News Forum - Anutin proposes getting rid of the Thailand Pass – for Thai returnees only

[Thaiger]

Thailand’s Public Health Minister wants to get rid of the Thailand Pass. But don’t get too excited, Anutin Charnvirakul is proposing scrapping it for Thai returnees only – at least for now. According to a Bangkok Post report, the health minister says he will submit the proposal to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration. However, when asked whether the emergency decree should also be revoked, Anutin says this is a matter for the PM to decide, adding that he personally sees no problem with keeping it, in order to support existing disease prevention measures. Officials continue to praise the seemingly […]

The story Anutin proposes getting rid of the Thailand Pass – for Thai returnees only as seen on Thaiger News.

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[Freeduhdumb]

Proposal's abound... Sounds like a complete replacement of the Thai Pass with a "Vaccine Passport" may also be an option.

Doesn't look good if you're not in favor of indefinite booster jabs or you are unvaxxed. This doesn't make it clear what pathway would remain for the unvaxxed. This would be a nice achievement for those pushing a global digital control system... 

https://www.thaipbsworld.com/tourism-minister-suggests-replacing-thailand-pass-with-vaccine-passport/

[farang]

drop the thai pass in total.and a return to mailing all your visa info to your embassy  for your visa as it was in 2019.it was simple,easy and not all the bs.thats how you get flooded with tourtist. all this send in documents,making copies,downloading papers thats rejected in a real pain in the a##.drop it and return to 2019 ways.

[Fanta]

19 minutes ago, Freeduhdumb said:

This would be a nice achievement for those pushing a global digital control system... 

Good idea?  but the privacy concerns would hobble this idea before it even got out of the starting gate. Thailand cannot keep the current Immigration data secure let alone be deemed worthy of entry to a global system. 

[Soidog]

5 minutes ago, farang said:

drop the thai pass in total.and a return to mailing all your visa info to your embassy  for your visa as it was in 2019.it was simple,easy and not all the bs.thats how you get flooded with tourtist. all this send in documents,making copies,downloading papers thats rejected in a real pain in the a##.drop it and return to 2019 ways.

I can’t see the e-visa being dropped. Many countries have already introduced such a system and only a matter of time before all countries do it. Moving to electronic transfer of documents is the way forward in the world. It saves a lot of time and a lot of trees. 

[Ramanathan.P]

Please don't scrap it. Keep it. You may wanted to consider introducing booster vaccine also to make it more perfect. That way you can permanently bury the industry 6 feet under the ground

[DwizzleyMatthews]

1 hour ago, Freeduhdumb said:

Proposal's abound... Sounds like a complete replacement of the Thai Pass with a "Vaccine Passport" may also be an option.

Doesn't look good if you're not in favor of indefinite booster jabs or you are unvaxxed. This doesn't make it clear what pathway would remain for the unvaxxed. This would be a nice achievement for those pushing a global digital control system... 

https://www.thaipbsworld.com/tourism-minister-suggests-replacing-thailand-pass-with-vaccine-passport/

Yes, saw that vaccine passport proposal around a week ago but haven’t seen it reported elsewhere. It came around the same time it was reported that unvaccinated can travel to Thailand with only a PCR test before departure.

Again, conflicting reports about the direction in which Thailand will go upon opening the country up, I suppose we will find out in due time .

As the headline states , getting rid of the “ Thailand Pass “ ( albeit for Thai only ) is still only a proposal.

[Janneman]

At the same time TAT says they hope to welcome 20 miliion tourists? Good luck with that

[JJJ]

The insurance requirement should go first. You’re much more likely to have an accident or another medical emergency compared to covid. Of the tiny positive percentage how many actually truly needed medical care? 0.5% of 0.1% is so ridiculously small to impose a significant cost  

Also why get rid of Thai Pass for Thais? What purpose is it serving at all? Immigration officers can easily be tasked with checking the vaccination as well as the airlines.  If it doesn’t serve a purpose for Thais how does it serve a purpose for foreigners  

ThaiPass is not a digital entry card or visa.  If Thailand wanted to come up with a digital card that would be one thing — but they never will as they will hate giving up pointless paperwork. 

[Ramanathan.P]

1 hour ago, JJJ said:

The insurance requirement should go first. You’re much more likely to have an accident or another medical emergency compared to covid. Of the tiny positive percentage how many actually truly needed medical care? 0.5% of 0.1% is so ridiculously small to impose a significant cost  

Also why get rid of Thai Pass for Thais? What purpose is it serving at all? Immigration officers can easily be tasked with checking the vaccination as well as the airlines.  If it doesn’t serve a purpose for Thais how does it serve a purpose for foreigners  

ThaiPass is not a digital entry card or visa.  If Thailand wanted to come up with a digital card that would be one thing — but they never will as they will hate giving up pointless paperwork. 

