In a press release that makes a lot of people very happy, Thailand will remove all restrictions on all business and tourism operations starting July 1st. While this sounds wonderful it will come with restrictions, many of which have not yet been announced.
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Thailand depends on tourism for income, higher than most of the countries in the world and a complete shutdown has been devastating to the various communities such as the one I currently reside in where in just a few months it seems that a very high level of the small businesses that could not weather the storm decided to simply shut down.
Other had kind landlords who suspended all rent payments until things could return to normal - others were not so fortunate and lost everything. The amount of people unemployed in tourist-heavy cities such as Chiang Mai has been extremely bad with travel shops, souvenir shops, and bars and restaurants closing by the dozens in the past month. Those that remain are likely very excited to hear that the borders will be open to international travel for most countries starting on the 1st of July. However, it isn't all sunshine and rainbows.
Retirement visa holders get bad news
I am not retired, I am nowhere near old enough to qualify for that, but there are a lot of people I see on a regular basis that are on this sort of visa. In the past it was seen as a mutually beneficial situation for retirees and Thailand was one of the top retirement destinations in the world. Covid-19 has changed a lot of this since it was already being proposed that all retirees need to have mandatory health insurance that will cover at least 100,000 US dollars in care.
This sort of coverage wouldn't cost very much for someone in their 20's or 30's but for the people I know that are retired their premiums on such a policy would be extremely expensive.
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For some people it might seem irresponsible that a person wouldn't have insurance but there is a very good reason why many of these people in their 60's and up never got any: It is because they come from countries such as Australia, Canada, or the U.K. where they have universal "free" healthcare. If anything major was needed, they would work out a way to get back to their home country for treatment. Other minor issues they just pay for with cash and since medical care in Thailand does tend to be quite cheap this always worked out.
Now Thailand is demanding that in order for these people to get back into the country or to renew their visas in country, they must have this insurance. It is unclear if this policy will continue with the Covid fear, but it does seem likely.
The announcement was made in very vague terms as to how much the country will open up to the outside world, but it appears as though they are only interested in engaging with countries that have their covid situation under control such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, and others. It was rumored that potential travelers would also be required to have a Covid test 3 days or less before their day of travel.
I don't think there are a great many people that are willing to do all of this in order to go on a vacation here but the good news for the people that are already here is that all restrictions will be lifted on all businesses including bars, restaurants, and entertainment venues in the hopes that domestic tourism will revitalize the economy in some fashion. Masks are likely to still be required and some level of distancing will also be enforced.
So will this be effective? It is too early to tell. Thailand doesn't exactly have the best track record when it comes to how kind they are towards visitors and they may have to take some steps to offer international travelers incentives to want to come here. Firstly, they should start with eliminating all visa fees. That would likely be a step in the right direction.
I have seen similar enthusiasm for the tourism industry here in Vietnam. Many of the hotels are opening back up and we are starting to see quite a few visitors on the weekends. Of course everyone is Vietnamese at the moment but I am sure the workers and business owners are dying for the borders to open back up.
On the retirement visa: I actually know an older couple that is trapped here and can not get back into Thailand where their house and all their belongings are. They are VERY concerned about this insurance thing for exactly the reasons you describe.
I wouldn't get too excited about this - not to be a bummer but I have seen the ever growing list of restrictions that they have proposed for when they open back up and it is so extensive that I don't think many people are going to be interested in it. For example, at the moment for anyone returning to the country they have to do a mandatory 14-day quarantine at their own expense at government facilities - you can be all but guaranteed that these facilities will be overpriced and horrible.
yes and don't forget about the "business class" quarantine that they were offering, for $250 a day. me suspects someone in the government might be profiteering from all this.
There are a lot of people that think the lockdown was a waste of time to begin with.