Russians and Indian high spenders in the plans as Thai tourism minister HALVES 2021 assessment - Thai Visa

Russians and Indian high spenders in the plans as Thai tourism minister HALVES 2021 assessment

 

Picture: Thai Rath

 

Thailand's minister for tourism and sports Pipat Ratchakitprakan said that he expects no less than five million foreign tourists to visit the country this year.

 

This is half previous assessments from the TAT in recent weeks. Their chief Yutthasak Suphasorn suggested 10 million would come. 

 

Billionaire Pipat was upbeat talking to Thai Rath about who these tourists might be, promoting the new idea of "Area Quarantine" while a ministerial aide said that 5 million doses of vaccine are being sought to inspire confidence in main tourism hotspots like Pattaya and Phuket.

 

It is felt that vaccination of locals is better than waiting for WHO's vaccination passport ideas to materialize.

 

Pipat said that no fewer than 5 million tourists would come in 2021. For now he was busy working on improving the Certificate of Entry website.

 

He was keen to hype up his "Area Quarantine" (AQ) plans saying it was much better than the "Villa Quarantine" that has already started in Phuket.

 

Under AQ tourists would still quarantine for 14 days but they would only be under lockdown in their rooms for three days. Then they would be free to use the grounds of participtaing hotels for the remaining 11. 

 

He claimed that as soon as AQ gets the nod from the CCSA Covid-19 authorities the tourists would flood in as this is just what they have been waiting for.

 

Thaivisa notes that this may be wide of the mark. Many online are saying that what tourists are waiting for is an end to quarantine entirely in Thailand.

 

So who are these tourists waiting to come to Thailand? No mention was made of British people - hyped up last week by the TAT in a much ridiculed 6 million person assessment of visitors. 

 

No, said Pipat, it was the Russians who would be leading the way. Tour companies had already been following the news and are planning 2 charter flights a day carrying 300-400 people on each flight to Phuket for AQ.

 

Apart from this Pipat said that high spending Indians who wanted to get married in Thailand would be the other group. 

 

He claimed that resorts with a total of 6,500 rooms across five provinces - Phuket, Chonburi (Pattaya in reality), Surat Thani (Koh Samui), Chiang Mai and Krabi were interested in providing AQ.

 

Ministerial aide Phinthorn Srisanphang said that 50,000 doses of the initial lot of vaccine received on February 24th would be mainly used to vaccinate hotel workers to facillitate AQ first. 

 

He revealed that the ministry has applied for 5 million doses of vaccine for the five tourism provinces to be delivered in the third quarter of this year.

 

That would inspire confidence in foreign tourists to visit and get tourism off the ground in the fourth and final quarter of 2021.

 

Waiting for the WHO vaccine passport plan could see the recovery delayed until the second quarter of next year, he noted. 

 

He did however intimate that the aim was to stop quarantine altogether as soon as was possible. 

 

Source: Thai Rath

 

 

People in Thailand urged to continue wearing masks, despite fall in new COVID-19 cases - Thai Visa

People in Thailand urged to continue wearing masks, despite fall in new COVID-19 cases

 

PIcture: Daily News

 

Dr Opas Kankawinwong - a key figure and spokesman in Thailand's fight against Covid-19 - has warned Thais not to lower their guard and put their faith too much in vaccine ending the pandemic. 

 

He urged people not to gether in large groups and to continue wearing masks.

 

He noted at the weekend that there were between 300,000  to 400,000 daily cases worldwide which was still not good. In addition Malaysia had 2,000 to 3,000 new cases a day and infections in Japan and South Korea were still in the hundreds. 

 

In Thailand he said that there was now a tendency for people to "return to normal" when things were anything but normal. 

 

Prior to the second wave of the pandemic last year they used the term "new normal" - now it appears the newer normal is still not good and should not become the newer normal.

 

If this is confusing the bottom line from Dr Opas was that phone calls about dangerous gatherings and less mask wearing were on the rise.

 

Yes, he conceded things are looking up in Thailand but it's still not normal. The vaccine brings hope but mask wearing should still be the way to go.

 

He urged people to report gatherings where people were not wearing masks to the authorities so that warnings could be issued. 

 

On the plus side he said that measures to stop the spread of the virus in Samut Sakhon - the epicenter of the second wave - were bearing fruit and he hinted at further relaxation of restrictions there. 

