National –
The majority of Thai people do not agree with the government’s country reopening plan of letting in vaccinated foreign tourists without quarantine from November 1st as it is not the right time for the country to welcome foreign tourists, according to results of a recent public opinion poll called the “Suan Dusit Poll” conducted by Suan Dusit University.
The survey was conducted online from October 11th – the 14th with a total of 1,329 people throughout the country regarding Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha’s recent announcement to reopen the country and welcome fully vaccinated foreigners without mandatory quarantine from November 1st onwards. According to Suan Dusit University, those partaking in the poll came from all around the country and from all walks of life.
According to the reports shown above, when being asked if it was now the right time for the country to welcome tourists without mandatory quarantine, the majority, accountable for 60.10 percent, said “no” while the other 39.90 percent said “yes”.
When asked about “factors” that would potentially help proceed with the country reopening plan as scheduled, 74.78 percent agreed on inoculation with effective vaccines of more than 70 percent of the population; 69.04 percent on the ability to control the pandemic; 68.31 percent on the readiness of health services including hospitals and medical personnel; 66.03 percent on mandatory proactive approaches and testing of people before entering places; and 65.00 percent on building tourist confidence in terms of safety in tourists facilities such as airports, public transport, restaurants, and hotels.
When mentioning “conditions” for the reopening, 71.60 percent said people in Thailand have not yet been fully vaccinated; 70.45 percent said the possibility for the disease to spread further across the country may occur; 66.11 percent said the possibility for the virus to be transmitted by incoming tourists my occur; 61.05 percent said they had concerns over foreigners bringing new Covid-19 variants, and 55.92 percent said there was a lack of objective plans to deal with the disease.
When mentioning “advantages” of the reopening, 77.29 percent cited the revival of the domestic economy; 74.74 percent cited that people would have more jobs and earn money for their families; 68.07 percent cited the positive generation of income from tourism areas in the country; 64.17 percent cited the revival of tourism-related businesses and devastated sectors like entertainment and hospitality, and 57.80 percent cited the regaining of confidence towards investors and business operators.
On the contrary, when mentioning “disadvantages” of the reopening, 83.43 percent said Covid-19 daily infection rates might rise again; 74.60 percent said the reopening may lead to the possibility of yet another country lockdown and causing many more people to be out of work once again; 59.55 percent said the readiness of health services including hospitals and medical personnel might be affected; 54.85 percent said cases of illegal border crossings might increase as people flock to Thailand for work, and 48.19 percent said that people’s daily lives might be affected by having many foreigners back in the country.
Lastly, when being asked if they agreed with the reopening plan which was scheduled on November 1st, 59.86 percent, the majority, said “no” and 40.14 percent said “yes.”
Suan Dusit also polled people’s backgrounds and although did not reveal the specific results they did state that nearly all of those in the business, tourism, hospitality, and similar industries who took the poll were universally supportive of reopening. Those not in the industry or not affected financially by tourism were not as positive.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=–=–=–=–==-
Follow us on Facebook,
Join us on LINE for breaking alerts!
