THE THAI GOVT WANTS TO END MASS TOURISM

18 December 2021

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2021/12/17/thailand-again-signals-end-of-mass-tourism-thai-examiner/

When change is needed, this can sometimes come if a leadership sees the need to innovate and adapt and maybe it gets inspired; but often it requires a change of leadership. That is the beauty of democracy - the people can overthrow a tired old government, peacefully.

Instead of closing down a successful sector of the economy, mass tourism, as this article from The Thai Examiner suggests, the Thai govt could try first to create a new and promising sector or sectors.

For example, in 1979, Deng Xiaoping visited America to meet Pres. Clinton. He was the People's Republic of China chairman from December 1978 to November 1989. He had seen Japan, S Korea and Taiwan becoming immensely rich and wanted to know more. China was at that time following the Russian USSR ideology.

What he observed was that those three countries were making very high quality goods, at competitive prices, and the huge and wealthy American Middle class was buying them.

In 1980, China was awarded Most Favoured Nation status. A rare and extremely valuable honour.

Under Deng Xiaoping's leadership, China switched from the USSR model to the American, while remaining "Communist". ("Communist", in reality, means a one-party state that controls the economy, mostly through ownership, and the people, through a Ministry of Security, aka the secret police). China started doing the same thing - Deng completely re-oriented the economy from agriculture to production for export.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Now, of course, there is an even bigger and wealthier middle class. And it is not in America.

It's in China.

What does the Chinese middle class want? Well, Thailand could find out and get manufacturing.

Or it could stick with mass tourism. It's up to the PM. 

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ACCESS THAILAND

• Passport or travel document with a validity not less than 6 months
• Visa application form (filled out)
• One(1) recent 4x6cm. photograph of the applicant
• Round-trip air ticket or e-ticket (paid in full)
• Proof of financial means (20,000 baht per person/40,000 baht per family)
• Proof of Hotel or private accommodation

After receiving your Thailand tourist visa and certificate of entry from the Thai Embassy or consulate, the traveler must prepare the following documents before traveling to Thailand:

• Certificate of Entry (COE)
• Valid visa in your passport
• Declaration Form
• Medical Certificate with a laboratory result indicating that COVID -19 is not detected. The COVID test must be by the RT-PCR method, within 72 hours before departure. Some airlines do not accept home kit tests so please check specific requirements with the airlines you are traveling with.
• Printed COVID 19 travel insurance certificate and all pages of the terms and conditions on the COVID-19 coverage and medical benefits. You may be refused to board the flight if you could not show that the insurance meets this requirement.
• Copy of confirmed ASQ Hotel booking
• Copy of confirmed flight reservation
• T8 Health Form
• You must download the “Thailand Plus” Application on your mobile phone

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WHAT IS THE VALUE OF TOURISM IN THE THAI ECONOMY?

At an average spend of $2,800 per visitor, an annual 40 million visitors, generate 110 billion dollars or 22%, of the 505 billion GDP economy.

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HOW TO GET INTO THAILAND

How to get into Thailand:

You need a Certificate of Entry (COE). 

To get a COE:

SUMMARY

1. Apply for a COE online

2. When you’re approved, book your flight, your hotel and buy insurance

3. Now, confirm your application by uploading the bookings to the same website page

4. Then fly and you show all the doc.s at the airport.

DETAIL

1 Apply

Apply here: https://coethailand.mfa.go.th/

• Read the latest Thai gov stuff on this website and press "confirm"

• Confirming will take you to the Registration Procedure

a) First, the registration procedure is explained – tick and hit next

b) Then, fill in the form and upload your passport 

c) Wait three 3 working days for your application to be approved

d) Check the result on the same website where you filled in the form.

2 Book

When you’re approved

e) book a flight

f) book a hotel (Alternative State Quarantine, ASQ) within 15 days

g) buy insurance.

