Thailand reopens three tourist beach destinations despite rising COVID cases

Thailand has decided to reopen three of its prominent beach destinations to a visa programme, allowing foreign tourists to enter. The decision has been taken despite a surge in COVID-19 cases across the world. The COVID-hit tourism sector in Thailand is hoping for a recovery by taking these measures and inviting tourists even as the number of COVID infections continue to surge. One of the biggest features of this program is that it is allowing travellers to bypass a mandatory isolation.

The popular regions that are reopened to tourists are Krabi, Phang Nga and Koh Samui. The country has also relaxed visa rules in an attempt to restart its drowning travel industry. Thailand had to remove its quarantine-free program last week amid new cases. It has to be noted that, as per the reports, Thailand was able to attract some 350000 travellers (just two months) through its travel programs in the COVID-free months. Ratchaporn Poolsawadee, President of the Tourism Association of Koh Samui, said, “The suspension came during the peak travel season so the impact on the sector is quite significant.” He said that the tourist arrivals under the sandbox program are likely to be 50% less in Samui, but it’s still better than zero and a complete travel ban.
Meanwhile, the country has also announced a new rule for foreign tourists from April 2022, wherein the government of Thailand will charge tourists $9 (INR 665) as tax. According to the new rules, every foreign tourist visiting Thailand will have to pay this sum as an entry fee that will go towards recovering the pandemic-hit travel industry.

As far as COVID-19 cases are concerned, the number has been rising across the country after the New Year celebrations. There is a surge in Omicron cases now in Thailand; some 7133 new cases of infection were reported in the country on Tuesday.