Tag Archives for thailand.
Thailand’s cabinet approved a plan to re-open Phuket to tourism July 1, with a path to then re-open Chiang Mai, Krabi, Pattaya, Phang Na, and Koh Samui October 1.
I wrote, though, that you should wait to book travel unless you wanted to quarantine because it seemed likely re-opening would be delayed. Now, just two weeks after the plan to re-open was approved, it’s under consideration for (very likely) delay.
Thailand’s cabinet formally approved re-opening and you can now plan to visit parts of the country if you’ve been vaccinated in just a matter of months.
Thailand has approved the re-opening of Phuket starting in July for visitors who have been vaccinated against Covid-19, provided that 70% of its population is also vaccinated. And “[b]y the fourth quarter, the quarantine waiver is expected to be implemented in five holiday destinations..”
Don’t go planning July travel to Phuket just yet.
Thailand is expected to roll out ‘vaccine passports’ this month, but this would only allow those who have been vaccinated against Covid-19 to reduce their required quarantine from 14 days to 7 days.
Two popular resort areas are planning to re-open fully to vaccinated tourists by October, though: Phuket and Koh Samui.
Thailand is technically open to visitors, but even with a negative Covid test there’s a 14 day quarantine requirement and the idea of being stuck inside a hotel room that long hasn’t been popular. It’s attracted only a few hundred tourists per month to the country.
However people will go to greater lengths to visit friends and relatives than they will for just a vacation long enough to justify the quarantine period. I saw on social media that the owner of my favorite Thai restaurant was back in Bangkok, in the middle of his quarantine period at a hotel with his wife. He was gracious enough to share his story and some photos.
Thailand has re-opened to tourism albeit with restrictions such as a 15 day quarantine on arrival. People from all over the world can now travel to the country for their fix of beaches, boat noodles, and bar fines.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand is working to bring back vacationers, and has launched a partnership with Tinder hoping leisure travelers will swipe right on domestic trips within the Land of Smiles.
Thailand has managed the Covid-19 pandemic well. Despite identifying early cases outside of China at the start of the pandemic, the country hasn’t seen significant virus activity and 90% of cases have been asymptomatic.
The country has been among the most closed to tourism, like much of Asia, but they’re now offering special tourist visas to people from all over the world – there’s a process to jump through and quarantine on arrival, but it’s now possible for Americans to visit.
On Monday a frustrated passenger on Thai Vietjet’s flight VZ305 from Phuket to Bangkok decided to unload some steam and muttered “I think this airline should be bombed” as the gate agent checked his boarding pass.
A deleted scene from the sitcom Friends offers a pretty good reason why he shouldn’t have been arrested for this.
In September a hotel guest was jailed for writing bad reviews of the Sea View Resort & Spa, Kah Change. American working in Thailand who wrote the review was arrested at his job and jailed over a defamation lawsuit filed by the property.
He spent a couple of nights in jail before being able to post a 100,000 Baht (~ US$3165) bail. He faced up to two years in prison if convicted.
Remember Thailand’s ridiculous tourism visa scheme? Turns out that no one even applied. It’s been called off, and leadership is back developing a new plan: Assign someone to follow around each tourist, and make sure they don’t have contact with any Thai people.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
