iPhone | iPad
Android
Huawei
The Pakistan cricket legend reveals why Test cricket is still so important for the game
KT APPDOWNLOAD
Covid-19: Thailand to scrap pre-travel test to boost tourism
The tourism industry estimates that around five million foreign visitors will travel to Thailand in 2022
Reuters file
Travellers to Thailand will no longer have to take a Covid-19 test before boarding the plane, under plans announced Friday as part of efforts to reboot the kingdom’s pandemic-battered tourism sector.
From April 1, the requirement to take a negative test within 72 hours of travel will be scrapped, and instead visitors will be tested on arrival in Thailand, Taweesin Visanuyothin, spokesman for the country’s Covid-19 task force, said.
Draconian travel curbs helped Thailand limit Covid-19 case numbers and deaths in the early stages of the pandemic, but hammered its crucial tourism industry, which accounts for about a fifth of the country’s economy.
Thailand is currently recording around 25,000 new cases of Covid a day as the Omicron variant spreads around the country, but officials hope this will tail off in time for them to move to a “post-pandemic” phase from July.
Seeking to bounce back from its worst economic performance since the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Thailand has gradually eased travel restrictions over the past nine months.
ALSO READ:
But hotels, restaurants and other tourist-dependent businesses have urged the government to go further and faster to entice visitors back to the kingdom’s beaches and resorts.
The tourism industry estimates that around five million foreign visitors will travel to Thailand in 2022 — down from nearly 40 million in the year before the pandemic.
More news from
The 55.22-carat ruby found by a Dubai-based firm was purchased by an anonymous telephone buyer at Sotheby's auction in New York
Smith helped establish Australia's grip on the WTC final by spending just over five-and-a-half hours compiling 121, his 31st Test century
The current Ballon d'Or holder will don the number 9 jersey at Al Ittihad
Swiatek is looking to win her third French Open title
British PM describes the 'Atlantic Declaration' as a first-of-its-kind partnership that mapped out future cooperation on issues such as AI, and other economic and commercial relations
Messi was linked with a billion-dollar move to a Saudi Arabian club just months after Ronaldo joined the Riyadh-based club Al Nassr
Upon the directives of The President, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Emirates Red Crescent (ERC) announced the construction of 1,000 prefabricated housing units worth Dh65 million