I have checked with a couple of Thai insurance companies regarding the policy. One company says that their policy is cheap and will take effect only on the 14th day from the policy date. However if needs immediate effect, then have to do a PCR test within 72hrs of travel to Thailand. Another did not post any restrictions. But both said that the policy holder has to pay and claim from them later for reimbursement. Why can't they pay direct to the medical coverage as the policy is Thailand based and the insurance company and medical services are in Thailand?....To me it is fair that way. At least the traveler has a peace of mind. It is possible to get a reimbursement from a Thai Insurance company when you are not in Thailand? Fore sure impossible....it is like extracting water from a hard rock.

[Cabra]

Denmark has already ended it's vaccine program. Other countries will soon follow suit. Any talk of a vaccine passport is simply old ideas being regurgitated by men with no new ideas (not to mention the WHO was opposed to vaccine passports to begin with - for what that's worth). Vaccine passports are simply meaningless as most people who had the vaccine (and where boosted) where done so up to 9+ months ago. And there is no guidance on a 4th or 5th Jab (thank goodness #stopthemadness), nor an updated COVID vaccine formulation approved by ANY government. The vaccine train has left the station. Move on. Moreover, the insurance scam being upheld by ThailandPass was never meant for returning Thais to begin with. So either end ThailandPass or don't, put don't act like it's not intended for anything other than forcing worthless COVID insurance on foreigners. Mask mandates, nightlife restrictions, vaccine passports and government mandated COVID insurance are all tourism killers #wakeup

 

[Soidog]

6 hours ago, DwizzleyMatthews said:

As the headline states , getting rid of the “ Thailand Pass “ ( albeit for Thai only ) is still only a proposal.

I still think the real showstopper for the government is the Emergency decree. As our favourite minister mentions, it’s an issue for the PM and thereby dodging the questions further. This government won’t want the Emergency decree to end too early before the next elections. Dropping all other Covid restrictions and declaring it endemic presents a real issue. Why you would keep an Emergency decree introduced to tackle Covid when Covid is no longer seen as a problem? 

[rc1]

Covid restrictions are ending all over the world.

How many other countries outside China have outdoor mask mandates, temperature checking, night-life restrictions.... Etc

Thailand is becoming an outlier and needs to relax all restrictions, fast. Sabai sabai! 

 

 

[riclag]

8 hours ago, Soidog said:

I can’t see the e-visa being dropped. Many countries have already introduced such a system and only a matter of time before all countries do it. Moving to electronic transfer of documents is the way forward in the world. It saves a lot of time and a lot of trees. 

Yeah but Thailand!  Its been reported that there has been phishing scams in the past because of their sad security measures when the first introduced new internet programs.

[Poolie]

7 hours ago, Janneman said:

At the same time TAT says they hope to welcome 20 miliion tourists? Good luck with that

Next year. Plenty of time.

[Poolie]

32 minutes ago, rc1 said:

Covid restrictions are ending all over the world.

How many other countries outside China have outdoor mask mandates, temperature checking, night-life restrictions.... Etc

Thailand is becoming an outlier and needs to relax all restrictions, fast. Sabai sabai! 

No outdoor mask mandate in my part of China.

[JJJ]

6 hours ago, Ramanathan.P said:

I have checked with a couple of Thai insurance companies regarding the policy. One company says that their policy is cheap and will take effect only on the 14th day from the policy date. However if needs immediate effect, then have to do a PCR test within 72hrs of travel to Thailand. Another did not post any restrictions. But both said that the policy holder has to pay and claim from them later for reimbursement. Why can't they pay direct to the medical coverage as the policy is Thailand based and the insurance company and medical services are in Thailand?....To me it is fair that way. At least the traveler has a peace of mind. It is possible to get a reimbursement from a Thai Insurance company when you are not in Thailand? Fore sure impossible....it is like extracting water from a hard rock.

Exactly the reason why there should be no insurance requirement.  Any Thai insurance claim will likely be paid by check in Thai baht. Good luck collecting that if you’re not in Thailand.  

If someone is truly worried about international coverage, they should go to a reputable travel insurance broker. But the government shouldn’t be forcing everyone to buy it.  

[Faz]

27 minutes ago, JJJ said:

 Any Thai insurance claim will likely be paid by check in Thai baht. Good luck collecting that if you’re not in Thailand.  

Paid direct to the hospital.

[Somtam]

I’m booked to go to Thailand mid June. This Thailand pass is causing problems because the age limit is 75 years. I’m 81so have a problem getting it. Air fare booked. Because of this I could loose a lot of money from cancellation of my trip. My travel insurance does cover Covit 19. It appears that it will not cover for Thailand pass. The Thailand pass will only accept a Thai insurance. Am now very disappointed.

[DiJoDavO]

Like always, they promise big steps, while they do it in really really small steps.

