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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Retiring in Thailand can be affordable and enjoyable, but many retirees lose money due to common mistakes. High living costs, scams, and unexpected expenses can quickly drain savings. There are five ways that retirees in Thailand can lose money and...
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Phuket aims to vaccinate 70% of population, re-open to foreign tourists by October
Phuket is going it alone as it eyes herd immunity as the only lifeline for its devastated tourism industry. Business groups on the southern resort island have announced a plan to finance the vaccination of 70% of the island’s population, in the hope of being able to open to foreign tourists from October. The groups involved, which include the Phuket…
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TAT’s new tourism strategy is “SEXY”
“SEXY” is the name of the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s new recovery strategy to move forward after the Covid-19 pandemic. While it sounds provocative, there are no hot deals on strip clubs or go go bars… there’s really nothing sexy about the travel concept. The strategy focuses on implementing public health safety practices, promoting environmental sustainability such as wildlife conservation…
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Lights, camera, Covid – Tourism Ministry wants film crews to come to Thailand now
Without much luck with their ‘cunning ideas’ to draw back a few of the remaining world’s travellers, Thailand’s tourism officials are turning to the film industry to attract some people and investment. The Tourism and Sports Ministry is aiming to generate around 3 billion baht from foreign film crews and is targeting film projects with an investment over 100 million baht.…
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34.7% of Thai tourist businesses closed down
“When the tourists start coming back it will be a very different holiday experience for them. Will it ever get back to the numbers before Covid? Never.” A Tourism Authority of Thailand survey, conducted between January 10 – 12, indicates that more than a third of the country’s tourism-related businesses has already shut up shop and gone out of business.…
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Phuket wants Bangkok arrivals to skip quarantine to help tourism revenue
Phuket’s tourism representatives are calling for an end to the mandatory quarantine levied at tourists arriving to the province from Bangkok. The tourism delegation have also told Phuket’s provincial government to be prepared to start receiving international tourists starting in October. According to The Phuket News, such a plan would include a requirement for all international travellers to Thailand to…
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Pattaya cleaning up its Walking Street act in time for Chinese New Year
Pattaya City is planning to clean up its Walking Street act in time for the upcoming Chinese New Year. But, as the second wave of Covid-19 mostly destroyed what was left of any foreign or domestic tourism, it might all be in vain. Thousands of businesses remain closed due to Chon Buri province being a “highly controlled” Covid-19 zone, which effectively…
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The Thai government threw a tourist party (sound of crickets) | VIDEO
The Thai Government, flushed with the success of their containment of Covid-19, decided to market the Land of Smiles to the world as the safe place to travel. With the annual wet season starting to weaken the tourists would flock back to the S E Asian country that had such a remarkable success containing, then almost eradicating itself, of the…
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Record number of tourism firms quitting Covid-ravaged sector for good
As the devastating economic effects of Covid-19 restrictions persist, a record number of Thai tourism operators are quitting the sector for good. The number of tourism firms surrendering their licences peaked last month, and around 70% of outbound agents have shut up shop indefinitely. The final nail in their collective coffin has been the Covid-19 resurgence, which originated in a…
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Can I travel around Thailand? Mor Chana app?
Yes. But for people travelling around Thailand at the moment there is still quite a lot of confusion and misinformation about where you can travel to and additional restrictions on travel. Statistically, and with the usual precautions, you are very unlikely to catch Covid-19. We’ll continue to publish any updates to this information on travel at thethaiger.com For people travelling…
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Travelling in Thailand, Covid and Mor Chana | VIDEO
For people travelling around Thailand at the moment there is still quite a lot of confusion and misinformation about where you can travel to and additional restrictions on travel. We’ll continue to publish any updates to this information at thethaiger.com For people travelling out of Red Zones… that includes Bangkok…. to other parts of the country that are lower-risk zones…
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Thailand to introduce 300 baht “tourism fee” to insure foreign visitors, manage tourist destinations
Thailand’s Tourism Minister, Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, has confirmed a proposal to charge foreign tourists a fee of 300 baht per visit. The fee will be used to develop tourist destinations as well as providing visitors with insurance benefits while in the Kingdom. The proposal has been approved by the National Tourism Policy Committee and is set to be announced in the…
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Thai travel agents call for vaccinated foreigners to be exempt from quarantine by third quarter of 2021
The Association of Thai Travel Agents is urging the government to do away with the mandatory 14 day quarantine for vaccinated foreign arrivals by the third quarter of the year. The president of the ATTA, Vichit Prakobgosol, says 30% of 10,000 inbound tourism firms have had to close for good due to the financial devastation caused by the pandemic. He…
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Thailand ranks 4th in the world for highest loss of tourism revenue – Official ESTA
The following article was submitted by a public relations company representing Official ESTA, a visa application and assistance processing firm. Thailand has one of the highest loss of tourism revenue in the world with a loss of $37,504 million USD. The country ranks fourth on a list complied by the company Official ESTA intended to show the financial impact the Covid-19…
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No travel ban on British arrivals, quarantine facilities tighten rules
While there’s no ban on travellers from the United Kingdom, quarantine facilities are tightening disease control measures for British arrivals after a new, faster-spreading Covid-19 variant was reported in the European country. British arrivals must now stay in their room for the majority of the stay under new measures set by the Department of Disease Control. The department ordered ASQ…
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New Year holiday draws homegrown tourists to Phuket, Koh Samui
With the vast majority of foreign holidaymakers still steering clear of Thailand, or simply unable to get a visa at the moment, the country has become almost completely reliant on homegrown tourists. The New Year holiday has brought some slight relief to islands like Phuket and Koh Samui, as visitors from other parts of the country arrived to welcome in…
