Hopes high as tourists touch down for Thailand reopening

Tens of thousands of travellers were expected to touch down in Bangkok and the holiday island of Phuket on Monday as Thailand reboots its tourism industry after 18 months of Covid curbs.

The coronavirus pandemic hammered the kingdom’s tourism-reliant economy, which last year saw its worst performance since the 1997 Asian financial crisis with arrivals down more than 80 per cent.

Thai authorities have given the green light to vaccinated tourists from more than 60 “low-risk” countries to skip hotel quarantine – providing the sector a much-needed lifeline.

Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport and Phuket’s international terminal will be the first to receive visitors under the relaxation, with the rest of the country following suit.

Thailand hopes to capitalise on travellers escaping the winter blues during December, with several European countries, the US and China on the approved list.

“The most important thing that the government and I are thinking right now is to make people’s livelihoods return to normal,” Premier Prayut Chan-o-cha said on Friday.

Tourism accounts for nearly a fifth of the economy and the impact of the pandemic has reverberated across various sectors, from restaurants to transportation.