Travel

Ava, the very cutesy baby tiger from Chiang Mai

If you haven’t heard of Ava the Tiger yet, you’re missing out on the newest internet sensation. This three-year-old Bengal tiger from the Chiang Mai Night Safari is stealing hearts with her playful antics and stunning golden coat, a rare trait caused by a recessive...

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  • 8 Thai Airlines must provide a business recovery plan or lose out on additional routes

    8 Thai Airlines must provide a business recovery plan or lose out on additional routes

    Commercial Airlines Registered in Thailand must provide a business recovery plan or run the risk of the civil aviation authority of Thailand (CAAT) halting the allocation of additional routes. According to reports, eight airlines have been targeted. The 8 airlines on the list from the Civil Aviation Commission (CAC) are Thai Airways, Thai Smile Airways, …

  • Bangkok Airways to resume 2 domestic flights

    Bangkok Airways to resume 2 domestic flights

    Bangkok Airways will resume Bangkok-Trat and Bangkok-Sukothai roundtrip flights on Monday after being suspended for 3 weeks due to Covid-19. Some flights will remain suspended until March 27. Starting on Monday, Bangkok Airways will offer roundtrip flights for 7 destinations: Bangkok – Samui Bangkok – Phuket Bangkok – Krabi Bangkok – Lampang Bangkok – Chiang …

  • Phuket eases restrictions, bars back to late-night hours

    Phuket eases restrictions, bars back to late-night hours

    Things are getting back to normal in Phuket. The provincial government eased disease control restrictions, allowing restaurants, bars and entertainment venues to go back to their normal operating hours – no more midnight closure order – and lifting the late-night alcohol ban. While bars can now stay open late and serve alcohol after midnight, dancing …

  • Covid-19 death toll exceeds 100,000 in the UK, government mulls quarantine for travellers

    Covid-19 death toll exceeds 100,000 in the UK, government mulls quarantine for travellers

    With the Covid-19 death toll exceeding 100,000 in the United Kingdom, the British government is considering a mandatory hotel quarantine for visitors entering the country. A quarantine system is considered to be an effective way to limit virus transmission and stop new coronavirus variants from spreading into the country. Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke …

  • Thai tourism operators want to offer vaccination-inclusive packages

    Thai tourism operators want to offer vaccination-inclusive packages

    Vaccination seems to be the great new hope of most of Thailand’s businesses battered by Covid-19, especially the tourism industry. Thai tour operators are now floating the idea of “vaccination tour packages” to attract inbound travellers after the first inoculations are distributed in February. Sort of an STV with vaccination included. The tourism plan is …

  • Covid-19 travel pass to pilot on Etihad and Emirates Airways flights

    Covid-19 travel pass to pilot on Etihad and Emirates Airways flights

    A travel pass for passengers inoculated against Covid-19 or who have tested negative will be piloted on flights for Dubai’s Emirates and Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways. With the travel pass issued by the International Air Transport Association, passengers can keep control of their data and share their test results with airlines and authorities for travel. …

  • Golf quarantine now available in 6 golf resorts

    Golf quarantine now available in 6 golf resorts

    The Tourism Ministry’s Golf Quarantine proposal has been approved by the Thai cabinet. That means foreign golfers can now stay in quarantine whilst enjoying a round of golf in 6 approved golf resorts located in Kanchanaburi, Nakhon Nayok, Phetchaburi and Chiang Mai. Foreign golfers are now allowed to spend their 2 week quarantine 14-16 days) …

  • Bangkok Airways delays new flights, changes flight schedule due to Covid-19 outbreak

    Bangkok Airways delays new flights, changes flight schedule due to Covid-19 outbreak

    Due to the ongoing spread of Covid-19, Bangkok Airways has made changes to its flight schedule over the next 2 months and has delayed the introduction (or the re-introduction) of new flight routes. All passenger lounges are also closed until the end of the month. Changes set from now until the end of February include …

  • Thai Airways cuts down international flight schedule

    Thai Airways cuts down international flight schedule

    Due to the ongoing spread of Covid-19, Thai Airways is reducing its international flight schedule from now until March 27. Domestic flights will still operate as normal under the airline’s sister carrier Thai Smile. Thai Airways will reduce international flights to the following destinations: Asia Hong Kong: One daily return flight – TG638/TG639 Manila: One …

