Tourism officials push for all entry restrictions for vaccinated travellers to be lifted by June 1

Thailand’s tourism officials want an end to all entry restrictions for vaccinated travellers by June 1. That means no quarantine, no Test & Go rules, no Sandbox zones, no Covid-19 tests. A plan to gradually lift restrictions over the next few months, leading up to the removal of all restrictions by June 1, has been drafted by the Tourism and Sports Ministry. The proposal will need approval by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration.

If the number of daily new Covid-19 infections remains steady during the Songkran holiday from April 13 to 15, then the ministry will move forward and propose the first phase of the plan to the CCSA. Under the ministry’s plan, the on-arrival PCR Covid-19 test will be replaced with a rapid antigen test, or ATK, starting May 1. The faster test, with results back in minutes, means travellers will no longer need to book a room at an approved hotel to self-isolate while they wait for their results.

If the change in on-arrival testing is approved, and if there is no spike in the infection rate, then the ministry will make another proposal to the CCSA to lift all restrictions for fully vaccinated foreign tourists, according to Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn.

Under the ministry’s plan (which still needs approval)…

• April 1 – Travellers entering Thailand under the Test & Go and Sandbox scheme do not need a pre-departure PCR test. ** The CCSA announced this on March 18, but a spokesperson says the plan to scrap the pre-departure test requirement still needs confirmation and it has not yet been published in the Royal Gazette.
• May 1 – The on-arrival Covid-19 test changed from a PCR test to an ATK, allowing results within minutes and no need to isolate in a hotel room on Day 1.
• June 1 – All entry restrictions lifted for fully vaccinated travellers.