A nurse administers a dose of Sinovac Biotech Ltd. vaccine. in Nonthaburi, Thailand.
Photographer: Andre Malerba / Bloomberg
Photographer: Andre Malerba / Bloomberg
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One of the world’s most tourism-dependent countries, Thailand is looking at plans for vaccine passports and quarantine exemptions as the global Covid-19 inoculation drive progresses.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha this week ordered officials to examine vaccination certificates for international travel after noting that the nation, famous for its beaches, temples and backpacker culture, is open to undo the two-week quarantine for inoculated visitors. . The local tourism industry wants to lift the mandatory quarantines from July 1 to be able to open them potentially millions of vaccinated tourists.
Read: More than 265 million shots fired: Covid-19 tracker
A successful reopening of Thailand could encourage other tourism-dependent countries to follow suit, as countries such as the United Kingdom set ambitious deadlines to ease restrictions on their populations and resume international travel. While the World Health Organization has warned this week about the risks of loosening too quickly, places like Thailand (which saw nearly 40 million visitors abroad in 2019) are seeing lasting damage to the world. their economies with paralyzed global travel and closed borders. year of the pandemic.
Confidence in tourism
Thailand has depended more on foreign visitors in the last decade
Sources: Ministry of Tourism and Sports, National Council for Economic and Social Development
“A gradual reopening, with the right precautions, will certainly save businesses, jobs and strengthen the economy,” said John Blanco, general manager of the luxury hotel Chapel Bangkok in the Thai capital. “Given the global momentum of vaccination, it would make sense to start planning the necessary steps.”
What vaccine passports are and how they would work: QuickTake
Central Bank of Thailand says tourism, which accounted for about a fifth of the country’s pre-pandemic gross domestic product, is key to returning to the growth of Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy. From Thailand GDP contracted by 6.1% in 2020, the highest this century.
Despite the onset of infections earlier this year, Thailand largely contained Covid-19, with only 85 deaths during the pandemic. The country must balance the maintenance of the virus and protect the local population by counteracting economic success. Although some efforts have already been made to reopen borders to foreign tourists, strict quarantine rules have been applied. farther away.
William Heinecke, president of Minor International Pcl, which operates 500 hotels worldwide, is leading a campaign to call on the Thai government to reopen borders from the third quarter after the pandemic forced the closure of hundreds of hotels and tourism businesses.
“The current situation is unsustainable,” says the online petition, which reached nearly 7,500 signatories in three days. “The July 1 reopening would be a strategic opportunity for Thailand to show a leadership role among Asian countries and pave the way for a solid recovery of the Thai economy in 2022.”
Prime Minister Prayuth has warned not to rush into issuing vaccine passports and wants more coordination with other countries.
On the way to having vaccinated most of its population soon, Israel is making deals to allow its citizens to travel to various countries, including Greece. Although months are left to issue them, the European Union is also prioritizing immunity certificates and Britain is expected to do so. will conclude a review of the “Covid state certification,” but only on June 21st. Europeans, including people from the UK, accounted for 16% of foreign tourists to Thailand in 2019.
The country began deploying vaccines this week and aims to inoculate 50% of its population by the end of this year. There are also plans to distribute vaccines at tourist spots such as Phuket and Koh Samui in preparation for one wider reopening.
The government eased the brakes on business and travel after monitoring the recent resurgence of the virus. But after skipping a national shutdown to deal with the resurgence, Thailand may not return to zero cases soon, according to Thira Woratanarat, an associate professor at Chulalongkorn University School of Medicine.
“Finding out how to reopen tourists is as important as planning the distribution of vaccines,” said Somprawin Manprasert, chief economist at Bank of Ayudhya Pcl. “The sooner the country can be reopened to tourists, the sooner it will recover.”
“The second wave delayed recovery rather than derailed it,” he said. “Even though we’re still in the dark, there’s light at the end of the tunnel.”
(Update the title and add the global vaccination career to the first paragraph.)