Hopes high as tourists touch down

A medical assistant waits to test arriving passengers at Phuket International Airport as Thailand welcomes the first group of tourists fully vaccinated against the Covid-19 coronavirus without quarantine in Phuket on November 1, 2021. (Photo by Mladen ANTONOV/ AFP)

Overseas tourists began pouring into Bangkok and the holiday island of Phuket as Thailand kickstarted its tourism industry after 18 months of curbs.

The coronavirus pandemic hammered the kingdom’s tourism-reliant economy, which last year saw its worst performance since the 1997 Asian financial crisis as arrivals dwindled more than 80%.