FROM June 1, unvaccinated or partially vaccinated foreign travellers will no longer need to quarantine on arrival in Thailand, Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanee Sangrat said.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has forecast that arrivals will surge from 20,000 visitors per month to 500,000 visitors per month after the quarantine rule is scrapped.
However, all foreign tourists will still have to register for the Thailand Pass before entry – a requirement that will be lifted for Thai nationals from June 1.
“Fully vaccinated travellers must prepare a vaccination certificate and health insurance coverage that is worth at least US$10,000 (RM44,000),” said the spokesman.
“Unvaccinated (or partially vaccinated) travellers must show a negative rapid antigen or RT-PCR test result taken within 72 hours of departure.”
He added that all border checkpoints would be opened from June 1 onwards as well.
The TAT reported that arrivals rose to about 20,000 per day from May 1-21 after the Test & Go scheme was scrapped.
The largest number of visitors came from Singapore (45,961), followed by India (34,582), Malaysia (16,410), Vietnam (14,003) and Cambodia (13,917).
TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn said he expected about 500,000 foreign arrivals per month from now to September, mostly from India, the Middle East and Asean.
“That number should rise to one million per month during the October-December high season when arrivals from the United States and Europe will surge,” he added.
TAT also hoped to see more Chinese tourists visit Thailand by the end of the year.
Yuthasak said Thailand should see 1.5 trillion baht (RM192bil) in tourism revenue this year, up 50% on pre-Covid-19 revenue in 2019.
TAT also expected hotel and flight occupancy rates to increase to 50% and 70% respectively, he added. — The Nation/ANN
