Thailand announces Phuket will reopen to long-stay tourists

BANGKOK, Aug 25, 2020, The Laotian Times. Thailand has announced plans to reopen Phuket to tourists willing to stay for 30 days, with the first 14 days spent in quarantine, The Laotian Times reported.

Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Yuthasak Supasorn, stated in an interview with Reuters that tourists will have to stay for at least 30 days, with the first 14 days in quarantine in a limited vicinity of their hotel, before they could visit other areas.

The announcement was made after Thai authorities suspended a plan to initiate “travel bubbles” with partner countries.

Yuthasak said that the reopening plan for long-stay tourists would commence in Phuket on 1 October.

Visitors will be required to take two coronavirus tests during their quarantine before being allowed to venture out into other parts of the island, and possibly other parts of the country.

Thailand has made significant strides in the containment of the Covid-19 virus, lasting nearly three months without a confirmed case of local transmission.

The country’s national coronavirus taskforce extended a state of emergency until the end of September in order to keep the virus under control.

This year, the country expects to see only 8 million foreign visitors, compared to 39.8 million tourists in 2019.

On 23 July the government of Thailand issued a press release identifying four types of foreigners being allowed entry, including those participating in trade fairs, foreign film crews, foreigners visiting for medical purposes, and foreign workers from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.