People walk pass a thermal screener at Don Mueang airport in Bangkok (Photo: https://www.bangkokpost.com/) Bangkok (VNA) – Hundreds of fully vaccinated foreign tourists are scheduled toarrive in Bangkok on November 1.
This is the first wave of visitors to Thailandin 18 months who will not have to undergo quarantine for COVID-19 prevention.
To seek ways to revive its tourism-based economy,the Thai government has given the green light to vaccinated tourists from morethan 60 countries.
Previously, Thailand, oneof the Asia-Pacific's most popular tourist destinations, had to close for 18months to prevent the pandemic.
Before the COVID-19 outbreak, tourismaccounted for about 12 percent of Thailand's GDP and its Bangkok capital city wasthe world'smost visited city.
The health crisis has cost Thailand about 3 million tourism-dependent jobs andreduced an estimated 50 billion USD a year in revenue.
Meanwhile, Cambodia’s Prime Minister Samdech TechoHun Sen declared on the same day that his country has reopened and is ready for anew way of life after it has passed its COVID-19 vaccination target and became oneof Asian countries having the highest inoculation rates.
Cambodia has vaccinated nearly 86 percent of its population,with two million got booster shots already and 300,000 school-age childrenset to be inoculated on November 1. The ratio is similar to that of Singapore.
Last weekend, Cambodia began reopening theatres and museums whenthe number of new COVID-19 infections tended to decrease. The Southeast Asiannation planned to reopen three popular tourist destinations, Sihanoukville, andneighbouring Koh Rong and Koh Kong provinces at the end of November for thosewho have been vaccinated, but still require a 5-day quarantine period./.
