The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has joined up with real-estate firm Locanation and the ASQ Thailand Club to develop the ASQ Tourist Information Centre.
Though the Covid-19 situation in Thailand is improving, and the government is taking steps to promote tourism and rebuild the economy, it is still mandatory for visitors to spend 14 days at an alternative state quarantine (ASQ) site.
Since information about travelling to Thailand in the Covid era has been scarce and confusing, TAT hopes the new information centre will help answer all queries potential visitors may have on alternative state quarantine facilities for foreigners.
It has taken TAT eight weeks to create this platform after it received many complaints and emails asking for information. The website, titled “ASQ Paradise”, allows tourists to book their stay at one of the 115 ASQ hotels. Accommodation is offered in hotels ranging from three to five stars, with stays costing anything from Bt27,000 to Bt220,000 per person.
TAT is also offering activities, albeit virtual, to keep people engaged during their quarantine period, such as the TAT Department Store, which sells anything from luxury helicopter trips to Otop souvenirs.
The government has unveiled a model tour for its community-based tourism policy tapping Thailand’s many canals and waterways. The model route is located in Ratchaburi, 80 kilometres west of Bangkok.
It consists of four historical and agricultural sites – Chotikaram Temple, Jek Huat’s house, Lao Tak Floating Market (Damnoen Saduak), and Mae Thongyip Agricultural Garden.
Tourism and Sports Minister Pipat Ratchakitprakarn said the community-based tours were being developed by the Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration (DASTA) and the Interior Ministry.
The domestic travel route model has been running for two years, said Chumphon Musikanon, deputy director of DASTA.
Last week, DASTA organised a tour of Damnoen Saduak floating market and other Ratchaburi attractions for foreign residents and media members. Chumphon said the community-based model will help support tourism in the “new normal” era, building confidence in the safety of Thai travel among local and overseas visitors .
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has ordered related officials to stop people from using natural borders to sneak into the country, Prateep Keeratirekha, the PM’s deputy secretary on political affairs, said on Wednesday.
As for the Thai woman who tested positive after crossing over from Myanmar via Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district, Prateep said tests on the more than 100 people the patient had come in contact with had come in negative.
“The government has also instructed village health volunteers to check whether anyone in their community had entered Thailand via illegal channels,” he said.
Meanwhile, the PM has instructed officials at alternative state quarantine sites nationwide to strictly perform their duties to gain public confidence.
He said Thailand has been recognised by many countries for its disease prevention efforts and is working on policies to help the economy recover.
“Hence, we call on people to have faith that the government will be able to curb the spread of Covid-19 effectively,” he said.
At a press briefing held by the Public Health Ministry on Covid-19 outbreak, Dr Sophon Iamsirithaworn from the Department of Disease Control, said six additional cases were detected among people who sneaked into Thailand via Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district.
• A 28-year-old Phayao resident who went to work at the 1G1 entertainment venue in Myanmar’s Tachilek district in early November, illegally entered the country on November 27 with a Myanmar national. A motorbike picked her up at the border to deliver her at Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai bus terminal at 3pm, where she takes a taxi to the Big C department store near her home in Phayao at 6pm.
She goes out again on November 28 at 9pm to grab dinner, wearing a mask at all times.
On November 29, her boyfriend accompanies her to an outdoor Singha beer garden. They park their car at 8pm and seat themselves, but do not go near the stage. They then return home at 11pm, before heading downtown and checking in at Hop Inn at 4am. Later the same day they drive to Chiang Mai.
On November 30 at 5pm, the woman goes to a private hospital in Chiang Mai to be tested for Covid-19.
They then decide to return to Phayao the same night and she is admitted into Phayao Hospital. Results from the private hospital in Chiang Mai on December 1 confirm she is infected, as does a test conducted in Phayao Hospital the same day.
• A 25-year-old Thai woman enters Thailand on November 28 with the 21-year-old above. After arriving in Don Mueang Airport on the same day, she takes a flight to Phichit to stay with another friend. They go out to dinner at Bird Bar in Phichit with another three friends. None of them wear masks.
Between November 29 and 30, this woman dines at both Bird Bar and Crocodile pub.
She is caught on December 1 after her friend in Bangkok tests positive and is taken to a local state quarantine facility, where she too tests positive.
• A 36-year-old Thai woman who had been in Myanmar since November 3 and had visited the 1G1 entertainment venue between November 23 and 24 develops Covid-19 symptoms on November 26. She treats her cough, runny nose and body ache with over-the-counter drugs, and is helped by a Myanmar national to sneak into Thailand via a natural border in Chiang Mai on November 29.
She then goes to Chiang Mai airport in a friend’s car, wearing a mask at all times, and takes a Thai Lion Air flight at 10.40am to land in Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport at midday on the same day.
She then takes a taxi to Mo Chit Bus Terminal, where she takes a van to Big C department store in Ratchaburi. She then heads to a private hospital after learning from a friend in Myanmar that someone from her group of friends had been infected. She is then transferred to the state hospital in Ratchaburi and confirmed to be positive on December 2.
