The thorny issue of dual pricing has raised its ugly head again, this time with the current offerings for hotels as Thailand slowly winds up its tourism industry again. Tourism and Sports Ministry, Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, is asking hotels to offer “fair packages to expats and resident foreigners, and avoid price discrimination”. He said that there are 2 million foreign residents who would be able to travel domestically at this stage and contribute to a local revival of tourism before the borders are re-opened for general tourism. The ministry suggested that expats should be encouraged to travel domestically instead of heading out […]

The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration reported this morning that 17 new cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in state quarantine over the previous 24 hours. The new patients are all Thai returnees, 15 from India and 1 each from Australia and the United States. The new cases bring Thailand’s total number of cases to 3,376 since the beginning of the outbreak. Today marks 81 consecutive days without a domestically transmitted case, since May. There were 4 new recoveries in the previous 24 hours making the number of discharged patients 3,173. There were no new fatalities leaving the death toll […]

In a major blow to New Zealand’s efforts to contain Covid-19, health officials there announced today that the resurgent coronavirus outbreak has spread beyond Auckland, its largest city. Health Minister Chris Hipkins said there were 12 confirmed cases of local transmission and 1 probable, following the shock reemergence of the virus in Auckland on Tuesday. He said 2 of the infections were found in the North Island town of Tokoroa, around 210 kilometres south of Auckland. The infections outside Auckland come despite a strict lockdown, including masked police blocking roads to seal its borders. Hipkins played down fears the failure […]