High season is pretty much over anyway. Therefore a careful step by step opening given the fast rising Covid cases in the western countries is reasonable at this time. Nobody is expecting millions of tourists anyway during 2. quarter of this year

Mexico‘s tourism numbers don‘t depend on China, but Thailand‘s do. And Russia isn‘t an important market for Mexico‘s tourism, but it‘s for Thailand. The fact, that there are extremely low numbers of travelers from China and Russia, has nothing to do with Thailand‘s entry restrictions. And additionally the war in Europe affects the numbers of travelers from Europe.

Tourism needs months, maybe years to ramp up from zero. Other countries in SEA just started to open. They will need half a year or more to get back to more than 50% of it‘s pre covid standard.

Some posters in this thread are in as much denial as the Thai government muppets regarding the deleterious effect of entry restrictions on tourism. As long as the government continues with the current program, the results will remain disappointing.

Meanwhile, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Philippines have all re-opened with far less onerous restrictions. So no, compared to the rest of SE Asia, Thailand is not "miles ahead".

"Vietnam on Wednesday scrapped quarantine and other travel restrictions for foreign visitors in an effort to fully reopen its border after two years of pandemic-related closure, the government said.Visitors entering the Southeast Asian country only need to show a negative COVID-19 test prior to arrival, according to the Health Ministry, which said the new measures were effective immediately."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/trave...ne/7059362001/

"Cambodia on Thursday dispensed with a requirement for visitors from overseas to take Covid-19 tests, as the country moved ahead of most neighbours by relaxing most restrictions to spur more investment and tourism, officials said."

https://www.bangkokpost.com/travel/2...rseas-visitors

"Double-jabbed visitors are welcome in the Philippines, provided you have proof, and can present a negative Covid test on arrival. This needs to be a PCR test taken 48 hours before departure, or an antigen test no less than 24 hours before the first leg of your journey."

https://www.euronews.com/travel/2022...ons-for-every-

Thailand was the first country to open in SEA and other countries tried to learn from Thailand. I.e. Singapore copied Thailand‘s concept for months.

All was set to an ongoing easing of entry restrictions - until omicron came up. In December/January there was a fight between PM, MFA and TAT on one side and the Vice-PM/MOH on the other side. It wasn‘t really about entry restrictions, but about the Vice-PM wanted the PM‘s job. We‘ve seen a huge throw back about entry restrictions at that time.

But that is over. All ministries in Thailand want to ease the entry restrictions as much as possible now. For several reasons they need a couple of months for that. But it‘s very likely, that all restrictions will be gone after July 1. That is not just a forecast, that is the current plan of the Thai government. They‘ve published that plan a couple of days ago.

Since the reopening, I‘ve been to Thailand seven times. I know and I‘ve seen, that it‘s not just about easing entry restrictions. In the tourists areas almost everything was closed for more than a year. People gave up their businesses. People applied to other jobs. People went back to their home towns. Airlines cancelled their flights. Vietnam, Cambodia and Philippines will need months to ramp up their tourism industries to 50%. Thailand is miles ahead of them. And countries like Vietnam and especially Cambodia will need BKK to get the tourists into their country.

The removal of the pre-departure test is helpful from a logistics perspective but not a big deal to me. As other have mentioned, I am going to test anyways as I want to mitigate the risk of testing positive upon arrival. I would actually prefer to require a PCR test within 24 hours of departure and no test gymnastics upon arrival. But it is Thailand, they have to do it "Thai style".

By the way, for those saying that they do not see as much complaining about non-sense in other Southeast Asian countries. It's because Thailand is the most visited and has a very loyal travel contingency. I love Hong Kong, it is a lost cause though. Singapore? Not even a comparison. I think the Philippines and Vietnam are smart to try and help their tourist industry a bit while Thailand fumbles around in getting to where we all know they will ultimately land. It will take all of these areas a long time to get back to something that looks normal on tourist numbers. Just the lack of flight and the time to get new flights scheduled etc takes time.

Interesting, I visited Thailand earlier this year and today got email that my Thailand Pass request is registered and also got new personal key code.

I checked the email headers and it's actually from tp.consular.go.th and all links point to actual site, not to some scam (unless whole tp.consular.go.th is taken over..)

Maybe just a hick-up in the system

edit: the warnings in red are included in the message I received :)

got this as well
guess this is not a hiccup of the system, but a warning about scam-Emails sent to everybody, who ever applied for a Thailand pass

"The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) and Thai Chamber of Commerce have both stated the changes are not enough to encourage wider foreign tourism and travel.

The FTI in particular has stated this weekend that they will continue to petition and urge the government to entirely drop the Thailand Pass and test and go process, replacing it with a simple vaccine verification. They do not believe dropping only the pre arrival test will make much difference and pointed at an increasing number of countries with little to no paperwork, testing, and restrictions required to visit."

and

"The Thai Chamber of Commerce stated that the steps made a positive move forward but far too slow and the current plan to treat Covid19 as endemic in four months will put Thailand significantly behind other tourism destinations. They suggested immediately moving forward the timeline to dropping restrictions and regulations around travel and testing.

The Hotel Association of Thailand joined FTI by stating that they supported the total and complete removal of Thailand Pass and Test and Go as soon as possible to restore their business and the economy."

https://thepattayanews.com/2022/03/1...-restrictions/

Lobby groups were criticizing restrictions or too slow reopenings all the time during the pandemic and in all countries...

Some of us know Thailand and the tourism business very well. That‘s why I‘m more happy, that the entry restrictions will be fully scrapped until July 1 than I‘m angry, that it still takes so long.

And I have four more trips to Thailand until July 1, where I have to pay for tests and more expensive transportation every single time.

How many trips to Thailand until July 1 make you so angry?

Yes lots of people going back to the Provinces hurt business too in trying to open up. They need them to come back to BKK. Also the Chinese and Russian tourists make a lot of the numbers. Chinese of course a lot more than the Russians. Flights have to be arranged and slots have to be cleared too not only in BKK but from other countries and overflight permissions etc.
It is going to take a while to get back and I also have been there a few times since November. March was a lot better than December.

Testing positive
 

I am about to fly to Bangkok in 2 days. As recently recovered from COVID (first positive 18th Feb, negative since16th March) I am wondering what will happen if the pre-departure or the on arrival test turn out positive?

Am I still able to fly and most importantly can I move freely within Thailand? I cannot find any exact information on the Thai government's website.

As far as I know if you got tested positive on 18th Feb and if you have a negative since 16th March, you would not get positive again so soon. I do not think if you tested positive on arrival, then you can move around freely. You would have to quarantine.

Very possible to still test positive with a PCR test for upto something like 3 months after recovery and the PCR tests carried out in Thailand are supposed to be more sensitive than most. Have you got a recovery certificate/letter that states you've had COVID & recovered?