News Forum - Chiang Mai airport welcomes first international flight, 83 tourists

[Thaiger]

Chiang Mai has officially joined Thailand’s big reopening launch as the first international flight brought tourists to the “Charming Chiang Mai” programme. After nearly 2 years of being closed to international flights, Chiang Mai Airport welcomed a flight of 83 travellers from South Korea last night. The first flight was operated by Korean carrier Jeju Air and departed from Seoul’s Incheon Airport at 6:40 pm to arrive into Chiang Mai yesterday evening just after 10 pm, landing about 20 minutes ahead of schedule, a 5 and a half hour flight with Korea’s time zone 2 hours ahead of Thailand. The […]

The story Chiang Mai airport welcomes first international flight, 83 tourists as seen on Thaiger News.

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[Jason]

I know there will be a cavalcade of comments ridiculing this. But it's a beginning. It isn't perfect. But what a welcome. I don't think it will so rousing when I finally arrive in Phuket!! It will be more like....passport! Negative test document! Vaccination Certificate! Open your mouth!....open your nose!....NEXT....

[Bob20]

It was reported before that these 83 are golfers, going straight to a golf resort outside of the city.

Yet, being TAT will they'll probably claim that all CM hotels are at 99% capacity and we need a drive to build more to cope with the 8.3m tourists

[Malc-Thai]

35 minutes ago, Jason said:

I know there will be a cavalcade of comments ridiculing this. But it's a beginning. It isn't perfect. But what a welcome. I don't think it will so rousing when I finally arrive in Phuket!! It will be more like....passport! Negative test document! Vaccination Certificate! Open your mouth!....open your nose!....NEXT....

Well they could do it the Chinese way to swab you ? 

[Malc-Thai]

29 minutes ago, Bob20 said:

It was reported before that these 83 are golfers, going straight to a golf resort outside of the city.

Yet, being TAT will they'll probably claim that all CM hotels are at 99% capacity and we need a drive to build more to cope with the 8.3m tourists

I would guess the only thing with 99% capacity are the hospitals...

[Bob20]

Yup full. Field hospitals too. They've now hired hundreds of extra rooms in two big hotels.

Yesterday 496 new cases, plus whatever they hide from positive ATK's that they don't add in the total.

[Dedinbed]

1 hour ago, Thaiger said:

. The first flight was operated by Korean carrier Jeju Air and departed from Seoul’s Incheon Airport at 6:40 pm to arrive into Chiang Mai yesterday evening just after 10 pm, landing about 20 minutes ahead of schedule, a 5 and a half hour flight with Korea’s time zone 2 hours ahead of Thailand.

Not enough detail .. who was sat where , how many times did the bog occupied light come on and as it was a K flight were there hotdogs served instead of the usual nibbles .. 

[Stardust]

1 hour ago, Bob20 said:

It was reported before that these 83 are golfers, going straight to a golf resort outside of the city.

Yet, being TAT will they'll probably claim that all CM hotels are at 99% capacity and we need a drive to build more to cope with the 8.3m tourists

All tourists no returnees were in the plane? No one who has to go for business or to work? From South Korea, really? Samsung etc.

[Malc-Thai]

1 hour ago, Dedinbed said:

Not enough detail .. who was sat where , how many times did the bog occupied light come on and as it was a K flight were there hotdogs served instead of the usual nibbles .. 

83 on board you could sit where you liked!

[Stonker]

2 hours ago, Thaiger said:

Travellers can visit Doi Tao, Mae Rim, Mae Taeng, and Mueang districts currently.

I may be wrong, again, but although Mueang, Mae Rim and Mae Taeng are adjacent, Doi Tao is about 150 kms away in the south of the province.

Apart from by Tardis, how are they going to get there without going through several other districts en-route?

[HolyCowCm]

2 hours ago, Malc-Thai said:

Well they could do it the Chinese way to swab you ? 

Well they seem to have given the world the shaft. 

[Alavan]

5 hours ago, Bob20 said:

It was reported before that these 83 are golfers, going straight to a golf resort outside of the city.

Yet, being TAT will they'll probably claim that all CM hotels are at 99% capacity and we need a drive to build more to cope with the 8.3m tourists

Beware of booking for a tour on the course. 18 holes might take anything from 6 to 10 hours.

3 What is my score so far?"

18 sir

"Not bad"
Wait, Sir, second hole is more difficult

Edited November 6, 2021 by Alavan

[PapayaBokBok]

10 hours ago, Malc-Thai said:

Well they could do it the Chinese way to swab you ? 

Do I get to pick the Nurse??...asking for a friend..

[AlexPTY]

We read endless articles about covid numbers for a year, now it is time to count number of tourists

[gummy]

22 minutes ago, AlexPTY said:

We read endless articles about covid numbers for a year, now it is time to count number of tourists

Just the one hand should be sufficient then

[AussieBob]

Not tourists really - but it is a start. But what will the Chiang Mai Governor do if the number of covid cases continue to rise and there are no more rooms left in the SHA hotels and field hospitals?  Me thinks they have opened the gates too soon for the Provinces - it should have been limited to Bangkok and Phuket only until January - with trips then to places within a short controlled drive/trip form there. Many reasons but the number one is that if a bunch of tourists arrive and then return testing positive, their Govt will consider banning flights to/from Thailand. 

