Tourism

Rejoice Thailand. 681 tourists will arrive in November!

Published

6 months ago

Saturday, November 21, 2020

Thaiger

PHOTO: You'll have all the beaches mostly to yourself, almost.

Rejoice, roll out the red carpet and sound the bells. Here they come! Thailand is about to be flooded with 681 tourists who have applied for, and received, the Special Tourist Visa. Ok, we’ll admit that’s the number is a bit down on last year’s monthly 3.3 million tourist arrivals (average). But, twisting the numbers like only the Tourist Authority of Thailand can, that’s more than DOUBLE last months’ total tourist intake.

The perpetually optimistic governor of the TAT announced the 681 tourists will be visiting Thailand during this month under the much-discussed Special Tourist Visa (STV) program.

263 of those ‘special’ tourists had already completed the 14 day mandatory quarantine, 134 were currently in quarantine and 284 would arrive before the end of November.

The TAT governor says that the TAT, Thai Airways and hotels associations had been working on what he called the “Amazing Thailand Plus Special Package”. This was a one-stop-shop service to make it easier for the tourists to get their air tickets, apply for their visa, find out about where to quarantine and book trips around the country once they finish their quarantine period.

Thailand would have normally be welcoming around 3.5 million tourists during November (according to 2019 data) but this year’s ‘disruption’, and the Thai government’s response to it, has all but closed down Thailand’s international tourism industry.

Whilst the TAT are painting a rosy picture of the November arrivals, the reality is the tourists have arrived at great costs, on a bankrupt airline, to a country where most of the tourist attractions are closed, and the streets of the tourist hot spots empty.

As of today, there is no plans to make it any easier for tourists to travel to Thailand beyond the current restrictions and visa offerings. The 14 day quarantine remains in play, although there will be a meeting of the CCSA on Wednesday this week to discuss, again, reducing this quarantine time to 10 days, for arrivees from low-risk countries.

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20 Comments

Realist

Saturday, November 21, 2020 at 10:13 am

“flooded” is a joke, right? 😉

Reply
- The Thaiger & The Nation
  
  Saturday, November 21, 2020 at 10:20 am
  
  Ummm, yeah. There is an element of cycnicism dripping from this article. Sorry if it’s not obvious.
  
  Reply
  - Niels
    
    Saturday, November 21, 2020 at 10:26 am
    
    555 that’s hilarious – maybe in the future label the cynical parts as such, for the slower members of the readership.
    
    Reply
  - Realist
    
    Saturday, November 21, 2020 at 1:28 pm
    
    just being sarcastic. my old school winky face (semicolon-dash-paranthesis) came out an emoji 555
    
    Reply
EdwardV

Saturday, November 21, 2020 at 11:19 am

That is such an appropriate picture, well done.

Reply
Remo

Saturday, November 21, 2020 at 11:36 am

We should avoid calling them tourists, these Chinese people are long term expats.

Tourists dont stay here for 6-9 months, as they have jobs or businesses back home, so they have return after 2-3 weeks.

These long staying guys either make their living in Thailand or have capital income from abroad.

Reply
- preesy chepuce
  
  Sunday, November 22, 2020 at 12:20 am
  
  Expats? not so much, carpetbaggers? Ask an investigative journalist…
  
  Reply
lou

Saturday, November 21, 2020 at 12:29 pm

Great comments, great photo, for once the TAT giving the right figures its new !!!!! they should open a shop selling TAT silk ties, more comfortable to hang ourselves rather than a hemp rope, guys from the tourism sector thanking you so much for wise decisions to kill the industry and its millions members rather than implimenting more clever solutions than quarantines and hassles from heavy documentations.

Reply
Jeremy

Saturday, November 21, 2020 at 12:43 pm

hahaha the title and picture of the contemplating monkey in front of the empty beach is spot on!! He must be watching for his ship to sail in?! LOL
love the sense of humor by the publicists.

Reply
Nipral

Saturday, November 21, 2020 at 1:04 pm

Are the 681 sanity tests ready ?

Reply
Simple Math

Saturday, November 21, 2020 at 2:20 pm

That`s 99.98 percent down on last year`s average number of monthly arrivals. Imagine you earned 1000 dollars from your investment this month last year, and this month you`ve earned just 20 cents.

Reply
liam

Saturday, November 21, 2020 at 3:20 pm

Thailand would have normally be welcoming around 3.5 million tourists during November (according to 2019 data) november 2020 681 tourists

Reply
Toby Andrews

Saturday, November 21, 2020 at 3:47 pm

Yes a good picture. A Thai monkey waiting for the tourists to arrive with the bananas.
But the head monkeys are preventing the tourist from arriving, and the head monkeys have plenty of their own bananas.
so they do not care . . .

Reply
Jason

Saturday, November 21, 2020 at 6:31 pm

Maybe once Thailand has sorted itself out, I might return. These last months since I had to cancel my trip to Phuket I have seen so much of the way things have gone in Thailand. I am so saddened that I can’t visit. Maybe when common sense prevails again, I will be able to……

Reply
Mike Frenchie

Saturday, November 21, 2020 at 7:25 pm

LOL – wondering why this TAT bureaucrats are not trying two weeks of quarantine by themselves?

Quarantine is nothing else than jail time in isolation (normally a punishment for people being already in jail) – for which you must pay for!

Except few desperate returnees or family reunion cases… NOBODY will come!

I got the details of the rules to be implemented by the hotels and this is crazy insane (no window can be open…).

