THAILAND will be removed from the United Kingdom's Covid-19 travel red list tomorrow, raising the hopes of the tourism industry as the country prepares to open more areas from Nov 1.
Government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said the number of countries on the UK Covid travel red list will be cut from 54 to seven and Thailand will be among the 47 to see their status change.
According to a Bangkok Post report, he said the easing of the UK measure will make it easier for people who want to travel there for a variety of reasons.
"This will also signpost the way towards a 'new normal' way of life," he said.
The red list has also affected the number of outbound British tourists.
Starting tomorrow, Thais who have received two shots of vaccines approved by the UK 14 days prior to their travel, will be allowed to enter the country without having to undergo quarantine.
The approved vaccines are AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson.
Thais who have only received one vaccine shot, or an unapproved vaccine, must be tested for Covid-19 three days before travel.
Upon arrival in the UK, they must self-quarantine at home or in hotels for 10 days and will be tested on the second and eight day after arrival.
Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Tanee Sangrat said the UK has not imposed conditions on vaccine production locations, meaning those who received two shots of AstraZeneca vaccines made in Thailand can also enter the UK without the need for quarantine.
He said that the delisting was the result of joint efforts by several agencies including the Thai embassy in London, the Foreign Ministry and the Public Health Ministry.
Meanwhile, the Post reports that Thailand is set to reopen five more tourist destinations starting Nov 1, if there is no new large Covid-19 clusters in their respective areas until then.
The areas are Bangkok, Chiang Mai (Muang, Mae Rim, Mae Taeng and Doi Tao districts), Prachuap Khiri Khan (Hua Hin district), Phetchaburi (Cha-am district) and Chon Buri (Pattaya, Bang Lamung and Sattahip districts).
Bangkok is of particular concern to the authorities as it is the gateway to the country.
Thanakorn said although tourists may prefer to go to the sea or mountains, almost all of them have to visit Bangkok at least once on their trips to the country," he said.
The capital has been the epicentre of the third wave of the outbreak, with the highest number of cases and deaths.
However, the number of new cases nationwide has fallen to just above 10,000 daily in recent weeks, a level manageable by the healthcare system.
Thanakorn said the government's decision followed the success of the Phuket Sandbox scheme, which has injected 2.33 billion baht into the economy over the past three months since its launch in July.
As of Thursday, 43,026 tourists had visited the resort island, with hotel bookings for stays from July until February now totalling almost 800,000 nights.
The top five nationalities of the visitors are American, Israeli, British, German and French.
The Samui Plus programme and the 7+7 extension to the Phuket sandbox attracted 1,069 visitors.
Under the 7+7 programme, tourists are allowed to visit other approved places after spending seven days in Phuket.
The government hopes to generate about 1.5 trillion baht from tourism revenue next year.
Almost half of it, or around 600 billion baht, is projected to come from the expected 15 million foreign tourists.
The domestic travel market is forecasted to add another 800 billion baht.
The forecasts represent half the amount earned in pre-Covid 2019, when tourism revenue totalled 3.4 trillion baht and foreign arrivals reached almost 40 million.
Thanakorn said that under the Phuket sandbox, there have been no reports of transmissions between foreign visitors and Thais.
"Thais should therefore be confident and join us in transforming Thai tourism," he added.