Thailand has reinstated the Test & Go system to speed up economic recovery and win back overseas visitors. Only fully vaccinated and recovered travellers can apply for visas via this online system.
After a discussion with the Department of Disease Control, Thailand’s Ministry of Health has approved the restart of quarantine-free travel based upon Omicron’s milder symptoms, fewer hospitalisations, and fewer deaths. The Thai government says it can control Omicron and resume the travel economy within a COVID-safe setting.
Thailand started the Test & Go system in late-2021, allowing travellers to skip quarantine after meeting specific testing requirements and vaccination requirements. The emergence of Omicron halted the Test & Go system.
Thailand plans to treat COVID-19 as endemic in 2022 because of the nation’s reliance on its tourism economy.
People must take Covid tests on the first and fifth days after arriving. Visitors will have to isolate at a hotel while waiting for their test result. All foreign visitors are required to download Thailand’s MorChana COVID-tracking and reporting app, keeping it on at all times for updates on any preventive measures in effect at their destination and using it to report their Day 5 test results.
Under the Sandbox programme launched last year, as a first step towards resuming tourism, fully jabbed visitors spend seven nights in certain designated locations, such as the resort island of Phuket, before being allowed to travel on to the rest of Thailand.
The Tourism Ministry estimates that some five million foreign visitors will come to Thailand in 2022, down from nearly 40 million in 2019
When Thailand opens up without the need for quarantine the country expects medical tourism to rebound. Realistically it may be several years before 2019 numbers are again reached, if at all.
©2024 All rights reserved LaingBuisson 
