Thailand holiday on the cards as nation opens up

A holiday to Thailand is back on the cards for fully vaccinated travellers from 10-low risk countries following a major announcement from local health officials

Thailand, a nation that once relied on its tourism sector to fuel the economy, now plans to end Covid quarantine requirements for fully vaccinated travellers from at least 10 low-risk nations from 1 November.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha stated “this decision comes with some risk” – but it is seen as a key step to revive the country’s collapsed tourism sector.

The 10 nations seen as low risk include the UK, China, Germany and the United States

The country has been recording more than 10,000 positive infections daily since July, as COVID cases continue in the thousands.

Thailand has fully vaccinated around 32% of its almost 70 million people, with half of the the population receiving at least one dose.

Mr Prayuth stated that Thailand would also allow entertainment venues to reopen on 1st of December and permit alcohol sales.

The PM added that the authorities continue to plan for the full reopening of Thailand, with more countries soon to be announced as permitted to travel.

How it will work:

Referring to visitors from 10 low-risk nations, the nation’s leader stressed that “when they arrive, they should present a [negative] Covid test… and test once again upon arrival”.

If the second test is also negative, any visitor from those countries “can travel freely like Thais”, the prime minister confirmed.

Just over 70,000 visitors came into the country in the first eight months of this year, compared with 40 million in the whole of 2019.

Thailand has reported more than 1.7 million confirmed Covid cases since the pandemic began, with nearly 18,000 deaths, according to America’s Johns Hopkins University.