BANGKOK: Thailand has announced its plan to open its borders to vaccinated travellers to revive its tourism and economy. If you have yet to read about it, take a quick look here:
In a statement issued by Yuthasak Supasorn, Governor of Thailand’s Tourism Authority (TAT) yesterday, the “Phuket Sandbox” campaign is set to begin this Thursday (July 1), with the country’s largest resort island reopening its doors to international tourists who have been vaccinated.
According to Xinhua Net, hotels and other venues are prepared for the grand opening as Phuket will be reaching its 80% vaccination rate target among residents by Wednesday (June 30).
Around 400 to 500 foreign tourists are expected to arrive in Phuket on Thursday, with many more to come in the days ahead.
The program was previously approved on June 4 during a Centre for the Economic Situation Administration meeting chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
Under the program, foreign tourists will be allowed to move freely around the island, provided they are fully vaccinated and test negative for COVID. They can also travel to other places in Thailand after staying on the island for 2 weeks.
A total of 66 countries were listed under the program’s first batch of “greenlight” participants as shown below:
Unfortunately, due to the high number of COVID-19 cases, Malaysians are not welcomed to visit Thailand just yet. The list is updated every two months, so we will have to wait and pray that cases will reduce significantly within this time frame.
For more information, please visit the official website.
Sources: tatnews.org, Cover image via canva
Editor: Raymond Chen
Proofreader: Sarah Yeoh
