BANGKOK, Nov 27 (NNN-TNA) – Thailand received more than 100,000 international visitors, after exempting quarantine for fully-vaccinated visitors this month, with the monthly arrivals equalling the combined number of the first 10 months of the year, an official said yesterday.
To attract tourists, Thailand will further ease entry requirements for fully-vaccinated travellers on Dec 1, by replacing the on-arrival RT-PCR test, with a much cheaper and faster antigen test, according to Natapanu Nopakun, an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Currently, international travellers, who arrived from 63 designated low-risk countries and regions and have passed an RT-PCT test within 72 hours prior to arrival, could enter Thailand without mandatory quarantine, but need to undergo another RT-PCT test upon arrival, and be confined to their hotel rooms, until the test results are received.
With the adjustment of entry requirements, announced by the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA), the period of quarantine for inbound travellers from other countries and regions and heading to Bangkok and 16 other destinations in Thailand will also be reduced to five days next month, from the current one week, as long as they have been fully-vaccinated.
The adjustment came as Thailand’s tourism has shown signs of recovery, after the kingdom allowed fully-vaccinated visitors flying from low-risk countries and regions, to skip mandatory quarantine on Nov 1.
The number of international tourist arrivals totalled 104,065 between Nov 1 and 25, Natapanu said, at yesterday’s CCSA news briefing. This was compared with 106,117 during the Jan-Oct period, according to data from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.
The number, however, remained far below the nearly 40 million foreign tourist arrivals registered in 2019, and 6.7 million in 2020.
Thailand reported 6,559 new COVID-19 cases and 64 additional deaths yesterday, raising the total number of infections to more than 2.09 million and the cumulative fatalities to 20,645.– NNN-TNA
