Thailand opening to vaccinated tourists: A possible model for Cambodia to follow?

In the latest chapter of the ongoing saga of Thai tourism and its flirtation with opening up, it has been announced that the nation will accept vaccinated tourists from 10 countries starting on November 1st.

The big question after that though may indeed be the most important to ponder. Just what is the fine print on that decision and and what ramifications will that have on other regional players?

To read about which countries are open to tourism click here.

What exactly has been announced?

Thai PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha announced on Monday that the country will be reopening its borders to vaccinated tourists travelling by air from “low-risk countries”.

Those “low-risk” countries include the United Kingdom, Singapore, Germany, China and the United States. More will be added to the list on December 1st and again on January 1st, depending on how the opening goes. 

As it stands, come November 1, fully vaccinated travelers from the listed countries will no longer be forced to quarantine upon arrival and for all intents will be able to travel freely as before the pandemic.

Wasn’t Thailand already open to vaccinated tourists?

Sort of. Thailand has been gradually opening to vaccinated tourists throughout the year. The process started with a “toes in the water” test admitting medical visitors. That was followed in the summer by the nation’s much panned “sandbox” approach 

That plan which allowed visitors to travel to and hunker down in the tourist mecca of Phuket and some surrounding islands. The “sandbox” opening drew a mere 37,000 visitors according to local figures, far below the 100,000 projected.

The elephant in the room as goes Thailand opening to vaccinated tourists.

Put simply, while there is hope that the opening will help revive the lagging Thai economy, currently at its lowest ebb in 20 years, whether visitors will actually pull the trigger on deciding to book a Thai vacation is the big question to which there is no clear answer.

The “hard cheese” as that goes is Thailand is currently going through an extremely tough 4th wave of the virus and has only vaccinated 22 percent of its citizens according to Our World in Data. That and an already overstretched Thai healthcare sector does nothing to build the confidence tourists need to click purchase on the booking of a “dream vacation”.

That’s because in the “new normal”, the phrase “dream vacation” now includes a line item to be checked off in the decision making process that reads “What are the chances I get sick and what happens if I do?”.

Given that, the elephant in the room is not looking particularly ready to head for the exit in any great hurry.

Thailand’s opening to vaccinated tourists – What does it mean for Cambodia?

Cambodian PM Hun Sen recently announced that the country would reevaluate opening the country “in full” if infection and death rates remain stable. Whether this includes an opening of the local economy as well as inbound tourism is yet to be decided.

The Cambodian government’s judicious and cautious approach throughout the crisis and its laudable vaccination campaign suggests the Kingdom may be the better destination bet on a successful opening to vaccinated tourists.

No doubt Khmer authorites will be paying close attention as to how things go as their neighbour rolls the vaccinated tourist dice come November 1. There is equally no doubt they will keep as close a focus on maintaining a responsible and sustainable approach to the reopening process.

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