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People from North America who wanted to arrive for the big airport welcome on July 1 would be boarding planes in less than 24 hours. Except they won't since they can't get a COE. My COE was pre approved a week ago, cancelled on Monday (because I didn't click the sandbox button that didn't exist). I resubmitted, but now the pre approval is awaiting someone in BKK must review vaccination certificates. Once that's done I can do get pre approved and go on to part 2 - upload my flight and SHA+ certificate. But wait! Now there is the 3 prepaid Covid test receipt to upload but no details on how to make that purchase and no spot on the COE site to add it. That airport welcome may be embarrassing with no tourists arriving.

Except absolutely no-one will be coming. The new Phuket COE process only started (eventually) yesterday, and everyone who had pre-approval needs to re-apply. There are also additional requirements - the COE system is now re-directed to MoPH Thailand for Vaccination verification and approvals. Approval time approximately 3 working days. And the ridiculous THREE PCR tests now need be done at the hotel and prepaid and a confirmation letter from the hotel showing the payment needs to be attached to the COE. The hotels know nothing of this atm. So, first international travellers are about another week away at least. Oh, and it's *still* not in The Royal Gazette! Honestly, you couldn't make this stuff up :-|

(Their vaccination rate is now 80% (over the threshold sought for herd immunity). why are people not understanding 1 vaccine is not fully vaccinated and only fully vaccinated 2 doses will bring heard immunity.. 80% with 1st dose is not over the threshold sort for herd immunity

Any potential expat (or Thai) returnee should realise by now that a Bangkok ASQ is the surest way to re-enter. > As a side note, can anyone confirm whether the 300 baht arrival fee has been introduced? Perhaps hidden in ticket cost but the interesting thing is it's purpose is for 'insurance cover' ... yet another impost and no doubt excludes covid.

I agree, DW, no one will come. I think the TAT's predictions will be like every other prediction they've made recently, garbage. I remember when they that the special tourist visa and 150,000 Chinese were to come, but when contacted in China, the embassy and consulates reported ZERO applications. Too much hassle, too expensive and there are nice places in the world with less hassle. Thai officials are too enamored with themselves to understand they don't have a great product on offer.

It would be utter insanity to subject yourself to such uncertainty given the capacity for manipulating numbers in official pronouncements in the country.

I read the whole article thinking i would get to the bit where a hotel manager would say how many bookings they had taken. But no word of how many. It's all very well being prepared and getting your hotel ready. But the product you're trying to sell isn't good enough to tempt enough people to buy. Who wants to be met at the airport by hazmat suits? Who wants to be forced to pay for nonsensical extras? They may get a few crazies who have failed to research just what is in store for them when they arrive. But thats all and even the crazies will wise up and spread the word when their wallets get emptied. Sorry to say the sandbox is d.o.a.

it's like a Rat Race movie now in Thailand, every tambon and every island want to get those bags of gold called "the tourists" Every person with the IQ bigger than one of the chicken already understand that this is not gonna happen and people still talking about it. i love this country, puts smile on my face every time of the day

AZ works in UK, it will work in Thailand. the only problem is race against time to get two jabs each person, and Delta gives no time. lockdown + operation warspeed is the only way to minimise casualties.

There’s only one way to get out of this and that’s vaccinate the way out , however, with limited to none available it’s bound to eventually spread fast far and wide with “realistic” figures it could be scary in 2 to 4 months

You don't need to be a medic to know that, it's taking over every country already, that's why i am so skeptical about Sinovac

For those of us trying to get COEs, the incompetence has been epic. Last week embassies said to apply via the COE website, get a pre approval and then complete the process of uploading hotel and flight confirmations on Monday. Many did. Those who were pre approved last week received a rejection notice Monday and had to begin again because the "applying for sandbox" button (which didn't exist on the original version) wasn't checked. After reapplying some got a second pre approval while others (like me) are waiting. When completing the final step of adding SHA+ hotel and flight proof, rejections arrived again. This time it was due to an unknown new requirement of pre paying for required Covid tests in Phuket. Tourists nor hotels knew nothing about it and there is no information of how and where to prepay. People traveling from North America and hoping to arrive July 1 are scheduled to boarding planes in the next 24 hours, but Thai officials have made it impossible to get a COE.

