Thailand offers quarantine-free travel for 46 countries

Phi Phi Islands, a popular arpeggio of islands in Thailand. Photo / Evan Krause, Unsplash

From 1 November 2021, Thailand will allow travellers from 46 countries to skip the mandatory quarantine according to an announcement made by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha.

Travelling to Thailand still won't be as simple as pre-pandemic times. Visitors must arrive via aeroplane, be fully vaccinated, provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test and fill out a Certificate of Entry (COE).

Travellers must also have travel insurance with a Covid-19 policy of at least US$50,000 (NZ$69,794) and proof of at least one pre-paid night of accommodation in Thailand.

Currently, those arriving by air must quarantine for seven days, or 10 days if they're arriving by sea.

With tourism typically contributing more than 20 per cent of the country' GDP, the country was hit hard by the pandemic, reporting a loss of US$13.54 billion (NZ$18.90 billion) in tourism dollars last year.

Khaosan Road, Thailand. Photo / Evan Krause, Unsplash

Earlier this month Thailand announced they would accept tourists from 10 low-risk nations including the US, UK, Singapore, Germany and China.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said the extension of 46 countries was an effort to hasten the revival of the tourism sector.

"If we want to attract more foreign tourists to stimulate our tourism and tourism-related businesses, we needed to be proactive," he wrote on Facebook last Thursday.

The 46 countries and territories are:
New Zealand, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bhutan, Brunei, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, the UK, the US and Hong Kong.

According to Our World in Data, Thailand's population is 37.85 per cent fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and 16.67 per cent are partially vaccinated.

The country has seen 18,559 deaths due to the virus.

Thailand plans to allow additional low-risk countries on 1 December and 1 January as part of a phased reopening plan.