Tourism officials eye August reopening under “Pattaya Move On” travel scheme

[Thaiger]

Pattaya tourism officials are pitching a travel scheme similar to Phuket’s “Sandbox” where the mandatory 14 day quarantine is waived for foreign tourists who are vaccinated against Covid-19. The government plans to reopen Chon Buri to tourists in October, but tourism officials are hoping the start the proposed “Pattaya Move On” travel scheme in August. Under the proposed “Pattaya Move On” idea, vaccinated foreign tourists entering Chon Buri from overseas would spend the first 3 days of their stay isolated at a hotel before travelling in the Sattahip and Banglamung districts, which include Pattaya. After 14 days in the province, […]

The post Tourism officials eye August reopening under “Pattaya Move On” travel scheme appeared first on Thaiger News.

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[Andrew Reeve]

The vast majority of tourists travelling from Europe to Thailand normally take a 2 week holiday which is standard for most countries. The whole proposal is based on people staying for 3 weeks or longer.

You book a 2 week holiday and have to isolate for your first 3 days and then you are down to 11 days of your Hol remaining.

Also you are only allowed to travel outside the province that you are in after 2 weeks and that rules out visiting Bangkok.

Crying out loud why on earth would a tourist book a holiday in Thailand? 

[King Cotton]

10 minutes ago, Thaiger said:

would spend the first 3 days of their stay isolated at a hotel

Oh, yes please! . . . that does sound like a real whizz of a vacation.

With tourism officials obsessed with slogans, eg 'Pattaya move on' - how pathetically meaningless is that? - and clichés, as in this cleverly drafted sentence . . . “We will encourage the government to kick off the project in August, so we can iron out any problems that arise before fully opening the doors”, I guarantee that this report and any other current TAT info won't get a single soul excited about moving-on to Pattaya.

In a country whose government is so desperately short of expertise in both the health and tourism sectors, schemes such as these will remain nothing more than soundbites for their egocentric creators.

[ratzig]

Pattaya move on......Pattaya dream on!!! The 3 day room quarantine more ridiculous that the "Phuket SandTrap". Well at lease the officials are realistic about the numbers being 10,000-20,000 from Aug to Oct. That works out to be 166.666 tourists per day. Still, I do not think it is going to happen in Pattaya. Guessed they will have to dream on and move on to 2022

[dabossofbosses]

The fact is tourism from long haul destinations is limited at most this year and possibly the next. And with intra Asia regional travel restricted by a lack of mobility and/or confidence it appears these markets will impact the Thai tourism effort as well. The question then is, how much longer can Thailand whether such a blow to the economy?  I think Thailand is unique by being in a better position than say Spain for example, as people in Thailand generally don't tend to complain and just accept things and what they are told. The younger generation will not however, and once they start to take a more active role in society things will unravel. 

[King Cotton]

28 minutes ago, ratzig said:

Still, I do not think it is going to happen in Pattaya

No, too many problems there. Unlike Phuket which is virtually sealed off from the world by its single bridge, enabling travel limits to be enforced, Pattaya, with its several road arteries, would be like an ants' nest, once visitors were able to leave their hotels. 'Pattaya move on' . . . what a laugh!

Anyway, welcome to T-T, ratzig and thanks for that excellent debut post.

 

Please feel free to tell us a bit about yourself in 'Introductions'. It's good to pick-up on those sometimes differing regional or geographical perspectives.

And check-out the Guidelines, too, when you get a free minute. They're there to help us all enjoy our time here.

Happy posting

KC

 

[EdwardV]

What’s the purpose of a 3 day quarantine other than to drive away tourists? Does Pattaya plan to test at day three? Keeping in mind a PCR test takes 1-3 days to get results, you would be released prior? We already have to be vaccinated, we have to preflight test, and arrival test. The time between those two tests alone is 3-4 days. I just don’t see the logic two justify a three day hotel quarantine. If Phuket lowers its soft quarantine from 14 to 7 days after a month as they project. I’d rather go to Phuket for 7 days, receive my get out of jail card and fly over to Pattaya free and clear. 

[King Cotton]

29 minutes ago, EdwardV said:

 . . . fly over to Pattaya free and clear. 

Just one query with that 'escape plan', Edward. With Chonburi province recording 50 new infs today, wouldn't that mean that you'd be flying to a resort where they were still enforced to wear masks and obey whatever other restrictions were in place, e.g. no booze in restaurants, etc?

Just a thought, that I feel further supports my 'no-no' view towards Pattaya tourism for quite some time.

[ace035]

Again & again, why this government kept worrying on quarantine. The article mentions that any vaccinated farangs will not be quarantine anymore but it says 3 days quarantine in Pattaya. Nobody will come to Thailand if that happens. Making things complicated and harder. Take care of your people by restoring the economy & mass tourism. Get a grip!!!!!!

[Tjampman]

29 minutes ago, ace035 said:

Again & again, why this government kept worrying on quarantine. The article mentions that any vaccinated farangs will not be quarantine anymore but it says 3 days quarantine in Pattaya. Nobody will come to Thailand if that happens. Making things complicated and harder. Take care of your people by restoring the economy & mass tourism. Get a grip!!!!!!

I think that is excageratted, people are already going to thailand with 14 day ASQ quarantine!

Put I get your point  that it will not appeal to the casual traveler.

In general, thailand seems to wearing belts and suspenders at the same time, they really don't want to lose their trousers.

And I agree that they are going to far... But let's see hopefully they will start to relax the requirements soon after opening up.

I am hoping they just need to get started for the tourist destinations to opening up. But I doubt there will be any easy access to free travel in the mainland until vaccinations start to be wide spread.

