With Covid-19, Tourism Ministry mulls new reopening strategy

[Thaiger]

The Tourism and Sports Ministry is reevaluating the plans for reopening Thailand and its tourism hubs as Covid-19 infections are rising all over the country. While they admit that the surge in Covid-19 is a major health and safety issue, they insist on the necessity of reopening and restarting the tourism economy and get Bangkok reopened in particular. Minister of Tourism and Sports Pipat Ratchakitprakan says that the government should adjust the reopening plans and strategy in light of the surge in Covid-19 infections. The focus should be on the popular tourist provinces with low Covid-19 infections now that could […]

The post With Covid-19, Tourism Ministry mulls new reopening strategy appeared first on Thaiger News.

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[Dedinbed]

Island hopping eh .. alrite I suppose if your a frog .. 

But given the P M is well known to consult with Kermits perhaps this ain't such a plain bonkers idea after all .. it's all starting to croak sense now sort of thing .. 

Edited July 15, 2021 by Dedinbed
Sp

[AlexPTY]

Why? it's a great strategy as it is, seems to be working well, we just need more sandboxes

[triplebogey]

5 minutes ago, AlexPTY said:

Why? it's a great strategy as it is, seems to be working well, we just need more sandboxes

[Stardust]

58 minutes ago, Thaiger said:

The Tourism and Sports Ministry is reevaluating the plans for reopening Thailand and its tourism hubs as Covid-19 infections are rising all over the country. While they admit that the surge in Covid-19 is a major health and safety issue, they insist on the necessity of reopening and restarting the tourism economy and get Bangkok reopened in particular. Minister of Tourism and Sports Pipat Ratchakitprakan says that the government should adjust the reopening plans and strategy in light of the surge in Covid-19 infections. The focus should be on the popular tourist provinces with low Covid-19 infections now that could […]

The post With Covid-19, Tourism Ministry mulls new reopening strategy appeared first on Thaiger News.

Read the full story

Province hopping sounds funny, but where we jump when all provinces are red and the borders are closed?

[Objectivance]

Alright, I'm lost. Who's on 1st?

[gummy]

The strategy should be that they will not re-open Thailand until at least 80% of the population nationwide have had an effective course of vaccine. Could have course been done by now if they had instigated this back in March last year rather than ensuring HISOs , pals and other leeches weren't taken care of first.

Edited July 15, 2021 by gummy

[BlueSphinx]

3 minutes ago, gummy said:

The strategy should be that they will not re-open Thailand until at least 80% of the population nationwide have had an effective course of vaccine. Could have course been done by now if they had instigated this back in March last year rather than ensuring HISOs , pals and other leeches weren't taken care of first.

In order to achieve a vaccination rate of at least 80% that would mean they would have to:

- vaccinate children and adolescents;

- vaccinate those that previously had covid and recovered.

A dangerous, ridiculous and - luckily - totally unrealistic pipe-dream!

[Soidog]

13 minutes ago, gummy said:

The strategy should be that they will not re-open Thailand until at least 80% of the population nationwide have had an effective course of vaccine. Could have course been done by now if they had instigated this back in March last year rather than ensuring HISOs , pals and other leeches weren't taken care of first.

I agree the plan needs reevaluating and a new approach taken. However, the 80% figure will take a long time. In the U.K. which has a great vaccine policy and roll out, after 7 months around 66% of all ADULTS. (18+) have been fully vaccinated. This means around 35 million people or 55% of ALL people have been fully vaccinated and a further 10-15% have Covid antibodies through infection. Even if this mystical Herd Immunity actually works, it still shows that the U.K. is around 65%-70% vaccinated or have antibodies. And this is after 7 months of vaccination at rates of over 300,000 per day. To reach the same levels as the U.K. where even now there are still major concerns with Covid, would take Thailand 12 months. Right now they seem to be looking for an impossible compromise that is likely to solve nothing for tourism industries and potentially damage the short to medium term reputation of Thailand as a tourist destination. 

