Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing tourism planning. How do tourists plan to come to Thailand? I thought of making this video after reading the following comment and this comment was made on a video regarding the Suspension of the Thailand Pass and the "Test and Go" system. 

Quoting directly: "It isn't just the changes, it is the constant talk of changes, floating ideas and so on. As a tourist I plan 6 to 12 months ahead and I need certainty before I put thousands of dollars on the line. This "High Season” is DOA but there is still time to kill the next one. This is how you do it." Yeah I have got to say, much as I don't like to be negative on these topics, it is a good point. Tourists do plan ahead. Tourists don't make the determination to come to a place like Thailand especially from someplace like the United States or Europe, a week in advance. They plan months if not even in some cases over a year in advance to come to Thailand. This is especially the case when you consider that people in the West, they only have a certain set period of time that they have for vacation time and to know that their vacation destination or at least be reasonably certain that it will be open, that is a major concern for many tourists. 

As I have said in other videos, I really wish there would be a better cost benefit analysis associated with the economic side and the sort of perception side of this against the "threat" of for example Omicron which we have discussed at length in this channel. I just don't see where the benefit of locking all these folks out and possibly turning people off in the longer term coming to Thailand where that really shakes out in favour of doing this. That said, I am not the one that has to ultimately make the decision and I do understand there are a lot of factors at play. 

However, and the reason I am making this video and I have made these videos talking about this, yeah I really love Thailand and I just want the place to do as well as she can. I am just hoping that in the future folks will understand that these kind of shutdowns, these kind of setbacks, they have tremendous long-term ripple effects, long-term ramifications.