[AndyW]

I don't think it will happen in August, but if the scientific data confirms that a vaccinated person is extremely unlikely to be a carrier beyond 3 days (as I read elsewhere) then it could happen late this year or early next year when Thailand has vaccinated a significant portion of their population and none of their other schemes will have generated much tourism income for them.

As for travellers leaving illegally before their 14 days is over, I think most of us wouldn't risk being caught outside the area because a large fine, deportation and being black-listed for a few years (hopefully no jail time) is a serious deterrent. 

It won't be popular with the two week millionaires but people like myself who intent to stay a few months would certainly use this scheme. In my case, I don't really want to revisit Pattaya, but it's a much cheaper option than spending 2 weeks in expensive Phuket again, or in ASQ (Which I did last December and will not repeat for 15 nights again).

[AndyW]

2 hours ago, EdwardV said:

What’s the purpose of a 3 day quarantine other than to drive away tourists? Does Pattaya plan to test at day three? Keeping in mind a PCR test takes 1-3 days to get results, you would be released prior? We already have to be vaccinated, we have to preflight test, and arrival test. The time between those two tests alone is 3-4 days. I just don’t see the logic two justify a three day hotel quarantine. 

There appears to be some data suggesting that a fully vaccinated person can't be a carrier for more than 3 day (extremely unlikely, although I think the research is ongoing so it's not yet confirmed), so assuming you could have picked it up at the airport, 3 days would be logical to some degree. 

[EdwardV]

AndyW: that’s interesting, haven’t heard that before. If that’s Thailand’s thinking, shouldn’t they be doing it with Phuket and Samui? At the very least they need to do so with Bangkok and Chiang Mai when they open a month after Pattaya. 

[AussieBob]

I just replied to the Phuket sandbox 'dreaming scheme' and that also applies to any similar scheme in Pattaya, Chiang Mai, Hua Hin etc etc etc.  Thai Regional Govts are thinking they can jump on the bandwagon and make some money from tourists too. But realistically only Samui Island is a possible additional location - if Phuket works - if.

300 tourism businesses given SHA Plus certification in Phuket - Thaiger News - Thaiger Talk (thethaiger.com)

 

[King Cotton]

9 hours ago, ace035 said:

Take care of your people by restoring the economy & mass tourism. Get a grip!!!!!!

Absolutely! You hit the nail on the head, there.

 

Hello, ace035 and welcome to T-T!

Please feel free to tell us a bit about yourself in 'Introductions'. It's good to pick-up on those sometimes differing regional or geographical perspectives.

And check-out the Guidelines, too, when you get a free minute. They're there to help us all enjoy our time here.

Happy posting

KC

[King Cotton]

7 hours ago, AndyW said:

As for travellers leaving illegally before their 14 days is over

A valid point, for sure, and one that will hopefully to taken on board by all prospective tourist visitors.

 

Hello, AndyW and welcome to T-T!

Please feel free to tell us a bit about yourself in 'Introductions'. It's good to pick-up on those sometimes differing regional or geographical perspectives.

And check-out the Guidelines, too, when you get a free minute. They're there to help us all enjoy our time here.

Happy posting

KC

[AlexPTY]

Please wait until Phuket Sandbox fail, save yourself an embarrassment

[divrg]

I think a Pattaya sandbox will be more succesfull than a Phuket sandbox. The reason is that Pattaya is the worlds no.1 in what it does and many want too return. There is no place in the world that can match Pattaya. As long as alchohol is permitted i think it will work.

[King Cotton]

37 minutes ago, divrg said:

As long as alcohol is permitted I think it will work.

No chance! With Pattaya having a number or road arteries, how on earth would the authorities manage to keep the tourist visitors in the city . . . Pattaya attractions or no?

Hi, divrg and welcome to T-T!

Please feel free to tell us a bit about yourself in 'Introductions'. It's good to pick-up on those sometimes differing regional or geographical perspectives.

And check-out the Guidelines, too, when you get a free minute. They're there to help us all enjoy our time here.

Happy posting

KC

[pascal]

well does not sounds as relaxing holidays, just after arrival i guess it will be a covid test, this explains the 3 days quarantine to get result, them more restrictions i reckon ....... i guess they can have the data regarding the booking request. These data should said what to expect in term of tourist arrival. Holidays is freedom , too much hassle in this scheme, i ll be surprised if peoples buy this. it is certainly better to save money and days off for proper holidays latter.

[AndyW]

3 hours ago, King Cotton said:

No chance! With Pattaya having a number or road arteries, how on earth would the authorities manage to keep the tourist visitors in the city . . . Pattaya attractions or no?

Vehicle rental prohibited, taxi/minivan drivers/owners told they'll lose their vehicle plus other punishment if they transport people wrongly (could be mandatory to check by a police station on-route out for them), All public transport that leaves the area checked by police. Shouldn't be that big an issue to stop people moving around, especially if they come to their senses and reduce vaccinated period to 7 days. Add the threat of a big fine, deportation and black listing for the foreigner. 

Yes, it's definately do'able. Although as I said previously, I can't see it happening until Oct/Nov, rather than Aug.

[AndyW]

13 hours ago, EdwardV said:

If that’s Thailand’s thinking, shouldn’t they be doing it with Phuket and Samui? 

I've no idea if that's their thinking or not. But Thai officials seem so disconnected from each other (and reality) that any uniformity of thinking is generally passed down from above.

[King Cotton]

43 minutes ago, pascal said:

Holidays is freedom , too much hassle in this scheme,

Yes, that's it in a nutshell . . . too much hassle and not so much enjoyment.

 

Hello, pascal and welcome to T-T!

 

Please feel free to tell us a bit about yourself in 'Introductions'. It's good to pick-up on those sometimes differing regional or geographical perspectives.

And check-out the Guidelines, too, when you get a free minute. They're there to help us all enjoy our time here.

Happy posting

KC