Will getting vaccinated allow me to travel to Thailand for my retirement visa in February or March?

@Oliver *******

There is no furlough scheme (nothing like what Europe does)... just an indemnity of 5000 THB/month that started in the Spring/Summer (for people with official contracts)... and was quickly running out of budget (there is a debt holidays tough). The 20% of GDP employs around 25% plus of work force. My motorbike drivers in Pattaya are queuing for food... they have zero other option... Pattaya has lost 300.000 people over the last six months - people went back to the farms in Isaan... that's the option B!

@Michel **********

I know many Thais who never saw a baht.

@Edward *******

I know - they ran out of budget very fast... the original money allocated was far too low... several waitresses working for a restaurant I know have never seen a THB...!

@Michel **********

Thank god you know who came back from you know where to take care of the situation.

@Edward *******

In fact the owner of the restaurant kept his restaurant open (loosing money) to provide a salary for the employees waiting "forever and ever" they money... I went there on purpose to provide a bit of help (as customer).

I am afraid there is still some way down... we are not at the bottom of the pool yet.

@Michel **********

huh? informal workers who lost their jobs went back to isarn in march and most have returned to bangkok since june as everything reopened.

@Oliver *******

Jesus, stores may be open but many people don't have discretionary money to buy like before.

@Edward *******

go to any mall (paragon, centralworld, mega bangna, central ladprao, etc etc)

at the weekend or evening; they are all packed. some people might be struggling but many more are not. it's nowhere near the apocalypse many (including myself) were predicting when things first kicked off. hence, when surveyed the majority dont even want tourists back.

@Oliver *******

I just got a message and a picture from Night bazaar in Chiang Mai and it is dead as a door nail. That is what I see and what they are telling me. I’m glad the malls are going well. So is Amazon in America but that means shit for the general retail stores

@Edward *******

uhm that totally differs from what i saw on Richard Barrows page on chiang mai night bazaar

@Michael *******

No need. Reality check. I went to RICHARD Barrows Facebok Page and I saw where he was on Kon Kret boat And I only counted 3 to 4 other people and all the other rows were empty. So I don’t know what he saying, but pictures don’t lie

@Michael *******

I will give my friend RICHARD Barrow’s webpage and I’m sure they’ll come to an agreement

@Edward *******

apologies was Mae Hong Son &id=

@Edward *******

was on his bucket list page cant find it at the moment, you will see when you get out of quarantine.

Photos can decieve with a good photographer.

Cannot imagine the koh kret trip would be busy though, most people drive to temple and take the 2 baht ferry across not a 350 baht ferry from central

@Edward *******

the night bazaar is a mecca for backpackers and they are long gone. retail in thailand revolves around the malls and over time more so on ecommerce (lazada, shopee, etc). these companies are creating loads of jobs for thais just as amazon is in most western countries. obviously loads of uneducated people are struggling to find work these days but that is a global phenomenom, and the only solution is for them to learn something, rather than artificially prolonging the life of doomed companies or sectors.

@Oliver *******

Geez, I wish I had an answer to everything like you do.

@Oliver *******

BKK? Sure... Hotels are running at 20% capacity and most of my friends living there are getting very few contracts (IT...) at nowadays very low rates. Wanna check Pattaya? Samui? Phuket?

@Michel **********

things are not as bad as you make out. tourism is down 70% (only domestic left) but the overall economy is only down around 5%. most hospitality workers who haven't been able to go back to work have long since moved to other sectors. whenever thailand sorts out travel bubbles with other covid free asian countries, the tourism industry will only be missing the 20-30% of westerners and the economy will otherwise basically be back to normal.

@Oliver *******

Make the maths... Tourism is 20% of GDP (Fitch rating - BOT...) A and only 40% (Thai statistics) of the remaining 5% (local) still exist... For the travel bubble... China, Korea will keep imposing 14 days quarantine on the way back... And for your info - Chinese have about 7-10 holidays/year...

But yeah, people who were waitress in bar are now IT programmer...

@Michel **********

domestic tourism is 30% of tourism and other sectors are growing, hence why the overall economy is only estimated to contract by around 5% this year. thailand definitely needs to arrange travel bubbles to avoid quarantine at either end, with other covid free (or nearly covid free) asian countries, which also make up most of international tourism revenue (and that proportion will continue to trend up over the coming decades). i'm not sure what other solution you are suggesting but i can guarantee they won't be allowing westerners in without quarantine for a very long time.