Tourism officials plan to present a proposal to cancel Thailand’s Test & Go entry scheme. The Tourism Authority of Thailand, along with the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, will present the proposal at a meeting with the CCSA on April 22.
Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said on Wednesday that if the changes are approved, starting May 1, tourists will be able to enter Thailand using vaccine passports. They would no longer have to to wait three to five days for their documents to be approved, as Thailand Pass requires. In the proposed plan, RT-PCR tests on arrival for foreign travellers are expected to be replaced by antigen tests.
Although official plans have not yet been made, Phiphat is confident in Thailand’s healthcare.
“Thailand is ready to welcome foreign visitors again because our public health system is adequately equipped”.
It should be noted that these are proposals from the TAT and the Ministry of Sports and Tourism, both with vested interests in reopening Thailand to as many tourists as possible. The proposed suggestions to relax restrictions and remove the Thailand Pass have NOT been discussed by the CCSA and need to be approved by CCSA members in a meeting, the Thai cabinet and then approved via the Royal Gazette before the changes become law.
The tourism ministry predicts at least 10 million international arrivals and over 1 trillion baht in revenue for the rest of 2022. To reach that sort of goal for 2022 the numbers of tourists would have to increase to an average of 35,000 – 40,000 tourists arriving from overseas every day for the rest of 2022. Currently there are 9,000 – 11,000 tourists arriving each day in a Songkran surge that has fuelled packed roads, full flights and fully-booked trains over the annual Thai New Year celebrations.
Piphat said the government will take into account daily caseloads of infections after Songkran when it considers further reopening the country to tourists.
SOURCE: The Daily Star