The Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) confirmed Friday (April 22) that the requirement for fully vaccinated tourists to undergo a PCR test on arrival will be lifted, effective May 1.
Currently, foreign tourists and Thais coming from abroad have to take an RT-PCR test, even if they have been vaccinated against Covid-19, and wait 24 hours for the result in a quarantine hotel.
From 1 May, the PCR test will be replaced by a much cheaper and much faster antigen test, and it will no longer be necessary to wait in a quarantine hotel for the results. It is therefore the official end of the “Test and Go” program that started in November and has undergone many changes since then.
Required insurance coverage will also be halved to $10,000, the CCSA said.
The Thailand Pass will be retained
the Thailand pass will be maintained, but should be much easier and faster to obtain as it will only be used to verify the applicant’s vaccination status and insurance certificate.
Travelers who have not been vaccinated or have received only one vaccine must undergo another RT-PCR test on arrival and on the fourth or fifth day of their stay in the Kingdom, the CCSA said. They also have to quarantine for 10 days.
The tourism industry and hotel operators had repeatedly asked the government to remove this requirement, forcing tourists to travel to countries where additional testing is not required.
The easing of entry restrictions to Thailand comes despite a relatively high number of COVID-19 cases, a sign that the government is desperate to boost tourism, which accounted for nearly 20% of gross domestic product before COVID in 2019. †
Thailand welcomed only about 700,000 foreign tourists in 2021, a drop of more than 98% from the 39 million foreign tourists registered in 2019 before the pandemic.
Thailand red lantern tourism in Southeast Asia
Two years after the sudden cessation of tourism in Southeast Asia due to the pandemic, travelers are getting back on the plane: International airline reservations to Southeast Asia have reached 38% from pre-pandemic levels until the end of March, thus to the advisor forward keysQuoted by Reuters†
Singapore and the Philippines saw bookings rise: data from ForwardKeys shows that bookings for Singapore and the Philippines were respectively at 72% and 65% of 2019 levels, while Thailand was only 24%†
These two countries now require vaccinated travelers to undergo only a rapid antigen test prior to arrival, while Thailand’s more complicated requirements (a PCR test accompanied by an overnight quarantine, plus an antigen test on the 5th day) discouraged tourists.
