The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) has lifted its entry ban on four more groups of foreigners who can soon travel to Thailand again as part of the latest easement measures by the authorities.
Affected by this are Permanent Residents (including their spouse/children); foreigners with work permits (including their spouse/children), Thailand Elite Visa holders, and documented migrant workers from neighboring countries.
The government of Thailand has decided in a cabinet meeting on Tuesday that the visa amnesty concerning foreign visitors will be extended until September 26, 2020.
There has been lots of speculation about what will happen to the amnesty which so far granted right of stay for foreigners in Thailand until July 31st even if their visa or entry permit had already expired since April when the Amnesty was first announced.
The government of Thailand has opened up a previously planned promotion called “We Tour Together” to boost domestic tourism, offering Thai citizens a reduction of 40% off hotels, air fare and food expenses.
Foreigners – no matter if visitors or residents – are not eligible to apply under this scheme and the promotion is capped to two million discounted air tickets and five million discounted hotel rooms.
Thailand had a very generous visa amnesty for foreigners in place that saw themselves unable to return to their home countries due to lack of flight options or deterioration COVID situations back home.
This amnesty is now about to run out on July 31st and in the last couple of days both Thai Immigration as well as the embassies in Bangkok have been telling foreigners it’s time to prepare for their departure or avail themselves to a visa extension if eligible.
Three weeks ago I wrote about Hawaii and several other U.S. states preparing for the summer travel season and modifying their isolation requirements for arriving visitors but now this seems to be in limbo again.
According to the Lt. Governor of Hawaii it’s more than likely than the Governor will postpone the option to travel to the Islands without quarantine.
A group of five U.S. citizens and some friends from New Zealand, the UK, Germany and Italy decided the current E.U. Immigration Quarantine rules don’t apply to them and charted a private jet to Sardinia, Italy just to get a bad surprise from the Italian authorities.
Unfortunately for them the Italians had none of it and immediately denied the U.S. citizens entry, following by 14 hours on the ground in a hangar and a subsequent “flight of shame” over to the UK for the entire group.
The Royal Thai Embassy in Ankara, Turkey has published a rather straight forward letter warning travelers of booking flights to Thailand before definitive decisions have been made to avoid being out of money as airlines refuse or delay refunds.
This announcement comes as many carriers start to put flights to Thailand back up on sale which might coerce people into purchasing tickets which just end up being cancelled.
A Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand official just announced that there is very little commercial appetite of airlines to resume flights to the country even after the airspace reopens.
According to a news report the CAAT doesn’t expect many flights to take place until at least September of this year at the earliest, although a wave of foreigners who secured approval will now begin to arrive in Thailand again starting next week.
Several U.S. states are currently preparing for the summer travel season and modify their isolation requirements for arriving visitors including Connecticut, New Jersey and New York where a mandatory 14 days quarantine is now required.
Hawaii on the other hand has scheduled their quarantine requirement to stop effective August 1, 2020 provided the traveler can provide a valid negative test taken within 72 hr prior to arrival.
Last week there was a discussion in Thailand regarding their “Travel Bubble” project that would allow foreigners back into the country without undergoing quarantine, however the initial plan was rejected.
Now their health experts have worked out a new proposal that includes seven categories of travelers which would be allowed back to Thailand including tourists from China, Japan and South Korea.
In about three weeks from today the Maldives are opening up to foreign tourists again and their newest plan to make it comfortable for tourists actually looks quite attractive.
There was an earlier plan that was briefly discussed which called for long minimum stays, restrictive testing environments and an expensive visa but this has now turned 180 degrees.
The United Arab Emirates have announced that effective July 7, 2020 they will allow foreign visitors into Dubai again provided they can produce/pass a negative PCR test in order to clear immigration.
This makes it possible for foreigners visiting the UAE (Dubai) on business or tourism related trips starting two weeks from now and slowly restarting the hospitality sector in the country.
This week there have been some developments in Thailand regarding their “Travel Bubble” project that would allow foreigners back into the country without undergoing quarantine, unfortunately for the cabinet the COVID-19 response team immediately rejected this plan.
At the same time it’s being mulled that the Civil Aviation Authority will extend their ban for the majority of foreign flights beyond June 30th.
The U.S. Government is currently studying various forms of a second stimulus payment to American taxpayers which could come in the form of a tax credit for domestic travel expenditures.
Both the Trump administration as well as congress have been working on a variety of proposals ranging from another cash payment to different forms of tax credits.