  • Covid-19 control measures by province

    Covid-19 control measures by province

    Provincial authorities are stepping up disease control measures as Covid-19 spreads throughout the country. 55 of Thailand’s 77 provinces have reported at least 1 Covid-19 case since the new wave of the coronavirus. Here’s a run down of Covid-19 measures and advisories in some Thailand provinces, posted by the Tourism Authority of Thailand. Bangkok Closure …

  • Thai cabinet approves extension of jet fuel levy holiday

    Thai cabinet approves extension of jet fuel levy holiday

    Whilst the current cheapest domestic air fares have been around the same prices they were before local airlines were grounded, there is a possibility of some more drops in your seat prices. Thailand’s budget carriers could be offering lower seat prices after the cabinet yesterday approved an extension of the jet fuel tax holiday. Thailand’s …

  • Bangkok Airways offering up to a 20% discount to certain groups of Thais

    Bangkok Airways offering up to a 20% discount to certain groups of Thais

    Bangkok Airways is offering 10 to 20% off its standard rates to certain groups of Thai citizens. The demographic groups are split into 5 categories: senior citizens who are 60 years old or over, undergraduates which include students and teachers, disabled persons, travel-related professionals and government officials. All groups will receive 20% discounts except government …

  • London to New York in under 4 hours – Will there ever be another Concorde?

    London to New York in under 4 hours – Will there ever be another Concorde?

    We’d flown in propeller-powered planes, then jets. Supersonic was the next evolutionary step in flying people around the world as the 1960s came to a close. Now, 50 years after Concorde’s early flights, supersonic flight is again just another aviation pipe dream as we pack into our cheap ‘flying buses’ which are not much different from …

  • Mandatory Covid insurance of up to 3 million baht for foreign visitors to Thailand

    Mandatory Covid insurance of up to 3 million baht for foreign visitors to Thailand

    A spokesman for Thailand’s State Insurance Commission says all foreign arrivals into the Kingdom will need to have insurance cover for Covid-19. Suthipol Taweechaikarn says the insurance will need to cover people for the duration of their visit and that various packages are being made available for online purchase. Coconuts reports that travellers coming from …

  • Thai Airways announces extra repatriation flights for European and Asian cities

    Thai Airways announces extra repatriation flights for European and Asian cities

    The executive vice president of Thai Airways, Wiwat Piyawiroj, says the national carrier is introducing 18 repatriation flights to cities in Asia and Europe. The flights will permit additional foreign nationals in Thailand to return to their home countries, while also allowing repatriating Thais or eligible foreigners to return to the Kingdom on the return …

  • Thailand’s Health Minister optimistic about admitting business travellers

    Thailand’s Health Minister optimistic about admitting business travellers

    The Thai Public Health Minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, admits Thailand is caught between a rock and a hard place and can’t go on locking all foreigners out forever, in an effort to prevent a resurgence of the Covid-19 virus. “We will either die of the disease or of hunger, so we have to face the challenge.” …

  • Eva Air pushes back Phuket flights to July 2021

    Eva Air pushes back Phuket flights to July 2021

    A new timetable from Taiwan’s Eva Air indicates a delay to the planned resumption of direct flights between Taipei and Phuket, which had recently been tentatively pencilled in for March 2021. The new schedule now lists the flights as operating from July 1 next year with the airline’s website taking bookings from that date. The …

  • When will the world open up again for travel?

    When will the world open up again for travel?

    OPINION 9 months since the first outbreak in China, international borders remain mostly sealed. Most travellers, excepting certain categories, are prevented from leaving or entering in the majority of countries. The shutters went up in March and April in much of the world, a bit later in some countries, as governments and medical officials figure …

  • UPDATE: Pushback from local associations over the Thai government’s “Phuket Model”

    UPDATE: Pushback from local associations over the Thai government’s “Phuket Model”

    UPDATE: Amidst the “plans” and “models” being proposed by the government to re-open Thailand to some form of general tourism (nothing confirmed yet), there’s also been some pushback from operators in some of the hardest hit areas. The government had proposed the Phuket Model as a way of kicking off tourism from early October. But …

  • Plan on the table to allow Europe’s ‘snowbirds’ into Thailand for up to 9 months

