Thai Pass

[vinapu]

7 hours ago, z909 said:

I imagine the majority of tourists avoid getting covid in Thailand.   I did 89 days with no known covid...

same same here, 25 days in Dec with very little time spent alone and nothing bad other then unexpected rain 

[abidismaili]

7 hours ago, z909 said:

I imagine the majority of tourists avoid getting covid in Thailand.   I did 89 days with no known covid and I did take a couple of home tests when I had very mild symptoms.  

Out of all the other writers on this forum, the only one I recall reporting covid was caught by one of the 5 day tests. Of course, that was in Phuket.

But since sex tourists kiss their money boys and are otherwise intimate with them it is pretty hard to avoid getting it. Unless you test your moneyboy before going to the sex part. 

[vinapu]

2 minutes ago, abidismaili said:

But since sex tourists kiss their money boys and are otherwise intimate with them it is pretty hard to avoid getting it. Unless you test your moneyboy before going to the test part. 

do you really think z909 spent his 89 days in church or monstery?

[abidismaili]

1 minute ago, vinapu said:

do you really think z909 spent his 89 days in church or monstery?

Of course not. But then he was lucky none of his moneyboys had covid. I am not testing them before sex. So I hope none of mine has it also. But there is a risk. It is not 100% in my control.  Else at the end of the trip trip I will have covid. 

[Londoner]

I noticed a number of gay Chinese porn clips that showed  guys wearing masks having sex....how does that work for you?

[Guest]

Thinking about probabilities would be a good approach.

I would estimate that the probability of each boy I met having covid would have been below 0.3%

The other point is I'm in my 50s and am highly likely to catch covid several times in my life anyway.   The mortality rate among people vaccinated is now similar to that of flu.   So I'm intending to live life an normal, as far as I'm allowed to.

[reader]

From Bangkok Post

Race to end restrictions

After plaguing Thailand for two years with physical and economic ailments, the Covid-19 pandemic is expected to be downgraded to an endemic from July 1, marking a significant step towards full economic recovery.

Businesses, notably entrepreneurs in the tourism and service sectors, welcome the state plan to redefine the scope of the disease, but more tasks to restore the economy are needed, ranging from efforts to stimulate tourism to measures to deal with higher energy prices.

Chamnan Srisawat, president of the Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT), said tourism will definitely benefit from the declaration of Covid-19 as endemic because it should lead to further easing of travel rules, which could help stimulate the economy.

However, the July declaration date is almost four months away, which is too long for tourism operators struggling to maintain their business amid a lack of foreign visitors and slowing domestic demand because of the economic downturn and higher living costs, said Mr Chamnan.

He said it is too late to wait for July to scrap the Test & Go scheme because countries need to be prepared to seize travel demand now to win a heated global competition.

"Thailand used to be a first mover in terms of a reopening plan, but the country is going to face losses as it is slated to be one of the last ones to fully reopen now," Mr Chamnan said.

The government needs to accelerate its plan and drop every travel restriction by Songkran as a gift for Thai New Year's Day, he said.

 

[gerefan]

1 hour ago, reader said:

From Bangkok Post

Race to end restrictions

 

The government needs to accelerate its plan and drop every travel restriction by Songkran as a gift for Thai New Year's Day, he said.

 

Ha that made me laugh.

After the much hyped, and eventually useless,  decisions last Friday by the CCSA I cannot see this or anything meaningful happening at all in the short term.

[Guest]

4 hours ago, reader said:

He said it is too late to wait for July to scrap the Test & Go scheme because countries need to be prepared to seize travel demand now to win a heated global competition.

"Thailand used to be a first mover in terms of a reopening plan, but the country is going to face losses as it is slated to be one of the last ones to fully reopen now," Mr Chamnan said.

Retaining the restrictions is daft.

Attached is a graph showing the daily covid death rate per capita, for Hong Kong, the UK and some probably fraudulent data for China (source: Economist).

Hong Kong still has 2 week quarantine for entry.   However, once the highly transmissible Omicron variant gets in, the daily death rate is horrendous, as Hong Kong has only vaccinated just over 30% of the over 60s.  

Entry restrictions don't work.   Vaccinating the elderly does work.

Thailand is better than Hong Kong, however about 30% of the over 60s have still not been vaccinated.   So Thailand is making the same mistake as Hong Kong, but not quite as extreme.  The entry restrictions are a folly, as Omicron is already widespread in Thailand.

Thailand ought to abolish ALL the inbound travel restrictions and stop even thinking about it. 

They should focus the limited management bandwidth of the CCSA on persuading elderly people to get vaccinated.   Although I only see the English language Thai press, vaccinating the elderly just doesn't even seem to be discussed.  They are too busy talking about stupid and ineffective travel restrictions & booster shots. 

As for July opening, well going in July is not that attractive, as that's the warmest month of the year at home and the daily probability of rain is higher in Thailand than at home.  If Thailand abolished all the restrictions, I'd entertain the idea of going in May.  

 

[reader]

Thai health officials last month predicted that new Covid cases would begin to decline in mid-March and that seems to be what's happening.

