Thailand to resume quarantine free travel from February 1

Travellers planning to visit Thailand in 2022 should cheer. Thailand will resume a quarantine-free travel scheme for international visitors from February 1st, according to the latest reports. Referring to this, officials in the know-how informed that after the programme was suspended due to rise in Omicron cases, the kingdom's tourism-dominated economy suffered a lot as the visitor numbers dropped down to a trickle.

According to reports, fully vaccinated travellers will be able to enter the nation under the Test and Go scheme, and will be required to do COVID tests on their first and fifth days in the country. Taweesin Visanuyothin, spokesman for the country's COVID-19 taskforce, stated this.

As a result, travellers will be compelled to isolate themselves in a hotel while waiting for their test results, as well as download a tracking app to ensure that they follow the guidelines. Thailand launched the Test and Go scheme in November as an alternative to two weeks of hotel quarantine in an effort to bolster the country's economic performance.

The initiative was suspended late last month after the government reported an increase in Omicron cases. However, with hospitalisation not spiking, the spokesperson added that the program might be resumed, though the authorities will keep an eye on it. In the event that the situation changes or more infections emerge, he said, inbound travellers will be reassessed and the sandbox scheme will be adjusted.

Fully vaccinated travellers were allowed to spend seven nights in specific approved regions, such as the resort island of Phuket, before being allowed to travel to the rest of Thailand under the sandbox programme, which was launched last year.

According to the Tourism Ministry's estimates, around five million international visitors are expected to visit Thailand in 2022, down from nearly 40 million in pre-pandemic levels.