Minister of Tourism & Sports Confirms No Quarantine For Intl Tourists

No quarantine in Phuket

Update: Earlier this week on 1st May 2021, The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) released that they stand firm on the fact that six tourist destinations – Phuket, Krabi, Phang Nga, Koh Samui, Pattaya and Chiang Mai – in Thailand will go on with their “sandbox” programmes. The initiative offers quarantine-free travel for vaccinated foreigners starting with Phuket this 1st July 2021, according to The Thaiger. Tourists will be required to stay in the designated places for 7 days before being allowed to travel to other parts in the Kingdom.

Phuket authorities are still working on the island’s herd immunity with 90 to 100,000 people now vaccinated against Covid-19. Despite being less than 25% of the population, TAT believes Phuket will be able to reach its goal of 70% by the end of June with the government’s continuing efforts to obtain more vaccines.

Despite the fact that Covid-19 cases are increasing everyday in this recent surge, Thailand’s Minister of Tourism and Sports Mr. Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn reaffirms that the plan of welcoming international tourists with no quarantine in Phuket starting this 1st July will carry on.

Thailand’s plans for reopening:

‘Roadmap’ plan continues

Minister Ratchakitprakarn’s decision to continue with the ‘Roadmap’ plan, which allows foreign visitors to travel to Phuket without having to undergo quarantine planned to begin this 1st July, came after receiving a report from Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) regarding the meeting between Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and the government’s economic team, according to Matichon.

Mr. Supatthanaphong Phanmechao, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy, who was in the meeting mentioned that they will not allow Thailand’s tourism to stay stagnant any longer and will respond to the high demands of international tourists to enter Phuket while doing their best to fix the current outbreak, as reported by Bangkok Biz News.

phuket airport
Image credit: Khaosod

Mr. Ratchakitprakarn further states that a request will be made towards the Ministry of Public Health to import more Covid-19 vaccines into Thailand to ensure that there will be as much as 950,000 doses for Phuket residents alone by the end of June.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha verifies that 2.5 million doses of ‘Sinovac’ Covid-19 vaccine will arrive in Thailand between April and May and that there will be a huge batch of ‘AstraZeneca’ shots coming in June, which will be enough to prepare Phuket for the first step of Thailand’s reopening.