Well Thailand could learn something from that, they always try to copy everything anyway from other countries, but nomad visa in Thailand is ridicules and useless what they offer like many other visas.. Thailand experts in making it useless and difficult and create disappointments for the foreigner...because they simply do not care at all about foreigners... besides of course our bank accounts ?

You are quite right, it could well be successful given that the new case numbers are so low and the visitors/tourists are vaccinated and covid free. It just takes one rotten apple to ruin it for not just Phuket but the whole of Thailand.

As long as Phuket keeps itself isolated from unvaccinated (2 jabs) Thais and illegal workers from other countries, then they should be able to keep the numbers under control. The problem is clearly not fully vaccinated tourists/visitors, but they are the ones who have to go to great trouble and expenses just to visit the island. What chance if the sandbox becomes successful, that it is all undone when some Phuket businesses illegally import cheap workers via local boats from Pang Nga after driving them up from down south where delta C19 is all the rage ?? I hope that does not happen - it would be a disaster for the ordinary Thais.

Obviously the first few weeks will be a disaster as predicted. I hope they learn the lessons and get it right eventually, but if the daily cases numbers dont start declining soon, it aint going anywhere.

At the very least you will find a cap on removing that much money out of Thailand and it will take several transactions and a significant loss in transfer fees. Look at the WISE transfer company for reasonable rates of transfer but if the money isn't already in Thailand I'm not sure I would bring it if you are already asking about how to take it back out again. If its for purchasing property remember you can own a condo but your house will always be on someone else's land at this current time.

just how many have been vaccinated and how many vaccinations have they recieved one or 2 ? instead of fudging the numbers tell us the true figures from the correct source not a minister from TAT or someone plucked out to give false information. I'm sensing an Escuse ready for when this stupid plan falls on its sword.

With all that is going on. Thailand was ranked 122 in October 2020, now ranked 76 in the world against Corvid. Believe me, you don't want to be higher up on the scoreboard! At what point will they be able to sustain the economy and can they come back soon enough? There is no one specific model to combat Corvid in the world. Every country has been going at it in different ways. Yet, all we can do is hope for the best for the country to recover and bounce back to pre pandemic level.

We are at the delta variant now and if he talk about effectiness then the people needs it for all variants like Beta and Delta! Foolish useless and dangereous propaganda on the costs of the lives and health of the people!

I saw photos of those workers, sorry, nothing personal, but i see the reason why this business collapsed way before the COVOD. And signs like: no money - no honey - no GDP? Sorry haven't heard of any of them paying taxes

This is something the government closes their eyes to, but in reality the sex industry is a huge draw for Thailand, even in Phuket, for which the Sandtrap doesn't do anything, as everything is closed. "Statistics for sex tourism in Thailand are hard to come by. Estimates suggest there are anywhere between 250,000 and 2 million sex workers in the country. Global black market database Havocscope puts the number at the lower end of that scale, with the equivalent of $6.4 billion being brought in. But other surveys and organisations place the number much closer to the 2 million mark." Dr. Hailey Stainton, tourismteacher.com

Where have you seen anything published by The Thaiger that says you can stay quarantine free?

The Delta variant has proved to be the most aggressive and virulent strain so far and has raised the bar for the need for controlling cross contamination. It is however allegedly responding to most of the vaccinations available. Your term 'operation warspeed' seems very appropriate.

My former COE was cancelled on Sunday. I wasn't surprised, so I re-applied at 12:00 noon (Thailand Time) and of course it was rejected as the embassy in the US did not have an updated form. Reapplied once again with the 'new' form this morning... Waiting and quickly losing hope that I will get an approved response before I get to the point that I have no other choice but to cancel my current reservations. I'm at the point of heading to the Caribbean for months instead. One more road block and I'm done with the process. I'll visit in a few months when maybe the Gov and embassies in the US can get it together. The Caribbean is a s**t show too... but they're ready for incoming guests. I just want to go diving...

They bend the rules when it means losing money.

watch it... in 5... 4... 3.... 2...

