Thailand’s health ministry today announced that they will welcome back COVID-vaccinated foreigners to visit Phuket from 1st July 21 for tourism without undergoing the current 14- day quarantine at government approved accommodations. The plan is to relaunch tourism on the island, ahead of the rest of the country.
In a country where tourism provides over 20% of the GDP mainly from foreign tourism, Thailand lost out on a lot of revenue in 2020.
“If we can inoculate 50 percent to 60 percent of the population, we can open the country safely, and move the economy and tourism forward,” said senior health official Kiattiphum Wongraijit, according to Reuters. Phuket health authorities plan to administer over 900,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine for their citizens in the area before the opening date, and foreign visitors’ movements would be tracked by a phone app.
Thailand had imposed severe entry requirement for foreign visitors in order to contain and control Infections including the 14- day quarantine at government approved accommodations disallowing tourists to leave their accommodations, with even meals being delivered at their doors. Now that Vaccinations are being administered in most Countries that are big contributors to Thailand’s Inbound Tourism, the Ministry of Tourism has welcomed back International travelers from July which some may say is sooner than expected. By that time, it is believed that Thailand would have vaccinated most of the frontline citizens in the tourism business as also the vulnerable.
The quarantine time will be halved from April 2021, from15-days to 7-days for fully vaccinated tourists coming into Phuket, Koh Samui, Pattaya, Chang Mai, Krabi and Phang Nga, The Tourism Authority of Thailand Governor Yuthasak Supasorn said during a news conference. He also said that the quarantine waiver is expected to have extended to the five vacation destinations by October of 2021.
