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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GoFlight resumes Indian flight to Phuket this week
India has relaunched direct flights to Phuket with budget airline GoFirst flying from Delhi to Phuket with 187 Indian tourists onboard its inaugural flight. The first flight landed on Saturday and marked the return of what had previously been Phuket’s fastest-growing tourist demographic before the Covid-19 pandemic. Airport staff met the arriving travellers with gift bags and a welcome banner.…
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“Thailand Tourism with SHA” festival set for December 17 to 19
“Thailand Tourism with SHA” – the blandly titled event the Tourism Authority of Thailand and Pattaya City created jointly – is set to run on Pattaya Beach from December 17 to 19. The event is scheduled to include dozens of vendors and attractions in hopes of encouraging tourists to visit Pattaya, a quest that will likely be aided by the…
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Kunming-Bangkok flight third relaunched flight from China Eastern
China Eastern Yunnan Airlines launched its third flight route between China and Thailand and the Tourism Authority of Thailand just put out a welcome announcement. The flight will bring Chinese tourists from the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming to Bangkok. Kunming is the capital of the Yunnan province and the TAT’s local Kunming made the announcement today welcoming the new…
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Thai Airways offering round trip Sydney-Phuket flights
To boost tourism and promote Phuket’s island quarantine “sandbox” scheme, Thai Airways will run round trip flights between Phuket and Australia with three flights a week starting on today. The flights will be offered until January 25. The flight from Phuket to Sydney is available on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Flights depart from Phuket at 6:50pm and arrive at 7:30am.…
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Germany removes Thailand from its list of high-risk countries
The Thai embassy in Berlin says Thailand has been removed from Germany’s list of Covid-19 high-risk countries, according to a Thai PBS World report. Provided they are fully vaccinated with an approved vaccine, travellers from Thailand can now enter Germany without having to quarantine. The accepted vaccines are Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna, and the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine. In addition…
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Maya Bay on hold, but preparations for an eventual reopening continue | VIDEOS
This week The Thaiger revealed that Maya Bay, on Koh Phi Phi Leh, may remain closed beyond its proposed January 1 reopening, following a groundswell of local support to keep the famous Bay closed. For a while anyway. This is partly spurred on by environmental concerns for the iconic bay which has been closed to visitors since July 2018, and…
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Maya Bay reopening likely to be postponed | VIDEO
Maya Bay, on Koh Phi Phi Leh, in between Krabi and Phuket, was slated for a reopening on January 1. But now there’s a building swell of local support to keep the famous Bay closed, for a while anyway. A Line group used by the Marine National Park, along with tour operators and other stakeholders, has revealed a groundswell of…
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Fiji tourism reopening after nearly 2 years of Covid-19 closure
Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama announced the island nation has reopened its borders for international tourism for the first time since many of the world’s borders closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic nearly 2 years ago. Fiji’s population of just 1 million people have struggled without the tourism that makes up a lion’s share of the economy after borders closed…
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TAT predicts 500,000 travellers before 2022, 133,000 arrived so far
After 1 month of Thailand’s reopening, the Kingdom saw over 133,000 arrivals total from countries around the world, and the Tourism Authority of Thailand is confident that the goal of 500,000 international travellers will be met, despite the new Omicron variant of Covid-19 that has seen countries scrambling to limit or block travel from at-risk countries. In the month of…
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Cha-am permitted to sell alcohol in restaurants from December 1
While tourist areas all across Thailand are fighting to be allowed to sell alcohol, Cha-am will be the next tourist pilot area to get to sell drinks. The Phetchaburi Provincial Communicable Disease Committee is preparing to test allowing restaurants and shops to sell alcohol in the tourist city until 10 pm. The trial run of the new permission will be…
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Tourism officials welcome Czech movie filming in Phuket and Krabi
The Tourism Authority of Thailand is celebrating Thailand’s re-opening to international movie stardom once more. The southern provinces of Krabi and Phuket are being used as locations for a Czech movie currently being filmed in the kingdom. Nation Thailand reports that a film crew, consisting of 22 actors, directors, producers, and technicians are in Thailand to film a romantic comedy…
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No plans to reverse re-opening, despite Omicron variant – Tourism Ministry
Thailand’s Tourism Minister says there will be no going back for the country’s re-opening plans, despite the emergence of the Omicron variant. According to a Bangkok Post report, Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn says closing the borders is not an option anymore. “Nobody wants another border closure as it was really difficult for us to re-open the country. Our economy still suffers from…
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Thailand’s nightlife venues and bars told to keep closed until January 16
Thailand’s nightlife cat and mouse game between authorities and desperate bar and nightlife businesses will continue until the middle of January 2022. Following deliberations from the CCSA yesterday, entertainment venues will have to keep their doors closed until at least January 16. To put an exclamation mark after the latest announcement, the Thai government has also extended the emergency decree…
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“Omicron” – a new Covid variant triggers travel alarms as flights disrupted
A reminder today that there is still more steam left in the Covid-19 coronavirus. Just as the world started to peek from behind the curtain of uncertainty, another Covid “variant of concern”, named Omicron, has been discovered. The World Health Organisation says Omicron has a large number of mutations, and early evidence suggests an “increased reinfection risk”. Officially, it is…
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Phuket traffic police deny Facebook accusal of targeting tourists
After a Facebook post showing a motorbike checkpoint accused police of destroying tourism, the Phuket Provincial Police fired back. The post was made in Thai in the Phuket Sandbox – SHA Plus Facebook group on Sunday and went viral as it blamed traffic police for robbing foreigners now that tourists are returning. The post was accompanied by photos of a…