 

Picture: Daily News

 

Meanwhile Dr Yong Phuworawan of the Chula virology department cautioned that the vaccine rollout would take a year to see the greatest effects.

 

He urged people to get vaccinated when they could and said vaccines were safe.

 

Regarding Sinovac from China he said it was right that the Thai PM Prayut Chan-ocha should not take it as clinical studies were still limited regarding efficacy for the over 60s.

 

This didn't mean that it wouldn't be effective, just that more studies were needed.

 

PM Prayut was due to be jabbed with the AstraZenaca vaccine yesterday, Sunday, but this was delayed after a technical issue. 

 

Source: Daily News

 

 

1/3



Covid vaccine acceptance rises in some countries. The survey also covered Germany, Japan and Sweden where a similar trend was clear, it said. - Bangkok Post

Covid vaccine acceptance rises in some countries

Getting more popular, or at least less unpopular.

PARIS: Willingness to get a Covid-19 vaccine is on the rise compared to last year, a survey of six industrialised countries published on Monday showed.

More people in the United Kingdom, the United States and even vaccine-sceptical France now accept the idea of getting a coronavirus jab, KekstCNC, an international consultancy, said in the survey conducted in February.

The survey also covered Germany, Japan and Sweden where a similar trend was clear, it said.

"As vaccine rollouts commence, higher numbers of people in all countries say they would take the vaccine," the study said.

The highest percentage was found in the UK with 89% of those questioned in favour of taking a vaccine, up from 70% in December.

In Sweden, the rate was 76% against 53 in December, in the US 64% against 58, in Germany 73 against 63 and in Japan 64 against 50.

France was the country in the study with the least enthusiasm at 59%, but favourable opinions about vaccines were still sharply up from the 40% level seen in December.

Some people were, meanwhile, highly critical of the vaccine rollout in their country.

While 76% of Britons surveyed felt their government had gotten the rollout speed "about right", that percentage fell to 32% in the US, 28% in Germany and Japan, 22 in France and only 20% in Sweden.

People in the six countries judged that Israel and Britain had done the world's best jobs with their vaccine rollout.

The novel coronavirus has killed at least 2,526,075 people since it emerged in China in December 2019, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources on Sunday.

The United States is the worst-affected country with 511,998 deaths. 

Thailand starts COVID-19 vaccination campaign - Reuters

 Thailand starts COVID-19 vaccination campaign

 

A woman receives the Sinovac coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine at the Samut Sakhon hospital in Samut Sakhon province, Thailand, February 28, 2021. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand kicked off its COVID-19 inoculation campaign on Sunday, with cabinet ministers, health officials and medical professionals among the first in the queue to receive vaccinations.

 

The first doses of vaccine, developed by China's Sinovac Biotech, were given to Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who is also the health minister, among others at an infectious diseases institute on the outskirts of Bangkok.

 

"I hope that the vaccination will result in people being safe from the spread of COVID-19 and it allows Thailand to return to normalcy as soon as possible," Anutin told reporters afterwards.

 

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, 66, attended the event, although his age falls outside the range of 18 to 59 suitable to receive SinoVac's CoronaVac vaccine, so he did not get it.

 

Thailand received its first 200,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine from China and 117,00 imported doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine this week.

 

CoronaVac has been distributed to 13 high-risk provinces, which will start injecting front-line health professionals and volunteers on Sunday, the health ministry has said.

 

AstraZeneca's vaccine will be ready for use by the second week of March, after going through quality control tests, the company said in a statement.

 

Thailand is expected to take delivery of a further 1.8 million doses of CoronaVac in March and April.

 

A mass campaign to administer 10 million doses a month is set to begin in June, with 61 million shots of AstraZeneca vaccines produced by local firm Siam Bioscience.

 

With a tally of just over 25,000 infections, Thailand has escaped the kind of fallout suffered by some other countries since the pandemic began last year.

