Tourism News
Thailand tourism news, travel updates, visa policies, and destination highlights—stay informed on hospitality trends, cultural experiences, and major infrastructure projects. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted source for Thailand travel news.
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Thailand still plans to fully reopen on October 15, despite Covid-19 uptick
Despite the recent and most severe wave of Covid-19 infections still peaking, Thailand is on track to reopen on October 15 to those travelling from overseas who have been vaccinated against the coronavirus. The “Phuket Sandbox” model, which launched yesterday, will serve as a pilot project for the nationwide reopening plan. The “Samui Plus” travel model next on the list,…
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Phuket Sandbox: European flights have 400 people arriving Saturday
As flights roll into Phuket International Airport today, the Sandbox scheme is slowly coming alive. Tomorrow (July 3) should see the arrival of the first European flights into the Phuket Sandbox reopening as Thai Airways welcomes 3 arriving flights. Overnight flights from Copenhagen and Frankfurt departing now should arrive in the early hours of the morning followed an hour later…
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Phuket Sandbox trickle: Friday’s arriving international flights
The Phuket Sandbox scheme is off the ground and the desperately needed foreign travellers have begun to trickle back onto the Thai island. The earlier predictions of 1,500 people on the first day were met with just over 20% of that amount actually arriving on the first 4 flights to land internationally in Phuket. But slow and steady wins the…
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PM in Phuket visit calls for cooperation in making re-opening a success
Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha has called on all sectors on Phuket to work together to make the sandbox re-opening a success. The PM was speaking while on a visit to the southern island, which re-opened to vaccinated foreign tourists yesterday. The first international arrivals in over a year jetted in on Etihad Airways, which had 25 passengers from Abu Dhabi…
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3 planes arrive in Phuket; 25 on 1st flight, 400 expected today
The first 3 flights have now arrived in Phuket for the Sandbox reopening, with details emerging from the first arrival this morning, an Etihad Airways flight from Abu Dhabi. A total of 25 passengers, down from yesterday’s estimate of 37, were the first to be welcomed back to Phuket with fanfare and celebration. A total of 400 international travellers are…
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Phuket reopens but botched preparation limits travellers
So Phuket is finally reopened with today marking the start of the Phuket Sandbox and the welcoming of international travellers without quarantine. But the days leading up to the launch saw a precipitous drop in expected arrivals as constant changes, lack of preparation, delays in implementation, and overall chaos marred the Phuket rollout and damaged tourist confidence in the scheme.…
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Phuket opens – Around 300 seats sold for July 1 arrival flights
Officially, Phuket is open again. The doors are now open to vaccinated international travellers. Driving north along Thepkasattri Road this morning around 6.45am was a convoy of 15 white passenger vans, vans which haven’t really seen the light of day, ferrying tourists around the island, since April or May last year. Today they are being pressed into service for a…
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Small businesses fear Phuket Sandbox will leave them behind
With the Phuket Sandbox reopening just hours away, many businesses in the tourist-reliant province hopefully await the return of foreign travellers and the restart of the economy. But while businesses that had the financial means to weather the long-term closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic prepare excitedly, many smaller businesses that lacked the funding to revive themselves are not nearly…
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Tourism jobs continue to be lost – nearly 1 million in 2021
It’s easy to look scornfully at the government and tourism industry’s rose-tinted predictions of the Phuket Sandbox reopening and further return of international tourism to Thailand by the end of the year. But a look at the current statistics for the battered tourism industry helps explain the need for hope. This quarter, 550,000 jobs were lost in the tourism industry.…
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Thailand tourism officials predict best and worst case scenarios for reopening
The best-case scenario in Thailand’s reopening… 3 million foreign tourist arrivals this year, Tourism Council of Thailand says. It’s a far cry from the around 40 million welcomed to Thailand in 2019. But with Phuket set to reopening tomorrow under the “Sandbox” travel model, and other areas posed to reopen later this year, tourism officials guess, that in the best…
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Travelling to Phuket for the Sandbox starting tomorrow, July 1
Now officially announced in the Royal Gazette, a whopping full day before the start of Thailand’s reopening plans, here is the list of who will be able to travel to Thailand. You will need to be fully vaccinated, that’s the key point, and rather than quarantining in a hotel room for 14 days, your ‘quarantine’ is now the huge tropical…
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Phuket re-opens Thursday, hotels ready and waiting to welcome foreign guests
As the southern island of Phuket gets ready to re-open to vaccinated foreign tourists on Thursday, hotel operators say they’re well prepared. A Bangkok Post report takes a look at the measures in place for the imminent launch of the Phuket “sandbox scheme”. Yesterday, PM Prayut Chan-o-cha highlighted the need for robust measures to stop the spread of Covid-19. At…
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Tourism Minister threatens to cancel travel stimulus if only some operators benefit
Thailand’s Tourism and Sports Minister says if all operators cannot benefit from a domestic travel stimulus scheme, it may be cancelled. Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn says he will meet with the Tourism Authority of Thailand to ensure everyone in the sector can be helped by the scheme. According to the Bangkok Post, the government plans to launch the Tour Teaw Thai scheme…
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Poll: Majority of Thai people against 120 day reopening plan
Who isn’t excited about the 120 day reopening plan announced by PM Prayut Chan-o-cha last week? Turns out nearly 74% of people in Thailand, that’s who. In a new poll by the National Institute of Development Administration, the majority of people surveyed were against the reopening in less than 4 months (the PM made his 12 day call last Tuesday).…
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Welcome back home: Phuket’s message to the world, echoes its X-Factor, its people
“As the countdown to the Sandbox hits seven days, resort island pays tribute to its real-life tourism attraction.” OPINION by Bill Barnett, c9hotelworks.com Tourism eyes around the world are focused on a resort island in Thailand this week for the reopening of international, vaccinated travel to the Phuket Sandbox. A key emerging storyline from the island’s frenzied runaway to July…
