A nurse will administer a dose of the vaccine from Sinovac Biotech Ltd. in Nonthaburi, Thailand.
Photographer: Andre Malerba / Bloomberg
Photographer: Andre Malerba / Bloomberg
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Thailand, one of the most tourism-dependent countries in the world, is looking to plans for vaccine passports and quarantine waivers as the global push for vaccination with Covid-19 accelerates.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha this week ordered officials to investigate vaccine certificates for international travel after indicating that the nation – famed for its palm-fringed beaches, temples and backpacker culture – is open to dropping the two-week quarantine for inoculated visitors. The local tourism industry wants the mandatory quarantines to be lifted from July 1, so that it can be opened possibly millions of vaccinated tourists.
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A successful reopening by Thailand could prompt other tourism-dependent countries to follow suit, as countries such as the UK have set ambitious timelines for relaxing restrictions on their populations and resuming international travel. While the World Health Organization warned this week of the risks of slackening too soon, places like Thailand – which saw nearly 40 million foreign visitors in 2019 – are seeing long-term damage to their economies with crippled global travel and closed borders. years in the pandemic.
Tourism dependence
Thailand has become increasingly dependent on foreign visitors over the past decade
Sources: Ministry of Tourism and Sports, National Council for Economic and Social Development
“A gradual reopening, taken with cautious measures, will undoubtedly save companies, save jobs and strengthen the economy,” said John Blanco, CEO of luxury hotel Capella Bangkok, in Thailand’s capital. “Given the increasing global momentum of vaccination, it would make sense to plan the necessary steps.”
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The central bank of Thailand says tourism, which accounted for about one-fifth of the country’s gross domestic product prior to the pandemic, is key to growing Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy again. Thailand’s GDP shrank by 6.1% in 2020, the most this century.
Despite a flare-up of infections earlier this year, Thailand largely contained Covid-19, with only 85 deaths during the pandemic. The country must find a balance between keeping out and protecting the local population and counteracting the economic blow. Although it has already made some effort to reopen the borders to foreign tourists, there are strict quarantine regulations kept most of it away.
William Heinecke, Chairman of Minor International PCL, which operates 500 hotels worldwide, is leading a campaign to ask the Thai government to reopen its borders from the third quarter after the pandemic forced hundreds of hotels and tourism businesses to close.
“The current situation is unsustainable,” says the online petition, which attracted nearly 7,500 signatories in three days. “The July 1 reopening would be a strategic opportunity for Thailand to show a leadership role among Asian countries and pave the way for a solid recovery in the Thai economy in 2022.”
Prime Minister Prayuth has warned against rushing vaccine passports and wants more coordination with other countries.
Israel is on track to soon have most of its population inoculated and is making deals to allow its citizens to travel to a number of countries, including Greece. While still months away from issuing them, the European Union is also prioritizing immunity certificates, and Britain is expected concludes a review of the “Covid status certification”, but not until June 21st. Europeans, including people from the UK, made up 16% of the foreign tourists entering Thailand in 2019.
The country started rolling out vaccines this week and aims to inoculate 50% of the population by the end of this year. There are also plans to distribute vaccines in tourist hotspots such as Phuket and Koh Samui in preparation for one wider reopening.
The government eased corporate and travel curbs after controlling the virus’s recent resurgence. But after skipping a nationwide lockdown to address the resurgence, Thailand may not return to zero cases anytime soon, according to Thira Woratanarat, an associate professor at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Medicine.
“Figuring out how to reopen to tourists is just as important as planning vaccine distribution,” said Somprawin Manprasert, chief economist at Bank of Ayudhya Pcl. “The sooner the country can reopen to tourists, the faster the recovery will be.”
“The second wave slowed the recovery rather than derailed it,” he said. “Even though we are still in the dark, there is light at the end of the tunnel.”
Updates the headline and adds the global vaccination race to the first paragraph.