Thailand decided to lift PCR test from May 1

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

Thailand has decided to lift the mandatory polymerase chain reaction test for travellers entering the country from May 1 to revive the tourism industry from the pandemic woes.

The easing of travel restrictions is expected to boost tourists from India – one of the biggest markets for Thai travel and tourism industry. Thailand received two million visitors from India in 2019 which helped the kingdom generate $2.5 billion in revenue. This year, the Tourism Authority of Thailand expects 500,000 Indians, considering the number of scheduled flights announced this month.

This year, Thailand has launched a campaign called, Visit Thailand Year 2022: Amazing New Chapters, under which it will focus on special interest groups with high spending.

Cholada Siddhivarn, director of Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Mumbai office, said that Thailand’s focus is to rebuild the Indian market for which weddings and honeymoons, golf, millennials, and luxury travellers will be the key.

In addition, the Thai tourism authority will also be a part of India’s largest tourism promotion event called the South Asia Travel and Tourism Exchange in May.

TAT is also holding an Amazing Thailand Wedding Expo for the first time in Mumbai and New Delhi in May.

Experts say that securing sufficient air services and frequencies from the metro cities and second-tier Indian cities to Thailand will be important.

Along with India, Thailand will focus on markets like Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Japan, and try to grow arrivals from large South East Asia outbound markets like Vietnam and Indonesia.

Exploring new markets and focus on India will be key for Thailand especially due to China market being irreplaceable which accounted for 28 percent or 12 million arrivals in 2019.

While Thailand is lifting travel restrictions and wooing Indian visitors, the country said that Indians will have to wait for some time for visa fee-waiver policy that Thailand had introduced before COVID for Indians.

Also, the country has not dropped all travel restrictions as visitors will still be required to register for a ‘Thailand Pass’. But the medical insurance policy coverage has now been reduced from $20,000 to $10,000.

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