Hopes For Pattaya High Season Sinking

[Manforallseasons]

https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/news/hopes-for-the-upcoming-high-season-in-pattaya-are-sinking-373744

The author Barry Kenyon is a long time resident of Pattaya and the former British Consul to Pattaya.

[goji]

MFAS can always be relied upon to bring more sunshine to the board:).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toqxJ4jbXaM

And Mr Kenyon is a busy author......
"In reopening tourism, Cambodia trying to avoid making Thailand’s mistakes"
https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/news/in-reopening-tourism-cambodia-trying-to-avoid-making-thailands-mistakes-359309

[Manforallseasons]

[QUOTE=goji;282786]MFAS can always be relied upon to bring more sunshine to the board.


And you can always be counted on to never contributing aTopic of your own while spending your entire day searching this board.(Get a life man),,,Lol

[Old git]

There seems to be a tussle out there - the ASQ scheme was a Covid profiteering scam that (I think) grossly overestimated the number of tourists who would put up with it. People in high places appeared to be closely involved.

Not wholly daunted, my source believes those people are in no hurry to throw in the towel just yet, whilst those with interests in the big tourist hotels have other ideas. Before the Asian financial crisis of 24 years ago, mass market hotels and power ran hand in hand, but since then it seems much less so.

- Who will prevail?

[Dodger]

Either reopen the bars and other nightly entertainment venues and put the prostitutes back to work, or kiss Pattaya goodbye.

The Indians come to Pattaya to smoke their shisha's and fuck girls with fat asses, and the Russians come to get drunk and party in the bars all night. With the ban on Shisha's and bars being closed the odds of them buying into any of these bullshit schemes are slim to none IMO.

They should just quit embarrassing themselves and tell the world that they plan to have a REAL REOPENING, (bars open, no quarantines, no alcohol bans, and girls popping pingpong balls out of their carefully manicured pussy's) in early 2022, after a healthy percentage of the population has been vaccinated.

No more scams, no more ridiculous/go-nowhere proposals, no more playing around with the tourists as if they're lab rats in a cage. Just lay the cards on the table and make pretend they actually care about the tourist's for a change - versus concentrating solely on how much $$money$$ they want in their pockets.

IMO: This is the only way that any sizable numbers of tourists are going to return to Pattaya - and if they keep dicking around with this, making complete fools of themselves in the process, tourists are just going to start finding alternative holiday destinations. Many already have.

[Gaybutton]

Either reopen the bars and other nightly entertainment venues and put the prostitutes back to work, or kiss Pattaya goodbye.

I think it is more complex than that. Suppose they permit the bars to reopen tomorrow and also serve alcohol. How many really will open any time soon? It is not doing the bars much good to reopen if there are hardly any customers to support them enough to at least break even and how many international customers are going to go to Thailand any time soon?

We also don't know yet how many bars even survived to be able to reopen.

Also, they may be looking at a recruitment problem. Many of the boys returned to their home provinces and have had no income whatsoever for months. Just to return to Pattaya they have to come up with the money for bus fare to return, have to pay at least a month rent in advance wherever they're going to stay, have to have money to eat, have to have money for personal expenses, etc. That will be at least several thousand baht. Where is that supposed to come from? None of the bars are going to pay the boys in advance and no apartments are going to let the boys move in without paying at least a month in advance, probably with a security deposit too.

And for the foreseeable future, none of the Cambodian, Burmese, or Laotian boys can even get into Thailand at all.

Again, I hope I am totally wrong, and I'm sorry to be so gloomy about it, but I believe that is the reality. I find it very difficult to be optimistic that the bar scene has much chance of returning to any semblance of normal within the next few years.

[Manforallseasons]

Again, I hope I am totally wrong, and I'm sorry to be so gloomy about it, but I believe that is the reality. I find it very difficult to be optimistic that the bar scene has much chance of returning to any semblance of normal within the next few years.

You know there is a small contingent of folks here that prefer to see things through rose colored glasses, hence you shall be branded as Negative Nancy.

