South-East Asian countries give quarantine-free travel schemes a go after Phuket's success

The scheme opening Phuket to vaccinated foreign tourists generated 1.63 billion baht (S$65.7 million) in revenue from July to August. - Reuters

BANGKOK, Oct 2 (The Straits Times/ANN): Thailand took a gamble in July by opening the resort island of Phuket to vaccinated foreign tourists while the region was reeling from a resurgence of Covid-19 infections. It paid off.

As at Wednesday (Sept 29), the quarantine-free vacation programme had attracted 38,289 international arrivals, out of which only 0.3 per cent tested positive for the virus.