Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the discussion of the Nightlife re-opening here in Thailand; bars, pubs, entertainment establishments, the possibility of them reopening here in Thailand.

I am going to go ahead and quote from ASEAN NOW, that is aseannow.com, the article is titled: Thailand to consider early reopening of bars. Quoting directly: "Thailand will consider re-opening bars earlier than planned after the number of new COVID-19 infections fell to the fewest in 4 months." Quoting further: "Earlier this month, Thailand Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration, CCSA, said it would be January 16 next year before bars and other night time entertainment venues would be able to open. However, on Friday the Secretary General of the National Security Council, Supot Malaniyom said that a proposal will be considered next week that could see bars given the green light to open earlier than scheduled." Quoting further: "Mr. Supot ruled out bars opening from December 1 but said that proposals to open were “really good" and said there is "a chance" the reopening would be brought forward." All good news in the sense that this sounds like things are moving positively in the direction of getting things reopened so we can fully see the economy keep going. 

Regarding the economy, I definitely think people, I have been kind of feeling out folks, Thais, Expats that have been around Thailand a long time, "old hands" trying to get a notion, I have had a lot of people ask me personally, in correspondence and in person, "do I think that the Government is intentionally trying to destroy the entertainment industry?" I think I have said this before on this channel and I will say it again, "No, I don't think they are intentionally going out of their way to destroy that sector." What I think it is, is people are afraid. I think there is a lot of frankly hysteria out there. Once you get Governments especially Bureaucracies into sort of a mindset, it becomes a feedback loop. They have a very hard time thinking outside of it and their current priority is just not associated with dealing with this particular sector, getting this sector open. Now it is a major component although I think it is not as big a component as some especially expats think it is, but it is a significant component of the economy. No one wants to keep a large sector of the tax paying economy in the dark so to speak or offline. I definitely think policymakers want to get things moving with respect to this but again I think they are caught in this feedback loop. 

I definitely think this is a good development that they are even discussing it. Again is this another "false start"? We have seen a lot of this, a lot of these discussions only to have things pushed back. I don't know. It remains to be seen obviously but they came out and announced pretty specifically, January 16. I made a video on that. I am not in love with the notion that we are going to have to be waiting around months until we see things fully reopened but my position was in that video and I still kind of think this, it is like look I am okay with it if that is the end of it. If we are done with this closing things, then well maybe if this makes everybody feel better to wait longer, maybe not all right, but I understand the argument is basically what I am trying to say. Will it open earlier? I definitely think it would be a good thing for a lot of different sectors in the industry especially for the final two weeks of December for things to be reopened because I know a lot of food and beverage folks, people in the entertainment business make a lot of money over those final two weeks and let's not forget, these venues have been closed by the time we get to the end of the year, almost 9 months; it has been 8 months up this point going back into April of this year, just total close down. So, yeah if we can do something, for lack of a better term, to throw a bone to the entertainment sector, I definitely think overall it would be a good thing.