To Boost Tourism, Thailand Allows Travelers From 46 Countries To Enter Without Quarantine

Illustration of Phuket, Thailand. (Wikimedia Commons/Michelle Maria)

JAKARTA - Thailand will allow vaccinated travelers from 46 countries not to undergo COVID-19 quarantine starting next month, up from the previously announced 10, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said Thursday October 21.

The White Elephant Country is set to introduce new quarantine-free travel arrangements on November 1, as it seeks to revive its vital tourism industry.

22, the list of 46 countries includes Britain, the United States, China, Singapore, Germany and Australia, according to the foreign ministry.

Prime Minister Prayut said travelers could bypass mandatory quarantine as long as they arrived by air, had received a full dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and had documents showing they were virus-free.

Thailand will reopen the capital Bangkok and other major tourist destinations, including Hua Hin and Pattaya, where the curfew will be lifted by the end of the month, according to the Royal Gazette released late Thursday.

Strict entry requirements and quarantine measures helped control the coronavirus outbreak in Thailand until recent months, but those restrictions have seen arrivals drop to a fraction of the nearly 40 million visitors seen in 2019.

This condition caused Thailand to lose about 50 billion US dollars in revenue from the tourism sector last year, or decreased by 82 percent.

To restart its tourism industry, Thailand conducted a pilot opening on July 1 on the most popular island, Phuket, which has vaccinated most of the local population.

It is estimated that there are only 100,000 foreign visitors this year, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

To note, citing Nikkei Asia, reviving tourism is a must for the Thai economy to grow. This is because related sectors and businesses accounted for 20 percent of Thailand's gross domestic product (GDP) before the pandemic. The economy shrank 6.1 percent in 2020 after incoming visitors were barred.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Thailand forecasts the economy will grow 0.7 percent in 2021 and 3.9 percent in 2022, reflecting forecasts for an increase in tourists.