Why has Thailand’s reopening to tourism failed?

Back in July Thailand announced it would be opening to tourism, again. To say it has not been a success would be an understatement, so why has Thailand’s reopening to tourism failed?

The Sandbox Program

On July 1st Thailand announced they would open up Phuket for foreign vaccinated tourists, this followed on from a previous long-term tourism package, as well as opening for medical tourists, neither of which were successful.

The initial plan had Phuket opening to fully vaccinated vsitors, who had to spend 14 days in  Phuket, before being allowed to travel to the islands of Koh Samui, Koh Pha-ngan and Koh Tao if they spend the first seven days in an Alternative Local State Quarantine (ALQ) hotel before again undergoing another Covid test.

On August 16th the program was expanded to allow visitors who had been on Phuket for 7 days (and tested negative) to be able to travel to the islands of Surat Thani, Krabi and Phang Nga for 7 day jaunts. If you are confused already, then you are not alone.

How has the reception been?

The government had hoped for 100,000 people to visit from July until October according to local sources, but instead only around 37,000 people have arrived as part of the program as of September 26th.

With such poor numbers during a period when people are desperate to travel clearly begs the question, why has Thailand’s reopening to tourism failed and failed so badly? The answers are both multi-faceted, but also fairly obvious.

Thailand is going through a horrific 4th wave of the virus

Getting vaccinated is great and indeed everyone should do it, but it is not a silver bullet against getting Covid. All the vaccine means is that you are essentially much less likely to die. This is obviously a good thing, but you don’t travel to get sick.

Also and according to Our World in Data Thailand has only vaccinated 22 percent of its citizens, far below the rates of other countries, such as those of Europe that have somewhat revived their tourist industries.

Couple these facts with the healthcare issues that have plagued the country and it does not exactly spell “dream vacation”.

No regional cooperation

While Europe has seen tourists flocking to Cyprus, Greece and even Chernobyl (link to YPT) among other places, going to Thailand means staying in Thailand. There are literally no other countries open in South-East Asia, so visiting either requires staying there under a not so tourist friendly visa regime, flying back to your home country, or enduring quarantine. Thailand is on many country’s “red list”. For those of us in Cambodia this would mean an extremely expensive 14 day quarantine on return to the Kingdom, something not feasible, or desirable for most travelers.

To read about how to leave Cambodia during Covid-19 click here

Of course Thailand cannot be blamed for this, but it should have been considered when planning for 100,000 arrivals.

The Chinese are not coming

Another factor that has obviously played a part is that Chinese people are still not allowed to travel and those that do are required to quarantine for on arrival back into China.

The Chinese are being extremely cautious about allowing travel again and are unlikely to favor a country such as Thailand which has barely vaccinated its people.

Thailand’s reopening to tourism failed – What can Cambodia learn?

Firstly quarantine for vaccinated guests simply does not work, even it is “only” for seven days as we recently reported. If you open to vaccinated travelers, as has occurred in Europe the status quo is that at most all that is required is a negative PCR taken within 72 hours of arrival, or at worst a negative test on arrival. The system is not perfect, but has helped rejuvenate travel in Europe.

Secondly restricting your catchment area to two countries namely China and Korea, places that are essentially closed to travel will not bring in guests. If Cambodia is to open it should be to all vaccinated travellers, of course with the option of still barring so called “red list” countries.

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

And lastly? Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and much of the country are still under alcohol bans, red zones and various other Covid-19 related restrictions. Until Cambodia can trust and allow residents of the Kingdom to travel about freely, talk of allowing in foreigners is at best very premature.

Therefore by looking at why Thailand’s reopening to tourism failed there are many lessons that can be learned in Cambodia, if we are as is being touted imminently about to reopen.

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