Talk of forming safe “travel bubbles” has stalled due to new outbreaks in other countries like Vietnam.
Thailand is not likely to open its borders to international leisure tourists within this year, a deputy governor of the the Tourism Authority of Thailand said.
Thai government applying “cautious” approach to reopening borders
According to TTG Asia, the deputy governor, Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya, said the Thai government has not talked about reopening the country, nor discussed a timeline for that during weekly Covid-19 meetings.
They are “very, very cautious” when it comes to reopening borders, which is why he sees “no signal” that borders will open this year, Ayudhya said, adding that the tourism industry is facing a lot of pressure at the moment.
He said the “high season” during the Christmas period is in “jeopardy”, adding that he is not optimistic about Chinese New Year in February next year.
Talk of forming safe “travel bubbles” stopped due to new outbreaks
He also said while there was talk in the previous month about forming “travel bubbles”, discussions have not continued due to the outbreaks in many countries Thailand was hoping to get tourists from, which “unfortunately”, includes Vietnam.
Nevertheless, more groups are now allowed to enter Thailand under strict measures.
Besides diplomats, United Nations officials, businessmen and investors whom the government has approved, film crews and exhibition personnel are now allowed to enter.
But these arrivals are limited to visitors from Japan, South Korea, Singapore and China, including Hong Kong.
Furthermore, each arrival must be quarantined for 14 days.
Ayudhya said the government is taking “a wait-and see attitude” currently to see how current groups allowed into the country do first.
Alternative plans to boost the economy
The Thai government is also looking to allow medical tourists into the country.
Amid the uncertainties surrounding international travel, Thai tourism operators have proposed a new tourism plan, called Safe and Sealed, to encourage domestic travel, Bangkok Post reported.
The proposal was to enable the survival of tourism businesses and to avoid layoffs in the last quarter of the year.
Thailand’s economy has taken a hit since lockdown measures brought by the Covid-19 pandemic were imposed.
The Bank of Thailand revised growth down to a 8.1 per cent contraction from a previous projection of 5.3 per cent, Bloomberg reported.
The figure is lower than the 7.6 per cent decline during the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
@ The Mothership