A question or two for "Stonker" as he wishes to appear as some sort of "authority" on asymptomatic transmission. Considering that after 18 months of this farcical plandemic, not a single, viable, isolated and purified sample of this "virus" has ever been produced, how precisely, are these "medical experts" and other purveyors of doom able to accurately identify and be able to state unequivocally that this "virus" actually exists? What tests are being used to determine if a person does or does not actually have this as yet unidentified "virus"? It would appear that this whole scamdemic is relying on a worthless RT-PCR test, that was categorically stated by the inventor that SHOULD NOT be used to detect a vius, and which incidentally has ethylene oxide, a known carcinogen, on the swab that these medical minions insist of forcing up your noses. Why are you insisting on using rubbish that you have cherry picked from dubious sources including the incompetent CDC in a vain attempt to appear "learned" on this issue in your attempt to belittle another commenter. Your "forbearance and tolerance for other opinions" is obviously reserved for "other opinions" that corroborate own! The bovine excrement being spewed here is actually yours!

They will get people, about 1K per day. The same amount Thailand currently gets through the exiting quarantine system. Mostly business people, returning expats and people who have been separated from their families. Tourists, a few but not many. I can’t wait to come back, but I’m not going through all this trouble and risk. I’m headed to Europe instead. I’ll come to Thailand in December when all this is worked out. Good luck to those brave souls who are coming. Keep us updated.

It really does defy belief that anyone should be encouraging people to travel unnecessarily at the moment. In Loei, where I live, there's been a recent cluster due to workers coming home from Bangkok as construction work closed, and consequently all the schools have closed from Monday, yesterday, for at least a fortnight. The kids are all back at home with no school, and those who sell them meals, who had just re-opened after months of school closure, now have a week's worth of food they just bought from Macro to try to sell over social media instead. Not a big deal (15,000 baht to clear for a friend of ours), but even here where domestic tourism is usually part of daily routine it's the cream, not the staple, and few rely solely on tourism. Local tourism attractions have been closed completely for months - not because they've been told to, but by mutual consent. They don't want tourists, foreign or Thai.

Cases are going up, after a brief fall in early June, even with limited testing. If they were conducting the testing that Malaysia for example has been doing, then the cases would make Thailand the clear virus hotspot in Asia. It's obvious that parts of Bangkok's very nature contributed to this, from back in April, and it's not only the hi-so clubs on Sukhumvit and elsewhere. You've got masses of undocumented, unchecked migrant workers working in the construction sites, you've got shopping malls that Thais use, not for shopping, but for lingering around ("Where we're going to meet? At the mall, of course").

Here in Bkk it needs a lockdown to stabilise the virus and give the medical profession time to treat patients as required. But as soon as you say lockdown that means “holiday”and escape to the north south east and west, ohh not forgetting north east. The border controls have been dealt with better than most western countries but the economic impact on the people and country through lack of leadership not ordering and prolonging the vaccine program until locally produced vaccines are avail has been disastrous

Rush to get your vaccination ,don hesitate ,and just how is that done with not enough vaccines for thai's let alone foreigners ,that's laughable .

Normally I'd try to show a bit of forbearance and tolerance for other opinions, but given your pevious comments here and elsewhere I'll be blunt. This is absolute rubbish, wrong and simply untrue. We are all entitled to our own opinions but not to our own facts and certainly not to lie about what recognised authorities such as the CDC have said. Asymptomatic DOES NOT mean you are perfectly healthy or recovered from a virus. It's a medical term, not open to interpretation, and means you are not showing any symptoms. Nothing else. It has nothing to do with health and nothing to do with having "recovered from a virus". You DO NOT have to have a large viral load to pass it on and you would have to feel quite ill. This is just complete, unmitigated rubbish. The CDC HAVE NOT stated less than 0.1% possibly zero have been transmitted outdoors. This is completely untrue. While the figure is hotly debated, with some putting the figure as low as 1%, the CDC have stated that "less than 10%" has been transmitted outdoors - one hundred times your figure. That was detailed at length in an article entitled Outdoor Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and Other Respiratory Viruses: A Systematic Review published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases, Volume 223, Issue 4, on15 February 2021 and it was confirmed by the Director of the CDC to the US Senate last month. The only nonsense being regurgitated here is yours

called it a lockdown, but then said it's not a lockdown. restrictions is a flexible term, use it carefully. it's like immunity, which people thought is complete protection, but it's not. don't watch Law In Order too much

Waaa Waaa Waaa - The Bryan Flowers types are nothing more than pimps profiting off the poorly educated and exploited women of Thailand. I assume NightWish group must have at some time paid for advertising with The Thaiger or you are just desperate for appearances on your program for you to waste so much time on this dreg of society. The women and ONLY the women are the victims here as always and the owners like Bryan don't deserve any compassion at all when they use Covid and fake empathy to drive their agenda. Bryan is whining because he cannot financially rape these women now and he doesn't have the funds to pay the bribes necessary to keep it all rolling. Poor Bryan...........

