Vaccine passports’ could allow foreigners to visit Thailand without quarantine: TAT - Thai Visa

Vaccine passports' could allow foreigners to visit Thailand without quarantine: TAT

 

File photo: Travel Daily (for reference only)
 

Foreigners who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 could be allowed to visit Thailand without the need to quarantine, according to new proposals from the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).

 

The tourism authority says so-called 'vaccine passports' would enable foreign tourists to stay in Thailand without needing to spend the first 14 days of their trip in an alternative state quarantine facility.

 

The 'vaccine passports' are one of a number of ideas mooted by TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn in a bid to revive the country's decimate tourism industry, which faces the prospect of one million workers left unemployed as a result of the pandemic. 

 

Mr Supasorn said under the proposals, vaccinated tourists from the United States and Europe could start arriving in Thailand as early as March or April, with a focus on what  would be the Easter holidays in Europe. 

 

Tourists from China, Japan and South Korea would arrive later once restrictions on all but necessary travel had been lifted by the governments in those countries, he told Thairath.

 

Mr Supasorn said that if the 'vaccine passports' get the approval he would expect 10 million tourists to visit the country in 2021.

 

Mr Supasorn added that TAT have already entered discussions with Emirates Airlines and Qatar Airways about offering tourists all inclusive packages. While details were not specified, it is presumed that the packages would enable vaccinated foreigners to travel to Thailand without restrictions or the need to enter quarantine.

 

TAT will also ask the tourism authorities in other ASEAN countries to adopt the 'vaccine  passport' model in order to stimulate tourism across the region.

 

The news comes as two of Thailand's largest hotel operators have urged the government to cancel the current Covid-19-quarantine rules for vaccinated visitors in a bid to revive the country's tourism industry.

 

Speaking to the Financial Times [paywall] William Heinecke, chairman of Thailand's largest hotel group, Minor International, said: "There are tremendous numbers of people who won't come to Thailand, or won't come to any country that has a quarantine, because it takes too much time.

 

"We should be very quickly allowing people who are safely vaccinated to travel without quarantine."

 

Meanwhile, Dusit International CEO Suphajee Suthumpun said: "The current quarantine restrictions are crippling our industry and having a massive impact on Thailand's economy. With foreign tourists accounting for around 70% of the total industry, and with tourism representing around 22% of GDP, it's clear that we need to open the borders to vaccinated travellers as soon as possible."

 

Suthumpun said that people working in the hospitality sector should be given the vaccine as a priority in order to help protect locals and foreigners by limiting the risk of infection.]

 

Thailand, which normally welcomes around 40 million tourists, saw tourist arrivals fall by  90 percent in 2020.