After many complicated corona rules: Thailand vacation should be made easier
Created: 03/25/2022, 16:08
Tourism is only slowly picking up again.
Thailand wants to further relax the entry rules for twice vaccinated tourists from June.
© Carola Frentzen/dpa
Anyone traveling to Thailand still has to take two PCR tests and register for the "Thailand Passport".
That might be too cumbersome for many vacationers.
Bangkok - Thailand wants to further relax the entry rules for twice vaccinated tourists from June.
Then the current model, according to which
PCR tests are required before departure and after arrival
, as well as
online registration
for the
so-called "Thailand Pass*" could be completely abolished
, said Minister of Tourism Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn.
The prerequisite is that the corona numbers do not rise dramatically after the traditional Songkran New Year festival, which is celebrated from April 13th to 15th.
Thailand so far only with hesitant corona loosening
“Thailand charged like a rabbit and ran fast last year when we reopened to visitors.
We cannot let the country fall behind now, while many nations are opening their borders and have fewer restrictions than we do," the minister said, referring to numerous other countries in Southeast Asia that are now welcoming tourists again.
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Tour operators and hoteliers in the Southeast Asian holiday paradise have long been calling for the rules to be relaxed further in order to attract more guests.
In July 2021, Thailand became the first country in the region to offer quarantine-free holidays again on the largest island, Phuket.
Thailand is hoping for a lot of tourism in 2022
Ratchakitprakarn stressed that he expects
around seven million tourists
for the whole of 2022 .
That's three million fewer than initially hoped, but the global omicron wave and the war in Ukraine are taking their toll on the sector.
The authorities only expect as many guests as before the pandemic in 2024.
In 2019, 40 million tourists traveled to Thailand.
The number of infections has been very high by Thai standards for weeks, but the situation in the hospitals is largely under control.
On Wednesday (March 23), the authorities in the country with 70 million inhabitants recorded around 26,000 new infections, 69 people died in connection with Covid-19.
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