The funniest part is that the country does not even test its own population although cases are appearing left and right and remain unexplained (the Korean soldier, the Thai going to Japan, the DJ in BKK…)

Although I have the means to afford a five stars quarantine, I will happily look at their economy going South and get my vaccine during Q1 2021 in Europe.

Good luck!

Reply
Branzone

Saturday, November 21, 2020 at 10:37 pm

Eight months now I left my family in Chiang Rai, no reasonable hope to return.

Reply
west tiger

Sunday, November 22, 2020 at 3:19 am

Farang tourism is the answer to Thailand’s sinking or sunk tourist industry, but the government is avoiding it for reasons unknown to many people

Reply
Sylvia L. Severi

Monday, November 23, 2020 at 1:15 am

When, when are they going to allow those of us who made Thailand their home, bought property, enrich the local economy, have
retirement visas which we have to renew every year and pay .. return to our home .. many os us are stranded elsewhere .. we are legitimate residents .. why are they allowing Chinese tourists enter and not us?????? Where is the logic ?

Reply
Khunplastic

Wednesday, November 25, 2020 at 5:33 am

Shurely this cracking picture is worth having a best caption contest with.
First prize a bunch of bananas and a bottle of Chang perhaps!

Reply
gosport

Thursday, November 26, 2020 at 9:00 am

This photo is the most amazing one in this site for this topic.

Reply

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Coronavirus (Covid-19)

Family sues prime minister, CCSA after Covid-infected relative dies

Published

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Friday, May 14, 2021

Tanutam Thawan

Photo from Kunlasub Wattnaphon's Facebook.

The family of a man who died while infected with Covid-19 is demanding the prime minister, as well as other government officials, pay millions of baht in compensation, citing “negligence” after calls to Covid-19 hotlines went unanswered or were not of help.

35 year old Kunlasub Watthanaphon died on April 23. Kunlasub is said to have contracted the virus from a cluster in Bangkok. Many of the clusters of infections early in the recent outbreak were concentrated in nightlife districts in Bangkok including Thong Lor and Ekkamai.

When Kunlasub developed Covid-19 symptoms, he called the hotline numbers for those who think they make have contracted the virus. If he had received proper treatment quicker, the family says he might still be alive.

“The CCSA announced telephone helplines – 1330, 1422, 1668, 1669 and 1323 – for people who suspected they had contracted Covid-19. When my brother developed Covid-like symptoms he called these numbers. However, they were either busy or someone picked up but did not send help right away.”

Kunlasub had documented his illness on Facebook, posting updates, as well as photos and videos, up until the day of his death.

The death of the 35 year old man, who is well known in the esport, or video competition industry, sparked controversy. One person wrote on Facebook after Kunlasub’s death “My friend didn’t die because of a congenital disease. He died because he wasn’t treated in the early days.”

The case was filed at the Administrative Court today. It demands compensation of 4.53 million baht from the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration as well as PM Prayut Chan-o-cha, his secretary and the prime minister’s office.

The family is also suing Thong Lor entertainment venues, where the first clusters were reported in the recent outbreak, for negligence.

“Had the CCSA imposed a strict lockdown on entertainment venues and banned travel during the Songkran holiday, the latest wave of Covid-19 with over 2,000 new infections daily would never have happened.”

SOURCE: Nation Thailand

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Thailand

Thailand News Today | 8 clusters in Bangkok, Phuket party organisers charged | May 14

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Foreigners may face a slight delay in receiving their Covid-19 vaccines, The BMA has now confirmed 8 clusters of Covid infection in the capital, Thai Private Hospital Association is now working to offer a variety of Covid-19 vaccine brands to Thais and Patong police have announced that the managers of the Phuket venues that hosted the Kolour entertainment event swill be charged under Thailand’s Emergency Decree provisions.

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Economy

Market down as good US economy drives interest rate fears

Published

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Friday, May 14, 2021

Neill Fronde

FILE PHOTO: The Thai stock market followed the rest of the world down yesterday, but long-term prospects may be looking up.

After US inflation exceeded targets and increased 4%, global stock markets including Thailand plummeted yesterday with fears of rising interest rates. Almost 144 billion baht was traded yesterday with the market at one point diving down 70 points in the late afternoon before recovering to a 23.72 point loss, closing at 1548.13.

2% is a high rate of inflation so the big numbers sparked fears that the US Federal Reserve will reduce quantitative easing and increase interest rate which decreases the market’s liquidity. The US economy is surging with the Consumer Price Index up 4.2% over last year.

The balancing out of the economy will likely push risky prospects like the stock market down while driving up commodity prices like energy and oil. This may hurt the Stock Exchange of Thailand in the short run, but will likely have long-term positive effects as the SET has a large number of energy stocks that will benefit from the market’s change.

Some long-term investors in Thailand fear quantitative easing and the market’s tightening because it drives away foreign investors which in the past made up 30% of the Thai market. But now foreigners only account for 20% so the negative effect should be much less. However, in the normal inflation range of 1 to 3%, the stock market should have a price-to-earnings ratio of 20 and some experts have downgraded it to 18 now.

Eyeing the US, some experts predict that even accelerated quantitative easing won’t come into effect until the end of the year and interest rates probably won’t rise significantly within the next 2 years. Watching the continued effect of the Covid-19 pandemic and US unemployment figures will be key indicators driving the global market up or down.

Even with the stock market down in Thailand, there’s still some good news as Thai corporations listed on the SET expected to cross the 200 billion baht profit threshold this week, after reporting 180 billion baht in the first quarter of the year, with 55% of the market recording a profit.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post