[gummy]

8 minutes ago, Soidog said:

I agree the plan needs reevaluating and a new approach taken. However, the 80% figure will take a long time. In the U.K. which has a great vaccine policy and roll out, after 7 months around 66% of all ADULTS. (18+) have been fully vaccinated. This means around 35 million people or 55% of ALL people have been fully vaccinated and a further 10-15% have Covid antibodies through infection. Even if this mystical Herd Immunity actually works, it still shows that the U.K. is around 65%-70% vaccinated or have antibodies. And this is after 7 months of vaccination at rates of over 300,000 per day. To reach the same levels as the U.K. where even now there are still major concerns with Covid, would take Thailand 12 months. Right now they seem to be looking for an impossible compromise that is likely to solve nothing for tourism industries and potentially damage the short to medium term reputation of Thailand as a tourist destination. 

Well I said 80% knowing full well this current Thai government would fudge the figures so hence my 80% would be lucky to achieve a true 60%

[Soidog]

16 minutes ago, gummy said:

Well I said 80% knowing full well this current Thai government would fudge the figures so hence my 80% would be lucky to achieve a true 60%

Yes I understand and wasn’t splitting hairs about percentages. The herd immunity number isn’t a hard figure anyway. It’s a statistics number. My point was that even if they cracked on with the vaccines, it will take a long long time to reach 60-80%. Can they really wait that long before long lasting damage to their economy??? 

[gummy]

1 minute ago, Soidog said:

Yes I understand and wasn’t splitting hairs about percentages. The herd immunity number isn’t a hard figure anyway. It’s a statistics number. My point was that even if they cracked on with the vaccines, it will take a long long time to reach 60-80%. Can they really wait that long before long lasting damage to their economy??? 

Well every single one of us will have a view on that.  Can they wait that long ? again it depends on what their ultimate end game is. Protect themselves or the country. Do they really care about the latter ? If the latter then what in their view is the country ? Is it the 70 million population of whom 98% are despised in their eyes or is it the country of HISOs , Elites and others who believe it is their right to plunder the country and carry on with their decadent and self enrichment lifestyles as has been the case for a long time ? As for your point of long lasting damage then I guess the 2% of the country identified above do not care as they have already ensured that their ill gotten gains are outwith the reach of a future legitimate government

[Paco]

The re opening  nonsense with 9000 infected a day and no vaccines available, they really think people want to come????? Look at phuket..... Samui... nothing... why do they not spend their time getting vaccines instead of this load of nonsense, that will only cost more people their life

[Bangkok_Gary]

They keep throwing re-opening plans at the wall to see if anything will stick. ROTFLMAO.

[PapayaBokBok]

9 hours ago, Paco said:

The re opening  nonsense with 9000 infected a day and no vaccines available, they really think people want to come????? Look at phuket..... Samui... nothing... why do they not spend their time getting vaccines instead of this load of nonsense, that will only cost more people their life

they prefer to get money...not spend it....thainess 101

[SickBuffalo]

They can rescue this year's high season but they need to radically rethink everything.

1. Wind down the current sandboxes. Cancel any bookings made on the basis of any vaccines other than Pfizer, Moderna, or AstraZeneca. Cancel any bookings from countries without a proper national online vaccination certification system. Cancel any bookings including non-vaccinated children.

2. Re-open in September with no restrictions (no COE, no tests, no special hotels, no special insurance, etc) but only for those fully vaccinated with Pfizer, Moderna, or AstraZeneca, AND coming from countries that have a national online vaccine certification system AND that are projected to achieve at least 60% fully vaccinated by September OR those with active case levels below 100 per million.

At current rates, the above requirements leaves you with most but not all of the EU and EEA - Romania and Bulgaria have very high levels of vaccine hesitancy. Finland, Croatia, and Slovakia are better but probably won't hit 60% by September. More countries will hit it for later months.

Japan and South Korea have low vaccination rates but might qualify on low active case levels.

The US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand all currently lack a national online vaccination certification system. The UK has an odd situation, with certification by local health authorities but, for some reason, political resistance against having a proper system. It appears that most countries will adopt the EU DCC system, as Japan already has.

3. No unvaccinated children. Sadly, you have to let go of the family vacation market until the pandemic is over.

4. Certain government ministers should stop promoting the myth that Westerners were responsible for bringing Covid into Thailand. It was never true.

5. As tourism gears up, measures should be taken to reduce the flow of illegal workers into the tourism industry from neighboring countries with high levels of infection. Employers breaking the rules should be fined massive amounts.

