Thailand Week in Review: Top National Stories From the Past Week: Chinese Set to Return to Thailand, Major Fire Kills and Injures Thais at Poipet Casino, and more

By
Goongnang Suksawat
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Here is a look at the top NATIONAL stories, chosen by our Pattaya News/TPN National team, from last week, Monday, December 26th, 2022, to Sunday, January 1st, 2023. They are not in any particular level of importance but are listed in the order of date of publication.

Let’s get started and see what the top stories were!

  1. No more mandatory quarantine. No more restrictions on flights. A negative testing result 48 hours before the trip is the only Covid requirement to travel to China as of January 8th.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has revised its target for international tourists in 2023, aiming to attract 25 million instead of the previously planned 20 million, after China announced an end to Covid-induced border closures.

The Thai Minister of Public Health revealed that Thai officials are planning to offer Chinese tourists a booster jab against Covid-19 when they arrive on January 8th, 2023.

Chinese should start returning next week to Thailand.

2. A New Zealander has been pronounced dead after he fell from a train while he was taking photos of the scenery of ‘The Death Railway’ route in the World War ll period in Kanchanaburi.

Mr. Ward opened the train’s door to take a better photo but he slipped and fell down from the train which is about eight meters high from the ground.

3. Two more bodies of navy officers who had gone missing were identified. Five of them are still missing and the death toll rose to 24.

Search and rescue efforts are underway.

4. At least 21 Thais died and 53 were injured in a huge fire at a hotel with a casino inside in Poipet.

At least 27 Thais died and 112 Thais have been injured in a hotel and casino fire in Poipet, says the official report from the Thailand Public Relations Department.

Poipet is very close to the Thai border and is very popular with Thai gamblers as gambling is illegal in Thailand and strongly enforced. Many of the employees at the casino were also Thai, said relevant officials and rescue workers.

5. The famous Maya Bay in Krabi will be temporarily closed, but only for a few days, this month.

For tourism safety during the work, the Loh Samah Bay and the Maya Bay will be temporarily closed to tourism for two days from January 15th to January 16th, 2023.

And, that is all for this week. Thank you as always for reading the Pattaya News/TPN News!

The original version of this article appeared on our sister website, The Pattaya News, owned by our parent company TPN media.

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Goongnang Suksawat
Goong Nang is a News Translator who has worked professionally for multiple news organizations in Thailand for many years and has worked with The Pattaya News for more than four years. Specializes primarily in local news for Phuket, Pattaya, and also some national news, with emphasis on translation between Thai to English and working as an intermediary between reporters and English-speaking writers. Originally from Nakhon Si Thammarat, but lives in Phuket and Krabi except when commuting between the three.