Today 21,382 new cases were reported, continuing a downward trend that began several days ago.

Although this doesn't mean things cannot still  revert, it's encouraging for those of us who hope to arrive by mid-year.

 

[18past19]

1 minute ago, reader said:

it's encouraging for those of us who hope to arrive by mid-year.

 

I think things should be completely back to normal by then.
Even now, the country seems to be widely open already with many more tourists than my previous trip which was only 3 months ago.

[abidismaili]

4 hours ago, 18past19 said:

I think things should be completely back to normal by then.
Even now, the country seems to be widely open already with many more tourists than my previous trip which was only 3 months ago.

I can sit in the BTS. Before I rarely could sit. The number of tourists is far from back to normal. Also sometimes I am the only customer in a massage shop. I was in Ayutthaya today (small group tour). We had the ruins almost for ourselves. The guide said there used to be many tour buses. It is absolutely not full. I like this. Next time it will probably be back to normal.  
  
Lucky Boys gogo is closed. They had last time (November 2019) a good selection of twinks. I was the only customer today in Fresh boys.  Didn’t like the selection on stage at all.  The boys outside (some Vietnamese) were nice but not on stage for some reason. They did have a number on their shirt however 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[reader]

From Richardbarrow.com / The Nation

Tourism and Sports Minister said if the number of Covid-19 cases does not increase after Songkran he will ask the Cabinet to allow vaccinated foreign arrivals to switch to ATK tests on the first day of their trip from 1 May onwards.

“If the government approves [this move] and the situation improves further, the ministry will propose lifting all travel restrictions on June 1," he said, adding that this means fully vaccinated foreign tourists would be able to enter Thailand freely.

[joshhb]

I've just completed Thai Pass PCR test. Just 1.75 hours from test to result. The premium was a reasonable 2500 B. All arranged by mid-priced 56 Surawong Hotel.

Now I can enjoy dinner at Somtam Der with my BF

[reader]

 

[macaroni21]

On 3/23/2022 at 6:40 PM, reader said:

From Richardbarrow.com / The Nation

Tourism and Sports Minister said if the number of Covid-19 cases does not increase after Songkran he will ask the Cabinet to allow vaccinated foreign arrivals to switch to ATK tests on the first day of their trip from 1 May onwards.

“If the government approves [this move] and the situation improves further, the ministry will propose lifting all travel restrictions on June 1," he said, adding that this means fully vaccinated foreign tourists would be able to enter Thailand freely.

Thailand may be under increasing pressure to open up more quickly, considering the way its neighbours are opening up. Although Thailand will lift the requirement for pre-departure PCR tests on 1 April, the Thai Pass, insurance requirements and on-arrival tests are still in place. As seen in the above quote, Thailand's Tourism minister is only asking the cabinet for a downgrade from PCR test to antigen test after arrival on 1 May. No mention about abolishing the Thai Pass pre-application before entry.

Reader posted that Malaysia will be liberalising its requirements on 1 April. With that, it will be ahead of Thailand. From 1 April, Malaysia will not require travellers to seek entry permission before travelling, and will only require an antigen test after arrival. However, a pre-departure test is still required.

Today Singapore announced a liberalisation too. For fully vaccinated travellers, not only will Singapore abolish the requirement to seek permission before entry, it will abolish the post-arrival test from 1 April. Even the post-arrival test has, for some tme now, been just a rapid antigen test, not a PCR test. It will be gone from 1 April. Singapore still has a pre-departure requirement for an antigen test, but is now suggesting that at the next review in about 2 - 3 week's time, this may be abolished too - which will mean a full restoration of open borders as they were pre-Covid (for vaccinated travellers).

The Philippines requires vaccinated travellers to register through Bureau of Quarantine’s OneHealthPass (OHP), an online platform, three days before departure -- no mention about waiting for approval, so I guess it's only registration, not application, unlike the Thai Pass -- and take a PCR or antigen test before flying. No post-arrival test, no quarantine.

Vietnam requires a pre-departure PCR or antigen test and submission of an online health declaration. No post-arrival test. No quarantine. 

Cambodia, to the best of my knoweldge, is ahead of its neighbours. Fully vaccinated travellers do not have to take pre-departure or post-arrival tests when entering Cambodia. 

Disclaimer:  The above information is what I read today in a quick bit of research into entry requirements. I don't swear that my information is fully accurate or up to date, so please don't rely on what I'm reporting here without doing your own checks. Indonesia is the one country where I am getting conflicting information, so I have left it out from this survey. Some information is about Bali only, others are about the whole country... confusing!

 

[pong2]

To that list of arrivals-as I every now and then, to keep up with the general info, go through the general Thai forums-mostly aimed at farang married with the Thai wife: I would estimate that at least half of the nrs are in fact such people going on instigation of ´the wife´ to her homeland. or simply to check if the house etc is still there.

@ entry Indonesia: it seems there is conflict, as they are opening up, notably touristy Bali, but as for now ONLY for some selected countries. DK if OZ belongs to them (before the main deliverer of screaming sheilaś), but from EUR the Netherlands do-old historic ties and also thousands of marriages too. But from what I understood rules for those lucky enough comparable to what TH still wants.

