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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TAT looks forward to welcoming 129,000 foreign tourists to Phuket
The Tourism Authority of Thailand says it expects 129,000 tourists to arrive on the southern island of Phuket in the first 3 months of its re-opening. Officials still insist the island will re-open for quarantine-free travel for vaccinated foreign tourists from July 1. And according to the Bangkok Post, the TAT also plans to team up with airlines to offer…
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Thailand’s airlines call for meeting with PM to discuss soft loans
The Thai Airlines Association says 7 member airlines are pushing for a meeting with PM Prayut Chan-o-cha to discuss the option of soft loans. The carriers have been seeking this financial aid for some time and have even decreased the amount being asked for, from 24 billion baht last year to 14 billion now. The Bangkok Post reports that representatives…
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UPDATE: Phuket restrictions and bans extended, new ‘party’ clause added
UPDATE: Including a new clause… “5.2 Participating in eating or drinking of alcohol, in the family home or in any other place of residence, must not be attended by outsiders. In addition, gathering together or the organising of any other activities is prohibited. If the person who violates or commits this offence is a foreigner, the permission to remain living…
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Phuket restrictions and bans to stay in place until end of May
Phuket’s list of current ‘Covid’ restrictions have been extended until at least May 31. All the current levels of restrictions will remain until the end of the month after the Phuket Governor announced the continuation of restrictions this afternoon. Daily new infection numbers continue to add to the island’s total of 556 since the start of April. The island’s latest…
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Covid-19 third wave cuts Thai domestic flights predictions by 38%
The Aeronautical Radio of Thailand is predicting a 38% drop in travel by domestic flights due to the effect of the third wave of Covid-19. Aerothai is a department under the Ministry of Transport that provides aeronautical communication and air traffic control in Thailand. With Covid-19 experiencing a rapid spread beginning in April and not yet under control, infections across…
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Thailand ploughs ahead with plans for re-opening tourist areas
The Thai government says they’re pressing ahead with plans to waive the current mandatory quarantine for vaccinated visitors to Bangkok and and 5 other major tourist destinations from October this year as an effort to reboot the country’s battered tourism industry. Dr. Traisulee Traisoranakul from the CCSA says the new measures will provide easier access to the main tourist locations…
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Tourism Minister says Phuket must reach zero infections before July re-opening
The Tourism and Sports Minister insists the southern island of Phuket must record zero Covid-19 cases if a planned July re-opening is to go ahead. Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn adds that, should new infections be reported once 70% of the island is vaccinated, the Tourism and Public Health Ministries will work together to decide what action to take. Tourism operators in Phuket…
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Chiang Mai on track to reopen 2 districts to foreign tourists in October
Chiang Mai is still on track to reopen to foreign tourists under the sandbox model this October. The so-called sandbox model would allow foreign tourists, who are vaccinated against Covid-19, to travel to designated areas in Thailand without undergoing quarantine. In Chiang Mai, tourists will be able to travel in the area with tour guides on designated routes. Phuket is…
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Desparate expats in Thailand turn to vaccine tourism
Travelling overseas just to get a prick used to have a much more negative connotation. But with limited supplies and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines in Thailand, many expats are turning towards vaccine tourism, travelling to another country in order to secure a jab. With recent reports that Thai people will be prioritized and timelines vague for foreigners getting vaccinated, impatient…
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Koh Phi Phi national park closing for 13 days to control Covid-19
Thailand’s Hat Noppharat Thara-Mu Koh Phi Phi national park is closing for 13 days from today because of the current Covid-19 situation Park chief, Prayoon Pongphan, told The Phuket News that the decision was made as Krabi province is seeing a rise in infections. “The number of infected cases in many areas, including Krabi, is increasing. From the disease investigation, it…
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6 of Thailand’s top tourist zones WILL start opening for quarantine-free travel in July – TAT
Full steam ahead. The Tourism Authority of Thailand’s insists that the sandbox re-opening plans for 6 of Thailand’s most economically sensitive tourist magnets will start on July 1… July 2021. Phuket, Krabi, Phang Nga, Koh Samui, Pattaya and Chiang Mai will, according to the TAT, be open to foreign tourists who have received 2 doses of Covid-19 vaccine (or 1…
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Survey finds nearly half of Thai hotels can stay afloat for less than 3 months
A recent poll of the Thai hotel industry shows that 47% of those surveyed only have enough liquidity to sustain less than 3 months of business. The Bank of Thailand has published its confidence index of hotel business operators for April 2021 and the findings make for grim reading. According to a Nation Thailand report, a total of 188 hotels…
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Samui tourism official calls for inter-provincial travel ban to flatten the curve prior to July re-opening
The president of the Tourism Association of Koh Samui says the island is still pinning its hopes on a July 1 re-opening for vaccinated foreign tourists. Ratchaporn Poolsawadee remains optimistic, despite Thailand now battling a third wave of Covid-19, with Samui reporting 50 infections. He says vaccines are being rolled out out on Samui, although a number of doses have…
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‘One Night In Bangkok’, an unlikely hit about a bygone era in Thailand
“One night in Bangkok and the world’s your oyster The bars are temples but the pearls ain’t free” When ‘One Night In Bangkok’ was released in 1984 it was an unlikely hit. It was the opening song from a (at the time) little-known stage pop-opera called ‘Chess’. The song made Number 1 in South Africa, West Germany, Switzerland and Australia,…
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Thai Airways employee union push against forming a new airline
Plans to create a new national airline to replace the struggling Thai Airways are meeting oppositions from the employee union. The union insists that Thai Airways is a known brand worldwide and has contributed significantly to the economy of Thailand and deserves aid and rehabilitation. In the past, Thailand’s flagship international airline spent years as a state-owned property until the…
