Thailand plans to reopen Bangkok and other key destinations to foreign tourists next month, officials said on Thursday, aiming to revive its battered travel industry after indications the number of new coronavirus infections may have peaked.
Bangkok, Hua Hin, Pattaya and Chiang Mai will be added to a programme in which fully vaccinated visitors who commit to a series of tests can enter, under certain criteria, said government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchan.
The scheme is underway on the islands of Samui and Phuket https://reut.rs/3nioKWn, where about 70% of the local population were required to be fully inoculated https://reut.rs/3hhiGKa.
The plan to allow quarantine-free entry initially announced in June https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/thailand-targets-reopening-within-120-days-economy-flounders-2021-06-16 was questioned after new daily infections soared in August to as high as 23,000, with record fatalities on many days.
On Thursday Thailand reported 16,031 new…