Thailand eyes plans for vaccine passports and quarantine waivers to reopen travel to potentially millions of tourists
- Thailand is looking into vaccine certificates for international travel as it considers scrapping two-week quarantines for inoculated visitors
- The local tourism industry wants mandatory quarantines to be lifted as early as July 1, with one online petition getting almost 7,500 signatories in three days
One of the most tourism-dependent countries in the world, Thailand is eyeing plans for vaccine passports and quarantine waivers as the global Covid-19 inoculation drive gathers pace.
The local tourism industry wants mandatory quarantines to be lifted from as early as July 1 so it can open to potentially millions of vaccinated tourists.
A successful reopening by Thailand could spur other tourism-reliant nations to follow suit, as countries like Britain set out ambitious timelines for easing restrictions on their populations and resuming international travel.
While the World Health Organization warned this week about the risks of loosening up too fast, places like Thailand – which saw almost 40 million overseas visitors in 2019 – are seeing long-lasting damage to their economies with global travel paralysed and borders closed a year into the pandemic.
