Minister for Tourism and Sports Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said he is meeting Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha to request 5 million doses of vaccine for 2.5 million employees in the high-risk tourism sector, such as those who have duties to welcome foreign tourists, hotel staff, restaurant staff, tour drivers and spa staff, focusing on seven major tourist cities: Chonburi, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Krabi, Surat Thani, and Songkhla.
According to the reopening plan, Thailand will accept foreign tourists in the second half of this year, targeting 5-10 million visitors.
Yuthasak Supasorn, Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), said that TAT would find a way to bring vaccinated foreigners to Thailand, including urging the government to allow a vaccine passport.
They will also discuss with the National Tourist Organisation (NTO) of Asean countries to issue visas together under the same standard for people in the Asian community to travel to other Asean countries without quarantine.
Besides, TAT has promised to start marketing aggressively. It has discussed with Middle Eastern airlines like Emirates, Qatar Airways, and hotels and travel operators to sell all-inclusive travel packages from March to April to attract foreign tourists to Thailand in the third quarter of this year.
