Photographer: Mladen Antonov / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Mladen Antonov / AFP / Getty Images
Thailand relaxes travel restrictions for visitors 56 countries, including the US, Japan and Singapore, ahead of the peak season to boost the country’s ailing tourism industry.
According to Taweesilp Witsanuyotin, a spokesperson for the Center for Covid-19 Situation Management. Visitors will also undergo three virus tests while in quarantine, an increase from the two previously imposed tests, Taweesilp said.
Thailand is easing foreign tourists after a special long-term visa program unveiled in September was called for lukewarm response and the authorities were forced to do so Suspend a successful travel grant program for local tourists to investigate corruption allegations. More frequent testing for visitors during quarantine can help the government shorten the isolation period to 10 days starting next month, Taweesilp said.
The quarantine will help authorities prevent visitors from spreading the virus locally and is seen as a more effective strategy than limiting access to tourists from so-called low-risk countries amid a new wave of cases worldwide, Taweesilp said.
“The definition of which countries have low risk or high risk changes every day. So let’s let them all in, but quarantine them on arrival, ”Taweesilp said at a briefing on Thursday.
New cases
Friday, Thailand reported three new local cases among the relatives of a 67-year-old Thai fishmonger who had tested positive the day before. The new cases brought the nation’s total to 4,300, official data showed. Thai authorities have warned of rallies that violate Covid-19 rules over Christmas and New Year to avoid a flare-up in local broadcasts after largely managing to contain the outbreak.
Travelers from the designated 56 countries, including Australia, Italy and France, are allowed to stay ahead until 30 days for tourism activities as part of Thailand’s unilateral agreements since before the pandemic. According to the Covid-19 panel, citizens from five countries – Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru and South Korea – can stay in Thailand for 90 days. But the country will not issue visas on arrival, or allow 14 days of free travel for people from Cambodia and Myanmar until the virus outbreak improves, it said.
“These are new travel processes and models that we have to adapt to in the new normal,” said Taweesilp.
Thailand is betting on a revival of the tourism industry to emerge from recession, with the central bank predicting it could take at least two years for Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy to return to pre-pandemic growth levels. Foreign tourists generated more than $ 60 billion in revenues from approximately 40 million visitors in 2019.
(Updates with details about new local cases in sixth paragraph.)