The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) issued an announcement on April 3 regarding the latest three-stage policy to reopen the country to vaccinated tourists to travel in six leading destinations of tourism with no—or a less period of—quarantine. The government looks to kickstart the first stage in July onwards with the other following two in the third and fourth quarters.
The dark age of Thailand's tourism front seems to reach the end sooner than we expected. In February, we reported that the government promised to drop the quarantine requirement in order to attract more influxes of tourists, and now that promise looks to be fulfilled as the complete roadmap for the reopening plan has been revealed.
General Prayut-led Center for Economic Situation Administration (CESA) has granted a sanction for TAT to carry on the three-stage roadmap that looks to let holiday makers in six primary tourist provinces, namely Phuket, Krabi, Phang Nga, Surat Thani (Koh Samui), Chon Buri (Pattaya), and Chiang Mai.
According to TAT News, this so-called roadmap is scheduled to take off in the "second, third, and fourth quarters of this year, specifically for vaccinated foreign tourists" who aspire to traveling in the aforementioned destinations.
The first stage is set to begin in April and last until June with the "0+7 nights + designated routes" model wherein inoculated tourists are required to "undergo quarantine in government-approved hotels or other facilities" up to seven nights, which will grant them permission to expand their traveling in other Thai destinations.
In detail, during the "0+7 nights", the tourists are only allowed to enjoy leisure activities within the premises of their hotels or other accommodation establishments and some outside activities within designated areas in the destination of arrival.
The second stage, from July to September, specifically focuses on Phuket and its "Sandbox program" that aims to remove the quarantine restriction. The travelers are limited to stay within the province for seven days before being permitted to expand their trip in other destinations in the country. Meanwhile, those who arrive in Krabi, Phang Nga, Surat Thani (Ko Samui), Chon Buri (Pattaya) and Chiang Mai still have to follow the "0+7 nights + designated routes" model during this stage.
The third stage will be in effect between October and December for the other five remaining provinces. This means all six major provinces will be fully welcoming vaxxed foreign holiday makers to come in and travel freely within their destination of arrival for at least seven days prior to continuing their journey in other destinations.
All in all, TAT has also emphasized a list of documents required and a few screening measures upon arrival in any stages, as follows.
- a COVID-19 screening (RT-PCR tests)
- a registration on the specified track and trace application
- a valid visa or re-entry permit
- a Certificate of Entry (COE) issued by the Royal Thai Embassy or Consulate
- a COVID-19 health insurance policy with a minimum coverage of USD100,000
- a confirmation of Alternative State Quarantine (ASQ) hotel booking
- a medical certificate with a RT-PCR laboratory result indicating that COVID-19 is not detected, which must be issued no more than 72 hours before departure
Moreover, the aspiring tourists must, in TAT's words, "be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 with a vaccine, approved, and registered with the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) or approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) no less than 14 days before the travelling date". Most importantly, the overall policy is eligible exclusively for those coming from countries with no mutated strain of SAR-CoV-2 virus.
Below is the list of vaccines that are accepted by the Thai government:
- ARS-CoV-2 Vaccine (CoronaVac) by Sinovac (2 doses needed)
- AZD1222 by AstraZeneca/Oxford (2 doses needed)
- AZD1222 by SK BIOSCIENCE – AstraZeneca/Oxford (2 doses needed)
- BNT162b2/CORMIRNATY – Tozinameran (INN) by Pfizer/BioNTech (2 doses needed)
- Covishield (ChAdOx1_nCoV19) by the Serum Institute of India (2 doses needed)
- Ad26.COV2.S by the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson (1 dose needed)
- mRNA-1273 by Moderna (2 doses needed)
TAT suggests you contact the Royal Thai Embassy or Consulate in your home country for more information.