[Dodger]

I think it is more complex than that. Suppose they permit the bars to reopen tomorrow and also serve alcohol. How many really will open any time soon?

Speaking just about the gay bars in Jomtien Complex, I think 100% of them would reopen almost immediately. They've been paying their leases continually for the past 18 months waiting for the green light to reopen, I seriously doubt we'll see too many laggers.

As far as the sum total of bars in Pattaya (all 10,000 of them), I imagine some would reopen right away (similar to the Complex) and others would be reopening on a more gradual/incremental timeline based on tourist-flow and economic forecast.

The Thais are one of the most resilient cultures on earth based on what I've observed. They've been holding their breath and living on peanuts this long, and I don't have a doubt in the world about their abilities to swing back into action when the light turns green.

Once the money starts circulating in the bar scene the working boys will find a way to return. When most of them came here years ago their pockets were empty just like they are now, and they know how to put the pieces together.

At least that's how I see it happening in a REAL REOPENING scenario.

[Gaybutton]

Speaking just about the gay bars in Jomtien Complex, I think 100% of them would reopen almost immediately.

I hope it turns out that you're the one who's right and I'm the one who's wrong. The problem is it looks like we're not going to find out any time soon.

As for the Sunee Plaza bars paying their leases for the past 18 months, I don't know that. How do you know?

[Dodger]

As for the Sunee Plaza bars paying their leases for the past 18 months, I don't know that. How do you know?

I was referring to the bars in Jomtien Complex, not the bars in Sunee.

What's distinctly different between these two places in that business was dwindling pretty badly in Sunee before the pandemic, and the Complex was growing. Not so much in terms of customers at the time, but in planned investments. Even now, as bad as times are, The majority of bars in the Complex bars have not been vacated...continue to have staff appearing from time-to-time cleaning the places...and small pockets of boys mingling around the area. The bar owners are clearly intent on reopening and will rely on our support in doing so.

Sunee is a different picture. I was talking to the owner of Green Chairs Bar (Sunee) on Wednesday and she has refused to abandon ship - even after going so many months without a single customer. She was smiling at the delight of having 3 farang just arriving from Belgium (Sunee regulars) who now visit her bar in the evenings. The doors are down - and the lights are dim - but she's still standing behind the bar waiting to do her job, and there are boys in the area who are equally happy. Nice Boys, Winner Bar, Momma Leks, and a few other bars in Sunee are still standing and poised to reopen as well. They may have some cobwebs across their doorways, but as soon as Pattaya is REALLY OPENED I have no doubt that they will be trying to make a go of it as well.



.

[Gaybutton]

Again, I hope you're the one who's right. You are a hell of a lot more optimistic than I am. The closer to right you turn out to be, the better we'll all like it. And the sooner the better.

[goji]

As a reminder, after easing of restrictions earlier in 2021:

Almost all the bars in Jomtien opened.
Both Sunee gogo bars and some host bars opened.
In Boyztown, some businesses did not open. The only gogo bars that I noticed open were Cupidol and X-Boys. However, both had highly unattractive formats, Cupidol with fully clothed boys and gogo prices, whilst X-boys had old men in jeans & loud music. Neither got my custom.

If they are allowed to open, I expect we will see something similar this time around until visitor numbers build up.

Just for comparison, the UK allowed all pubs and businesses to open without restrictions on 19 July.
The UK has a near identical population to Thailand and had delivered 82.5 million doses by that point.

Thailand should reach 82.5 million doses some time in November.
If the Thai government adjusts it's thinking to take account of much lower post vaccine death rates, there is no reason why they should not relax almost all restrictions this year.
Compared with the UK, Thailand might lose a little due to an inferior vaccine mix, but they should gain due to a warmer climate and they will probably have the sense to continue requiring masks to be worn where practical.

So:
Will Pattaya have a normal high season ? No chance.
Will there be enough open to entertain expats and be better than any other location on the planet ? Yes. There should be, if the government does the right thing and relaxes restrictions.