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Full text of Phuket Sandbox order released in English
Today, Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew signed Phuket Province Order No. 3491/2564 officially detailing the rules of the Sandbox reopening. While most provisions have been widely discussed – fully vaccinated travellers coming from at least 3 weeks in a low- to medium-risk country, negative Covid-19 test within 72 hours, US $100,000 Covid-19 insurance, 14 days in an SHA+ hotel, tests on…
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Update list of high/medium/low risk countries for travelling to Thailand
Update: Under the “Phuket Sandbox” and “Samui Plus” travel models, travellers not only need to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 to be eligible to enter Thailand under the schemes, but they also need to be travelling from countries classified by Thailand’s Department of Disease Control as a low to medium risk for Covid-19. The DDC posts a new list on…
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Phuket officials in last-minute scramble to fix sandbox hiccups
The president of the Phuket Tourist Association says clarity is needed around a number of issues if the island’s July 1 re-opening is to proceed smoothly. According to a report in the Bangkok Post, Bhummikitti Ruktaengam says confusion over tracking apps and vaccine certificates are just 2 of the issues that need to be sorted out. The sandbox scheme was…
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TAT claims 1,500 travellers arriving in Phuket July 1
The much-maligned and restriction heavy Phuket Sandbox plan might open with a bang, as the Tourism Authority of Thailand announced that 1,500 people would arrive on July 1. The governor of TAT said that international flights scheduled to arrive in Phuket on the first day of reopening have 1,500 tickets booked so far. The island intends to welcome back the…
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Covid-19 round-up for expats 2: Will your country give a vaccine?
With so much information swirling around the reopening of Thailand and the international tourism and vaccine distribution for foreigners, we thought we’d round up some updates for our readers about what your home country says about if you should travel to Thailand and how they are helping with a vaccine and the Covid-19 situation inside the Kingdom. The information in…
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List of countries by Covid-19 risk level, classified by Thailand’s DDC
Under the “Phuket Sandbox” and “Samui Plus” travel models, travellers not only need to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 to be eligible to enter Thailand under the schemes, but they also need to be travelling from countries classified by Thailand’s Department of Disease Control as a low to medium risk for Covid-19. The DDC posts a new list on the…
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Phuket governor outlines plans to track and trace foreign arrivals
The governor of Phuket says the authorities and provincial officials are creating a command centre for the purpose of tracking and tracing foreign tourists under the island’s sandbox scheme. The island re-opens in 1 week’s time to vaccinated tourists from low to medium-risk countries. According to a Pattaya News report, governor Narong Woonciew says a meeting was held yesterday between…
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Flight traffic to Phuket expected to increase by 6% next month
The state agency Aeronautical Radio of Thailand says it expects a 6% uptick in traffic to Phuket International Airport, once the southern island re-opens in a week’s time. Spokesman Tinnakorn Chuwong says the airport is ready to welcome foreign tourists under the sandbox scheme, which has now been given the go-ahead by Cabinet. The Bangkok Post reports that, while overall…
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Hotel platform predicts increasing demand for holidays in Thailand
With just days to go before Phuket re-opens, and talks underway to re-open the country as a whole in October, one of the world’s largest hotel platforms says the data shows things are looking up for Thailand. Bradley Haines from SiteMinder says Thai hotel operators should feel some encouragement from current booking trends around the world. According to Haines, the…
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CCSA gives details on “Phuket Sandbox” and “Samui Plus” travel schemes
The “Phuket Sandbox” and “Samui Plus” travel schemes were approved by the Thai Cabinet yesterday, allowing the islands to reopen to travellers who are vaccinated against Covid-19. Phuket is set to reopen on July 1 while the trio of islands in the Gulf of Thailand, Koh Samui, Koh Pha Ngan and Koh Tao, is set to reopen on July 15.…
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Sandbox could be revised, cancelled if Covid-19 outbreaks occur
With Phuket scheduled to reopen to international travellers next Friday, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration has put together a “Plan B” for closing the Sandbox in case of outbreaks. Deputy Director-General of the Department of Information Natapanu Nopakun, who also acts as the Deputy Spokesman of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, outlines possible scenarios in an English address during the…
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US Warns its citizens against traveling to Thailand
While Thailand is pushing full steam ahead to reopen to international tourism, the United States government issued a statement warning Americans not to travel to Thailand citing Covid-19 risks and civil unrest in the south. The US Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs regularly updates travel information for US citizens wishing to go abroad, issuing a Travel Advisory Level…
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It’s happening: Phuket sandbox approved by Cabinet
It’s been talked about until the buffalo came home – and then some. It was on, it was off, it was delayed, then it wasn’t. Finally, it’s been confirmed. After being closed to foreign tourists for over a year, the southern island of Phuket is set to re-open on July 1. Yesterday, the sandbox scheme, which will see the island…
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TAT thinking up ways quarantine might be relaxed for tourists returning from Thailand
The ever-inventive Tourism Authority of Thailand is looking at ways quarantine might be eased for tourists visiting Thailand, both on arrival here and on their return home. TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn says “city bubbles” and activity-based travel arrangements in sandbox destinations could be the way forward. The arrangement would be between low-risk cities and would mean tourists could visit destinations…
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Proposed start date now July 15 for “Samui Plus” reopening
The proposed reopening date for the “Samui Plus” travel scheme is now July 15. Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao, islands in the Gulf of Thailand off the Surat Thani coast, are planned to reopen to travellers from overseas who are vaccinated against Covid-19. Initially called the “Samui Sealed Route,” the proposed travel scheme will allow those who are…
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