Special Tourist Visa - published rules and costs.

[oakdale160]

I wonder what the effect will be on the thousands of Scandinavians who are an important segment of LS tourists. They come religously for 5 months each year. We never hear from them on the forum.

[buksida]

I wonder what the effect will be on the thousands of Scandinavians who are an important segment of LS tourists. They come religously for 5 months each year. We never hear from them on the forum.

Its going to cost them substantially more to come out this year so many simply won't bother. Besides, they're only letting Chinese with private jets in under this STV anyway.

TAT confirms special tourist visa scheme
The Tourism Authority of Thailand has confirmed that the initiative to welcome foreign tourists back to Thailand under the Special Tourist Visa (STV) scheme will proceed.

TAT governor Yutthasak Supasorn said that despite the delay, the first group of tourists from China will arrive in Phuket under the STV scheme within this month.

Previously, Phuket had prepared to receive its first group of tourists from China who were expected to arrive next week under the STV scheme aimed at supporting Thailand's economic recovery.

In the initial stage of reopening, the first flight, scheduled to land on Oct 8, is expected to carry 120 tourists from Guangzhou.

However, Pilot Officer Thani Chuangchoo, director of Phuket international airport, said a check with the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand has found no confirmation of chartered flights from China.

"As far as I know, just as in the news, the flights will be chartered flights with a limited number of passengers, and they must follow the measures as considered by the Thai government and Ministry of Foreign Affairs from their point of origin," he said.

According to the airport's flight schedule from Oct 26 onwards, international inbound and outbound commercial flights have not yet been approved, Plt Off Thani said, adding that the airport has yet to take any action and is waiting for orders from the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).

Gen Natthapon Nakpanich, head of the CCSA's panel on the easing of Covid-19 restrictions, said on Wednesday that the STV scheme will first be introduced on the resort islands of Phuket and Samui.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... isa-scheme

"TAT calculated that this will genererate 150 trillion baht for the Thai economy ... "

[handdrummer]

"TAT calculated that this will genererate 150 trillion baht for the Thai economy ... "

Only if they are printing the money.

[PeteC]

GOV’T DELAYS ‘SPECIAL TOURIST VISAS’ 2 DAYS BEFORE LAUNCH

https://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/202 ... re-launch/

PHUKET — The special visa would allow tourists to visit Thailand during the coronavirus pandemic was delayed indefinitely just 48 hours before it was supposed to come into effect.

Officials on Phuket, the tourist island slated to be the experimental ground for the visas, said on Tuesday preparations for receiving foreign tourists are not completed in time. A tourism agency chief confirmed the news on Wednesday, adding that the group of 300 Chinese tourists and businessmen who were scheduled to arrive in Thailand tomorrow would no longer be admitted due to the delay.

The government will not offer them any refunds for flights, accommodation, insurance, and other fees they already paid for the Special Tourist Visas, or STV, since the delay is not officially considered as a cancellation of the policy.

“It’s part of the conditions of the STV that they had to pay first,” Tourism Authority of Thailand governor Yuthasak Supasorn said by phone. “So, there’s no need for those refunds, because their trip is not cancelled, it’s just delayed.”

It is unclear how much the would-be visitors paid for their flights and stays in Thailand. Officials previously said the group of 300 Chinese would be holidaying in the Kingdom for months.

“The batch of tourists expected for tomorrow can’t come because we haven’t worked out all the details to receive them,” Narit Kanjanopas, Ministry of Tourism and Sport spokesman said Wednesday by phone.

But Yuthasak the tourism authority director said he’s confident the special visa will be implemented later this month after all necessary measures are in place. According to government reports, the next batch of tourists under the special visa program are also expected to arrive on Oct. 21 from Europe.

“They will come within October for sure,” Yuthasak said.

The Cabinet approved the Special Tourist Visa in September, paving ways for foreigners to visit Thailand for 270 days and reviving the tourism industry devastated by the coronavirus pandemic.

To qualify for the program, the visitors must arrive with a health certificate confirming they did not have COVID-19. They must also agree to enter a quarantine for 14 days, which they must pay for, as well as presenting proof of accommodation booking, health insurance, and several other documents.

“We already have the names of the places they will go quarantine, but all the details haven’t been hammered out,” tourism ministry spokesman Narit said. “We will also need further documents from the Ministry of the Interior Affairs.”

[nil]

Amazing Thailand. I wonder how many out of the 300 will rebook after this.

