Tourism
“Tourist arrivals to plunge 50% in first half of 2020” – Thai Tourism Minister

Thailand’s Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn has painted a gloomy outlook for Thailand’s previously-robust tourism industry. He says he expects tourist arrivals to plunge by 50% in the first half of 2020 because of the coronavirus outbreak.
His predictions are born out by sluggish arrival numbers at the country’s main airports, hotel forward bookings and ‘landing slots’ cancelled by international airlines into Thailand.
A drop of 50% in Thailand’s visitors would be catastrophic for millions who are either directly or indirectly employed by the Kingdom’s hospitality industry, let alone the businesses and investors in the vast tourism and hotel infrastructure.
The Minister announced his gloomy prediction at a government-private sector meeting yesterday where measures were discussed to counteract the slump. This week the Thai government also foreshadowed that it is ready to throw some financial lifelines, including soft loans, tax incentives and training in return for income, to tourism operators ravaged by the coronavirus outbreak, according to the Deputy PM Somkid Jatusripitak.
“Relief measures are needed to take care of tourism operators, and each state agency has been tasked with proposing measures to the cabinet that should be rolled out by March.”
“The impact of the deadly virus on tourism is adverse and the government is concerned because the sector makes up a significant portion of the economy.”
A Phuket hotelier, who asked not to be named, painted a similarly dramatic picture of the slump being felt in one of the country’s favourite tourist destinations.
“Dramatic overnight drop in new bookings with cancellations piling up until the end of February, and not much movement in March. Continuation of cancellations including guests traveling via China or other so called ‘affected’ countries. MICE market (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences Exhibitions) came to a complete stop and weddings postponed until mid-year for the time being. Inquiries completely dried up.”
“Resorts and hotels are looking at cutting costs as much as they can immediately. Complete stop on new recruitment unless absolutely necessary, and close entire resort buildings to reduce operating costs.”
Another operator of a five star resort in Chiang Mai reported that the situation in the north was also very tight.
“The last month has been desperately quiet and that was on top of a major slump for the last six months. Our forward bookings situation is looking very sick and many of our peer businesses are making quick changes and even putting off staff to try and minimise the impact on the bottomline.”
Minister Phiphat reported that tourist numbers from February 1 – 9 were down 43.5%, and among Chinese visitors 86.6 %.
“We expect the situation to pick up in April and will be discussing with Airports of Thailand ways to manage flight schedules for Chinese tourists to reduce airport congestion. There’s also been the news about the speedboat collision in Phuket in which several tourists were killed, so we want to put the priority on tourist safety.”
“A 50% reduction in tourist numbers in the first half means cutting the prediction from 40 million people to 20 million.
“The Tourism Authority of Thailand will need to work harder in the second half to compensate for the first.”
SOURCE The Nation
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Thailand
Thai senior and disabled citizens will receive 2,000 baht handouts

While the government’s economic stimulus packages continue to roll out, there is also a concern for the disabled and senior citizens who are excluded from the criteria to get benefits from the government’s major aids at this stage. The Ministry of Social Development and Human Security plans to distribute 2,000 baht handouts to that demographic of the Thai population.
According to the MSDHS Permanent Secretary, the ministry has allocated the budget to help those underprivileged groups who are excluded from the main national relief measures. However, at the initial stage, the handouts will be distributed on a case-by-case basis with the help of reports from the community development volunteers about the actual situation of each affected household.
SOURCE: NNT
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Thailand
CCSA Update: 142 new Covid-19 infections

After the welcome drop of new Covid-19 infections yesterday, the CCSA today reports an increase of 142 new confirmed cases in the past 24 hours. 88 cases were found in general health care institutions, while 37 cases are detected on the proactive tests and 17 cases in the state quarantine.
The CCSA says the situation is still not stable with changing numbers, and urges the public to maintain caution.
Among the hot spots of the new outbreak, Samut Sakhon reported 63 new infections… 19 cases are Thai and 44 cases are migrant workers. Meanwhile, Bangkok recorded 14 new cases… 13 Thais and 1 migrant.
The CCSA also says the proactive testing in the community, especially migrant workers in factories, will continue. He says at least 50 factories still need to undergo the test.
Currently, the virus has spread to 63 provinces across the country with a total of 12,795 accumulative cases and 71 deaths since the start of the outbreak in January last year.
SOURCE: CCSA
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Thailand
Migrant workers risk losing their legal status, the Cabinet to extend work permit amnesty

Over 1.7 million migrant workers in Thailand are going to lose their legal working status because they can’t submit work permit renewal and a health certificate with Covid-19 test results in time. The Labour Ministry then proposes the cabinet will extend the registration period (amnesty) for migrant workers to help maintain their legal status. Migrant workers, including those illegal and unemployed workers, are required to register with authorities via the ministry’s website from January 15 until February 13.
According to the Labour Minister, every migrant worker to renew their work permit must receive a Covid-19 test at hospitals designated by the Public Health Ministry. The Department of Medical Sciences will be responsible for the testing costs.
Illegal and unemployed workers, who registered with the Ministry, will be allowed to stay in the Kingdom for 2 years without penalties. Only those migrant workers from Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar are allowed to overstay their current visas, but are required to register with the provincial employment office in the area they work, as part of the amnesty.
SOURCE: Bangkok Post
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Ian
Wednesday, December 16, 2020 at 5:26 pm
Only 50% more like 80% and that’s being generous he needs to urgently speak to the peers that be and lift the quarantine the figures would change overnight as long as people who come show no covid and do tests what is the problem it’s all about control covid is finding it’s way in with or without quarantine