TAT proposes end to quarantine for foreign tourists and simplification of area requirements. The penny finally seems to have dropped at the Tourism Authority of Thailand, notes ASEAN NOW. Its director Yutthasak Suphasorn will be proposing to the CCSA committee at their next meeting (thought to be this Friday) that from October 1st foreign tourists will not have to quarantine. ASEAN NOW

Yutthasak Suphasorn. File photo: Tourism Authority of Thailand

 

The penny finally seems to have dropped at the Tourism Authority of Thailand, notes ASEAN NOW.

 

Its director Yutthasak Suphasorn will be proposing to the CCSA committee at their next meeting (thought to be this Friday) that from October 1st foreign tourists will not have to quarantine.

 

If the Covid-19 authority agrees it will apply to Chiang Mai (four districts), Bangkok, Pattaya (and Sattahip), Cha-Am and Hua Hin. 

 

Yutthasak is proposing that what has been called a sealed route will now be a sealed area.

 

Foreign tourists will have to stay in the confines of an area rather than quarantine, he said. 

 

In addition he is proposing a "One SOP (standard operating procedure) One System" plan, he told Thai business media.

 

This means that differences between approaches and names like Move On in Pattaya, Recharge in Hua Hin and the like will be brought under one standard umbrella.

 

He noted that differnces in approach had confused tourists and been a marketing headache.

 

Samui's reopening name will also change from the Samui Plus Model to the Samui Plus Sandbox. 

 

He noted that 3 days on a sealed route then 3 days in a sealed area was confusing so the whole of Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao would be opened up like the Phuket Sandbox.

 

ASEAN NOW notes that the changes in the rhetoric still need to be remembered with the caveat that foreign tourists must be double vaxxed and have tests in Thailand.

 

What the changes mean are that tourists will be able to more freely move around a certain area right from the get go. 

 

Thus a trip to Pattaya would mean being able to move around the entire area of the city to Sattahip and in Chiang Mai it would mean instant access to four districts named in the October 1st reopening plan. 

 

However we caution that all this will depend on a nod from the CCSA.