Mandatory travel insurance for tourists proposal shelved, for now

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Mandatory travel insurance for tourists proposal shelved, for now

Post by Gaybutton »

Mandatory travel insurance for tourists proposal shelved, for now, according to Thai Government

By Adam Judd

September 17, 2019

A representative of the Thai Ministry for Tourism and Sports has told the Thai media that plans to have required travel insurance have been put on the back burner.

Chote Trachu told Bangkok Biz News that ministerial proposals made in May of this year would have to wait until 2020 or at a “more appropriate time in the future”.

He said that Thailand tourism was facing a difficult time at present what with the sluggish world economy, the high value of the baht and other economic factors.

He said that it was better to wait and that changing things now could cause more trouble than it was worth.

He said that requiring tourists to have insurance was a “sensitive” matter that could “scare” tourists off at this time.

https://thepattayanews.com/2019/09/17/m ... overnment/
Jun

Re: Mandatory travel insurance for tourists proposal shelved, for now

Post by Jun »

Pattaya News wrote: Tue Sep 17, 2019 8:59 pmHe said that Thailand tourism was facing a difficult time at present what with the sluggish world economy, the high value of the baht and other economic factors.
He said that it was better to wait and that changing things now could cause more trouble than it was worth.
Seems like the government have woken up to market forces & realised tourists can go wherever they like.

Whilst I think all tourists SHOULD have travel insurance, checking for it would be tricky.

When the day comes where you can upload a pdf of your policy to a website and the "artificial intelligence" checks it & puts an "insured" flag against your passport, perhaps it would be a good time to implement the policy.

Incidentally, I am in my early 50s and an annual multi-trip travel policy, with worldwide cover excl North America (for obvious reasons) & individual trips of up to 90 days cost me less than £40 (if I remember correctly). I think medical cover was up to £10 million. If I need more than that, it's probably best for them to pull the plug anyway.

I know of at least one US citizen who never bothers, but of course I don't know if his US health insurance provides worldwide health cover.

If the government is moving back into a mode of trying to encourage tourists, there are a few other areas they could also look at. For example, stopping the banking cartel charging 200 baht for ATM withdrawals (not that I pay this personally).
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Re: Mandatory travel insurance for tourists proposal shelved, for now

Post by Gaybutton »

Jun wrote: Wed Sep 18, 2019 12:50 am I think all tourists SHOULD have travel insurance
I think so too - or at least have something in case an emergency happens. You just never know from one day to the next.

"There's always the unexpected, isn't there."
- Jack Hawkins (Major Warden), 'The Bridge on the River Kwai'
fountainhall

Re: Mandatory travel insurance for tourists proposal shelved, for now

Post by fountainhall »

Gaybutton wrote: Wed Sep 18, 2019 7:43 am I think so too - or at least have something in case an emergency happens. You just never know from one day to the next.
No one can know. In Thailand you can be murdered at a Full Moon party, run over by any number of vehicles, break your leg in one of the legion of holes in sidewalks, be stung by the increasing number of box jellyfish now being found off the country's beaches and near death, or merely suffer sever gastro-enteritis requiring a night in hospital. And that's before the possibility of a heart attack, stroke or other unforeseen major medical event. Travelling without insurance is a crap shoot. Like Jun I have an annual travel policy (also without North America cover). Being older it is more expensive but I travel quite a few times a year with peace of mind.
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Re: Mandatory travel insurance for tourists proposal shelved, for now

Post by Gaybutton »

fountainhall wrote: Wed Sep 18, 2019 9:23 am Travelling without insurance is a crap shoot.
And let's not forget that in a crap shoot the odds are heavily in favor of the casino . . .
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