And time for a little warning: even if TH may scrap the pre-departure test requirement, this does not say that the airline you use also does-some are pertinent in that all their pas are checked-to minimize of course possible infections on board. On those fora it was pointed out that now the chance of testing positive should be eve greater due to more chance on it whilst sitting some 10-12 hrs close by in a plane. No idea if that is true or not.

And completely aside: today , whilst now in Barcelona, just by chance passed a Thai restrt and as there was just a delivery going on and I could read the Thai script, had at least a little nice conversation with indeed a Thai waiter-though he was a bit sorrow as the big boss was, of course, a Viet. Just across from that Axel 2 hotel (heterofriendly). BCN does not really hold up in its special services compared to Thailand

[spoon]

28 minutes ago, macaroni21 said:

Indonesia is the one country where I am getting conflicting information, so I have left it out from this survey. Some information is about Bali only, others are about the whole country... confusing!

Bali only was outdated. Indonesia very recently scraped everything. U can now travel there without any restriction, similar to pre-covid.

Source

[Guest]

If I were planning a trip in the next 3 months, I'd probably choose Cambodia ahead of Thailand.    Partly as a matter of convenience & partly as a matter  of principle.

However, some thought needs to be given to how to get to Cambodia.    Bangkok is one of the obvious transit airports, which means complying with Thai transit rules.

 

Which according to gov.uk is:

"If you are transiting in Thailand you do not need to register for a Thailand Pass. You must however have proof of insurance with minimum coverage of at least 20,000 USD and a COVID-19 test result (RT-PCR), issued a maximum of 72 hours before you travel."

Therefore, one needs a pointless PCR test.  Also insurance for covid, despite being unlikely to have that detected in Bangkok airport, as they don't specify a test in the airport.   That must be a money spinner !  

So transiting through a country with more reasonable requirements would be a priority.  

[Like Macaroni21, I recommend anyone planning a trip should do their own research to confirm requirements and not rely on anything posted in forums. ]

[reader]

I agree. The posted information should be viewed as informational but not gospel.

I'm in the process of verifying requirements of two transit airports in different countries I pass through en route to BKK. I know others who doing the same thing but on different routing.

Check, double check and confirm your understanding with the airline.

And after that's done, don't let down your guard. Requirements can change at any time before departure. Check again five days out to be sure nothing has changed.

[Guest]

57 minutes ago, reader said:

I'm in the process of verifying requirements of two transit airports in different countries I pass through en route to BKK.

Earlier this year, I actually complained to Emirates about the unclear information they were providing on transit rules through Dubai.    At the time, they specified requirements for a select handful of risky countries, but didn't explicitly say what the rules were from all other countries.

They modified the website and it was very clear when I checked back a couple of weeks later.  

[macaroni21]

10 hours ago, spoon said:

Bali only was outdated. Indonesia very recently scraped everything. U can now travel there without any restriction, similar to pre-covid.

Source

Thanks, spoon. However, the linked article only says quarantine abolished. It does not say whether pre-departure and/or post-arrival tests are still required.

[spoon]

10 minutes ago, macaroni21 said:

Thanks, spoon. However, the linked article only says quarantine abolished. It does not say whether pre-departure and/or post-arrival tests are still required.

You are right. My information got mixed up with information i get from a local too. Upon further research i found this article that said negative pcr still required.

Source

[macaroni21]

9 hours ago, z909 said:

If I were planning a trip in the next 3 months, I'd probably choose Cambodia ahead of Thailand.    Partly as a matter of convenience & partly as a matter  of principle.

However, some thought needs to be given to how to get to Cambodia.    Bangkok is one of the obvious transit airports, which means complying with Thai transit rules.

I came across this yesterday as I doing trawling through the web for information an have just found it again.  It's from Singapore's Changi airport website, and it says "Covid-19 test requirement - A pre-departure test is not required for transit travellers for all flights arriving in Singapore, including VTL flights." 

A quick check on Expedia shows about 2 direct flights a day between Singapore and Phnom Penh.

[reader]

From Bangkok Post

The Test and Go scheme and Thailand Pass registration are expected to be scrapped by June 1 if there is no surge in infections or fatalities during the Songkran festival in April, says the Tourism and Sports Ministry.

Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said Thai tourism has to move forward after opening the Phuket sandbox in July 2021.

"Thailand started like a rabbit, running quickly last year as we reopened to visitors. We cannot let the country fall behind as many nations are opening borders and have fewer restrictions than us," Mr Phiphat said.

Mr Phiphat said the upcoming Songkran holidays will be a critical test for further easing of rules. The number of daily cases, including results from ATK tests in April, has to remain stable. An acceptable rate might be 50,000-60,000 cases, while the fatality rate should stay below 100, he said.

The viral caseload in April could lead to the cancellation of the Test and Go scheme and Thailand Pass from June 1, he said.

Mr Phiphat said if the country fully reopens and returns to pre-pandemic norms, there would be no need to require RT-PCR test results from tourists. However, an ATK test should be administered the arrival day to maintain confidence locally and prevent uncertainty, he said.