After Thai people, there will be another group they can come up with, and another, and another, and another, until they cut the huge group in such tiny pieces that maybe only 1 person will be left

[DiJoDavO]

On 5/6/2022 at 9:01 AM, Thaiger said:

Anutin Charnvirakul is proposing scrapping it for Thai returnees only –

Bs if other people and Thai people are literally coming from the same place. Human is human. A Thai body works just like a foreigner's body, I guess... 

 

On 5/6/2022 at 9:01 AM, Thaiger said:

However, when asked whether the emergency decree should also be revoked, Anutin says this is a matter for the PM to decide

Always pushing everything to the others. Why have we all been listening to him, if he wasn't the one to make the decisions? 

 

On 5/6/2022 at 9:01 AM, Thaiger said:

adding that he personally sees no problem with keeping it, in order to support existing disease prevention measures.

Of course he wants to keep it. No one having power, will give it away. Btw, they misspelled 'in order to avoid protests'. 

[Ivo_Shandor]

1 hour ago, Somtam said:

I’m booked to go to Thailand mid June. This Thailand pass is causing problems because the age limit is 75 years. I’m 81so have a problem getting it. Air fare booked. Because of this I could loose a lot of money from cancellation of my trip. My travel insurance does cover Covit 19. It appears that it will not cover for Thailand pass. The Thailand pass will only accept a Thai insurance. Am now very disappointed.

On the ThaiPass website there are some suggested insurances, one (FWD) covers up to 85 year old. you can do that, it's 650 baht.

[HiuMak]

i am a "returnee", I return to Thailand every other month

[Manu]

Now it is low season, Thailand never had huge amount of tourists coming during that time, no reason why it should happen this year. The focus should be the next high season, let's say starting in November. It is in 6 months. Now we all now that these vaccines are hugely less efficient after a few months, AZ is actually useless after 25 weeks "After 2 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, vaccine effectiveness against the Omicron variant starts at 45 to 50% then drops to almost no effect from 25 weeks after the second dose." (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1075115/COVID-19_vaccine_surveillance_report_12_May_2022_week_19.pdf). So this vaccination status will become obsolete anyway overtime, even for the triple vaccinated, unless they get a 4th, 5th "booster" (why they call this a booster - it is just another vaccine, we made history for sure to call a vaccine something that you need 3 injections in 1 year which provides no immunity whatsoever, does not prevent to get sick and for some to die as well). So in 6 months at the beggining of the high season, who will be efficiently vaccinated? Well not many people. All these mesures are not making sense right now, but will ever less and less overtime apart from the ones who will get a 4th, 5th, etc... booster. It seems Thailand caught itself in a vicious circle with no way out.

Now I have a nightmare scenario for you: Automn in Europe and another "outbreak" and another irrational panic. Thailand closes its borders again and bye bye tourism and welcome misery for everyone working in this industry apart from the few big ones. And of course, welcome back the boosters - the EU bought milions of them that will eventually be out of date, so they need to be used.

[Highlandman]

4 minutes ago, Manu said:

Now it is low season, Thailand never had huge amount of tourists coming during that time, no reason why it should happen this year. The focus should be the next high season, let's say starting in November. It is in 6 months. Now we all now that these vaccines are hugely less efficient after a few months, AZ is actually useless after 25 weeks "After 2 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, vaccine effectiveness against the Omicron variant starts at 45 to 50% then drops to almost no effect from 25 weeks after the second dose." (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1075115/COVID-19_vaccine_surveillance_report_12_May_2022_week_19.pdf). So this vaccination status will become obsolete anyway overtime, even for the triple vaccinated, unless they get a 4th, 5th "booster" (why they call this a booster - it is just another vaccine, we made history for sure to call a vaccine something that you need 3 injections in 1 year which provides no immunity whatsoever, does not prevent to get sick and for some to die as well). So in 6 months at the beggining of the high season, who will be efficiently vaccinated? Well not many people. All these mesures are not making sense right now, but will ever less and less overtime apart from the ones who will get a 4th, 5th, etc... booster. It seems Thailand caught itself in a vicious circle with no way out.

Now I have a nightmare scenario for you: Automn in Europe and another "outbreak" and another irrational panic. Thailand closes its borders again and bye bye tourism and welcome misery for everyone working in this industry apart from the few big ones. And of course, welcome back the boosters - the EU bought milions of them that will eventually be out of date, so they need to be used.

Err...actually, sounds like you've never arrived in Thailand during the so-called "low season". It's not only Europeans who dictate when the tourist seasons are.

Pre-Covid, Thailand was busy year-round. Whether it was May, June, September or December, I noticed relatively little difference in visitor numbers. Yes, it was probably a bit busier in December than in May, but during the latter you'd have more Chinese visitors than say Europeans.

June is when Aussies and Kiwis come to countries like Thailand to escape the cold. They don't come as much in December because that's when it's summertime back home.

If I recall correctly, you often had 2-3 million monthly visitors during the middle of the year, increasing to almost 4 million in December. These figures are for the last couple of years before Covid hit in 2020.