    Plan on the table to allow Europe’s ‘snowbirds’ into Thailand for up to 9 months

    Another day, another ‘plan’ flown up the pole to see if it will catch some wind. This time a prominent health provider claims the government is developing a new ‘visa’ for sunseekers. If adopted it could allow foreigners to stay in Thailand on a long-stay visa for up to 9 months. Nothing has been finalised …

  • There is no date for the reopening of general tourism in Thailand, except Phuket

    There is no date for the reopening of general tourism in Thailand, except Phuket

    Deputy government spokesperson Traisulee Traisoranakul says Thailand will not be “fully reopened to foreign tourists” along the lines of Phuket’s “safe and sealed” model, because the government and CCSA has to consider too many details. Thailand’s largest island, Phuket, is going to be a pilot program for the partial re-opening to any tourist that wants …

  • I flew home to get a new visa – one person’s experience with the “new normal” in Thailand

    I flew home to get a new visa – one person’s experience with the “new normal” in Thailand

    Theo, from The Netherlands, flew back from Thailand to arrange a new visa in his home country. When he returned he had to stay in an Alternative State Quarantine hotel in Bangkok. What were his challenges? How much did it all cost? I am from the Netherlands, I am 44 years old, married with my Thai …

  • Expats should be able to share in the government’s tourism incentive programs

    Expats should be able to share in the government’s tourism incentive programs

    by Expat Life Newly elected President of the Thailand Hotels Association and Vice President of Sukosol Hotels, Marisa Sukosol, was asked what her thoughts were about the Thailand Together government travel stimulus campaign. Although close to 5 million people have registered, only 600,000 hotel rooms have been booked at this stage, well below initial estimates. “The project …

  • Thai Air Asia posts huge Q2 loss as their fleet struggles back into the skies

    Thai Air Asia posts huge Q2 loss as their fleet struggles back into the skies

    Despite many of Thailand’s discount airlines taking to the skies again, all airlines are still in the financial doldrums as they battle travel restrictions, a risk-averse flying public and closed international borders. Now Asia Aviation, major shareholder of Thai AirAsia, has announced revenue of 2,221 million baht and a net losses of 1,210.6 million baht …

  • Thailand is on top of the tourism shopping list for Asian travellers, when the borders open

    Thailand is on top of the tourism shopping list for Asian travellers, when the borders open

    “Fear & Possibilities in a Post Coronavirus World”. That’s the name of a new study jointly prepared by Blackbox Research, Dynata, and Language Connect. For ‘fear’ and ‘possibilities’, there are plenty of both as Thailand and Asia emerge from 6 months of battling and containing Covid-19, with more knowledge and better handling of outbreaks. The global …

  • Thai minister encourages hotels to stop price-gouging expats

    Thai minister encourages hotels to stop price-gouging expats

    The thorny issue of dual pricing has raised its ugly head again, this time with the current offerings for hotels as Thailand slowly winds up its tourism industry again. Tourism and Sports Ministry, Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, is asking hotels to offer “fair packages to expats and resident foreigners, and avoid price discrimination”. He said that there are …

  • Air Asia and VietJet add some extra domestic routes

    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 …

  • No current plans to extend list of foreigners allowed back into Thailand

    No current plans to extend list of foreigners allowed back into Thailand

    There is no immediate plan to extend the list of foreigners being allowed to come to Thailand at the moment. Specifically still excluded are retirees with valid visas, homes and families in Thailand. The directive comes from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since Thailand’s experience with Covid-19, it has closed its borders to tourists and …

  • AirAsia X forced to ground its international fleet until borders re-open

    AirAsia X forced to ground its international fleet until borders re-open

    Regional airlines are struggling to find any semblance of ‘new normal’ as they try to get their flight schedules settled for the next few months. With regional government’s unable to provide them timing for the lifting of border restrictions, and some re-closing borders, it has become a nightmare for the international carriers. Now Air Asia …

  • All foreigners will have to serve 14 day quarantine “in the foreseeable future” – Minister

    All foreigners will have to serve 14 day quarantine “in the foreseeable future” – Minister

    Thailand’s Minister of Tourism and Sports, Pipat Ratchakitprakan, is reassuring Thais by explaining that all foreigners, regardless of their status or origins, will have to serve a mandatory 14 day quarantine, at least “in the foreseeable future”. Thailand officials are currently prepares phase six of the re-opening of the country, loosening the restrictions imposed in …