[Old git]

Just for comparison, the UK allowed all pubs and businesses to open without restrictions on 19 July.
The UK has a near identical population to Thailand and had delivered 82.5 million doses by that point.

Thailand should reach 82.5 million doses some time in November.
If the Thai government adjusts it's thinking to take account of much lower post vaccine death rates, there is no reason why they should not relax almost all restrictions this year.
Compared with the UK, Thailand might lose a little due to an inferior vaccine mix, but they should gain due to a warmer climate and they will probably have the sense to continue requiring masks to be worn where practical.

So:
Will Pattaya have a normal high season ? No chance.
Will there be enough open to entertain expats and be better than any other location on the planet ? Yes. There should be, if the government does the right thing and relaxes restrictions.

As I've said before, I think the numbers game on vaccination is mainly a reassurance exercise for the domestic population, but it's also a ball kicking exercise - a reason for not doing anything - yet..

I doubt the numbers of vaccinations, cases, hospitalisations etc. will ultimately have much bearing on the decision making.

Once those profiteering from Covid can see the party is over, and retreat to count their winnings, the rest of Thailand will go headlong into a return to normality.

If one massage shop has staff wearing masks and the next one doesn't, and the one that doesn't is doing better trade, the shop with masks will ditch them pronto.

Think of it as a cracking dam wall - once the owners of the dam give up on saving it, the flood will follow. I don't believe we will have years of lingering sub-normality.

[arsenal]

At some point every country will have to take the decision to 'bulldoze through' and accept that there will be some cases and some deaths but that life has to get back to normal. In this respect the UK has led the world with their airports jammed and restaurants full. The UK has also said that by the spring , it will be little more than a common cold and I like to think that's a correct assessment..

[Old git]

At some point every country will have to take the decision to 'bulldoze through' and accept that there will be some cases and some deaths but that life has to get back to normal. In this respect the UK has led the world with their airports jammed and restaurants full. The UK has also said that by the spring , it will be little more than a common cold and I like to think that's a correct assessment..

And at some point countries will realise that counting and publishing daily Covid case numbers is no longer a constructive exercise, and that they need to focus on getting 'post-Covid' to get their economies back up to steam. Thailand is a prime example of that. The hardship caused by the lack of tourists almost certainly outweighs the peril from Covid.

It certainly outweighs the miniscule hazard posed by allowing tourists the necessary quarantine free access, to get them to return in volume.

[Manforallseasons]

One positive is how quickly the pace of vaccinations is occurring however, I think it is folly to over estimate the amount of entertainment venues both straight and gay that will reopen having been closed with out any income for a very long time. All the venues are largely reliant on foreigners not expats and unless all the red tape disappears no one will be rushing back here also if venues are restricted as to how many people allowed, shortened hours, vaccine cards both for workers and customers it will create an untenable situation.
I for one only miss the tourist’s support of the locals, having said that most expats have adapted rather well and many do not cherish a mass influx of tourists.

[Old git]

Commercial property rental in Thailand works in slightly strange ways - typically a large sum up front followed by regular monthly payments. Most of the freeholders are of Chinese/Thai extraction. Assuming that most of the tenants have long since run out of money to pay their landlords, I'm not sure how the landlords will now react.

If the landlords now expect fresh key money and a new tenancy deal, the old tenants may well have a fundamental problem finding the initial sum to reopen. If I were a landlord and had a previously good tenant seeking to reopen, I'd probably suggest that they open up right away without fresh key money, and make good the rent arrears over a five year period - but Asian landlords have some strange ways of reasoning.

Hopefully the need to get some cash coming in is sufficiently pressing for the landlords as to persuade them to make some effort to get places reopened.

[Gaybutton]

Asian landlords have some strange ways of reasoning

That reminds me of Bruno's restaurant. Some of you may remember Bruno's. Before the restaurant moved to Jomtien, he was located for many years on Second Road. The reason he moved to Jomtien was because of a stubborn landlord. Though he had been at the Second Road location for years, all of a sudden the landlord was demanding nearly triple the rent. Bruno refused and tried to negotiate with the landlord. The landlord wouldn't budge, so Bruno moved out. The building remained vacant for years. For all I know it might still be vacant.

