The Thai government issued an announcement on October 21 stating that it would allow fully vaccinated travellers from 63 countries and territories to enter the kingdom without quarantine from November 1, on condition they test negative for COVID-19 upon arriving in the Land of Smiles.
The original list included 46 low-risk countries exempt from quarantine: Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US).
As of November 1, another 17 countries were added to the list, including Croatia, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, Laos, Luxembourg, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, the Philippines, Romania, Slovakia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said even more COVID-19 curbs across most parts of the kingdom have been relaxed from November 1 to facilitate wider country re-opening to vaccinated visitors from around the world.
The 11pm curfew in place in Bangkok was lifted as of October 31, and by the next day, nearly all businesses and activities in the four Blue Zone (Bangkok, Krabi, Phang-Nga, and Phuket) provinces were able to resume ‘new normal’ operations. These include shopping venues, convenience stores, markets, cinemas and theatres, sports venues, hair salons and barbershops, massage and spa shops, beauty and aesthetic clinics, and tattoo parlours.
Restaurants and eateries can resume normal opening hours, and are allowed to serve dine-in customers.
Meetings, events, and fairs can be also held normally with no limitation on the number of attendees.
However, all types of entertainment venues nationwide are to remain closed.
The announcement stated that these businesses may undertake preparation to get ready for re-opening.
