Thailand's tourism officials have ended hopes of an economic revival by confirming travel restrictions will remain in place until mid 2021, at the earliest.
Recently tourism lobby groups, in the shape of the Thai Hotel Association and the Thailand Travel Agents Association, have been demanding that the Thai government drops its mandatory quarantine provisions.
They also called for established travel corridors with provinces in China and low-risk nations including Singapore, Vietnam, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan.
However, minster for sports and tourism Pipat Ratchakitprakan has this week refused to consider it, ending all hopes of a busy Christmas and New Year travel season.
'The country will continue being open to businessmen, technical experts, high level workers and those in the medical field for now. 14 day quarantine will continue for now with many countries still in the grip of the pandemic,' the minister blabbered incoherently.
He then added that the country is likely to remain closed for 'normal' tourists until the middle of next year at the earliest. (continued below)
Vaccinated tourists may allowed to enter by mid-2021
Meanwhile, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is writing off 2021 and making its own plans for full recovery in 2022.
TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn said that next year's tourism outlook was "difficult to predict" and, thus, the organization has launched a 'Project Phoenix.'
This has childishly been named in the hope that Thailand will 'rise from the ashes' of the pandemic to generate up to 2.5 trillion baht ($83 billion) in tourism revenue in 2022, 83 per cent of 2019's income.
Vaccinated tourists may be allowed to return to Thailand in the middle of next year without having to undergo quarantine.
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