Thai hospitality and travel shares soar on reopening plans

[BANGKOK] Shares in Thailand's hotels and airlines jumped in Tuesday morning's trading, lifted by an announcement by its prime minister that more vaccinated tourists would be allowed to visit the country from November.

Prayuth Chan-ocha late on Monday said more than 18 months of mandatory quarantine would end next month for vaccinated arrivals from countries considered "low risk", including the United States, Britain and China.

The stock exchange's tourism and leisure index jumped as much as 4.42 per cent when markets opened on Tuesday, compared to a benchmark increase of 0.82 per cent.

Gains were driven by a 4 per cent rise in Airports of Thailand, Asia Aviation and Bangkok Airlines, which rose between 3.42 per cent and 5.59 per cent, respectively.

Hotelier, Erawan Group increased nearly 7 per cent and rival Asset World climbed over 4 per cent.

Thailand's strict entry requirements had kept Covid-19 infection numbers low until this year, but at a huge loss to jobs and revenues in its vital tourism sector.

Since July, it has operated pilot projects on Samui and Phuket islands allowing for vaccinated visitors and this month reduced quarantine periods elsewhere.

But arrivals have plummeted to a fraction of the nearly 40 million visitors in 2019, with tourism losing US$50 billion in annual revenue, an 82 per cent plunge.

Despite its stringent measures to keep the virus out, Thailand has recorded 1.7 million infections and 17,835 Covid-19 deaths, with 98 per cent of its caseload since April.

A third of its 72 million residents are vaccinated.

The announcement follows Britain's removal of Thailand from its travel red list last week.

Analysts said that although foreign arrivals may not increase quickly, domestic activity would be boosted.

"A reopening would mean that full mobility is restored ... we are much optimistic on the domestic travel and consumption," said Maria Lapiz, head of institutional research at Maybank Kim Eng.

REUTERS