Coronavirus (Covid-19)

World Tourism hotspots re-opening – success or failure? | VIDEO

Published

3 weeks ago

Tuesday, February 9, 2021

The world of tourism has been turned upside down, not just in Thailand but around the world. Globally, it’s certainly the hardest hit industry from the coronavirus pandemic, shutting down hotels, tour companies, grounding aeroplanes and putting millions out of work.

Before we look at the latest situation, and predictions for Thailand, let’s take a quick tour of some of the other world top tourist spots and their experiments with re-opening amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.

DUBAI

MALDIVES.

COSTA RICA

BALI

THAILAND

In Thailand, the gravity of the impact on the country’s tourist sector appears to have eventually sunk in. After a year of hubris that the world’s tourists were ready to burst through Thailand’s doors, even the perennially-positive TAT governor Yuttthasak Suphasorn admitted that it will be another 2-3 years before any semblance of a tourism industry returns.

His comments were made at the same time as industry leaders urge the Thai government to save what is left of the shattered tourism sector, before it is too late and there is literally nothing for foreign tourists to return to.

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24 Comments

Jorma

Tuesday, February 9, 2021 at 4:07 pm

Cost benefit analysis…… How many people suffer because of lockdowns VS covid. For majority of people its just another flu.

Reply
- Jim Ferrante
  
  Wednesday, February 10, 2021 at 10:49 am
  
  Indeed you’re right.
  Something much more sinister is at play in my view. Governments would not destroy their people’s prosperity unless they faced a greater evil.
  …the Chinese communists
  
  Reply
Toby Andrews

Tuesday, February 9, 2021 at 4:24 pm

Where is the tour, I only see Thailand.
What about Costa Rico?

Reply
Toby Andrews

Tuesday, February 9, 2021 at 4:34 pm

Oh it’s in the video.

Reply
- MichaelBKK
  
  Tuesday, February 9, 2021 at 5:07 pm
  
  Little Johnny from issan could give you a tour if required Toby ?
  
  Reply
Ismail

Tuesday, February 9, 2021 at 4:35 pm

Cannot compare, Maldives to Thailand in Maldives we have separate islands as hotels, easy to quarantine and manage compared to countries like Thailand.

Reply
Ben

Tuesday, February 9, 2021 at 7:42 pm

The video’s shows not many people are traveling regardless of whether you’re open or not. If you’re open you get a small fraction of tourists you had the previous year plus some infection. Most people are not comfortable traveling during a pandemic.

Vaccination will change this as travelers will feel less anxious about acquiring the virus and becoming severely ill and host countries, who vaccinate their population, will feel less anxious about their people becoming severely ill. Everyone is moving in this direction now. Variants will pop up and be dealt with through vaccine tweaking.

This virus is diabolical because of its infectiousness and asymptomatic spread which kills the old and the sick at a rate that’s 2-3 times higher than the flu. This creates a situation where some people are scared to death and some just shrug depending on their circumstances and thus creates huge disagreement on how to deal with the virus.

All of us at our core are social beings and are tired of restrictions and the resultant negative economic impacts. Vaccines and treatments provide a light at the end of the tunnel where this can be managed. 2021 is the transition year to the new normal with this virus managing tool kit. 2022 and beyond might be a period like the post Spanish flu roaring 20’s – party time. It’ll be for me.

Reply
- Mel Burn
  
  Wednesday, February 10, 2021 at 9:33 am
  
  Yeah, right. There will be another virus and people like you will be scared out of their pants. We are traveling wherever it’s possible and would come to Thailand if not for the quarantine _and_ smog.
  
  Reply
  - Ben
    
    Wednesday, February 10, 2021 at 8:45 pm
    
    Mel, you mad bro?
    
    I’m getting my second jab soon and will be in Thailand next month. Yes the quarantine is a bit of a pain but after a few weeks I’ll be enjoying what Thailand has to offer until the pandemic subsides in the USA.
    
    Complaining about COVID, quarantines, smog, etc. isn’t going to make it going away. You enjoy living like that?
    
    Reply
    - Mel Burn
      
      Thursday, February 11, 2021 at 2:27 am
      
      I am not a sitting in one place type. Nine months in 2020 in Thailand was enough. I travel. And the current situation does not allow free travel. Just waiting for the warm weather in Europe and I’ll be on my way. It’s you who is scared of this “diabolical” virus. And I am saying, as well as many medical people and virologists, that there will more much deadly viruses soon. So there is no point to stop travelling and business for this Covid nonsense.
      
      Reply
    - Mel Burn
      
      Thursday, February 11, 2021 at 2:34 am
      
      And I do enjoy living _without_ fear of Covid, without smog and quarantines. Except in Thailand, I live on the ocean, in super clean air and among people who are not afraid of covid. There is not much Thailand can offer for long term stay now except food.
      
      Reply
Anna

Tuesday, February 9, 2021 at 8:53 pm

Thailand should open soon, social problems are exalting at alarming rate.

