Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, apparently there is going to be a delay in the implementation of the so-called "Phuket Model". 

For those of you who are unaware, we have discussed this in prior videos. This was discussed by Tourism Authorities in Phuket as well as at a national level where they were discussing the possibility of providing some sort of supervised or controlled tourism into Phuket under this rather sort of a well they called it a "safe and sealed" initiative in one discussion we were reading about on this channel; the "travel bubble" kind of seems to kind of sum up the initiative or the way it was going to be implemented, this sort of controlled tourism model and they were talking about Phuket as being the place where they were going to try to roll this out. 

In a recent article from the Bangkok Post print edition, the article is titled: Phuket Re-opening Delayed. Quoting directly: "The Government's plan to reopen the resort island of Phuket as a model to welcome back foreign visitors has hit a snag."  Quoting further: "Yuthasak Supasorn, Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), said the launch of the so-called "Phuket Model" scheduled for next month as part of efforts to revive the local economy, is likely to be pushed back." So it looks like for various reasons, they are not going to implement this just yet. What does this mean for Thai Immigration, Thai Tourism? What are the implications here? For one thing, it doesn't look like we are going to see any inbound tourism under this plan at least for another probably 8 weeks minimum and so presumably November at the earliest to see the "Phuket Model" being rolled out. Again it all remains to be seen.  It has all been an exercise in conjecture thus far as it has not been Cabinet approved and we have not seen a regulatory scheme rolled out as of yet. 

That being stated, the current Immigration system for inbound Immigration remains as it was at least as of the time of this video. All through the discussion of the "Phuket Model" which basically we are currently in a situation where B visas with Work Permit, those holders are allowed to come back in. Folks with Thai O Visas for spousal relationships or parent-child of Thai nationals can be allowed back in. We have seen some discussions regarding Thailand Elite Visas and the issues surrounding them have been a little bit complex and will vary depending on factual circumstances. 

Meanwhile it may be possible to reenter Thailand for medical purposes, certain limited circumstances for ED Visa holders and then you have also got the standard diplomatic folks, official visitors etc. 

As of the time of this video, the taping of this video, it looks like tourism is probably not going to be happening in any form for at least some weeks into the foreseeable future and we will keep you updated on this channel as the situation progresses.