Thailand is discussing with Singapore a "travel bubble" plan between the two countries

Report by : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA

Thailand’s Minister of Tourism and Sports Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said that the “Thailand-Singapore Travel Bubble Plan” will be discussed at the Singapore Embassy this week.

"We have admitted that Singapore has previously discussed travel bubbles with Australia and New Zealand. If Singapore also agrees to implement the plan with Thailand, then in addition to Singaporeans, we may be able to receive tourists from Australia and New Zealand," the minister said. .

The Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Thailand also intends to discuss travel bubbles with other ASEAN countries, such as Vietnam and Laos, which have few new cases of covid.

Travel Bubble between Thailand and Singapore is expected to start on 1 October 2021. The minister added that if China allows people to travel abroad, his ministry plans to attract more tourists from China.

Piphat also urged Thai tourism entrepreneurs to contact their former Middle Eastern customers to find out if they want to start visiting Thailand after Ramadan or in mid-May. Several Middle Eastern countries have been vaccinated.

At the same time, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) stated that Hong Kong has inquired about Travel Bubbles and Singapore.

Thailand has reduced the mandatory quarantine period for foreign immigrants from 14 days to 10 days from 1 April.

For travelers who have been vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2, the isolation period will be further shortened to 7 days.

However, foreign tourists from high-risk countries/regions still need to be quarantined for 14 days.

At the same time, Thailand’s Economic Situation Management Center decided on 26 March to provide Phuket’s “tourism sandbox” plan for vaccinated tourists starting from 1 July, as proposed by the Thai Tourism Administration.

According to this plan, tourists can fly into Phuket and move freely without isolation as long as they can prove that they have been vaccinated with the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and the test result is negative.

Once more people are vaccinated and preventive measures are taken, similar plans will be applied to other Thai tourist destinations, such as Pattaya, Chiang Mai, Krabi, Phang Nga and Koh Samui.