 

(Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus: https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps)

 

(Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-03-01

Thailand’s Phuket aims to become ‘immunity island’ for tourists as it seeks post-coronavirus bounce-back - SCMP

Thailand's Phuket aims to become 'immunity island' for tourists as it seeks post-coronavirus bounce-back

 

• With 80 per cent of tourism businesses on the island having gone bust, the island's tourism authorities have hatched a plan to fully reopen by October 1

 

• But the plan depends on whether Phuket can bypass the national government's vaccine roll-out schedule and obtain its own jabs earlier

 

Vijitra Duangdee

 

Anchored unused tour boats at Phuket's Chalong pier. Photo: Vijitra Duangdee

 

At Phuket's Chalong pier, boat driver Mang is in rare, high spirits: he has just had his first paying guests in two months. But for other tour boat operators in the area, surviving until the Thai borders fully reopen to tourists is another question.

 

"Some owners without savings have sold the boats, some have laid off workers," Mang says as he surveys the lines of idling tour boats around the pier, where in pre-pandemic times they would quickly whisk off the waiting tourists to sea, zipping them through hidden coves among the many offshore islands.

 

"My boss is trying to ride it out for a little while longer, just to help his staff. But who knows for how long?" With foreign and domestic tourists staying home and Thailand imposing a two-week quarantine for those braving travel, Phuket is facing an economic wipeout, with the inventory of closed hotels, bars and tour businesses growing longer each week.

 

Full story: https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3123317/thailands-phuket-aims-become-immunity-island-tourists-it-seeks

 

 

 

Thai Elite visa gives the retirement extension a run for its money - Pattaya Mail

Thai Elite visa gives the retirement extension a run for its money

Pattaya MailFebruary 28, 2021

It's all smiles on the Elite visa front.

The Thailand Privilege Card Company has now stepped up its recruitment campaign to try and attract long-term retirees in addition to frequent-visit business people. The latest promotional material for the Elite visa emphasizes that applicants don't need general medical insurance which is required "for the retirement visa."

Thai embassies worldwide are now stating that any kind of visa issued for retirement, be it an "O" or an annual "O/A" or a ten year "O/X" now requires general medical insurance worth at least 400,000 baht inpatient and 40,000 baht outpatient. This is in addition to the Covid insurance required for all visas requiring approval by a certificate of entry in the country of departure. However, Covid insurance is easily available online for anyone without the infection aged 0-99 years.

Holders of "O/A" and "OX" visas since 2018 have also needed that general medical insurance when renewing or extending their visa at Thai immigration. A loophole at the moment exists for existing retirees with an original "O" visa who do not require it when applying for an annual extension of stay. But these "exempt" visa holders cannot leave the country simply with a re-entry permit as they will need a certificate of entry from the Thai embassy and fall under the all-embracing regulations referred to in the previous paragraph of this article.



The problem for many retirees is that their age or health record precludes them from obtaining general medical cover and they rely on personal cash reserves. Thai health insurers usually refuse to accept new customers over 70 or require a detailed pre-enrolment health examination and/or multiple exclusion clauses. Some Thai authorities refuse to accept foreign-based insurance policies which is an added complication. It's all a mess to say the least.

Fast track is one of the Elite perks.

The Thai Elite card, by emphasizing that such insurance is unnecessary for its customers, is clearly recruiting amongst worried expats who fear they won't be able to renew or can't leave the country and return, or all of the above. The most popular Elite option – and there are many – is to pay 600,000 baht for a five year permit with multiple-entries built in. However, holders still need to report every 90 days at an immigration bureau and receive an annual update from the Thai Privilege agency.



Other attractions of the five-year Elite, according to the website, are cash discounts at participating businesses, fast-track immigration and no requirement ever to report to Immigration to prove money in the bank after enrolment in the program. There are also more expensive variants of Elite which can include family members, a 10 or 20 year permission and even incentives for property buyers. No work permit is required for business travellers in some versions of Elite.

It is true that foreigners aged 50 and above have other routes to retirement status in Thailand. The one year visa based on marriage does not require general medical cover. It is still possible to enter Thailand with a 60 day single-entry tourist visa or a visa exempt 45 days – requiring only Covid cover – and then convert it to an "O" non-immigrant visa and annual extensions of stay. But the problem remains if they want to leave the country and return.

The requirement to have general medical cover is highly discriminatory since it applies only to visas and extensions based on retirement and, uniquely, to the Special Tourist Visa allowing stays of up to nine months. There is no evidence that these markets are prone to falling sick and not paying their medical bills. Indeed, virtually all the crowd-funding cases given substantial press publicity have involved short-term tourists. The whole double-whammy insurance subject is overdue for appraisal and review. 

