The number of foreign visitors to Thailand stood at 6.69 million in the first half of 2020, down 66 percent year on year (Photo: VNA)Bangkok (VNA) – Tour operators in Thailand isplanning to speak with the country’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAAT) aboutlifting restrictions on international commercial flights in the fourth quarterto allow the Safe and Sealed plan to take shape.
Local media cited Vichit Prakobgosol, presidentof the Association of Thai Travel Agents, as saying that state agencies andoperators must cooperate to drive the economy forward during the coronaviruspandemic.
The Safe and Sealed plan is the result ofcollaboration between the Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT) and 13 tourism industries,including hotels, inbound tour operators and tour bus services.
While the private sector is awaiting a responsefrom the government after proposing the scheme, TCT representatives in eachprovince are working with locals to gain a better understanding of the idea.
Vichit said Phuket shows the strongest potentialto receive the first group of international tourists, followed by islands inKrabi and Surat Thani provinces.
Bhummikitti Ruktaengam, president of the PhuketTourist Association, said operators in Phuket suggested a similar idea by usingalternative state quarantine hotels to welcome only long-stay tourists.
Those long-term guests wouldn't be kept in aspecific area after completing a 14-day quarantine and would be allowed totravel freely in the country, which should contribute tourism income to otherprovinces, he said.
Meanwhile, the Thai Ministry of Tourism andSports plans to propose the opening of five islands to foreign tourists, namelyPhuket in Phuket province, Phi Phi in Krabi province, and Samui, Pha Ngan andTao islands in Surat Thani province as those places could be easily regulatedin terms of care, quarantine and monitoring of tourists in different areas toensure the safety of both the community and the tourists themselves.
However, the CAAT said on August 13 that the banon international commercial flights is set to continue since the COVID-19pandemic remains serious in many countries.
CAAT Director Chula Sukmanop said this is anindefinite ban.
Thailand’s Centre for COVID-19 SituationAdministration noted it would continue to monitor the situation around theworld prior to making any decision on when the flights might resume.
In 2019, spending by foreign tourists accountedfor 11.4 percent of Thailand’s GDP. In the first six months of 2020, the numberof foreign visitors to this country stood at 6.69 million, a year-on-yeardecline of 66 percent.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand predicted thatforeign arrivals this year may plunge to 7 million, compared to the record of39.8 million in 2019, if Thailand remains closed for international travellersin the fourth quarter of 2020./.
VNA