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Bangkok is back – Thailand’s capital roars back into gear
OPINION Before the pandemic, Bangkok was the most-visited city on the planet – a thriving hive of energy and activity which attracted over 22 million international visitors per year. Then, without warning, it all went quiet. Now, following the long-awaited reopening of Thailand’s borders on November 1, 2021, Bangkok is back. The city is welcoming the world’s travellers once again,…
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Travel agents call for tourism fee to be postponed until industry recovers
The Association of Thai Travel Agents is urging the government to postpone the implementation of a new tourism fee until the sector has fully recovered. Sisdivachr Cheewarattanaporn says Thailand has averaged around 3,000 – 4,000 foreign tourists per day, since re-opening on November 1. According to a Bangkok Post report, he says confidence is low ahead of the coming high…
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Pattaya mayor expresses frustration over no entertainment venues
In Pattaya, the fight goes on to allow alcohol in restaurants and to reopen entertainment venues, at least in time for New Year’s festivities. After petitions and protests from various sectors, business groups, and tourism associations, Pattaya City Mayor Sonthaya Khunploem is again calling for nightlife businesses to be allowed to reopen in the city famous, or perhaps infamous, for…
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Tourists and hotels warned about abuse of Covid-19 rules
The CCSA is dealing with complaints from locals, businesses, hotels and tourists about Covid-19 regulations not being followed. There has been a problem with tourists refusing to wear masks and follow Covid-19 safety regulations that are mandatory, and on the other side, hotels have been found to be not disclosing all Covid-19 related expenses in their booking cost, frustrating arriving…
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The future of Thailand’s Maya Bay – Report #1 | VIDEO
Should Maya Bay reopen? Of course it probably will, at the start of 2022. But there are fears that, despite the best intentions, it will be back to mass tourism and ‘market forces rule’. Maya Bay is the Andaman region’s most popular tourist destination, based on interest generated from the 2000 Hollywood movie “The Beach” from the Alex Garland novel…
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Direct flight between Istanbul and Phuket reopens
A direct flight into Phuket operated by Turkish Airlines has just reopened. The first flight of this renewed Istanbul to Phuket route landed on Saturday, according to the Phuket News. This is the first flight directly from Istanbul Airport, historically a major travel hub, since the Covid-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdown disrupted international air travel. The Turkish Airlines flight landed…
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Government agency ups 2021 foreign arrivals prediction to 200,000
An agency under the Ministry of Finance has increased its 2021 tourist arrivals forecast to 200,000. The Fiscal Policy Office had previously stated that it expected 180,000 foreign arrivals by the end of the year. According to a Bangkok Post report, Pornchai Thiraveja from the FPO says this now looks likely to increase. During the first 2 weeks of November,…
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Tourism seeing signs of recovery after Covid-19 pandemic
Thailand’s reopening hasn’t quite caused an avalanche of tourists pouring into the country, but the tourism industry is seeing some recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic with a steadily increasing stream of arrivals gaining momentum. The CCSA reports that nearly 60,000 international travellers have entered Thailand in the first 16 days of the reopening program. With the increasing daily arrivals, November…
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TAT: 400,000 tourist in 2021, 18 million in 2022 worth 1 trillion
The November 1 reopening of Thailand has received mixed results, with Pattaya reportedly seeing the vast majority of arrivals being expats coming home, and Hua Hin welcoming less than 100 of the 100,000 predicted tourists. But, as always, the Tourism Authority of Thailand has nothing but rosy predictions for the boom that will start any minute, with TAT Governor Yuthasak…
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Pattaya tourism quiet until entry and booze rules are eased
According to the acting president of the Chon Buri Tourism Council, Pattaya is still quiet, and 95% of tourists there are Thai since the reopening to international tourists on November 1. Of the 200 to 300 people per day who do come, the majority are not tourists but businesspeople and expats. And many of the tourists who do come end…
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Of 100,000 predicted for 2021, Hua Hin has seen 56 tourists
The math doesn’t look good as tourism associates estimated that the last quarter of 2021 would bring 100,000 international tourists to Hua Hin, but so far only 56 have arrived. The Thai Hotel Association explains the disparity is due to the entry process being complicated, the quarantine and testing fees being expensive, and the ban on booze and entertainment venues…
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“Visit Thailand Year 2022” tourism campaign launching
“Visit Thailand Year 2022” has been approved by the Cabinet as a new tourism campaign as the CCSA creates a special panel to address tourism industry problems due to Covid-19. The campaign is following PM Prayut Chan-o-cha’s goal of bringing back the ailing industry according to Minister of Tourism and Sports Pipat Ratchakitprakan who proposed the programme for the cabinet’s…
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Boost in tourism expected over Loy Krathong Festival
The Tourism Authority of Thailand said that they are anticipating a slight boost in tourism for this year’s Loy Krathong Festival. While still much quieter than in the days before the pandemic, this year a bit more travelling and tourism related to the event are expected than last year. The TAT estimates that tourists throughout the country will spend around…
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New Thailand tourism music video features PM Prayut
The Thai Khu Fah Facebook page that is run by the government to encourage tourism has launched a new music video starring PM Prayut Chan-o-cha. The video features photos of the prime minister and the group of government officials that accompanied him on a recent trip to Nopparat Beach in Krabi. The pictures and video of the prime minister on…
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Phuket’s Bangla Road inspected by national and local health officials
Health officials went to Phuket’s Bangla Road, but not for a beer. The deputy director of Thailand’s Department of Health went to Phuket and inspect the famed walking street in person, reviewing Covid-19 prevention measures. While bars and nightclubs are ordered to be closed nationwide, photos from the provincial health office show bars are the street packed with people, and…
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