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Koh Samet to close from today for at least 2 weeks, Koh Chang may follow
The island of Koh Samet, in Thailand’s eastern Rayong province, is closing to visitors and non-residents for at least 14 days to help stop the spread of Covid-19. The province saw 21 new infections yesterday, with at least 1 being linked to Koh Samet. The shuttering is effective as of today with another popular island, Koh Chang, also possibly following…
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Government insists Phuket re-opening will go ahead as planned
The Thai government is adamant the planned re-opening of the southern island of Phuket to vaccinated foreign tourists will go ahead. However, with Covid-19 infections rising across the country, some tourism operators say they need more clarification on how. Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit insists the “Phuket sandbox” model is on track for July 1. “We have neither cancelled nor changed…
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Top 10 busiest airports: Atlanta bumped as China dominates list
After 22 consecutive years as the busiest airport in the world, Atlanta slips to number 2 while China and the United States dominated the entire top 10 list of the 2020 world’s busiest airports. With the covid-19 pandemic stifling travel around the world all the airports on the list saw massive drops in passengers and rankings climbed and fell and…
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Lumbini Airport aim to bring Buddhist Thais to Nepal
Nepal is hoping to attract Buddhist pilgrims from Thailand to the birthplace of Lord Buddha with the opening of the Lumbini Airport scheduled later this year. The area is an important Buddhist site and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Nepalese officials hope to attract Buddhist Thai travellers on sacred pilgrimage trips. The Nepal Tourism Board recently met with the Royal…
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Tourism officials revise revenue forecast, insist Phuket will re-open on schedule
The governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand admits it may need to revise its 2021 revenue forecast, but insists the Phuket “sandbox” project is still going ahead – and on time too. Yuthasak Supasorn says tourism officials will set a new revenue target, for both domestic and international tourists, as Thailand battles with a third wave of Covid-19. In…
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Thailand’s covid vaccine passport – will it only be used for travel?
Hi. Im Tim Newton. Just upfront saying that these are my personal opinions and don’t necessarily reflect that of The Thaiger. So today the Thai Government now has officially announced vaccine passports. The documents are going to be the next big thing in the long and winding Covid road. Firstly, before some comments, the details that we actually know. This…
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‘Entry Thailand’ website launched to facilitate process for international travellers
To facilitate the process for travellers entering Thailand, tourism officials have launched a website as a one-stop-shop to make arrangements to travel to Thailand including booking an alternative state quarantine hotel. As to who these travellers would be at this time, that hasn’t been made clear. The “Entry Thailand” website set up by the Tourism Authority of Thailand outlines 6…
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Thai hotels consider temporary shutdown amid low tourist demand
The president of the Thai Hotels Association says many properties are considering shutting down for the low season as a result of the Covid-19 resurgence. Marisa Sukosol Nunbhakdi says smaller hotels that don’t necessarily have the resources of the large chain properties are struggling with cash flow and crippled by low tourist demand. Many are considering shutting up shop between…
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World’s most travel-friendly passport list – 2021
The Henley Passport Index, which rates which passports are the most travel-friendly, has just released the list for 2021, with Japan once again at the top of the list. But the Index noted that this year’s international travel freedom comparison is mostly theoretical as the current Covid-19 situation continues to limit most international travel. With a Japanese passport, travellers can…
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Thailand’s 3rd wave wreaks havoc on the Tourism Restart Plan – where are we now?
OPINION by Andrew J Wood Thailand Ministers ponder the next steps to re-start it’s massive tourism industry, initially set for July 1, 2021 in Phuket. The plan may need to be overhauled as Phuket struggles to immunise the whole island in the wake of the third wave of hotspots. Phuket, prior to the third wave had already secured more than…
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Australia and New Zealand welcome the first passengers in the southern travel bubble
Whilst travel bubbles remain a bureaucratic nightmare for most SE Asian countries, Australia and New Zealand have opened their first green lanes since April last year, nearly 400 days. For the two countries it allows family and friends to re-unite. For New Zealand it opens the gates for its largest chunk of tourists. In 2019 some 1.5 million tourists visited New Zealand…
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Thai Hotel Association pushes “hospitels” – hotels as hospitals
With the third wave of Covid-19 ripping through Thailand, hospitals are rapidly filling up and the Thai Hotels Association has proposed “hospitels” as a creative solution. The portmanteau of “hospital” and “hotel” is the THA’s brainchild for creating more space for the growing number of Covid-19 infections that require treatment or at least observation as Thailand hits record daily case…
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Phuket’s July Sandbox no-quarantine model “needs a major revamp”
Thailand’s Sports and Tourism minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn is acknowledging that Phuket’s ‘Sandbox’ model for a no-quarantine re-opening in July will need “a major revamp”. As the Songkran travel bubble bursts and the monsoon season waves start to roll onto the island’s west coast beaches, Phuket’s scheduled July re-boot suddenly seems a long way off. Minister Phiphat says he plans to meet…
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Hotel blog suggests Phuket should push ahead with July reopening despite Covid surge
A hotel information blog is claiming that, despite growing Covid-19 numbers, Phuket should stick to its schedule in reopening to travellers without quarantine in July. That’s only 2 and a half months away. In an interview with the Director of Travel and Tourism Consulting at GlobalData, they stressed that while it is crucial to rein in the spread of Covid-19…
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Tourism officials slash Songkran travel expectations by half
The TAT, ever the optimists regarding anything tourism related, even domestic tourism, predict that the Bangkok clusters that have emerged in the week before the Songkran break could reduce traffic and spending by up to half. Today the CCSA is reporting 789 new infections and one additional death. 522 were local infections, mostly walk-ins to Bangkok hospitals, 259 were discovered through…
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