Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing a topic which I think is near to the hearts of many folks both in Thailand and the tourism sector, in the general economy of Thailand as well as Thailand lovers abroad who just want to get back to Thailand. The question is, are things really going to get reopened November 1 2021? 

A recent article from ASEAN NOW, that is aseannow.com, the article is titled: Thailand November 1 Reopening to go ahead providing COVID-19 Situation Remains Stable. Quoting directly: "The proposed reopening of Bangkok and the other major tourist destinations in Thailand will go ahead on November 1, providing, "providing" the COVID-19 situation does not worsen." Now this is me talking here. We have done another video contemporaneously with this one, kind of an op-ed on this, but I think it would be really dangerous at a policy level for policy makers to flip this again. So back in April 2021, they cut down the quarantine very briefly and then they re-imposed it very quickly. I think that really hurt demand for tourism to Thailand; demand for tourism activity in Thailand because it really undermined the confidence of folks looking to come into Thailand. They just were looking to come in and all these things, very important things, a week in quarantine; that all changed overnight. Frankly, tourists looking to spend thousands of dollars to come halfway around the world, that doesn't give them a warm fuzzy feeling. And this notion of is it going to reopen, as I said in that other video, if we do, I really hope we stick to it. More importantly, and one thing to take away from this video, it hasn't happened yet. This isn't locked in yet so until we see the policy come online, obviously we want to be optimistic but maybe cautiously optimistic. Quoting further: "Speaking on Saturday October 10th, Government Spokesperson Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said the reopening of Bangkok, Chiang Mai, (Muang District, Mae Rim, Mae Taeng and Doi Tao), Prachuab Kiri Khan (Hua Hin and Nong Khae), Petchaburi (Cha-am) and Chonburi (Pattaya, Banglamung and Sattahip) will go ahead as long as there is not a sudden spike in cases or no large clusters are discovered between now and the end of October." So again optimistic, but cautiously optimistic. 

As we have noted in other videos here in October now we are down to a 7-Day quarantine for vaccinated arrivals, 10 day quarantine for unvaccinated by air, those coming over a land border it is a 14 day quarantine for the unvaccinated and 7 days for vaccinated. 

Long story short, and the thing to take away from this video is, things are looking good. I am optimistic but again I am cautiously optimistic. Hopefully we will see things broadly be re-opening here in November 1 2021 but let's wait and see how it evolves and we can figure it out from there.