• Two women, aged 23 and 35, who reportedly worked in Myanmar’s Tachilek district with a woman who had sneaked into Chiang Mai on November 24, tested positive but are asymptomatic. The duo had entered Thailand illegally via Chiang Mai and headed home to Mae Sot district in Tak province on November 26. They decided to go in for a test after learning their friend was infected.
After learning of the above cases, the Public Health Ministry has called on people to stop sneaking into the country like this because the government provides free quarantine facilities as well as food. People entering the country illegally are encouraged to report for a test.
The ministry has confirmed that there are no local transmissions, but believes measures need to be in place to curb the risk.
The Interior Ministry announced on Wednesday that it was cancelling the guidelines on the amount officials can withdraw for expenses it had published on Tuesday in the Department of Local Administration website.
The announcement, dated December 1, said the guidelines were not in line with the ministry’s regulations.
On Tuesday, the ministry had issued rules on the amounts of money that can be withdrawn for holding events involving members of the royal family.
A 21-year-old woman, who sneaked into Thailand from Myanmar before taking a plane to Bangkok, was found to be infected with Covid-19.
The Thai woman, who visited Myanmar with a friend from November 17 to 27, crossed the natural border in Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district in the wee hours of November 28.
She and her friend, both suffering from a fever, cough and runny nose, then checked into a hotel before calling a Grab Car to Chiang Rai airport later in the day, where she took a flight to Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport and her friend to Phitsanulok.
Reports say that she was not wearing her mask properly when travelling by taxi from the airport to her condo in Udomsuk.
She reportedly visited a clinic nearby with her boyfriend on November 29 for treatment of her symptoms, but was told to go to hospital. Her infection was detected at a private hospital in Bangna that day. Her boyfriend is deemed to be at high risk due to close contact.
Meanwhile, her friend apparently flew to Phitsanulok with plans to travel to Phichit. No data of her whereabouts was available as of press time.
An outdoor visual extravaganza is being held daily to commemorate the birthday of much-loved monarch, King Rama IX, in the compound of the Defence Ministry in Bangkok’s Phra Nakhon district.
The late king’s birthday, December 5, is marked nationwide as Father’s Day.
The shows, held at 6.45pm and 8.30pm, will run until Sunday.
Exhibitions on the achievements of the late king are also being held along Sanam Chai Road and Saranrom Park.
The Government Housing Bank (GH Bank) expects to be hit by Bt4.5 billion in non-performing loans (NPLs) by the end of this year, and believes its profits for 2020 will drop from Bt13 billion to Bt9 billion.
Chatchai Sirilai, the bank’s president, said the last batch of the GH Bank’s moratorium scheme, which ends on January 31, was joined by borrowers owing a total of Bt90 billion.
“In this group, about Bt9 billion is owed either by customers in a fragile group or those who have registered for the longest moratorium period allowed,” he said.
“We estimate that half of these loans, or Bt4.5 billion, will eventually become NPLs.
“Therefore, the bank has set up a reserve fund for the possibility of NPLs, which has resulted in our estimated profit target for 2020 being slashed from Bt13 billion to Bt9 billion,” he added.
“The previous moratorium scheme, which ended in October, however, showed a positive outcome,” Chatchai said. “Of the Bt275 billion debts that joined the programme, 87 per cent of the customers were able to pay back in full, 8.7 per cent could pay back in part, while the rest were unable to pay.”
As for payments being delayed due to the crashing of several banks’ mobile applications and online platforms earlier this week, Chatchai said GH Bank has extended the due date for November by four days or to December 4 to help customers who could not pay on time.
“We will also skip sending the late payment data to the National Credit Bureau, so customers are not be blacklisted for late payment,” he said.
“The GHB ALL mobile application has more than 800,000 registered users, though we previously aimed for 1 million users by yearend. However, due to economic recession we decided to extend the target timeframe to within the first quarter of 2021 instead,” he added.
A man was found lying in a pool of blood near the Boromratchonnee intersection in Bangkok, and it is believed he may have succumbed to injuries from an accident.
On Monday, Bang Phlat Police Station received a call at around 10pm about a man lying unconscious on the footpath, with blood flowing from his nose and mouth.
Paramedics were called from Vajira Hospital nearby, but were unable to save the man, who was later identified as Sunchai Choeisophon, 51. Police found identification documents, bank book and Bt5,000 in cash on his person.
Witnesses said they saw the man kick a Teflon box before falling down.
Initial inspection shows that the cause of death may be an accident, but police are investigating to see if the man had been attacked.
TAT launches ‘ASQ Paradise’ website 
Prateep Keeratirekha 
The late king’s birthday, December 5, is marked nationwide as Father’s Day.
Exhibitions on the achievements of the late king are also being held along Sanam Chai Road and Saranrom Park.
