tourists
- Tourism News
“Low-risk” tourists could see quarantine period cut in half upon arrival
Low-risk tourists entering Thailand under the Special Tourist Visa could see mandatory quarantine period cut in half down to 7 days, according to the Public Health Ministry. Tanarak Plipat, the deputy director-general of the Department of Disease Control under the ministry says the current quarantine system, however, must be “redesigned” if such measures are in place. “Seven-day quarantine is possible…
- Visa Information
Special Tourist Visa flight postponed, National Security Council confirms
After much confusion about when the group of Chinese tourists will arrive in Phuket, the secretary general of Thailand’s National Security Council confirmed that today’s flight has been deferred to October 25. Officials decided to postpone the flight and reschedule it after Phuket’s Vegetarian Festival is finished. The annual spectacle is known to draw large crowds. The council’s secretary general…
- Visa Information
First batch of Special Tourist Visa arrivals for Phuket ‘postponed’, no refunds
If you were a traveller, trying to get accurate information about how and when you could return to Thailand, you’d be rightfully confused. So are we. Now it emerges that the arrival of the first Special Tourist Visa travellers, headed for Phuket, has been postponed at least until the end of the month. Scheduled charter flights for Scandinavian and Chinese travellers…
- Thailand News
Thailand News Today | Poll-Keep borders closed, quarantine exemption, heavy rain | October 7
Today’s Thailand News Today with Tim Newton… Zoos to be investigated for possible involvement in black market animal trade Zoos across Thailand will be investigated for possible involvement in the black market wildlife trade. The probe follows a case where 2 rare albino barking deer went missing at Songkhla Zoo and a top zoo official investigating the disappearance was shot and…
- Thailand video news
Thailand News Today | Waiting for vaccine, new face of Thailand expats, teacher complaints | Oct 1
Daily Thai news on The Thaiger. All the latest information about Thailand, Monday to Friday on Thaiger News Today. Thailand beaches may limit visitors until Covid-19 vaccine is available Beaches and national parks might not fully open to international tourists until a Covid-19 vaccine is available. The claim comes from the Tourism Council of Thailand president. Around 120 to 150…
- Tourism News
83% drop in foreign tourists expected by the end of 2020
Travel restrictions brought on by the Thai government, as a response to the coronavirus pandemic, have contributed to a drastic decline in number of foreign tourists with an expected drop of 83% from last year’s count of 39.8 million foreign tourists to this year’s predicted total of 6.74 million foreign tourists, according to President of the Tourism Council of Thailand…
- Thailand video news
Thailand News Today | Phuket re-opens, TripAdvisor review saga, Samut Prakhan chem spill | Sept 30
Daily TV news about Thailand. Updates and all the latest information from thethaiger.com. Phuket prepares to welcome first Chinese tourists in over 6 months The first group of tourists to arrive under Thailand’s new Special Tourist Visa scheme will land in Phuket on October 8. The flight from Guangzhou in southern China will carry 120 tourists, who will spend their…
- Koh Samui News
23 Koh Samui hotels seek alternative state quarantine certification
Nearly 2 dozen hotels and resorts in the Thai Gulf island resort of Koh Samui are seeking certification to be alternative state quarantine facilities. Talk of a potential travel bubble scheme to the island is also set for today, the Nation Thailand reports. 8 of the 23 hotels have already gone through a government check and the rest will be…
- Thailand News
Thailand News Today | Rumours of amnesty extension, 22 new Covid cases | September 28
Daily TV news and updates from around Thailand on The Thaiger and on Youtube at Thaiger TV. 22 new cases of Covid-19 detected in Thailand Out of nowhere, the Thai government’s CCSA has reported 22 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours this morning, raising the country’s total of infections to 3,545. 22 cases is the largest number…
- Tourism News
Phuket airport ready for tourists after finishing Covid screening labs
Phuket Airport is officially ready for tourists as authorities say they have finished installing Covid screening labs in an effort to welcome international travellers. The 5T Model for Covid-19 is being used at the airport with the goal of screening large groups of people in a quick and efficient manner. The Phuket health chief says the 5T’s stand for Target,…
