Thailand has eased its travel restrictions by scrapping the mandatory ‘Thailand Pass’ system, which makes documentation and entry easier for foreign tourists
Thailand has eased its travel regulations by scrapping the mandatory Thailand Pass system. AFP
Soon after the United States amended its travel policy to allow non-citizens without the mandatory negative COVID results, Thailand has followed suit as it scrapped the ‘Thailand Pass’ entry approval system for visitors from 1 July.
According to Reuters, Thailand announced on Friday it would abandon its much-criticised pre-registration process for foreign visitors and no longer require face masks to be worn in public, responding to a slower COVID-19 spread.
What is the Thailand Pass?
In the Thailand Pass system, foreign tourists have to seek prior approval from Thai authorities to visit the country. After getting documentation approved from a free-of-charge web-based system, tourists are given a Thai Pass QR code to enter the country.
What are the new rules?
Tourism Minister Pipat Ratchakitprakan told reporters that the Thailand Pass system will be scrapped from 1 July.
Foreign nationals will not have to be insured for COVID-19, and thermal scanning will end at border checkpoints. So far, visitors are required to have $10,000 COVID-19 insurance coverage. Even though the government will continue to encourage visitors to have such insurance, it will not be mandatory to enter the country.
A certification of fitness for entry, issued by a Thai consulate, will also no longer be required.
According to Reuters, the coronavirus task force on Friday also said use of face masks would be voluntary from next month, while advising people to wear them if in crowded settings or if suffering from health conditions.
In May this year, Thailand had already removed all testing requirements for fully vaccinated visitors, but insisted on retaining its Thailand Pass process, which has only recently offered an almost instant approval guarantee.
As per Bangkok Post, visitors will only need to show their vaccination certificates or COVID-19 test results.
The authorities will also conduct random, professional antigen tests at permanent border entry points. Random testing would continue until the government lifts all state-of-emergency measures to deal with COVID-19.
COVID’s impact on Thailand’s tourism
Thailand is one of the world’s most popular travel destinations, however, COVID-19 hit the tourism industry adversely and the restrictions put by the administration further alienated visitors.
As per the Reuters report, Thailand was visited by nearly 40 million people in 2019, but received less than 1 per cent of that number last year, despite easing its quarantine requirements.
Even though tourism has picked up in recent months, the industry is far from recovering, with huge jobs and business losses in a sector that typically accounts for about 12 per cent of Thai gross domestic product.
Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesman for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, informed that from 1-15 June there were 348,699 foreign arrivals, the largest numbers were from Malaysia (61,486), India (51,800), Singapore (31,580), Vietnam (18,885) and America (15,708).
With inputs from agencies
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