Thailand’s tourism minister is pushing for travel bubble discussions to resume with neighbouring countries now that the Test & Go scheme has re-started. The Bangkok Post reviews that Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn want to see more reciprocal travel preparations with countries like Malaysia, Laos, and Cambodia, pointing out that such locations normally generate vital cross-border traffic for Thailand.
According to Phiphat, journey bubble talks might be on the table when the Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha welcomes the Malaysian leader, Ismail Sabri Yaakob, to the kingdom next month. In addition, the ministry will go to the Winter Olympics in Beijing this month and is expected to ask China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism about the potential of a travel pact.
However, in some corners, there’s concern that journey bubbles alone is not going to be sufficient to fix Thailand’s devastated tourism sector. Protected of Thailand says the nation must adopt a extra relaxed strategy to PCR testing necessities whether it is to welcome no less than 5 million abroad visitors this yr. TCT boss, Vichit Prakobgosol, says whereas tourism might be exhibiting slow indicators of restoration, the current testing guidelines will proceed to deter vacationers and affect visitor numbers.
Vichit points out that a variety of locations, together with the Maldives, Dubai, and Turkey, require no PCR test on arrival and are actually busy welcoming extra tourists than they did in 2019, earlier than the start of the pandemic. He adds that the Covid-19 state of affairs in these international locations has not deteriorated as a result.
“If there isn’t any new surge in circumstances and fatalities after the primary month of Test & Go resumption, the government has to consider dropping the PCR take a look at requirement. If it does, the nation is projected to see at least 5 million tourists.”
The Bangkok Post stories that the TCT’s recent tourism confidence index, which polled tourism operators between November 20 and December 10, 2021, stands at 47. During the same interval in 2020, it was at sixty two. According to the report, a reading below a hundred is an indicator of low tourism confidence..