3 Upload 

Confirm your application for Certificate of Entry (COE)

h) Within 15 days of approval, upload proofs of flight, hotel booking and insurance to the same website page

i) Wait three 3 working days for your application to be approved

j) Check the result on the same website where you filled in the form.

4 Fly

k) Print your Certificate of Entry (COE) from same website page

l) Show COE, COVID-19 result and the other three documents to Immigration at the airport

[Correct at 8 April 2021]

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MONSOON EXPECTED TO BE THE HEAVIEST IN 30 YEARS

 Thailand’s upcoming monsoon season is expected to start early and see the heaviest amount of rainfall in 30 years.

Thailand’s rainy season is caused by the southwest monsoon that sweeps out of the Indian Ocean with moist air heading in a north-easterly direction across the country, sucked into the void left by rising warm air over the summer Asian continent. The monsoon also coincides with Thailand’s location in the Southeast Asian tropical rain belt – the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone.

The timing of the season isn’t the same around the country and isn’t the same every year although it is reasonably reliable. Chiang Mai does not have the same rainy season as the Gulf of Thailand islands. Koh Samui’s wet season is month’s after the islands on the other side of the Malay Peninsula (the Isthmus of Kra).

The annual celebration of Songkran, the Thai New Year – April 13 – is usually timed to match both the end of the hot season and the start of the annual wet season. But in most provinces the start of the monsoon is usually a month or so later.

The strength and intensity of the rains vary greatly. But, generally, monsoon rains tend to be short, intense bursts of rainfall. They could last for a few hours in the middle of the day, but they could just as easily be over within about 15 minutes in the morning or evening.

SOURCE: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30404428

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THAI BAHT PERFORMING BADLY

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Thai baht worst performing currency Q1 2021, due to Covid-19’s effect on tourism.

This week the baht hit its lowest point in half a year, falling 4% against the US dollar to 31.24. The decline was the sharpest in all of the Southeast Asian nations. The Indonesian rupiah fell 3.4% and the Malaysian ringgit fell 3.1%, while the Philippine peso and Singapore dollar dropped 1% and the Vietnamese dong basically held steady. Kyats, the Burmese currency did plummet further, 5.6%, following the military coup in Myanmar on February 1, but it’s not considered a common currency.

Thailand’s depreciation is heavily due to the economic downturn as a result of the pandemic which has all but killed Thailand’s tourist-heavy economy. With borders closed, the drop in foreign tourism pumping money into the economy has left a glaring hole. Before Covid-19, in the third quarter of 2019, Thailand held a surplus of US$11.5 billion baht. By the third quarter of 2020, the surplus had fallen to $6.6 billion, and by the end of the year, it had slid to a deficit of $1.4 billion.

Thailand had been bolstered by the surplus and by the constant influx of tourist spending supporting the economy. Tourism money fell to $742 million due to the pandemic border closure, just 5% of the equivalent period last year. The government is hoping to restart the tourism economy and pump more Thai baht into the country with a variety of actions to shorten quarantine, reopen key tourist locations like Phuket, and eventually allow in vaccinated travellers without any quarantine.

Many are still unsure of Thailand’s stability, with investors, importers and exporters still having doubts. The Finance Minister believes there’s no need to panic, as he was expecting a backlash when the Thai baht hit a 7 year high. They have acted by increasing investment limits to US$5 million for Thais to buy foreign securities, up from US$200,000 and loosened restrictions on foreign currency deposits.

[END]

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CHIANG MAI OPENING ITS MARKETS

Good news, the night market of Chiang Mai is a major attraction, some great shops, great the Night Market is happening when visitors get the chance to visit that fabulous city. 

Sitting inside the Temple grounds of Wat Chedi and other Temples is a beautiful way to spend the day. And the night market is like one of the great caravan stopping places of ancient times.

In 2019, Chiang Mai welcomed 11 million tourists, with 70% of them being Thai. By contrast, there were only 1 million in 2020. This year’s number is expected to be around 25% of the 2019 figure.

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