Thailand to reduce quarantine for visitors to revive tourism

[BANGKOK] Thailand will shorten the mandatory quarantine period for foreign travellers from next month but deferred a decision on recognising vaccine certificates for easier global mobility amid a spike in global virus cases.

A panel chaired by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha on Friday approved curtailing the quarantine to 10 days from two weeks starting April 1, Traisuree Taisaranakul, a government spokesperson, told reporters in Bangkok.

The country may stop enforcing quarantine altogether from Oct 1 though the group delayed a decision on cutting isolation period to seven days for vaccinated tourists as recommended by an expert group last week, officials said.

A shorter quarantine is expected to make Thailand - famed for its palm-fringed beaches, temples and backpacker culture - more attractive to millions of foreign tourists and is seen as a key step toward a wider reopening.

Still, tourism-reliant Thailand's reluctance to fully ease curbs point to the dilemma faced by authorities in balancing the need to protect people from fresh outbreaks while bolstering economic activities.

The pandemic has devastated Thailand's tourism industry, which provided more than US$60 billion in revenue from about 40 million foreign visitors in 2019. A government campaign to boost travel by locals through hotel and air travel concessions has failed to make up for the slump in earnings as strict quarantine rules have kept most foreign travellers away.

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The Prayuth-led panel opted to assess the results of the ongoing inoculation drive and responses of other countries toward travel bubble agreements before approving vaccine passports for local residents, Rachada Dhnadirek, another government spokesperson, said.

Thailand is in talks with the US, South Korea and Singapore for vaccine passport pacts, according to Don Pramudwinai, deputy premier and foreign minister.

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The government is prepared to lower the quarantine to seven days for vaccinated travellers once the nation is ready though a 14-day isolation will continue for those coming from areas with new virus strains, said Taweesilp Witsanuyotin, a spokesperson for the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration.

Despite a flare-up in infections earlier this year, Thailand has largely contained Covid-19, with just 90 deaths over the course of the pandemic. Authorities closed a large market complex in capital Bangkok this week to contain a spike in infections tied to the cluster ahead of a peak travel period during the Thai New Year next month. The government will not impose any travel restrictions during the Songkran festival, Ms Rachada said.

The Covid panel also approved the extension of a national state of emergency for two months through the end of May to deal with the pandemic. The emergency rules, first imposed in March last year, allow the government to enforce mandatory quarantines and streamline disease-control plans without multiple approvals from various agencies.

Thailand has administered more than 60,000 doses of vaccines since the start of its rollout on Feb 28. It has prioritised healthcare and frontline workers, as well as residents in tourist hotspots, such as Phuket and Koh Samui, the two islands where local tourism groups also target Oct 1 for the full reopening.

Thailand's central bank says tourism, which accounted for about a fifth of the country's gross domestic product pre-pandemic, is key to returning South-east Asia's second-largest economy to growth after a 6.1 per cent contraction last year.

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