Thailand’s venues to be allowed to ‘officially’ serve alcohol slightly later

Along with several back-peddles for the Thailand Pass, Thailand’s CCSA announced yesterday it also plans to ease another Covid-19 restriction- the alcohol curfew. Restaurants, and ‘restaurants’, will be able to serve alcohol until midnight, instead of 11pm. Like the Thailand Pass changes, the alcohol curfew change is set to start on May 1.

Thailand’s 11pm alcohol curfew has given venue managers a rough time, especially in historic tourist hotspots such as Pattaya. Last month, Pattaya City Police reported that they arrested a ‘restaurant’ manager in Pattaya for allegedly breaking the Chonburi Disease Control Orders.

That month, an entertainment official in Pattaya called on authorities to move closing times on venues to 1am instead of 11pm. The official was the secretary of the Pattaya Association of Entertainment Venue Operators. Time will only tell how much the new midnight curfew can satisfy entertainment and tourism sector…

Thailand’s northeastern province of Khon Kaen took alcohol restrictions up a notch and even banned restaurants from serving alcohol altogether at one point. The ban, which began in February, drew backlash from business owners, who claim the ban didn’t stop Covid-19 from spreading. Grocery stores were still allowed to sell alcohol, though. Khon Kaen later enforced a 9pm curfew for selling alcohol.

Starting May 1, Thailand’s CCSA also plans to redesignate Covid-19 control (orange) zones in 18 provinces as surveillance (yellow) zones. The number of yellow zones would then rise from 47 provinces to 65 provinces. CCSA also resolved to increase the number of tourism pilot (blue) zones from 10 provinces to 12 provinces.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post