[PeteC]

It very well could be because of the below and China was the one who pulled the plug on their 300 people, and all the above is just a smoke screen.

....."China’s security agencies have reportedly requested personal data of not only Thai citizens but also foreign residents in the kingdom, the officials said. The agencies are said to have informed Thai authorities that any decision to allow Chinese tourists to resume travel to Thailand would be contingent on sharing Thai Chana and Mor Chana information.".....

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=39594

[Dannie Boy]

Whatever/whoever is the cause of the delay, it will do nothing to help the eventual opening up of Thailand to tourists - not only have the authorities imposed very erroneous conditions, they then say that despite Thailand not being ready to receive the first visitors, no refunds will be available- as Nil said, Amazing Thailand!!

[europtimiste]

Amazing Thailand. I wonder how many out of the 300 will rebook after this.

None

[migrant]

It strikes me as strange, especially the no refund statement. I wonder if the 300 was a hopeful number and they never came close to that many booking.

[caller]

It's just a pack of lies. Numbers have increased from 100, 120, to 300! The Governor of Phuket openly stated that the first he knew of this flight was from the media and I read somewhere that AOT had no knowledge of the flight either.

[ahandpatsy]

I agree about the lies/wishful thinking.

I have never seen these people dying to come to Thailand for 30,60,90 days under these conditions, unless for some reason they are govt sponsored.

Telling these 300 to swivel just shows they never existed in those numbers if any

[caller]

Well, if you're an aussie, and your Country will let you come, you can now apply for an STV via the Thai Embassy in Canberra. And very welcome to it, you are too. It's not available via the Thai Embassy in London.

https://canberra.thaiembassy.org/specia ... BFfK5Wjdqg

[buksida]

FOREIGN MINISTRY, TOURISM OFFICIALS CLASH ON PANDEMIC VISAS
Confusion over a special visa program that would allow tourists to visit Thailand during the global coronavirus outbreak continued unabated Monday, with heads of two government departments contradicting each other on even the most fundamental question: has anyone actually applied for it at all?

Tourism officials previously told the media a group of Chinese tourists and businessmen from China’s Guangzhou province were due to arrive in Phuket under the Special Tourist Visas, or STV, but was postponed due to insufficient preparations. But the spokesman of the foreign affairs ministry dropped a bombshell revelation on Sunday that no one applied for the visa in the first place.

“The consulate in Guangzhou received the list of tourists from the Tourism Authority of Thailand on Oct. 5, but no one came to apply for the visa to date,” Natapanu Nopakun told the media.

“We have been notified that the tourists may fly to Thailand on a repatriation flight on Oct. 26, which the ministry is currently coordinating with Chinese authorities,” he was quoted as saying.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand governor Yuthasak Supasorn on Monday insisted that was not the case. He said multiple foreign tourists have applied for the STV program and they will certainly arrive in Thailand by the end of this month.

Yuthasak said all the preparations for the arriving tourists are now ready, and the holdup was just only a minor paperwork issue.

“They will definitely come within this month,” Yuthasak said by phone. “We have already received the applications and they have just to go through the process. Once the documents are submitted, they can fly into Thailand.”

https://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/cri ... mic-visas/

[buksida]

10-day tourist quarantining moves closer
The Public Health Emergency Operation Centre has approved the proposal to reduce the mandatory quarantine period for tourists under the special tourist visa (STV) from 14 to 10 days, permanent secretary for public health Kiattiphum Wongrajit, said on Thursday.

Speaking after a meeting yesterday, he said it was agreed the reduction should apply to visitors from countries with low risk of Covid-19 transmission.

If visitors are from countries assessed to have higher risk than Thailand, they will still be subject to the 14-day quarantine period, Dr Kiattiphum said.

He explained that testing of Covid-19 is carried out on the first, second, third, seventh, eighth, ninth and eleventh days after arrival, and any infection is usually detected during the first 10 days.

However, chances of detecting infections after 10 days of quarantine are slim. Of 1 million people tested, only 1.5 persons were found to be infected, Mr Kiattiphum said. He added that the chances of finding infections after 14 days of quarantine are 0.3 out of 1 million.

He said the proposal will be submitted to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) for endorsement.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/20 ... ves-closer

[Dannie Boy]

If they intend to only apply the reduction to countries with a lower infection rate than Thailand, that rules out about 99% of potential tourist locations