Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Thailand Pass and whether or not we will see an end of it sooner rather than later. This has been talked about a lot; there are a lot of folks in the tourism sector that are very concerned about ending Thai Pass because by ending it, it will definitely well presumably it would it would bolster tourism a lot. I think Thailand Pass, just as a personal observation, talking to a number of people throughout the last couple years, the creation of the Certificate of Entry and then its subsequent evolution into this Thailand Pass, I mean obviously the Thailand Pass is better than the Certificate of Entry was but they are both cumbersome in their own ways and they definitely I think have a negative impact on tourism numbers. 

I got to think of making this video after reading a recent article from the Thai Examiner, that is thaiexaminer.com. I urge those who are watching this video go check out Thai Examiner. Anytime I quote from Thai Examiner, I always notice that I mean they always do an in-depth look at stuff and most of the time I am quoting a fair little bit, a fair chunk but compared to the overall article it's relatively small and it is just one specific issue. The Thai Examiner folks tend to really get a lot of in-depth commentary in there, good analysis. I urge those watching this go check that out. Quoting directly: Proposal to scrap Thailand Pass comes as moves to return to normal facing new hurdle: Politics. Quoting directly: "Thailand's economy is facing rising inflation and slowing export growth with fears of a GDP contraction in the second quarter. (Yeah, yeah a lot of fears of that.) The scrapping of the Thailand Pass regime altogether is one of the last cards the Government has to play to boost foreign tourist numbers along with later nightlife opening hours and the abolition of the outdoor face mask mandate." Well I couldn't agree with any of that more other than to say I might add we need to end face mask mandates just period, because as I have said, it is not codified in law so it does not exist, as I have previously stated. In any event leave that there. Quoting further: "With fears that Thailand's economy in the second quarter may go into reverse with a GDP contraction at its highest rate of inflation in 14 years in May. (Wow, that didn't really register until I just read that right now). Quoting further: "A proposal on Monday from the Minister of Tourism and Sports, Phiphat Rathchakitprakarn, to table a proposal to rescind the Thailand Pass application for foreign tourists entering the Kingdom may look like a no-brainer but these are not ordinary times." Well!  Quoting further: “The announcement by Mr. Phiphat came in advance of a visit by the Prime Minister, Prayut Chan-o-cha to Phuket which had very much a feel of an election stop and comes at a time when his Government is nearing its end and everything including moves to free up the foreign tourism market is taking on a political dimension." Well I suspect it probably is. Similar things are going on in the United States with the midterm elections looming and I have got to say now would be a really good time to start rolling this stuff back if you want have some goodwill from the constituencies here in Thailand come election day whenever that may be. Presumably, I don't know this for sure not to get too political, but I think presumably it would probably be between now and sometime around this time next year at some point but again who knows about that.

The point I was trying to make though and the point of this video is yeah we I think we really have to get rid of this thing because we are now in low season. For those that are unaware, that are just kind of vaguely familiar with Thailand, high season is kind of the Western winter. I always view it, although people have said I am wrong about this, that it starts kind of at the end of October, you go through November, December, January and then February. It has always been kind of my observation throughout the years before COVID came along, sometime about mid-March you used to see like numbers would kind of fall off and then you would get kind of a spike around Songkran, there are a number of foreign nationals and tourists things that like to come in for Thai New Year. Of course we haven't had one of those in years; well I guess we sort of have one this year 2022 but it was very truncated compared to what we are all used to here in Thailand. But long story short, that is kind of the high season and you get this kind of little extra bump, in the past you did, from Songkran, then you go into May, June, folks just aren't there. One Thailand is quite hot this time of year and it is not cold weather season in many of the Western countries especially that love Thailand for its warm weather and beaches and all of that good stuff. So something to think about but yeah I mean it would be terrible to see a GDP contraction in the second quarter or the second half of this year and hopefully by scrapping Thailand Pass we can maybe avoid that.