Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing "red tape" in the Thai Tourism sector and whether or not it is having a detrimental impact upon that sector. I think long story short, we can just go ahead and say yes. If you are comparing 2021's tourism sector to 2019's tourism sector and you were to say "well what is the difference?" Well it is red tape. And that red tape, for good bad or whatever, it is stemming from the overall pandemic situation we are having to deal with here in the world.

Now strides have been made and I think this is worth noting, no other country that I am aware of on the landmass of Southeast Asia has incorporated any kind of program to let in tourists at all. Vietnam is fully closed. It is my understanding that Cambodia is basically closed, Laos is basically closed, Myanmar, Malaysia; you can't really get in as a tourist. You may be able to get into one of those jurisdictions if you have some other purpose. Business Visas for example, things associated with like Marriage Visa things like that but if you are looking at just be a tourist, right now Thailand is really the only option that I see in Southeast Asia and please feel free to correct me if I am wrong in the comments. 

Now that said, can you just get on a plane and come to Thailand to sit on a beach the minute you walk out of the airport? No, not really. As we have discussed in other videos on this channel, depending on where you come in Thailand you may be subjected to a 14-day quarantine. Meanwhile in the Phuket Sandbox which has been a positive for the overall sector yeah there is some truncated, I think you do a night in quarantine in the sense that you just go straight from the airport to your hotel. They test you and if you are vaccinated and negative for COVID then you can have your run of Phuket Island; so you can wander around Phuket. I think that scheme, we are starting to see it spread. Koh Samui is doing something similar. There are various Islands you can now leave from Phuket to go to those other islands and sort of have a vacation. 

How this plays out longer term remains to be seen but yeah I would say it is safe to say there is a lot of red tape. It is not having a positive impact on the tourism sector but again and I have made a lot of videos on this there is really no one to blame and I do give credit where credit is due. Thai policy makers have initiated the Phuket Sandbox and they have pushed it and they are continuing to push it and it looks to me like they are going to try to make this program work as best they can to try and resurrect the tourism sector here in Thailand. That is definitely a laudable goal and I will be the first one to say I am happy to see it and hopefully we will see things improve in the tourism sector sooner rather than later.