Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the oft discussed Quarantine Free Phuket plan. This has been discussed a lot; I have seen a lot of folks out in the press and a lot of folks just discussing this in the expat community. In a recent article from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: PM Mulls Quarantine "Bypass". Quoting directly from one small section of this: "In July, Phuket will be the first province to waive the quarantine requirement for vaccinated foreign visitors who have been vaccinated as part of the Government's plan to reopen the country." I would like folks who are watching this video, emphasis on plan. We have yet to see this play out. Candidly, we are getting a lot of inquiries right now; folks talking to us or clients that we are working for to get them into Thailand and they want a lot of clarification on what is going on with respect to the reduction in quarantine, the possibility of no quarantine in July. The fact is look a lot of this is up in the air and it is out there in the ether. I don't think it is too big a stretch to analogize the plan if you will to have a quarantine free Phuket with the plan to have all the travel bubbles back last summer that got talked about and talked about and then as it neared the time to actually implement it, it went away. I am not saying that is what is going to happen here but we have been burned before. We have seen discussion of a lot of restrictions being taken off and then it is sort of rescinded down the road. I am not saying that is going to happen here. We are certainly hopeful for as much reopening as we can get here in Thailand I am sure the tourism operators would love to get more tourists here. We all would. It would be good for the economy, it would be good for everybody but I just think people need to be a little bit, especially folks and I have seen this a lot. People are saying, "Well I am not going to come now because it may be quarantine free" or I hear it a lot, "it is going to be quarantine free in July in Phuket." Well maybe. Again it is a plan. We have yet to see it rolled out. 

The other thing is I kind of take the position, especially with respect to some of the folks we talked to who are not exactly tourists; in fact a lot of them are retirees, I get it, they want to avoid having to sit around in quarantine as much as possible or at least mitigate it to the point where it is a quarantine that is not particularly long. I certainly understand that. I can definitely sympathize. 

The point I am trying to make is to some degree, there is a level of this where it is like, well you are waiting on the miracle as it were in that Phuket is going to be open. You are presuming that is going to happen. Well we don't know that. And then you are rearranging your plans and not getting here and really keeping yourself from enjoying Thailand if you just want to come and retire. To a certain extent, it is like pulling off a Bandage. Just suffer through quarantine and then be done with it; I am not saying do that but what I am saying is it is a good idea to do a cost benefit analysis. Waiting around for months for something that may not happen versus taking steps now to just sort of get through it and then get on with your life. There is something to be said for that or at least thinking that through. 

So again, it remains to be seen what happens with Phuket in July. I am not saying it is not going to happen but it is not here yet and we have certainly seen a lot of things change over the past years since the Emergency Decree on COVID. I am certain we are probably going to see more things change as time moves forward. That said, the reopening of Phuket without quarantine remains to be seen and we will keep you updated on this channel as the situation progresses.