28/2

 

OBS , OBS, OBS, OBS, OBS 🇹🇭🇹🇭🇹🇭🇹🇭🇹🇭🇹🇭🇹🇭✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️. The following is a quick fact check we have written in hopes that many of our eager readers take a look and understand the current situation regarding tourists visiting Thailand. - Pattaya News

Fact Check: Can tourists come to Thailand now with no quarantine if they are vaccinated?

Saturday, 27 February 2021, 14:06

Thailand-

The following is a quick fact check we have written in hopes that many of our eager readers take a look and understand the current situation regarding tourists visiting Thailand.

The Pattaya News gets many, many, many messages a day from people interested in visiting Thailand, with the vast majority from India, Europe, and Russia. Most are "short-term" tourists and therefore could not go through the current process which requires a two-week quarantine at your expense, multiple Covid-19 tests, embassy approval, mandatory insurance, a fit-to-fly certificate, and other "hoops" to jump through. So, we have made an update to our popular previous articles around visiting Thailand. This information is all correct as of February 27th, 2021.

  Q: Can I come to Thailand now without a quarantine?

  A. No.

  Q. I've been vaccinated. Can I come to Thailand now without a quarantine?

  A. No.

  Q. I've been vaccinated. Can I come to Thailand with a "reduced" quarantine, no insurance, or do I have any other advantages?

  A. Not at this time, no.

  Q. I've read Thailand is dropping the quarantine though at (insert website here.)

  A. This is only a proposal, and is based on what will take months of research around the efficiency of the Covid-19 vaccines to reduce transmission of the virus, not protecting yourself. So far, early research from Israel and the UK is looking positive, but it is far too early to tell and will likely take several more months of research. This proposal, even if approved, is nearly certain not to take place before Quarter 3 or 4 of this year, with Q4 the most likely if approved. (July-September, October-December)

Q. What is this area quarantine I have heard about. I hear one can do quarantine in Pattaya, Phuket, Koh Samui, Krabi, or Chiang Mai and can spend their quarantine in the area vs. a hotel, villa, etc.

 A. This is also only a proposal at this time, although one with the backing of the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration. This is the most likely strategy for allowing tourists back into Thailand in larger numbers. Again, it is almost certain not to take place before the last quarters of the year and will rely on vaccinating local populations of these popular tourist destinations. The exact details of this are still being discussed.

Q.  I have heard golf quarantine, yacht quarantines, and villa quarantines are now approved?

A. For certain countries, yes. You will need to check with your local embassy or consulate. If you are considered a high-risk country (not based on the total number of cases, it is more based on the spread of variants, etc.) you will not be able to have this option.

Q. I'm from (insert country here.) We are still in lockdown and it is illegal to leave on holiday. Can I still come?

A. That is between you and your country. You will need to still do all the required measures and if you are in one of these countries you are likely to be confined to your room for the whole quarantine period.

Q. Will Thailand consider travel bubbles or agreements with low-risk countries or those with high populations of vaccinated people in the future?

A. Likely, but the situation is so fluid currently around the world that this currently tabled and will be discussed later this spring and summer as the situation hopefully improves around the world.

Q. What is Thailand's vaccine strategy?

A. Thailand got their first shipment of vaccines earlier this week. Shipments will continue and increase in numbers over the summer. The current plan (subject to change) is to vaccinate the vulnerable and health care workers but also include tourism workers in the high priority group to hopefully allow an area quarantine and tourists to return by the end of the year if vaccinated. Thailand has designated Pattaya, Phuket, Surat Thani (including Koh Samui), and Chiang Mai as economically important zones that will have priority for vaccinating their populations. If you are in Thailand, you can register at a hospital and will be contacted when vaccines begin to roll out in your area. Krabi appears to be being added to this list also.

Q. What about Bangkok? I want to visit Bangkok.

A. So far, Bangkok has not been on the list of proposed area quarantines. Although popular with tourists, it appears the focus will be on the much more economically devastated "pure tourism" cities and places around the country that rely upon tourism for almost all of their local economy.

Q. If quarantine is dropped, will medical insurance still be required?

A. No firm answers on this yet, but it is likely based on early discussions. 

We will update this list on a semi-regular basis with more questions and input. We know these are not the answers people want but Thailand is taking a very "cautious" approach in regards to the virus and has for nearly the entire pandemic, which is why as a whole every sector of business (including nightlife) is open in most of the country.