None of us could understand what the landlord was thinking. He would prefer to lose a tenant who had reliably been with him for years rather than even discussing or negotiating.

[gerefan2]

We don’t need an immediate opening of all the bars and entertainment. Note the word ALL.

As said above this high season is lost. However the Thai plan is to reopen but they need to realise that those coming to Thailand need SOME entertainment. As the numbers will be small, compared with normal times, the number of places reopening will easily cater for the small numbers arriving. As time goes on, and tourists numbers rise, so more and more bars will reopen. And boys will follow.

I see no problem visiting Thailand this winter provided they reopen entertainment. There will be sufficient available in the short term for the reduced number of visitors.

Last night I had a video call from a Thai friend from Sunee. He was Mau. I asked him where he had been drinking and he said Sunee. Are the bars open I asked? He confirmed what Dodger said above!

All is not lost. Patience...

[Old git]

As said above this high season is lost.

I think it's very premature to call that. Europe is rapidly getting over Covid, and people will be itching to fly off to the sun this winter as much as they ever did before, not least because many have spent far less than usual during lockdown and are now flush with cash.

Thailand just needs to go the extra mile and ditch the quarantine requirements and other restrictions that are messing up the tourist scene, which could happen as soon as Nov 1st, but more likely Dec 1st I suspect; and see tourism from europe back to full strength after Xmas.

[christianpfc]

...the ASQ scheme was a Covid profiteering scam that (I think) grossly overestimated the number of tourists who would put up with it.
Covid profiteering, that's a good way to put it!


...accept that there will be some cases and some deaths but that life has to get back to normal.
Exactly! The cat is out of the sack and Covid will get everywhere and will get everyone. With lockdowns and curfews this process can be dragged out and make peoples' lives uncomfortable, or we can get over it quick.


...not least because many have spent far less than usual during lockdown and are now flush with cash.

Thailand just needs to go the extra mile and ditch the quarantine requirements and other restrictions that are messing up the tourist scene, which could happen as soon as Nov 1st, but more likely Dec 1st I suspect; and see tourism from europe back to full strength after Xmas.
That varies widely. One of my acquaintances lost a lot of money due to Covid and has to postpone his retirement for years.

Flights have to be arranged, package trips organized. It might already be too late to take advantage of this High Season, and all the improvements too late, too little.

[gerefan2]

I think it's very premature to call that. Europe is rapidly getting over Covid, and people will be itching to fly off to the sun this winter as much as they ever did before, not least because many have spent far less than usual during lockdown and are now flush with cash.
.
Thailand used to get 40 m tourists a year. 31m came from Asia and only 5.7m from Europe.

Most of the Asians won’t be there this year so I still think the high season is lost....even if all those 5.7m form Europe came!

[Old git]

Thailand used to get 40 m tourists a year. 31m came from Asia and only 5.7m from Europe.

Most of the Asians won’t be there this year so I still think the high season is lost....even if all those 5.7m form Europe came!

But who spent the money? - who kept the bars and restaurants alive? - Never the Asians..

[Moses]

But who spent the money? - who kept the bars and restaurants alive? - Never the Asians..

Yeah, Asians don't need to eat, they can't keep restaurants opened.

[gerefan2]

But who spent the money? - who kept the bars and restaurants alive? - Never the Asians..

Good point!

[Dodger]

I took another spin through Jomtien Complex this afternoon and several of the bars had the metal doors lifted with staff sitting inside drinking soft drinks. I talked to staff members at M2M, the bar next to M2M (name?), Dolce Vita, and Home Bar and they all said, without hesitation, that they were waiting for the green light to reopen. Dorothy's Showbar had that huge fluorescent sign of theirs lit up as if a show was about to begin. Why they do this is beyond me, but it was just another positive indicator as far as I'm concerned.