And with tourists actually arriving, how are they going to stop people coming from the Provinces for work in Bangkok and Phuket?  The Provinces have less than 40% vaccinated and that is where most of the the new cases are increasing.  Meanwhile unvaccinated illegal workers will continue to stream across the borders - they will only ever be able to stop some of them.  When numbers jump in Bangkok and Phuket, then you know 'they' have arrived.

We will be waiting until it all settles down (sometime in 2022), and for when there are no tests on arrival and no mandatory quarantine (even 1 day)- with the threat of further expensive quarantine if one of us tests positive. Happy to prove vaccinated, test negative (here), and have travel insurance including Covid for min USD $50K, but nothing else. 

But most importantly, we will wait until new daily cases in Thailand, all of Thailand, have dropped significantly and stay that way - they will never be zero until they stop counting.  At the very least, I want them to have plenty of available people and services in a hospital, should one of us be unlucky and catch covid and get very sick - not in a field hospital or a hotel room thank you.  If one of us catches it here, we are very safe - top level medical system, and the staff are not burnt out and/or stressed out after working hard for over 12 months.  We can wait - every weekend the Thai wife talks for hours on Line with the family and friends - plus they all use Facebook daily -  my mates and I drop each other a note now and then.  We can wait - why rush back?  We might go take a look at the Great Barrier Reef for a few weeks early next year. 

[HiuMak]

14 hours ago, Bob20 said:

It was reported before that these 83 are golfers, going straight to a golf resort outside of the city.

Yet, being TAT will they'll probably claim that all CM hotels are at 99% capacity and we need a drive to build more to cope with the 8.3m tourists

I understand my tour operators are already starting to organise travel packages to Thailand. Due to its opening, people has been itching after lockdown for a long time. It's a risk and probably not the best time to travel with the virus still ramaging and so many procedures to get into the country and rules to obey with masks etc. It does not sound like a holiday to me

[Manu]

Love the pic at the top of the article. The "Land of Smiles"  should be now called "The Land of Masks".

[gummy]

9 minutes ago, Manu said:

Love the pic at the top of the article. The "Land of Smiles"  should be now called "The Land of Masks".

Poignant really as they have often mask their true feelings.

[ThaiEyes]

I’m happy that things are beginning to move here again, even if the tourists have to feel silly because of all the hoopla.

[Bob20]

2 hours ago, HiuMak said:

I understand my tour operators are already starting to organise travel packages to Thailand. Due to its opening, people has been itching after lockdown for a long time. It's a risk and probably not the best time to travel with the virus still ramaging and so many procedures to get into the country and rules to obey with masks etc. It does not sound like a holiday to me

In time it will be good. For now it's silly as all health services are well beyond capacity. Hospitals (and their ICU's) are full and so are the field hospitals. We have 500 new cases a day and that's just PCR tests. Then there's all the ATK's positives as well that they just stick in a hotel until they possibly develop symptoms.

And as I've said before, I feel sorry for the few that make their way here, as everything is closed (either bankrupt or just not bothering to open for a handful of people) and unless you want to visit a temple or walk on a mountain there's nothing else to do. Not a holiday environment.

[Cathat]

1 hour ago, Manu said:

Love the pic at the top of the article. The "Land of Smiles"  should be now called "The Land of Masks".

Perhaps the land of masked smiles would be better still!

[Fluke]

40 minutes ago, Bob20 said:

In time it will be good. For now it's silly as all health services are well beyond capacity. Hospitals (and their ICU's) are full and so are the field hospitals.

Its just two hospitals in Chaing Mai that accept covid patients into their ICU's , so its just two hospitals that have Covid patients in their ICU's , which would be 20-30 people . 

[Bob20]

13 minutes ago, Fluke said:

Its just two hospitals in Chaing Mai that accept covid patients into their ICU's , so its just two hospitals that have Covid patients in their ICU's , which would be 20-30 people . 

We're getting further off topic, but about 10 days ago all was nearly full and now patients are either taken to hotels or to other hospitals out of the area. One of them being in Chiang Dao.

https://www.thaipbsworld.com/chiang-mais-covid-19-pandemic-at-critical-point-icus-almost-full/

[Fluke]

31 minutes ago, Bob20 said:

We're getting further off topic, but about 10 days ago all was nearly full and now patients are either taken to hotels or to other hospitals out of the area. One of them being in Chiang Dao.

https://www.thaipbsworld.com/chiang-mais-covid-19-pandemic-at-critical-point-icus-almost-full/

Yes, in the link you provided it has this written : Its just two hospitals , rather than every hospital in CM

 

"Doctors in Thailand’s northern province of Chiang Mai are expressing serious concerns that COVID-19 infections there are approaching a critical level, with the ICU wards in two hospitals almost fully occupied."