Thailand reopens its borders to vaccinated tourists on Monday, without quarantine, after a year and a half of closure due to the Covid-19 epidemic.
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Jean-Pierre Mas, president of Travel Companies (EDV), greeted Monday, November 1 on franceinfo “the very good news” for the tourism sector after the announcement of the reopening of Thailand’s borders after a year and a half of closure due to Covid-19. “The opening of Thailand will certainly encourage neighboring countries like Vietnam, Cambodia or Indonesia to open their doors to international tourists”, he explains.
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Thailand is one of the world’s top tourism destinations: “It was the first Asian destination for French tourists. There were roughly 800,000 French people who went to Thailand each year out of the 40 million international tourists.”
Quarantine is over, but it will still be necessary to respect a few rules to discover Bangkok or to take advantage of the Koh Phi Phi archipelago: in particular a complete vaccination path, a PCR test and health insurance covering 50,000 euros in medical costs. “The reopening, even if tourists are subject to some constraints, is very good news for our sector”, rejoices Jean-Pierre Mas.
This summer, the French have favored European destinations “because they knew they weren’t far from home. If we had to come back, we could come back easily”, he explains. But the trend seems to be reversing: “We can now see that they prefer faraway destinations to which we can travel. There are still quite a few of them.” The Dominican Republic has seen the number of tourists explode during the health crisis. Thailand could now see its tourists return in the coming weeks.