- Visa Information
Thailand’s Special Tourist Visa to be approved tomorrow
The Special Tourist Visa will be ticked off and added to the Immigration department’s list of available visas on Monday. The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration meeting at the start of the business week will pass the much-discussed STV which is hoped to be the first step of a wider re-opening to general tourism in Thailand. CCSA spokeswoman Traisuree Taisaranakul…
- Thailand News
Thai Chamber of Commerce urges visa amnesty to be extended after today’s deadline
The Thai Chamber of Commerce is urging the government to extend the visa amnesty for the country’s 400,000 tourists after today’s deadline but has so far been turned down. The move comes as such provinces like Chiang Mai’s immigration office sends messages giving tourists until Monday to sort out their visas (which is under the law as Saturday, the final…
- Thailand video news
Thailand News Today | Protesters face arrest | Phuket “in a coma”| September 22
Thailand News Today with Tim Newton. Daily news from around Thailand. Struggling airlines to get reprieve through small loans, extension to fuel tax cut Airlines in Thailand are being offered a financial lifeline, as the Government Savings Bank announces soft loans for carriers left struggling as a result of the current Covid-19 ‘disruption’. The GSB is offering the loans over…
- Visa Information
Work permits for top tier Thailand Elite Card members
In an effort to give the economy an extra boost, the government will discuss adding work permit privileges for top tier Thailand Elite Card members who invest a minimum of $1 million USD in Thailand. The scheme will draw more investment to Thailand, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand, or TAT, governor Yuthasak Supasorn. While the types of investments…
- Visa Information
Special Tourist Visa 2.0 – This is what should happen on September 26
OPINION So here’s an idea. If Thailand truly wants to attract tourists why not offer FREE QUARANTINE for the first 10,000 people who contact their Royal Thai Embassy and register to come as tourists under the new Special Tourist Visa. The Thai government or TAT could pay the hotels directly (I bet it will be a lot less than the…
- Tourism News
150 million baht makeover for Bangkok klongs
Bangkok’s BMA is poised to spend 150 million baht revamping 15 kilometres of canal network in Thon Buri as part of an initiative to revive Bangkok’s reputation as the Venice of the East, a popular tourist phrase of the past referring to Bangkok’s extensive canal (klong) network, now mostly filled in and replaced with roads. The Bangkok Metropolitan Authority is…
- Tourism News
Thousands head to Koh Chang, 3 hour wait for island ferry
Cars full of tourists headed to Koh Chang waited for hours in a 2 kilometre long line to get on the ferry to the island. More than 10,000 people are expected to visit the island for the 4-day weekend. Many have Friday and Monday off work as substitute holiday time for Songkran which was cancelled in April due to coronavirus…
- Expats
Tourism officials look to end dual pricing for expats
“The key factor is we have to treat expats like locals, without discrimination or a negative attitude towards foreigners.” Admission fees at national parks and tourist attractions are often drastically higher for expats than they are for Thai nationals. Foreigners sometimes even pay 10 times more than Thais. Tourism officials say they might put an end to dual pricing for…
- Tourism News
Holiday plans cancelled at border district, Koh Samui expects tourist boom
People are cancelling their trips to a Kanchanaburi district for the 4-day weekend after a coronavirus scare at a local school. Koh Samui is expecting the opposite. The southern province Surat Thani is expecting such a large influx in tourists that some airlines and ferries have doubled their services for the holiday. In Thong Pha Phum, Kanchanaburi’s border district, the…
- Property
4 new luxury hotels set for Bangkok and Pattaya
The future of Thailand tourism looks expensive. 4 luxury hotels are planned for Bangkok riverside and Pattaya beach, despite the drop in tourists due to the coronavirus pandemic. 3 of those hotels will be an expansion of Asiatique: The Riverfront, a waterfront shopping mall in Bangkok. Asset World Corporation, or AWC, inked the deal with Marriott International. The CEO and…
