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Not sure whether this deserves a thread on it's own or can be merged somewhere - mods, you decide.

This caught my eye today, in particular the dates being mooted for full reopening, Q4 2022, and initially the hoops you might have to jump through if you want to visit before then. As usual the reporting is short in fine details, but the gist can be gleaned from it.

The Ministry of Tourism is set to reopen its doors for international tourists who are vaccinated to visit the Kingdom next year with some new criteria, including making sure that they are not infected with the disease.

That sounds like testing on arrival which must means at least a couple of days in quarantine, or at the very least testing before travel. No great surprise there.

A meeting to discuss the Strategic Plan on Safe Tourism Reopening in-depth yesterday was chaired by Tourism Minister Thong Khon.
During the meeting, it was unanimously decided that tour packages that are being organised should be for vaccinated tourists.

The ministry said international tourists wishing to visit Cambodia should register with the licensed tour agencies and operators and indicate the locations and sites they wish to visit.

Tour agencies and operators, on the other hand, are required to fill all the required particulars of the vaccinated tourists as per their valid passports including the details of their Covid-19 vaccination certificates and other documents.

It sounds like independent travellers are not wanted any time soon but people who buy package tours through official operators can come, with those agencies doing the bureaucratic legwork of getting your vaccinated status confirmed and visa issued.

Sounds like a great business opportunity for some, all those tourists being forced to buy a 'package' and funnelled through their chosen hotels. The Chinese will be very happy as they like that sort of thing. It could be good too for the little visa agents who figure out the way around the new system and do a visa-only package deal.

Anyway, this is clearly early days, but it does confirm that the expected (wished for) re-opening in Q4 2020 is now off the table, but some tourists possibly by Q2 2021 and further opening up by Q4 2022 is their new target.

The ministry had initially wanted to reopen for vaccinated tourists by the last quarter of this year but due to the increasing cases of Covid-19, especially the new variant, it has shelved the plan.

https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50907964/c ... -tourists/

Doc67 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 04, 2021 8:24 am Not sure whether this deserves a thread on it's own or can be merged somewhere - mods, you decide.

.

Sounds like a great business opportunity for some, all those tourists being forced to buy a 'package' and funnelled through their chosen hotels. ....

I'll bet travel agencies will be able to "present" everyone as being part of a package tour, take all the passports in a bunch to the embassy, get them stamped by a bored clerk
(dun worry, I feel eet all out for you)

then we can carry on as before

considering the bad press and side-effect reports coming out from serious doctors, we may not have to be vaccinated by the time KOW opens again

on another point, if so many people are dying as some have said, where are photos of the bodies and graves or smoking crematoria?

A big gap is emerging between Asian countries (plus Australia) and most others when it comes to opening up.
In Asia, the policy is zero tolerance of Covid so that opening up is hesitatnt and the brakes get applied whenever there is a fresh outbreak, however small.
An example is the repeated deferral of the much anticipated reopening of Macau.
Whereas in Europe and North and Central America, the policy is now to open up based on proof of vaccine, often with no testing, and reasonable levels of fresh cases are taken as inevitable and no reason to go into a quick reverse.
Countries with low rates of vaccine (which is most of Asia) have little choice possibly.
But Cambodia's stunning success in vaccinations has given it a wonderful opportunity to forge ahead if it wants to do so.

armchairlawyer wrote: ↑Wed Aug 04, 2021 9:13 am A big gap is emerging between Asian countries (plus Australia) and most others when it comes to opening up.
In Asia, the policy is zero tolerance of Covid so that opening up is hesitatnt and the brakes get applied whenever there is a fresh outbreak, however small.
An example is the repeated deferral of the much anticipated reopening of Macau.
Whereas in Europe and North and Central America, the policy is now to open up based on proof of vaccine, often with no testing, and reasonable levels of fresh cases are taken as inevitable and no reason to go into a quick reverse.
Countries with low rates of vaccine (which is most of Asia) have little choice possibly.
But Cambodia's stunning success in vaccinations has given it a wonderful opportunity to forge ahead if it wants to do so.

I've been keeping an eye on central and south America and from their coordinated slamming shut of their borders in mid March last year, many have indeed opened up. The virus is well established and no tourism can make it any worse.

Cambodia should forge ahead. The problem is most tourists have to come via another hub city, so there will always be hinderances to travel, except China of course who fly direct.

Doc67 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 04, 2021 9:20 am
I've been keeping an eye on central and south America and from their coordinated slamming shut of their borders in mid March last year, many have indeed opened up. The virus is well established and no tourism can make it any worse.

Cambodia should forge ahead. The problem is most tourists have to come via another hub city, so there will always be hinderances to travel, except China of course who fly direct.

Yes, connecting flights were a disincentive even before Covid. When you have a 14 day vacation, you think carefully about the logistics.

With the mindset that I talked about above, it could well be that the golden age of independent travel is over in Asia. The best option may be the Thai plan of real time tracking visitors electronically. Having said that, many westerners like a packaged tour of Asia and they pay high prices for them. Equally, a significant minority of tourists from China travelled independently pre-Covid. The difference with packaged tours out of China is that they were often priced very cheaply so that the operators could only make money by ensuring that every dollar spent was spent in places where they could profit from said spending. If that becomes the norm in Cambodia, the economic benefits from a reopening will be distributed less widely than pre-Covid.
Assuming Macau reopens, it is unlikely that tours to SHV will be permitted so the plan would therefore be to have Chimese tours of Siem Reap and, to a lesster extent, Phnom Penh. The islands would also be a possibility.

It is paradoxical that Europe and North America are normally more risk averse than Asia. A lot of time and money goes into preventing avoidable deaths and disease from road accidents, tuberculosis, tobacco, unsafe alcohol, unhealthy diet etc. And yet thoese countries are now accepting that Covid will be endemic. In Asia, otoh, where the attitude towards those risks can often be quite sanguine, the approach towards Covid is zero tolerance.

Doc67 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 04, 2021 9:20 am ....

I've been keeping an eye on central and south America and from their coordinated slamming shut of their borders in mid March last year, many have indeed opened up..

mexico's wide open

Multipox wrote: ↑Wed Aug 04, 2021 10:48 am

Doc67 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 04, 2021 9:20 am ....

I've been keeping an eye on central and south America and from their coordinated slamming shut of their borders in mid March last year, many have indeed opened up..

mexico's wide open

And always has been too. As of earlier this year, the UK and Mexico were the only two countries in the world that did nothing. Now the UK is much tighter but Mexico still remains easy to get in. I can't wait to return.

Doc67 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 04, 2021 10:54 am As of earlier this year, the UK and Mexico were the only two countries in the world that did nothing. Now the UK is much tighter but Mexico still remains easy to get in. I can't wait to return.

Return trip to MEX from London for $850, direct flights on a BA Dreamliner, social distancing in economy. What's not to like?

Tourism might reopen, but the terms might be even more exclusive towards that segment of expat who are neither business owners, diplomats, employed, or tourists. The expat who has a family here will be even less catered for under these terms, should it go ahead.

I am pretty sure some high ranked khmer are looking how much money is coming into thailand with their sandbox-programme, and get horny and get dollar-eyes !!