Similar to my drive-through a few days ago, there was a small group of boys sitting across the soi from Home Bar (next to Dolce Vita) with inviting smiles and the typical hand gestures. I saw one doll who was wearing snug worn jeans with an ass sculpted by the gods as he drifted towards the group of boys and was tempted to go over and say hello...but I declined.

Navigating around the S curve on my way out of the Complex I saw 6 or 7 boys sitting outside a massage parlor with the same smiles and hand gestures. I could have got laid 15 times and the bars are still closed, and that doesn't include 2 freelancers I was talking to on the beach earlier in the morning.

I'm not saying these things to gloat over the fact that I'm here now - I'm only saying these things to give you guys who aren't here a true picture of what's waiting for you when you return.

[Gaybutton]

I took another spin through Jomtien Complex this afternoon and several of the bars had the metal doors lifted with staff sitting inside drinking soft drinks.

What about customers? Do you know if the boys are allowed to sit with customers, either inside or on chairs outside of the bars and at least have soft drinks? I hope so. Otherwise, why are they there? If that is allowed, it may not be the greatest, but under current circumstances it would at least be a start.

[Old git]

This is encouraging - it suggests the landlords - at least in this particular spot - have been pragmatic. It seems unlikely the bar owners have been keeping up their rental payments during lockdown, unless they've had some govt. lockdown support? - I've not heard of any..?

[goji]

Last winter, whilst alcohol sales were not permitted, in some parts of town, customers would be offered a "soft drink" consisting of a glass of beer, complete with a can of Sprite to place on the table next to it as a decoy.
Or beer out of a coffee mug.

The gay bars seemed to be more cautious.

[arsenal]

"Or beer out of a coffee mug."

I'm a bit of an obsessive Christianesque dandy when it comes to beverages and believe they should be served in the correct vessels. Champagne in a flute or a saucer, brandy in a balloon and beer in a beer glass or a tankard. Anything else is just common.

[Dodger]

What about customers? Do you know if the boys are allowed to sit with customers, either inside or on chairs outside of the bars and at least have soft drinks?.

I'm really not sure.

There were mostly boys sitting around talking to each other at the bars that were open. The only place I saw farang was in Home Bar. There were two farang customers when I drove past, and one was sitting with a boy. I have no idea what they were drinking.

[gerefan2]

"Or beer out of a coffee mug."

I'm a bit of an obsessive Christianesque dandy when it comes to beverages and believe they should be served in the correct vessels. Champagne in a flute or a saucer, brandy in a balloon and beer in a beer glass or a tankard. Anything else is just common.

If I was stuck in Pattaya, with all the bars closed since April, I would drink my beer straight out of the barrel if need be.

Sod the formalities....

[poshglasgow]

Either reopen the bars and other nightly entertainment venues and put the prostitutes back to work, or kiss Pattaya goodbye.

The Indians come to Pattaya to smoke their shisha's and fuck girls with fat asses, and the Russians come to get drunk and party in the bars all night. With the ban on Shisha's and bars being closed the odds of them buying into any of these bullshit schemes are slim to none IMO.

They should just quit embarrassing themselves and tell the world that they plan to have a REAL REOPENING, (bars open, no quarantines, no alcohol bans, and girls popping pingpong balls out of their carefully manicured pussy's) in early 2022, after a healthy percentage of the population has been vaccinated.

No more scams, no more ridiculous/go-nowhere proposals, no more playing around with the tourists as if they're lab rats in a cage. Just lay the cards on the table and make pretend they actually care about the tourist's for a change - versus concentrating solely on how much $$money$$ they want in their pockets.

IMO: This is the only way that any sizable numbers of tourists are going to return to Pattaya - and if they keep dicking around with this, making complete fools of themselves in the process, tourists are just going to start finding alternative holiday destinations. Many already have.

Excellent post. I agree.

[billyhouston]

"Or beer out of a coffee mug."

Champagne in a flute. Anything else is just common.

