courtesy: ANI@twitter
Thailand Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said that Thailand will be reopened for visitors after 120 days, due to the calculated risk required to support the economy. Thailand had travel restrictions applied for over an year. It had tightened the visa processes and required all visitors and returning residents to undergo 14 days of quarantine in the government approved facilities.
The announcement has come as a resort to the island of Phuket, as it will be open to vaccinated visitors July onwards. Thailand is also seeking to inoculate its residents before the reopening.
Tourism had been a key source of income and jobs for Thailand. In the year 2019, it had 39.9 million visitors who had spent over 1.91 trillion baht; i.e $61.32 billion approx. Which compared to the 6.7 million arrivals in 2020 was much more. The new plan could draw 3.5 million tourist this year, enough to generate 298 billion baht in revenue. The 70 per cent of residents in each of the 10 provinces must be inoculated first.
On June 5, it was reported that under the regulations of Thailand, vaccinated tourists will be allowed to visit Phuket, Chian Mai, Koh Samui, Krabi and Pattaya without mandatory quarantine. Thailand is open to tourists from all countries but the travellers need to obtain a special tourist visa and bring PCR test and also undergo a 7-day quarantine. The country will reopen its resort island in Phuket from July 1.
The Thailand government has been thinking of expanding it to other cities but has not approved the plans yet.