Phuket lifts Quarantine from 1st July

[zombie]

 

"In July, Phuket will be the first province to waive the quarantine requirement for foreign visitors who have been vaccinated, as part of the government's plan to reopen the country."

 

Phuket to rekindle tourism (bangkokpost.com)

 

-So if a visitor enters Phuket after 1st July whats to stop them travelling to Bangkok or Pattaya etc?

[KeepItReal]

I wouldn't be surprised if we see more of these announcements in the coming weeks. Especially targeting Americans since the USA has been getting the vaccine bus rolling at such speed. Airlines here in the USA are already increasing planned flights (CNBC).

[Riobard]

Doesn’t “sealed routes” on Phuket to prevent visits to other locations answer the question about jumping off the island?

[tm_nyc]

It's positive news but there are still a lot of unanswered questions.

Does 'vaccinated persons' still mean people who have been vaccinated within 3 months or has that requirement been dropped?

Will it be possible to change planes in Bangkok to get to Phuket (or wherever) or does it have to be a direct flight from outside Thailand?

[Riobard]

4 hours ago, Riobard said:

Doesn’t “sealed routes” on Phuket to prevent visits to other locations answer the question about jumping off the island?

I think after 7 days on Phuket, visitors can pass through the island’s ‘sealed routes’ and travel to any of the other 5 authorized provinces in the proposal, as they will have been deemed to have traditional quarantine equivalency.

However, why not the run of the country? ... that was stipulated 3 weeks ago predicated on vaccination plus negative viral test then 7-days quarantine. Perhaps it is an attempt to herd tourists more systematically, but what a lot of effort to seal off the respective continent regions.  

Finer details to be ironed out among NCCD, CESA, CCSA, TAT, cabinet, and Phuket. Will the island residents, notwithstanding economic ruin, want to be an isolated subgroup accepting mass inoculation? Depends on attitudes. Death of a Thai man just reported due to aneurism, not related to his CoV vaccination, not helping. 

I agree with @tm_nycthat one of the biggest questions is vaccination dates. Ambiguous. 

Furthermore, it appears that uptake of CoronaVac would be the 2nd quarter vaccination predominant playbook for Phuket. In contrast, AstraZeneca is back on the table there, to be manufactured in the country and massively distributed beginning 3rd quarter. IMHO, hamburger for a regional test-case minority, rib-eye for the rest. I would rather they stream the AZ limited interim supply to Phuket. Or at the very least, a randomized longitudinal Phuket cohort comparison of the 2 products.

[spoon]

I see pattaya in the mix, and im already very happy lol. 7 days in pattaya without quarantine in october sounds like a dream come true. And to be able to go to phuket or krabi or even chiang mai after is not bad too. I wonder if other citizens from other provinces can free go in and out of these 6 provinces or not. If they can, then i can see most of the boys will be coming to phuket and theb pattaya for work. Id think at least locals who are vaccinated will be allowed to.

[PeterRS]

As usual in Thailand, the devil is in the details. The opening up policy has still not passed through the Thai cabinet. There have been many earlier schemes assumed to gain approval which never happened.

Also in this case, there is the major assumption that at least 70% of the local population will have been vaccinated with two doses before July 1st to result in herd immunity. That's almost 500,000 people. But where are the vaccines? Very few have so far arrived in Thailand, I understand.

Another problem will be fake vaccination certificates. The IATA Travel Pass is still in its infancy. So let's just hope for the time being.

[Patanawet]

And what about the $100,000 covid medical insurance and is there a compulsory 500,000 Baht bank balance requirement?

[Guest]

They had already deleted the 500,000 baht bank balance requirement for tourist visas back in 2020.

I haven't read about them removing the need for the scam $100,000 covid medical insurance yet.    Must be one of the most profitable insurance businesses in the world, as can be deduced from multiplying hospital bills x estimated infection rate.    This was confirmed when I read that monthly payments were averageing about 2.5% of premiums in the Bangkok post.  I imagine most people only buy it for 1 or 3 months.  

Scam, scam, scam, scam, scam....

 

However, you are also likely to save money from reduced hotel bills.   For example, at the beginning of this month, my hotel room in Bangkok was costing 500 baht a night. 

 

For the board members who have the time to take a holiday for several weeks, it will be time to take a serious look at the terms for entering Thailand via Phuket, if and when published.    

Of course there will be some additional costs like scam covid insurance and more justifiable covid tests.    Costs which may be offset by special offers on hotels.   Also some members who have been stuck at home for a year have probably also saved a few baht, so can probably afford to increase the non-recurring budget slightly for one trip.   

If Thailand is the only interesting holiday option open, be prepared to accept some of the dodgy requirements in order to have a nice holiday.

 

[Patanawet]

Thanks z909, you talk a lot of sense.