Editor;
The question is justified.
When you read the conditions for coming to Pattaya as a tourist in October, you become thoughtful.
The strategy with the Sandbox, which was intended to stop infection from outside, has been overplayed, the situation has changed completely. For example, Thailand has a 400% higher death rate than Germany at present. The vaccination rate in Europe is 70-80, Thailand 15%, Pattaya in October hopefully 70%.
To play in the Sandbox as a foreigner, you must be fully vaccinated and have a negative PCR test before your trip.
Is this not enough? Would fully vaccinated foreigners further aggravate the infection? Absolutely unreasonable!
The tourists are fully vaccinated to 100%, Thais in the tourist areas to 70%.
Which group is most at risk of spreading the infection? The answer is simple.
The tourists do not contribute to spreading the infection. If you are fully vaccinated you do not pose a problem. If fully vaccinated were a problem, the world would never be able to open up.
The current Sandbox does not differ significantly from last year’s rules on 2-week quarantine in special hotels. How many came to Pattaya last winter season? The city was completely dead.
Now you must stay at the Sandbox hotel for 1 week. After that, you will be guided around different sights in week 2.
It may possibly suit a first-time visitor. But there is hardly anyone in this group who wants to visit Thailand at present.
With the proposed rules, unfortunately, Pattaya will be dead also this winter. One can only hope that these rules are only a first attempt and that new, more tourist-friendly ones will come.
Who wants to come?
Those who are interested in coming have visited Thailand several times, know how it is, know what they want (eg play golf) and stay a long time. In addition, they spend a lot of money, people from Europe are strong buyers. Group trips a la China tourists are in this context low budget.
The vast majority of stakeholders are in the groups: visiting family, friends, those who own a house or apartment and those who want to escape the winter at home. These are not interested in paying for accommodation, spending time and feeling trapped in sandbox hotels, unnecessary PCR tests and Covid-19 insurance policies. These groups are also long stayers, which thus contributes significantly to the economy.
It is difficult to understand that a fully vaccinated person would be less infected by staying in a special hotel instead of living in their own apartment.
If you want to get the tourists to return, you must also see from the tourist’s perspective. There are few who are interested in sitting in a sandbox hotel for 1 week and then week 2 are flocking around to sights they are not interested in or have already seen.
Do as in Europe where the fully vaccinated are allowed to travel freely.
Flush the Sandbox and let in fully vaccinated tourists so that beach chair renters, restaurant employees, taxi drivers, caddies on golf courses, etc. get their jobs back. And the stream of Thai baht from tourists to locals can flow.
Per Forsberg
Sweden
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