Thailand to welcome fully vaccinated travelers

Agence France-Presse BANGKOK - Thailand's once-lucrative tourism sector is a shadow of its former self after months of coronavirus travel restrictions. But on Monday, the kingdom reopens its doors to vaccinated travelers from more than 40 countries. Here's what you need to know: TOURISM, YEAR ZERO Before the pandemic struck, Thailand attracted a record high of almost 40 million visitors in 2019, with tourists flocking to its island beaches and cultural hotspots. Travelers fell to around seven million in 2020 after virus restrictions seized up global travel, while only around 73,000 international visitors have so far flown into Thailand in 2021. The country saw some of the largest losses in the world in the tourism industry, with revenues dropping from $63.75 billion in 2019 to $11 billion in 2020. The cashcow industry directly and indirectly contributes 18 percent of the country's economy, which contracted in 2020 by 6.1 percent -- its worst performance in more than two decades. The impact reverberated across different sectors, including the restaurant industry and transportation, slashing more than 3 million jobs out of 4.03 million. WHO CAN COME BACK? Beginning November 1, fully vaccinated travelers from 46 countries and territories that Thailand deems "low risk" will be allowed to enter without going through quarantine. The giants on the list are China -- which accounted for the lion's share of the kingdom's pre-pandemic visitor total -- and its territory Hong Kong, as well as the United States, Britain, and France. A slew of other European countries are on the list too -- such as Germany, Spain and Italy -- while some Asian neighbors Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore and Japan are also included. All travelers must have a negative COVID test before flying into Thailand, and get re-tested upon arrival. They must also book a single night in a government-approved hotel as they wait for the test results. WHAT ABOUT COVID? So far, Thailand has registered more than 1.8 million cases and 18,865 deaths -- the bulk of them detected after the highly contagious Delta variant emerged in April. The country is still reporting about 10,000 new cases per day. Authorities aim to have 70 percent of the population jabbed by the end of the year. So far, about 40 percent of Thais have been fully vaccinated. TOURISM OUTLOOK? Authorities expect 1 million tourists to touch down in Thailand by March 2022. Revenues are expected to surpass $30 billion for the whole of next year. But many in the industry do not expect a real return to normalcy until at least 2024. They point to China -- the biggest source of visitors -- still requiring returnees to undergo a strict quarantine, which is expected to discourage foreign travel. The United States also still has a travel alert out for Thailand, advising Americans to avoid the country due to high COVID infection numbers. © Agence France-Presse

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more