Thailand travel without quarantine could be possible soon for vaccinated tourists as country looks to ease restrictions
- Coming measures could include shortening quarantine for vaccinated arrivals from two weeks to three days, or even waiving it entirely, officials say
- From next month, five provinces will host ‘hotel area quarantine’ programmes where visitors can move around within hotel grounds and not be confined to rooms
Thai authorities are preparing a plan to ease restrictions for travellers vaccinated against the coronavirus, senior officials said on Wednesday, as the country looks to revive a tourism industry battered by travel curbs.
Measures for vaccinated visitors would be introduced step-by-step and could include shortening the mandatory quarantine for all arrivals from two weeks to three days for those vaccinated, or waiving it entirely, Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) governor Yuthasak Supasorn said.
“We have to be fast because we want to start welcoming tourists in the third quarter,” he said. The TAT plans to begin selling tour packages after April.
The tourism ministry has also requested 100,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine for tourism workers in five provinces: Chon Buri, Krabi, Phang Nga, Chiang Mai and Phuket. The provinces will from next month host “hotel area quarantine” programmes offering 5,000 to 6,000 rooms, where visitors can move around within hotel grounds instead of being confined to their rooms, according to tourism minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn.
The global vaccine roll-out has given hope to Thailand’s pandemic-hit tourism industry, which makes up about 11 per cent of Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy. In 2019, Thailand received about 40 million foreign tourists, who spent 1.91 trillion baht (US$63.6 billion).