Reply
Wayne C

Tuesday, February 9, 2021 at 10:17 pm

Thailand will be lucky to see 100,000 visitors this year. Why should I go through all the headache the demands the quarantine the expense to go to Thailand. When I can go to islands in the Bahamas many countries in the Caribbean’s many countries in South America.
With just a negative Covid test and a 5 to 8 hour flight . Thailand right now it’s not even a consideration of course I would like to visit.
But the tourist industry right now in Thailand is nonexistent.

Reply
Patrick Kelly

Tuesday, February 9, 2021 at 11:32 pm

Tourism in Thailand & Draconian rules and regulations do not commingle. The golden goose that was tourism has been eradicated. Get used to abysmal numbers for the future. No schemes will limit the cowering and paranoia occurring in the Kingdom . The China Virus will damage your economy for years to come.

Reply
Ian

Wednesday, February 10, 2021 at 12:10 am

What upsets me is Thailand makes it hard for farang yet cuddles up with China the country that gave us this nightmare, as we speak the Thai government are not looking at making it any easier for westerners to go to Thailand it’s like they want the country to collapse it’s so crazy it’s like your house is sinking and you just watch it’s not to late Thailand to save what you can but it’s getting thier if your country doesn’t open up by september

Reply
- Issan John
  
  Wednesday, February 10, 2021 at 12:17 am
  
  So what’s harder about coming to Thailand now, today, for a farang, than someone from China?
  
  … and if you can’t think of anything, then what’s harder with anything that’s been proposed?
  
  … come on, there must be something …..
  
  Reply
  - Mel Burn
    
    Wednesday, February 10, 2021 at 9:37 am
    
    I’ll tell you, you moron. For tourists on _vacation_ – the quarantine is not acceptable. For long term – like us, who like to have a base in Thailand and travel – it’s also quarantine – every time when you leave and want to come back. And the smog – which might be OK for Chinese on a 5 day tour
    
    Reply
    - Issan John
      
      Wednesday, February 10, 2021 at 9:51 am
      
      You didn’t really understand the question, did you? 🙂
      
      Reply
Ian

Wednesday, February 10, 2021 at 2:46 am

Your not a farang anymore ij you wouldn’t have a clue ,stay baracaded up in your wooden hut until the world comes to its senses

Reply
- Issan John
  
  Wednesday, February 10, 2021 at 9:54 am
  
  So … you understood the question, but realised you were talking rubbish … well, that’s more than Mel B did, I suppose 🙂
  
  Reply
  - MichaelBKK
    
    Wednesday, February 10, 2021 at 4:23 pm
    
    Was Mel B your favourite spice girl little Johnny ?
    
    Reply
Stephen Vaughn Kelly

Wednesday, February 10, 2021 at 3:41 pm

A well put together though provoking feature with engaging graphics. My take away after watching focuses on the point that was made about, if Thailand remains closed for much longer, what will be left for people to come a visit when it does finally open up again for international tourists and long stay travellers such as myself? Hotels, restaurants, bars, taxi companies etc, etc, how many can financially survive and reopen? Then there is the construction industry, how many new build condos are sat empty and unsold? And what of the started but mothballed projects?

Reply
7.62mm of darwin

Thursday, February 11, 2021 at 6:36 am

I look at all these comments which dodge the obvious. Tourism in Thailand along with many other countries is simply finished, gone for good. Some other industry must take its place. Rice cultivation perhaps LOL

Reply
Nilsen

Saturday, February 13, 2021 at 6:47 pm

I was in Mexico during the november and december months, and from the middle of december Ciudad de Mexico went into red while the more touristy places around the gulf went from a max 60% capacity to 80% due to high demand – and at the same time having an outbreak keeping the regions lingering between orange and yellow. It is possible to travel and also to combine tourism and covid – but you cannot expect to have 0 cases. It’s all about keeping the number below the health care systems capacity. For Mexico they are not there but they have made the decision that more people will suffer if they would be in total lockdown than those suffering from Corona. A maintained lockdown would be catastrophic for the poorest – in a nation where 50% are considered to live in poverty. Alas – you could also ask if it is ethical to visit a country where 1500 people die every day and where some locals desperately drive their elders around for hours trying to find hospitals that will accept them. One thing is clear – this pandemic have made the divide between those who have and those who do not even wider.

Reply

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Coronavirus (Covid-19)

Thai Health Minister to chair panel on travel bubbles, vaccine passports

Published

13 mins ago

Friday, March 5, 2021

Maya Taylor

Thai Health Minister to chair panel on travel bubbles, vaccine passports | The Thaiger

PHOTO: Markus Winkler on Unsplash

Thailand’s Public Health Minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, will chair a meeting on Monday, in which a vaccine passport scheme and potential travel bubbles will be discussed. Anutin says those who’ve been inoculated against Covid-19 will be issued with a book to confirm their vaccination. It’s hoped this will make international travel easier, as well as boosting the public’s confidence and helping life return to some kind of normality.

“The Public Health Ministry is making preparations to bring life back to normal, restore businesses and revive the Thai economy.”

