- Thousands of tourists are expected to arrive in Thailand for the first time in 18 months
- Vaccinated tourists from countries listed as low risk are allowed to enter without hotel quarantine, despite Thailand currently registering 10,000 daily Covid cases and having only 42 percent of its population fully vaccinated
- Thailand’s economy, which previously attracted 40 million tourists per year, has been seriously harmed by the COVID-19 pandemic, with tourist numbers dropping more than 80 percent last year
BANGKOK, Thailand: Thousands of tourists are expected to arrive in Thailand for the first time in 18 months.
Following the end of many Covid restrictions, Thailand has announced it would allow entry to citizens from more than 60 countries.
Vaccinated tourists from countries listed as low risk are allowed to enter without hotel quarantine, despite Thailand currently registering 10,000 daily Covid cases and having only 42 percent of its population fully vaccinated.
Some 15 million tourists are expected to arrive next year, bringing in more than $30 billion in revenue.
In an interview with the BBC, tour guide Chaiyagorn Boonyapak said, “It is like seeing a very dim light at the end of the tunnel, we have not been able to work in two years,” as reported by the BBC.
Thailand’s economy, which previously attracted 40 million tourists per year, has been seriously harmed by the COVID-19 pandemic, with tourist numbers dropping more than 80 percent last year.
Thailand’s government predicts revenues to rebound to pre-pandemic levels by 2023, but many industry experts stressed that continuing border restrictions in China, whose nationals accounted for the majority of tourists before the pandemic, will affect the tourism sector’s recovery.
Wiwan Siriwasaeree, who owns a small hostel in Bangkok’s famous Khaosan Road, said, “We fear that after we let the tourists in and the new COVID-19 cases spike again, will we go into another lockdown. I am not so confident about the situation,” according to the BBC.
Restaurant owner Peeti Kulsirorat also fears more visitors will lead to rising Covid infections, adding, “The tourism industry will be blamed as the villain again.”
On the island of Phuket, COVID-19 has brought the economy to a standstill.
Dit, whose family owns a sun lounge and juice bar on the island’s Kamala beach, said their business was making about $150 a day in 2019, but after reopening following months of closure, it is only generating about $30 per day.
“We do not expect all the deck chairs to be filled straight away,” Dit said, as quoted by the BBC.
