Thursday's & Friday's reports of the delayed Special Tourist Visa program as published on YouTube by thaiger.com can be found
here: https://youtu.be/gQZkMzouJng?t=192
and here: https://youtu.be/owLUFfqG63c?t=159
The underlying reasons cited are confusion between five (5) departments within the government and continuing concern for the spread of the virus in the nation.
Well, some of us have always thought it unwise to trust the Thai government with such a sum of money, on the basis they could renage on the deal at any time.Originally Posted by Dodger
With covid, this has been proven and furthermore, they have shown extreme short sightedness with the short term visa.
Instead of issuing immediate refunds plus a small amount of compensation in order to do the right thing AND maintain a reputation, they took the greedy option. This should be at the expense of their reputation.
I hope the Chinese media get hold of this story and give appropriate coverage to their citizens being robbed by the Thai state.
christianpfc (October 12th, 2020), siscu58 (October 11th, 2020)
The STV was a very poor deal from the start, but nonetheless I would probably have been on the second or third wave to enter Thailand on an STV (not as desperate to enter Thailand as to be on the first wave where everything takes even longer as procedures are new to everyone, let others go through that ordeal - and I was right! see link below).
Now I abandon all hope to enter Thailand this winter and focus my efforts on Cambodia (with a business visa) and Latin America (Brazil worked fine in September, but not a clear hit boy-wise, go to Mexico or Colombia next?)
Epic Failure: Thailand Delays Special Tourist Visa Indefinitely 48 Hrs Before First Tourists Arrive – No Refunds! Oct 8, 2020
https://loyaltylobby.com/2020/10/08/...ve-no-refunds/
I could not have said it any better!
goji (October 12th, 2020)
The article Adamky posted on page 5 states the following: "The underlying reasons cited for the cancellation of the STV are confusion between five (5) departments within the government and continuing concern for the spread of the virus in the nation."
The confusion that exists between these five (5) departments referenced in the article, is not isolated to the Special Tourist Visa. Total confusion and chaos erupts every single time these various departments (commissions) have to tackle something important.
What amuses the hell out of me is that the news outlets in Thailand constantly report unsubstantiated news that's flowing out of these chaotic and disjointed government meetings as if they're "facts", when in reality, they're nothing more than vague and conflicting opinions based on personal agendas, at best. Five different departments saying five different things...ten different reporters writing ten different stories...and a thousand different readers interpreting things a thousand different ways. Welcome to Thailand!
FACT: There are no Chinese tourists in Phuket. That's it. No more facts.
christianpfc (October 12th, 2020), gerefan2 (October 12th, 2020)
Follow-up to previous post.
Suppose no Special Tourist Visas were ever issued they could never be cancelled.
The Thaiger.com explains: https://youtu.be/zQaN8CMwzRk?t=32
Amazing Thailand
According to this article, the Tourist Authority (TAT) provided false information about the reason that the Chinese tourists never arrived in Phuket. In reality, after the facts were gathered, there wasn't a single Chinese person who even applied for the Special Tourist Visa (STV).
The fact that the STV has now been "scrapped" should not come as a surprise to anyone. Of all the hair-brained TAT proposals we've seen over the past 6 months, this one was beyond laughable. I wouldn't be surprised if TAT has been told to put their crayons and erasers back in the desk and take some time off.
TAT recently reported that a handful of Elite Visa holders have been allowed entry into Thailand. I wonder if the information they provided to the Press was as factual as this Chinese STV debacle?
In many countries, incompetent employees in the so called "public services" rarely get fired. I suspect that's even more true in corrupt countries.
Thailand is finding cases of covid in quarantine on a daily basis (see link) & it seems to prevent transmission. ie Quarantine is working.
So anyone with basic intelligence should be able to design a tourist visa with quarantine to guarantee safety.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand...covid-19-cases
Yes this is a copy and paste, but I'll just put it here anyway:
"Hanlon's razor is a saying that reads: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. In simpler words: some bad things happen not because of people having bad intentions, but because they did not think it through properly."
I am surprised that anyone is anything other than surprised. For a Chinese, even a retiree, to be able to get 90 days off from family and other commitments is almost unheard of.
I read one of the early excuses was the the first batch of Chinese to arrive would cause a problem as that would coincide with a major vegetarian festival in Phuket. I trust someone will buy 5 extra large carrots so that the heads of the departments responsible for the mess have to stick them up you know where and keep them there for at least a week as penance. Mind you, maybe one or more would enjoy that!
Dodger (October 14th, 2020), splinter1949 (October 15th, 2020)
You can check all the ASQ (Alternative State Quarantine) Packages in Thailand by Visiting the below link:
https://royalvacationdmc.com/asq-packages-in-thailand/
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