There’s no doubt that Thailand’s tourism industry has suffered as a result of the travel restrictions in place for international travel. Now, all eyes are on Thailand as it tests the water with opening up. As of 1st November, Thailand introduced Test & Go, an easing of travel restrictions allowing vaccinated travellers from 63 ‘low risk’ countries to enter quarantine free. This is the most significant change in travel rules in South East Asia for some time, but will this be the boost needed to revitalise tourism to this formally popular destination?
Before the pandemic, scheduled airlines to and from Thailand carried around 73 million international passengers a year. Of these, around 65% had a foreign point of origin. Assuming every tourist on a flight takes a flight into the country and another home again, that makes for a market of 24 million international arrivals by air.
In theory, Test & Go has the potential to reboot Thailand’s tourism industry, given the 63…