Photographer: Mladen Antonov / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Mladen Antonov / AFP / Getty Images
Thailand eases travel restrictions for visitors 56 countries, including the US, Japan and Singapore, ahead of the peak holiday season to boost the struggling tourism sector.
Tourists are allowed to enter Thailand without prior visas, but will need to hold a health certificate to prove they are free of Covid-19 and will be subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine upon arrival, according to Taweesilp Witsanuyotin, a spokesman for Center for Covid-. 19 Situation management. Visitors will also be subjected to three virus tests while in quarantine, an increase over the two previous mandates, Taweesilp said.
Thailand relaxes foreign tourists after special long-term visa program was unveiled in September Warm response and the authorities were forced to suspend a successful travel grant program for local tourists to investigate allegations of corruption. More frequent tests for visitors during quarantine could help government shorten solitary confinement to 10 days next month, Said Taweesilp.
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 rise in cases around the world, Taweesilp said.
“The definition of low-risk or high-risk countries is changing every day. So let’s let everyone in, but quarantine them on arrival, “Taweesilp said Thursday in a briefing.
New cases
Friday, Thailand reported three new local cases in the relatives of a 67-year-old Thai merchant who had tested positive a day earlier. The new cases brought the nation’s total to 4,300, official data showed. Thai authorities have warned against assemblies that violate Covid-19 rules during Christmas and New Year to prevent an explosion in local broadcasts after they have largely managed to contain the outbreak.
Travelers from the 56 designated countries, including Australia, Italy and France, will be allowed to stay up to 30 days for tourism activities, as part of the unilateral agreements in Thailand, before the pandemic. Citizens of five countries – Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru and South Korea – can stay in Thailand for 90 days, according to the Covid-19 panel. But the country will not issue visas on arrival and will not allow free 14-day travel for those in Cambodia and Myanmar until the virus outbreak improves, he said.
“These are new processes and patterns for travel that we need to adapt to in the new normal,” Taweesilp said.
Thailand is counting on a revival of its tourism industry to emerge from the recession, with the bank anticipating that it could take at least two years for Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy to return to pre-pandemic growth levels. Arrivals of foreign tourists generated revenues of over $ 60 billion from about 40 million visitors in 2019.
(Updates with details on new local cases in the sixth paragraph.)