the Chinese are welcome, the country where it all started and of which no one knows whether the figures are reliable.
Which company will take out Covid19 insurance. ???
I get a message from AIS often enough that when I top up money I am insured against the covid19 for a month
Wat Poh you will not enter for the time being either. Thai only, no foreigners. According to an employee because of Covit. But since there are more Thai than foreigners with Covid, it would make more sense to ban Thai people as a 'risk group'. Or just a sign saying 'No entry if you have been abroad in the last 2 weeks'.
https://coconuts.co/bangkok/news/thai-people-only-famed-bangkok-temple-refuses-entry-to-foreigners/
Speaking of discrimination but no one hears you about this
You have to see that positively. Say yourself. most corona infections, I estimate 95%, are Thai, especially in recent weeks; the remaining 5% foreigner. So we foreigners need to be protected from the Thais who may be infected. I am fine with it. I'm waiting for the special foreigner-visit-day.
Some think the government wants to keep foreigners out. The opposite is the case: people do not want to lose us because we are important in the reconstruction.
Shameful racists. about, rather, nationalists, while 99% of covid cases are of returning Thais. Better place a sign with "only welcome foreigners who already live here".
We all talk in our own alley, me too.
My girlfriend says to me, the Thai government is afraid that the people who come from abroad will bring the virus here.
They are obligated to their own people, the people who want to go back, to receive them.
The health of the people is more important than the economy at the moment, so they are going to ease it step by step, and see how the result is.
She is right about that too.
Hans van Mourik
Quote; “The health of the people is currently more important than the economy..” .What do you mean: there is only one health of interest to the rulers and that is their own. Simply telling a motorcyclist to wear a helmet and get a driver's license or else not ride: saves 1 lives a day. not eating raw fish: saves 60 deaths per day, tackling TB seriously as it is done in Europe: several lives per day, introducing food safety: saving many lives per day, actively discouraging alcohol: saving many lives per day, setting fire to not allow crops and forests: saves many lives every day. None of this list is being addressed and that is why there are unnecessary (!) many victims every day, as well as many long-term ill people due to related diseases (cancer, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, etc.). Don't bother me and others by telling me that people consider “health” important in Thailand because that is simply not the case, as practice shows. And I have known this practice for 60 years. Or has people suddenly become enlightened since March and things will be 30% different from now on? I do not think so.
And then you forgot to mention Ger, the excessive use of pesticides here.
Because they can spray like the best here, even with the life-threatening poison parqui.
Jan Beute.
.
PS, she also told when the virus started in Thailand, mid-March, they started repatriation flights for the Thai, later for people who are in busses can come back, soon for people who
have agreements between countries with low infections so that business travelers can fly to Thailand again, businessmen with an invitation letter from companies in Thailand and patients with doctor appointments in Thai hospitals” and people who are married to a Thai or have children.
Too bad for me, can't go to the Netherlands to attend my daughter's wedding in July in the Netherlands.
Hans van Mourik
Hans,
Very sorry for you, very sorry.
But I still think that Phrayut and his ilk pay little attention to the dire plight of Thai people who depend on tourism.
They just want a militaristic “sweep” of the abuses in the “popular” areas of tourist Thailand. This has long been a thorn in the side of the upper class in Thailand.
It's sad, but maybe it's necessary and Covid-19 is an unexpected opportunity for them
Marc
The landscape in Thailand will change very much, what you now read between the lines is that in the future everyone must have good travel insurance in addition to your basic insurance or, if you live there, a health insurance that reimburses covid 19 admission to hospital.
I am afraid of the expats who are on a state pension without having insured anything, the visa system will change with even more additional requirements.
Obtaining a year extension under the table will probably no longer be possible.
Everyone has their suspicions, but none are based on truth and do not come from an official source.
We just have to wait and see what will happen in the near future, driving each other crazy doesn't help much.
One certainly also forgets that no one from outside the EC cannot enter the external border of Europe, one cannot even join a flight if one is not a resident and if one succeeds, entry is immediately refused and one turns around with a flight back.
What does Thailand do differently from Europe?
Well Jan, people with a residence permit are allowed to enter the Netherlands at all times, regardless of nationality. Can one return to family or home or continue their studies, while Thailand closes everything to foreigners regardless of whether they have lived there for 50 years or have to support children or take care of relatives or whatever, just because they are not Thai. Even an official residence permit from Thailand is irrelevant to them and it is not thought that these foreigners sometimes really have no connection at all elsewhere, but just happened to stay outside Thailand for a holiday or family visit etc..
And after June 15, the borders will open again for tourists within Europe so that free travel between many countries is also possible again, as is tourism (even Italy will open); I don't even see Thailand doing the neighboring countries.
Just read that the European Commission also wants to slowly open the borders to countries outside the EU from 1 July. These will then be countries with a low contamination. When this also applies to Thailand, there is hope that this is also mutual.
From 1 July, the European Commission wants to start opening borders to countries outside the EU in a controlled manner. The European Council, in which the member states are represented, must draw up a list of countries from which travelers can travel to the EU from that moment on.
The security situation in connection with the corona crisis in those countries must therefore be comparable to that in the EU and countries must in turn also allow travelers from the EU. The list is expected to be short, but more countries may be added. There are already countries in the European Union that allow travelers from outside, especially tourists.
Source: https://schengenvisum.info/eu-grenzen-openen-landen-buiten-europa/
So as long as Thailand remains closed to Europeans, Thais are not allowed to travel to the Netherlands or Belgium.
That could then become the well-known chicken/egg story of course….
I often went to Cambodia to Sinahoukville it was a nice place where backpackers came and most of them worked in restaurants and there were also nice bars there until they decided to let the Chinese in and as a result they terrorized the whole place and left the small guesthouse and bars and there are now large hotels and casinos. Don't expect it to happen here in Thailand
Casinos not directly, I guess.
https://www.travmagazine.nl/duitsland-verlengt-reiswaarschuwing-voor-160-landen-buiten-europa/ until August 31.
The korat.
Health is currently important as the economy
What do you mean?
Asked her that question, got the answer that the government is afraid of people who come from abroad, so also the Thai, only the Thai they can't refuse.
Because they are afraid that the viruses will be brought here.
That.other you may be right.
I also read that in What Po they don't allow foreigners there and some bus companies don't either.
That's why I believe that some Thais have a fear of people who come from abroad.
Lives in a neighborhood where no foreigners live, they think this government is doing well as far as the corona is concerned.
I don't like it myself, but that's in your own interest.
Hans van Mourik
It is incomprehensible, to say the least, that the Thai government does not see that the remedy for the corona crisis (which certainly does not deserve that word in Thailand) is worse, no much worse than the virus itself.
I understand that many are talking about the effects of staying away from tourists, but there are really many more Thais who suffer from the measures taken, such as street vendors (who don't rely on tourists), taxi drivers, cleaners of office buildings and construction workers.
Unfortunately, there is no Maurice de Hond in this country yet and if so, he/she would be just as little believed as in the Netherlands. I therefore do not expect demonstrations from Thai citizens in the coming week against social distancing and wearing caps. Incidentally, I notice that in the busier public transport in Bangkok, everyone just sits next to each other again. So there is no reason to demonstrate.