Part of my calculation is that Thailand will receive around 10m shots of effective vaccines this summer. The Red Cross has already announced a donation of one million Moderna, while the US is also in negotiations to unload some of its unused stocks. Also, massive Pfizer capacity may be about to come onstream in South Korea.

The Western companies walked away from the original negotiations with Thai officials because their executives would have been liable under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. In short, they were being asked for bribes. China has no such law but, unfortunately, it also does not have a Covid-19 vaccine that works. Now, in mid-2021, as it dawns upon the Thai government that they are up Shit Creek without a paddle, the Thai officials may be less inclined to ask the Western vaccine producers for bribes and that will greatly assist the negotiations.

10m shots is not much, it will only fully vaccinate 5m of the 50m adults in Thailand, but it may be enough to reassure the public that the most vulnerable and the frontline health workers are protected.

Don't worry, the Thai elites, the ruling generals, and their families are already safe. They all received Pfizer right at the start of this year thanks to a shipment of 100,000 shots that mysteriously disappeared and which government now denies ever existed. Amazing Thailand.

 

[GuyIncognito]

4 minutes ago, SickBuffalo said:

They can rescue this year's high season but they need to radically rethink everything.

1. Wind down the current sandboxes. Cancel any bookings made on the basis of any vaccines other than Pfizer, Moderna, or AstraZeneca. Cancel any bookings from countries without a proper national online vaccination certification system. Cancel any bookings including non-vaccinated children.

2. Re-open in September with no restrictions (no COE, no tests, no special hotels, no special insurance, etc) but only for those fully vaccinated with Pfizer, Moderna, or AstraZeneca, AND coming from countries that have a national online vaccine certification system AND that are projected to achieve at least 60% fully vaccinated by September OR those with active case levels below 100 per million.

At current rates, the above requirements leaves you with most but not all of the EU and EEA - Romania and Bulgaria have very high levels of vaccine hesitancy. Finland, Croatia, and Slovakia are better but probably won't hit 60% by September. More countries will hit it for later months.

Japan and South Korea have low vaccination rates but might qualify on low active case levels.

The US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand all currently lack a national online vaccination certification system. The UK has an odd situation, with certification by local health authorities but, for some reason, political resistance against having a proper system. It appears that most countries will adopt the EU DCC system, as Japan already has.

3. No unvaccinated children. Sadly, you have to let go of the family vacation market until the pandemic is over.

4. Certain government ministers should stop promoting the myth that Westerners were responsible for bringing Covid into Thailand. It was never true.

5. As tourism gears up, measures should be taken to reduce the flow of illegal workers into the tourism industry from neighboring countries with high levels of infection. Employers breaking the rules should be fined massive amounts.

Part of my calculation is that Thailand will receive around 10m shots of effective vaccines this summer. The Red Cross has already announced a donation of one million Moderna, while the US is also in negotiations to unload some of its unused stocks. Also, massive Pfizer capacity may be about to come onstream in South Korea.

The Western companies walked away from the original negotiations with Thai officials because their executives would have been liable under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. In short, they were being asked for bribes. China has no such law but, unfortunately, it also does not have a Covid-19 vaccine that works. Now, in mid-2021, as it dawns upon the Thai government that they are up Shit Creek without a paddle, the Thai officials may be less inclined to ask the Western vaccine producers for bribes and that will greatly assist the negotiations.

10m shots is not much, it will only fully vaccinate 5m of the 50m adults in Thailand, but it may be enough to reassure the public that the most vulnerable and the frontline health workers are protected.

Don't worry, the Thai elites, the ruling generals, and their families are already safe. They all received Pfizer right at the start of this year thanks to a shipment of 100,000 shots that mysteriously disappeared and which government now denies ever existed. Amazing Thailand.

 

Glad you are not ion charge, we would all be doomed

[SickBuffalo]

6 minutes ago, GuyIncognito said:

Glad you are not ion charge, we would all be doomed

Well, given that this is a discussion thread, why not let us know why you think that?

Also, as far as I can remember, all humans are ion charged

[TSS]

try mulling over getting decent western vaccines here. You can mull over what to re open next year. Maybe

[DontacoXII]

17 hours ago, Objectivance said:

Alright, I'm lost. Who's on 1st?

Yes 

[PapayaBokBok]

20 hours ago, SickBuffalo said:

2. Re-open in September with no restrictions

Sounds good to me! Count me in...