Thailand, a favourite and affordable destination for South travellers and one which relies heavily on tourism for its GDP, has released its plan to reboot tourism post-pandemic.
As of 1 April, the quarantine time for most visitors has been cut from 14 to 10 days for all arrivals. For vaccinated travellers the quarantine will be further reduced to seven days.
However, the shortened quarantine time does not apply to travellers coming from a country with a Covid variant, who will still have to undertake a 14-day quarantine.
Currently there are only African countries on the restricted countries list, including South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana, Zambia, Kenya, Rwanda, Cameroon, Congo, Ghana and Tanzania. The list will be updated monthly.
All travellers still have to produce a Covid negative test done within 72 hours prior to departure.
From this month the tourism hotspots of Chiang Mai, Koh Samui, Krabi, Pattaya, Phang Na and Phuket will reopen to fully vaccinated tourists.
The Thai government aims to open all of the country to tourists by October this year under the same conditions.
The long-term goal is to lift all quarantine requirements for foreign visitors as of 2022, albeit with provisions that have not yet been outlined but which would most likely include a vaccination “passport”.
For more information on which countries South African travellers may travel to, contact your nearest Sure Travel agency. Find yours here.