Thailand Ministry of Health reports 6,488 new COVID-19 cases and an additional 55 deaths since yesterday. The ministry also announced an additional 12,755 patients recovered from the COVID-19 virus.
A new law that went into effect on May 1 removed the obligation for vaccinated travelers to take the Covid test, giving the tourism industry hope after two years of low income.
Tourism operators, on the other hand, are concerned because the epidemic has left them “once bitten, twice shy,” with a variety spreading at any time and local political problems looming larger in many locations.
To deal with such uncertainty, tourism operators are pressing for a better government plan to avoid making the same mistakes that have seen them struggle to stay afloat in recent years.
Visitors will be able to travel with fewer barriers and misunderstandings thanks to industry demand for a clearer, stronger reopening policy.
The openness of Thailand to tourists was beset by regulatory snags before reaching its current form, which is devoid of most restrictions.
In July 2021, Phuket was the first location to reopen under a sandbox program, with additional destinations following suit in November with a flexible Test & Go plan.
Only 503,468 tourists visited Phuket in 304 days, including 194,689 from the sandbox program and 246,938 from the Test & Go scheme, with the rest following the quarantine regimen.
The robust version of the Test & Go program required a pre-travel RT-PCR negative result as well as one night in an approved hotel upon arrival in Thailand while awaiting the results of a second RT-PCR test. From January to March, this program registered 497,693 international tourists or more than 165,000 arrivals per month on average.