Really Arsenal, I thought better of you; champagne in a saucer is really common and reminiscent of Babycham.

[goji]

"Or beer out of a coffee mug."

I'm a bit of an obsessive Christianesque dandy when it comes to beverages and believe they should be served in the correct vessels. Champagne in a flute or a saucer, brandy in a balloon and beer in a beer glass or a tankard. Anything else is just common.

I tend to agree, however back in the winter of 2020-21, the options were as in the table below.
[Simplified slightly & refers to ACTUAL status, rather than what was decreed & yes, shops were closed for about a week]

So given these options, I'd drink my beer out of a mug.
Not like I'm consuming champagne Aussie style https://images.app.goo.gl/Zds8Gw5JY7b5Wsh2A

[GWMinUS]

Somewhat off topic.
But my friends from Germany just had a wonder Gay holiday in Spain.
Forget about Thailand...

[arsenal]

"Really Arsenal, I thought better of you; champagne in a saucer is really common and reminiscent of Babycham."

I disagree. While a flute is designed to keep the bubbles longer I think a saucer is reminiscent of the golden yeats of Hollywood glamour.

[dab69]

A moment of optimism- I checked Delta.com for a plane ticket from middle USA to BKK for Christmas- $6500!
Don't even know if a ticket was/will be really available.

Usually pay $1500 although my last ticket in March 2019 (canceled - covid) was $2000.
Guess that's why I always traveled in February/March.

[Gaybutton]

A moment of optimism- I checked Delta.com for a plane ticket from middle USA to BKK for Christmas- $6500!

Would you really be willing to pay that much? Especially considering what you would be going to? If you think the bars will in full swing by then, filled with boys by then, or even be given permission to reopen and serve alcohol by then - you're dreaming.

[dab69]

And it was my usual cattle class.


Most I have ever paid was ~$2000. Usually ~$1500.
That's why I have never spent Christmas there...

[Gaybutton]

And it was my usual cattle class.


For $6500 they ought to give you first class. If it's $6500 or cattle class, I don't even want to think about what they are probably charging for first class.

For that kind of money, I'd rather take a luxury cruise to Thailand.

[Dodger]

A moment of optimism- I checked Delta.com for a plane ticket from middle USA to BKK for Christmas- $6500!
Don't even know if a ticket was/will be really available.

Usually pay $1500 although my last ticket in March 2019 (canceled - covid) was $2000.
Guess that's why I always traveled in February/March.

I flew R/T from Chicago to Bangkok more times than I can count - spent 15 consecutive Christmas holidays here - and never paid more than $1.200 for economy seating. I just looked on-line now (Cheap Flights.com) and found a roundtrip flight from Chicago to Bangkok , departing Oct 12 and returning Jan 12 for 35,000 baht (U.S. $1,100) ANA/United.

I'm not sure where you found that $6,500 flight you mentioned, but if it's not for first class seating look elsewhere.

[christianpfc]

Another blow. I had a look at the website of Thai embassy in Germany, there is no more walk-in, visa applications only by appointment, and the waiting time is 6-8 weeks!

[goji]

Flight prices from London are very reasonable.
However, of course there are no direct flights, probably as demand is curtailed by the combination of Thailand being on the UK red list plus Thai restrictions.
The timing of flights is also less convenient, but it's a small price to pay for a tropical holiday in winter.

[Patanawet]

Flight prices from London are very reasonable.

Chances of Thailand coming off of U.K.'s red list on Thursday.

[Brad the Impala]

However, of course there are no direct flights, probably as demand is curtailed by the combination of Thailand being on the UK red list plus Thai restrictions.


BA is showing as having direct flights over the Christmas period.

[gerefan2]

BA is showing as having direct flights over the Christmas period.

DISREGARD. ....I REPEAT DISREGARD.

Those robbing bastards have been selling tickets to Thailand ever since this started and haven’t operated a flight there for 18 MONTHS.

They then try and keep your money and offer you vouchers etc.

There is no chance they can do flights by Xmas.