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The world aviation industry suffers Annus Horribilis | VIDEO
In the Asia-Pacific, where the affect of Covid-19 has been lower (at this stage), the passenger load was 30-40% down, compared to last year. Overall, international flights for the latter part of 2020 are down 75% year on year. The world’s aviation industry has been profoundly affected by the border closures and restrictions as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic…
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Thailand – the Covid vaccine and quarantine | VIDEO
Thailand’s Public Health Ministry has issued an official statement stating that, in the short to medium term, “everyone entering Thailand has to do at least a 14 day quarantine”. “The quarantine will apply, even those people who have been vaccinated.” The Public Health Ministry says the reason is because the vaccination process has only just begun in some countries around…
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Domestic tourism subsidy extended, 200,000 rooms booked in first 12 hours
The Tourism Authority of Thailand says an extension to the domestic tourism stimulus campaign has led to 200,000 hotel room bookings within the first 12 hours. TAT governor, Yuthasak Supasorn, says average bookings before the extension were around 50,000 – 60,000 a day. Transactions under the scheme are now being closely monitored, following the discovery of fraudulent bookings during the…
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2021’s new normal – the digital Covid passport
Looking forward to travelling, shopping, going to the movies? Now that Covid-19 vaccines are beginning to be rolled out around the world, you may now need something in addition to the actual vaccine. Documentation… a vaccine passport. Documentation, including your current Covid status and vaccination details, will become 2021’s biggest challenge as governments, businesses, and world travel, try and re-establish…
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TAT launch new Alternative State Quarantine “one stop shop” in Thailand
The TAT have launched a new “one stop” shop for quarantine (Alternative State Quarantine) bookings in Thailand. The new website is designed to be a single place for booking quarantine hotels during the time when arrival in Thailand is welcomed with a mandatory 14 day stay (which seems to end up as 15 days in many cases) in a government-qualified…
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Possibility of an “end of year travel boost” has been shattered
As if things weren’t already bad enough for Thailand’s tourism sector, the events in Samut Sakhon in the past week have just made them a lot worse. Just as the few hotels open in Thailand’s major tourist hot spots were hoping for a bounce in traffic over Christmas and New Year, the hopes have been largely dashed by the outbreak…
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Holiday season travel expected to drop by 5 million trips due to recent Covid-19 cases
Due to the recent cluster of Covid-19 infections in Samut Sakhon, hitting a record high in daily infections, tourism officials say the yearly tally for domestic trips is likely to fall by 5 million. With lockdown measures and international travel restrictions this year, the Tourism Authority of Thailand focused on local travel and set a goal of 100 million domestic…
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Lockdown could be final straw for tourism in Thailand
The President of the Phuket Hotels Association has described another potential lockdown as a nail in the coffin for tourism in the province. Speaking to the Bangkok Post, Anthony Lark says a nationwide lockdown, or restrictions on domestic travel, would finish off many tourism-related businesses. “Everyone’s losing money and just trying to break even. If the government can’t control the…
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Thailand tourism is changed forever
OPINION by Andrew J Wood Last week the Thai government Minister’s speech shows me that tourism will never be allowed to recover to previous levels. The writing is definitely on the wall, windows and front door, that there has been a major policy shift in government thinking by PM Prayut Chan-o-cha’s cabinet. In a deeply worrying development for Thailand’s massive…
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Thailand to ease travel restrictions for some countries
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration has confirmed the government intends to ease travel restrictions for arrivals from some countries, but the 14 day quarantine remains in place for now. Spokesman Taweesilp Visanuyothin says the easing of restrictions will be applied to 56 countries, including Australia, the US and France, whose nationals will not require visas to enter Thailand. However,…
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New Year bookings slow amid delay in tourism subsidy
The Tourism Authority of Thailand says the delay in extending the domestic travel stimulus scheme is hurting bookings over the western New Year period. The addition of 1 million room nights has been postponed while officials look into multiple claims of fraud. TAT and the Tourism and Sports Ministry have filed a police report against more than 500 hotels and…
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Hundreds of tourism operators face fraud charges for allegedly cheating subsidy scheme
Hundreds of tourism operators face fraud charges for allegedly cheating the government’s “We Travel Together” subsidy scheme which was intended to help tourism businesses financially hit by the coronavirus pandemic and stimulate travel. Instead of lowering prices to draw in more travellers, some hoteliers and restaurateurs allegedly raised their prices to get more subsidies. The scheme paid 40% of room…
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Addition of 1 million hotel nights delayed as fraud detected in domestic travel scheme
The government’s plan to add 1 million hotel nights to its domestic tourism stimulus campaign has hit a snag, amid reports of fraud. Officials say irregularities have been detected in the transactions of around 514 hotels and other businesses registered with the scheme. The revelation comes as officials investigate allegations of fraud in the government’s co-payment scheme, “Let’s Go Halves”…
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Poll finds most Thais have no plans to travel during long weekends
Most Thai people plan to spend long weekends at home and have no travel plans, according to a Bangkok Poll survey. Nation Thailand reports that the survey carried out by Bangkok University shows that 54% of respondents have not made any travel plans for December. In terms of those who do plan to travel, Chiang Mai has proved the most…
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Around 3.11 million travellers expected to spend 12.6 billion baht during long weekend
Around 3.11 million Thai people are expected to travel during the 4-day weekend which starts tomorrow. The travellers are expected to spend 12.6 billion baht and boost the hotel occupancy rate up by 40%, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand governor Yuthasak Supasorn. Although, less people are expected to travel to Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai, with many cancelling…
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