Thailand tests its readiness for tourism reboot with airport drill, as staff and officials simulate arrival of vaccinated travellers for quarantine-free entry

Staff and immigration officials at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport hold drill to check their readiness to handle quarantine-free entry for vaccinated travellers

The country will reopen to visitors from selected countries on November 1, having lost US$50 billion a year from its 18-month shutdown of international tourism

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Volunteers queue up during a test of arrival procedures at Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok as Thailand prepares to reopen for vaccinated travellers from countries including China and Singapore on November 1. Photo: Reuters/Soe Zeya Tun

Published: 11:18am, 28 Oct 2021Updated: 11:23am, 28 Oct 2021

Thailand held a dry run on October 27 for its long-awaited, quarantine-free reopening to vaccinated travellers, as the country rushes to reboot an industry battered by an 18-month hiatus in international tourism.

At Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport, staff and health and immigration officials ran a simulation of the arrival of a plane full of visitors, to test electronic screening measures.

“All the passengers will get their QR code checked by the Department of Disease Control,” said Kittipong Kittikachorn, the airport’s general manager. “It will include all the details about insurance, vaccine certificate, or hotel booking.”

While tourism has been decimated in many countries, the impact in Thailand has been particularly severe, with authorities targeting just 100,000 arrivals this year, compared with nearly 40 million in 2019. Since July, Phuket and Samui islands have been reopened in pilot projects.

Vaccinated visitors from China, Britain, the United States, Germany, France, Australia, Japan and Singapore can skip quarantine if they have a negative Covid-19 test. Photo: Reuters/Soe Zeya Tun

Among the Asia-Pacific’s most visited countries, Thailand has lost about three million tourism-dependent jobs and an estimated US$50 billion a year in revenue due to Covid-19. The slowdown, however, was not entirely due to weak demand, but also Thailand’s tight restrictions, which included 14-day hotel quarantine requirements, Covid-19 tests and health insurance coverage of up to US$100,000.