Thailand announced Friday that it would lift a pre-arrival PCR test requirement for vaccinated travelers in an effort to give the country’s tourism industry a lift. File Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI
March 18 (UPI) — Thailand announced Friday that it will scrap the need for a prearrival COVID-19 test for vaccinated travelers in a push to revive its tourism industry ahead of the popular Songkran festival next month.
Starting April 1, visitors will be allowed to board flights to Thailand without a negative polymerase chain reaction test, the Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration said. They will, however, still be required to take a PCR test once they arrive in Thailand.
Officials are hoping to give a boost to Thailand’s beleaguered travel industry, which plays an outsized role in the country’s economy.
Thailand received 40 million international visitors in 2019, but that figure plunged to just 428,000 last year, according to government figures. Arrivals began ticking up toward the end of 2021 as officials began to loosen some entry requirements.
The government is projecting about 5.5 million visits in 2022.
Celebrations for the water-splashing festival Songkran, scheduled from April 13-15, will also be allowed for the first time in three years.
The Buddhist new year is the country’s most important holiday and has traditionally been a major tourist draw. However, restrictions on splashing water in public and drinking at events will be in place, the Bangkok Post reported.
In addition to the PCR test required on arrival in Thailand, visitors must also take a self-administered antigen test on the fifth day of their visit. Also required will be an entry permit and a one-night stay at a government-approved hotel.
The move is part of a timeline to move the country into a “post-pandemic phase” over the next few months, a foreign ministry spokesman said Friday.
“From July 1, if all goes well and as planned, we hope that we will be transitioning into an endemic from a pandemic,” ministry spokesman Natapanu Nopakun said at a news conference.
Thailand recorded a record one-day high of almost 27,100 new COVID-19 cases on Friday amid a surge driven by the contagious Omicron coronavirus variant. There were also 80 deaths, Thailand’s highest one-day figure so far this year.
Officials say that more than 71% of Thailand’s 70 million people have been fully vaccinated and 32% have received a booster dose.
