Thailand to lift quarantine for tourists in Phuket

BANGKOK: Thailand yesterday announced plans for an experimental quarantine-free model in popular beach destination Phuket, as the kingdom attempts to resuscitate its pandemic-battered economy.

Thailand has imposed massive restrictions on visitor arrivals in order to stem the coronavirus, but discouraging tourism has led to its economy recording the worst performance since the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

The impact has reverberated across the country’s services sectors, bruising entertainment, retail, hotels and restaurants.

Thailand’s tourism tsar announced yesterday that Phuket, renowned for its sandy beaches and sapphire waters, would be used as a test.

Tourists who have been vaccinated will be allowed to travel there without mandatory hotel quarantine.

Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, said the “Phuket sandbox model” would begin some time from July onwards.

Foreign visitors will be required to have had two doses of a Covid19 vaccine, a certificate signifying negative test results and to download a mobile tracking application.

Yuthasak also confirmed that six tourism-reliant cities will slash quarantine times for vaccinated travellers beginning next month, including beach resorts Krabi, Ko Samui and Pattaya.

Arrivals will undergo a sevenday quarantine period and will be permitted in areas around their hotels, a marked difference for current visitors who are required to stay confined to their rooms for two weeks.

The plans still require final approval by the government.

Some 40 million tourists were expected to arrive in 2020, but only 6.7 million managed to enter the kingdom, according to data from the Tourism and Sports Ministry.