- World News
Bali’s borders closed to international tourists the end of 2020
Planning a trip to Bali? Think again. Bali’s borders are closed for foreign tourists for the rest of the year. The Indonesian island was set to lift restrictions on September 11, but the Bali governor says it is still not safe to have people entering and leaving due to the coronavirus pandemic. Thailand has also pushed international tourist travel until…
- Pattaya News
Pattaya business and tourism official calls for more government help during Covid crisis
Pattaya is in desperate need of more government assistance, according to the president of the Pattaya Business and Tourism Association. Despite getting a spurt of additional visitors from Bangkok each weekend, the general visitor economy remains perilously low. Speaking to reporters, Ekasit Ngampichet says Pattaya business owners face several challenges as a result of the fallout from Covid-19. “I would…
- Tourism News
Heavyweight doctors oppose Phuket plan to admit tourists
A number of prominent physicians, some advisors to the Ministry of Public Health and the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, have posted on social media this weekend that they strongly oppose opening Thailand to tourists in any way, shape or form. Their concerns follow the government’s announcement yesterday of its plan to cautiously reopen the southern resort island of Phuket…
- Tourism News
It’s official: Tourism to return to Phuket in October – VIDEO
In a surprise move, the governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand told Reuters that tourists seeking long-stay holidays in the southern resort island of Phuket will be allowed into the province from October 1. The news comes with restrictions: tourists will be limited to staying in the alternative quarantine system but within a 1 kilometre radius of their hotel,…
- Tourism News
Air Asia and VietJet add some extra domestic routes
Whilst much of the world waits to get back into Thailand, the local airlines are starting to flex their domestic muscles and add new routes. Thai AirAsia is launching 2 new routes from Chiang Mai, starting yesterday, offering a one-way fare for as low as 790 baht on flights to Hua Hin, and Udon Thani in the northeast. The cheapie…
- Central Thailand News
Cabinet approves 435 million baht to control hungry elephants, monkeys
The Covid-19 crisis hasn’t just affected humans and businesses; it’s had a profound impact on Thailand’s wildlife- much of which was dependent on tourism for survival. As a result, the Cabinet on Tuesday approved a budget of 435.3 million baht to reduce the impacts of wildlife on people. The budget was requested by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.…
- Covid-19 News
Tourism sector pin hopes on “Safe and Sealed” scheme to lure international visitors
In the latest plan to bolster Thailand’s withering tourism industry, business operators are proposing a new inbound tourism plan called “Safe and Sealed”, to replace the delayed “travel bubbles” scheme and prevent Thailand realising the worst-case revenue scenario of only 675 billion baht next year, down from 3 trillion in 2019. At a joint meeting yesterday of the Tourism and…
- Opinion
Phuket’s killer boat Phoenix ripped apart for scrap metal
OPINION A very sorry sight today as an infamous relic of Thailand’s worst maritime disaster ends up being ripped apart and sold for scrap. Thai authorities will be glad to see the ghosts of ‘Phoenix’ gone once and for all. On July 5, 2018, two tour boats capsized off the south west coast of Phuket, during a sudden storm. 46 people…
- Expats
Proposal being ‘examined’ by authorities for a possible visa amnesty extension
Today the government’s Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration has briefly addressed the issue of the current visa amnesty, which is due to finish on July 31. The issue was mentioned today as part of the daily briefings. The visa amnesty was announced, then extended, in April to allow foreigners with lapsed visas, to stay in the country without having to…
- Covid-19 News
Thailand’s over-zealous virus control is killing the economy
Investors and economists are saying that “fear” and concerns over a second wave of Covid-19 is stopping Thailand’s economy recover. “Thailand should overcome concern of a second wave of Covid-19 and instead relax restrictions on foreign investors and tourists in order to shore up its falling economy.” Prominent local investor Dr. Niwes Hemvachiravarakorn says that the Thai Government… “shouldn’t worry…