[goji]

DISREGARD. ....I REPEAT DISREGARD.

Those robbing bastards have been selling tickets to Thailand ever since this started and haven’t operated a flight there for 18 MONTHS.


Agreed.

Over the last year, there have been several airlines who I have seen offering flights on booking sites, yet when it comes to checking what actually operates on Flightradar24, those flights get cancelled.

So it's a good idea to confirm which airlines actually operate flights on that site, before booking.

Having spent time and money to get a PCR test under 72 hours before travelling, a COE, hotel bookings etc, finding an airline that runs most of it's flights is even more important than normal.

The red list is about to be trimmed.
Maybe this will result in some direct flights. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/02/uk-to-slash-international-travel-red-list-to-just-9-countries

[Brad the Impala]

DISREGARD. ....I REPEAT DISREGARD.

Those robbing bastards have been selling tickets to Thailand ever since this started and haven’t operated a flight there for 18 MONTHS.

They then try and keep your money and offer you vouchers etc.



This is misleading. BA announced towards the end of last year that they were suspending ALL flights to 15 destinations, including Bangkok. This was widely reported so it's not news now that they haven't been flying to Bangkok! They also stated then that they would consider resuming flights in November.

Looking at their website they are not making direct flights to Bangkok available to book until early December. Prior to that they offer only indirect flights that are usually on Qatar, via Doha, and clearly labelled as such.

Although BA are no angels my recent experience is that although they cancelled a European flight that I was booked on during the summer(more than a month in advance), I was refunded in full within 30 days even though I had booked with a voucher that they had given me when I had to cancel a fixed date flight previously!

BA wouldn't be my first choice on long haul flights, but I was advising of the possibility of direct flights, London to Bangkok, come December.

In any case there are already direct flights London to Bangkok running currently, actually there is a Thai Airways LHR-BKK flight over India as I write this! Information provided by FlightRadar 24. Thai Airways have also added a weekly direct flight between London and Phuket. So there are already direct flights for those who want them, and it sounds likely that Thailand will be removed from the UK's "Red List" on Thursday.

[Old git]

"Chances of Thailand coming off of U.K.'s red list on Thursday"

If not, this looks like the last edit of the Red List before it's abolished entirely - the news that's being trailed is that the number of countries will be reduced by 80% this week, Thailand being described as 'marginal'.

So unless the wee beastie throws a new spanner in the works - which it hasn't done since last year now - it's likely the red list will be no more by the time you return from any planned trip.

The bigger issue now, is getting the LoS to bin its remaining restrictions..

[Gaybutton]

The bigger issue now, is getting the LoS to bin its remaining restrictions..

Seems to me some are more concerned with the challenge of just getting to Thailand than they are about what they'll be doing once they get there.

It it were me, once I figured out how to meet that challenge my next question would be "Will my medical insurance cover me in Thailand?" I'd make damned sure the answer to that question is 'yes' before I'd go anywhere.

[Old git]

"Will my medical insurance cover me in Thailand?" I'd make damned sure the answer to that question is 'yes' before I'd go anywhere.

If a medical insurer excluded Covid related risks I'd find that understandable in the near term, given the small degree of remaining uncertainty.

However, it wouldn't deter me from travelling for an instant..

[dab69]

Wow searched for Thai Airways and happened to hit Expedia.
Lists a small USA midwest local city- three leg flight to BKK around Christmas for only $1600.
Unfortunately I don't like coming home from the tropics to -10 F in January.

Wish I had known this a couple years ago though.

[Old git]

Wow searched for Thai Airways and happened to hit Expedia.
Lists a small USA midwest local city- three leg flight to BKK around Christmas for only $1600.
Unfortunately I don't like coming home from the tropics to -10 F in January.

Wish I had known this a couple years ago though.

About three years ago I needed to interrupt my sojourn in the sun to make a short business trip to Nanchang in China (also made a useful visa run)

Left BKK in 35 degree heat. When we arrived in Nanchang about three hours later there was no airbridge, and as they opened the plane door snow blew in..