Same problem what Chile and Brazil had with Sinovac. The responsibilty is now at the government not to order other vaccines in time. The studies about this problem is known long time ago. They risk lives, health and the economy of the whole country!

I have plenty of friends who always buy expired (UBD/BBD) cheeses, camembert or blue varieties. Is that a good example ... a rhetorical question :)

"Stupid is what stupid does" Poor guy.

Understandable but who pay the people who lost their income? And if there is no compensation then you have to count also all suicides, health problems because of living in hard conditions, mental health problems, all the violence against children and woman etc, etc. Just mention one side of the coin is meaningless. If he wants to keep it locked all then there is a price to pay and is he willing to stand for that?

Can’t get enough of European cuisine? Well, you’ve come to the right place. In recent years, the cultures of Europe have made a mark on Bangkok’s restaurant scene. From the tapas of Spain to the le bœuf bourguignon of France – the capital now boasts a multitude of restaurants offering food from most countries in Europe. To round these up, we’ve compiled a list of the top 5 European restaurants, with popular tastes from all corners of the continent. 5 Best European Restaurants in Bangkok 1. Le Normandie Le Normandie’s has remained a premier destination for French fine dining for over 6 […] The post Top 5 European Restaurants in Bangkok appeared first on Thaiger News. Read the full story

it is impossible to obtain the COE because the European vaccination certificate does not contain all the required data, i.e. passport number and vaccine batch number

Psst, no one is coming.

Where is "here"? Without knowing that it's not possible to know if what you're saying is true or not, although it seems highly unlikely as I can't think of any country where that remotely applies. I have to admire your front for saying this happened to "a friend", rather than the normal absurd claim that it's automatic. If he was "covid positive" at the time, why was he in a car accident and not quarantined / self-isolating? Really? ... and only two were hospitalised, in a country with few Covid deaths, despite so many Covid cases that you know hundreds of them? Remarkable. ... and people in your country don't send money to streaming bar girls because they're perving the 'net but because they "want to help"? Where is "here", again?

I think media (and yes that definately includes The Thaiger), should publicise the daily figures of Covid cases and where they are happening. It helps people to make informed choices. The only aspects that seems to be missing are the number of those who have recovered from the virus and also the numbers of those who have received first and second doses of vaccines. Just reporting the new cases isn't the full picture. I rely on worldometer to get the best information. I think day after day seeing only the new case numbers, can be really depressing for people. It's also an unbalanced picture. So show these other stats as well. It keeps thepublic informed and the government accountable.

Yes I agree. There is a scam in operation. The hospitals put everyone in beds and are paid by government funds. The more beds filled the more money made. A bit like brothels. I do not trust the test. There are similar to taking a car for a UK government MOT test, where the mechanics find all sorts of defects that need repair - by the mechanics. Asymtomatic persons are not suffering. They should not be in hospital.

Hi Spengler, The STV was introduced as a stop gap, because the METV was no longer workable. Now the STV is of no use other than a stay of 3 months. For a stay of 6-9 months as you suggest, there are only 2 guaranteed options. You must be +50 years old. 1. Either a Non Imm O visa from the Thai Embassy, grants a stay of 90 days on entry, then extend the permission of stay for a further 12 months, subject to Immigrations financial requirements. 2. A Non Imm O-A Visa from the Thai Embassy, grants a stay of 12 months on entry, subject to having a 400K THB inpatient, 40K THB outpatient Health Insurance policy. Another option without a guarantee is to enter VE or SETV, of which the stay granted at entry can be extended for a further 30 days. Thereafter apply for 60 day Covid extensions for as long as they are available. Currently you can only apply up to the end of July, but this will almost certainly be extended up to the end of September. Whether the period of Covid applications will be extended again after September is anybody's guess.