Amid the chaos surrounding Coronavirus and its impact on the travel sector in Asia and elsewhere, a familiar problem has reared its head. The inability of some governments such as the Thai Government to speak with one voice.
This was particularly apparent during the 2011 Bangkok flood crisis where there was complete inconsistency in Government messaging on a daily basis. Would Bangkok flood or not? How bad would the flooding be? A tech company which volunteered to partner with the Thai Government to assist with online flood awareness messaging quit the arrangement in disgust.
And so to 2020 and COVID-19.
In recent days, the Government has shifted gears on quarantine measures and created yet more confusion. The Health Minister issued an updated quarantine notice on particular foreign countries only to quickly withdraw it and deny he had signed it.
Last week, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan were dropped from the quarantine list by the Thai Ministry of Health so many international schools lifted quarantine measures on people with recent exposure to these countries. The Ministry of Education then intervened, advising that these countries remained on their quarantine list resulting in the closure of a number of schools who had acted on the Ministry of Health's earlier advice.
The Thai government has now announced that visitors from quarantined countries (currently China including Macau and Hong Kong, South Korea, Italy and Iran) need a doctor's certificate before they will be issued a boarding pass for their flight.
The form to be completed indicates that the doctor signing the form must have observed the patient for 14 days before travel and that a COVID-19 test has been administered and returned a negative result. The form must be signed no more than 48 hours before travel.
In practice, anyone travelling is unlikely to be able to comply with these requirements. Testing in places such as Hong Kong is only available in certain places and is not currently being undertaken by GPs.
To add to the confusion, Thai Airways says the requirement applies to returning Thai nationals; Cathay Pacific says it does not.
How does a person travelling frequently between Hong Kong and Bangkok comply with the 14 day observation requirement? Is a fresh COVID-19 test required before each flight?
In these circumstances, client updates must emphasis the fluid nature of government advice. The best approach is to anticipate government messaging flip flops and confusion and hold messaging until different government departments have had time to issue contradictory advice. In the time sensitive tourism sector, this is not particularly easy in practice.
Govt risks being the next casualty of COVID-19 https://lnkd.in/fMJtJWu
PELEN
March 2020
© PELEN 2020
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