A number of groups and industry representatives have added their voices to growing calls for a vaccine passport policy. The Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking is urging the government to implement the scheme without further delay, while also calling for private companies in Thailand to be allowed purchase and distribute vaccines.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand is also pushing for a vaccine passport policy, while the Tourism Ministry has urged the Health Ministry to approve one. Meanwhile the PM, Prayut Chan-o-cha has asked the Foreign Ministry to carry out a study on vaccine passports, adding that the jury is still out as to their effectiveness. They also have their critics, primarily among rights’ groups and doctors, who argue that there is not yet enough evidence that vaccination prevents transmission.

At Monday’s meeting of the National Communicable Diseases Committee, the Anutin-led panel will also discuss the idea of travel bubbles. Thailand has been considering entering into reciprocal travel arrangements with countries with a high take-up of Covid-19 vaccines.

Meanwhile, Anutin says the public must continue with the practice of mask-wearing, noting that the number of Thais doing so has recently slipped. He says that recent data shows the number of people wearing masks has dropped below 80%, compared to 90% last month.

SOURCE: Nation Thailand

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Coronavirus (Covid-19)

Hospital in northern Thailand closes to visitors after 2 patients test positive for Covid-19

Published

37 mins ago

Friday, March 5, 2021

Maya Taylor

Hospital in northern Thailand closes to visitors after 2 patients test positive for Covid-19 | The Thaiger

PHOTO: Thailand Medical News

A hospital in the northern province of Tak has had to shut its doors to visitors after 2 patients treated at the facility subsequently tested positive for Covid-19. Nation Thailand reports that Mae Sot Hospital is now closed to visitors until Monday.

It’s understood that 19 staff members have had contact with 2 patients who tested positive for the virus. Hospital director Thawatchai Setsuppana says the closure is to facilitate a deep clean of the facility and confirmed that a number of medical workers are self-isolating.

“3 doctors, 11 nurses and 5 patient assistants have been ordered to undergo 14-day quarantine.”

Officials are now questioning both patients, in an effort to trace others who may have had contact with them. Tak province is on the border with Myanmar, which has had 142,000 cases of the virus, with 3,200 deaths.

Meanwhile, in the northern province of Sukothai, the provincial Public Health Office has confirmed that a Thai national who returned from working at a casino in Myanmar has also tested positive for Covid-19. It’s understood the woman developed symptoms prior to entering Thailand at the border town of Mae Sot on March 1, before taking a bus to her home in order to attend her grandfather’s funeral.

The provincial health office has issued a statement to confirm the timeline of the woman’s movements. It’s understood 17 people had contact with the woman, with 7 of those considered “high-risk”.

“On March 2, she took a Covid-19 test at Sukhothai Hospital and went shopping in Muang district before heading home. She was admitted to Ban Dan Lan Hoi Hospital on March 3 after her test came back positive.”

It is unclear how the woman managed to evade the mandatory 14-day quarantine. Border officials have stepped up patrols in recent weeks, amid fears that Burmese nationals fleeing the violence in Myanmar may attempt to cross illegally into Thailand, bypassing health checks and quarantine.

SOURCE: Nation Thailand

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Tourism

Thailand to introduce “area quarantine” for international visitors from April

Published

1 hour ago

Friday, March 5, 2021

Maya Taylor

Thailand to introduce “area quarantine” for international visitors from April | The Thaiger

PHOTO: Andreas M on Unsplash

From next month, foreign visitors to the Kingdom will be able to experience the delights of “area quarantine”, after the government confirmed the scheme for 5 provinces. Following a meeting with the Public Health Ministry, the Tourism Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn confirmed that Phuket, Krabi, Chiang Mai, Chon Buri (Pattaya), and Surat Thani (Koh Samui and Koh Pha-ngan) have been chosen to pilot the scheme.

Foreign tourists opting for area quarantine will be required to remain in their hotel rooms for the first 3 days of their stay. They will be tested for Covid-19 and, if negative after 3 days, will be allowed to leave their room and roam freely around the resort for the remainder of their 14-day quarantine. At the end of the 14-day period, they will once again be tested for the virus and, if negative, allowed to travel around the quarantine area.

In order to avail of the scheme, tourists will still need to fulfil the other requirements for travel, including obtaining a Certificate of Entry, a negative Covid-19 test 72 hours prior to travel, and adequate health insurance. Nation Thailand reports that the area quarantine plan will be run by 29 travel agencies, under TAT supervision.

The area quarantine scheme comes as the TAT hails the success of the first “golf quarantine” scheme, which operates in a similar manner. Travellers from countries considered “low-risk” for Covid-19 can come to Thailand for a golf holiday at approved golf resorts in the Kingdom. Conditions are similar to those attached to area quarantine, with the golfers having to spend the first 3 days in their room, test negative for the virus, and then enjoy free rein of the resort, with a few rounds of golf thrown in.

Thailand’s economy has been decimated by the fallout from the pandemic, in particular the loss of international tourism. The current mandatory 14-day quarantine period is seen as the biggest hurdle to overcome in order to re-ignite the sector. In 2019, international tourism contributed 2 trillion baht out of a total 3.01 trillion baht tourism trade. In the same year, tourism made up 17% of Thailand’s GDP.

SOURCE: Nation Thailand

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