According to The Star, Thailand has included 3 more popular vacation sites to a visa scheme that permits foreign visitors to avoid compulsory isolation, giving a boost to the country's Covid-affected tourism industry, which is considered as critical to the country's embryonic economic recovery.
Vaccinated international tourists can enter Krabi, Phang Nga, and Koh Samui, as well as Phuket, starting from January 11, under the so-called sandbox program, which does not need them to go through quarantine if they spend at least a week in these areas.
Thailand has included 3 more popular vacation sites to a visa scheme that permits foreign visitors to avoid compulsory isolation. (Photo / Provided by the Thailand Tourism Division)
Thailand's loosened visa policy is another attempt to revitalize its tourism economy while the Omicron variant causes a new wave of Covid infections.
Last Monday, the tourism-dependent country put a wider quarantine-free program on hold indefinitely to deal with a surge in new cases, despite the fact that it had helped draw 350,000 visitors in only two months.
While the sandbox program is expected to reduce tourist arrivals by 50% in Samui, Ratchaporn Poolsawadee, head of the Tourism Association of Koh Samui, stated, "it's still better than the current situation - a total travel ban."
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With around 60% of its hospital beds occupied, the resort island of Phuket, which was the first Thai province to lift compulsory quarantine for immunised foreigners on July 1, is currently dealing with its highest daily caseload since the pandemic began. Local officials, however, have pledged to continue the initiative, claiming that the island's healthcare system can handle the surge.
