Most CEOs say October too soon to reopen Thailand: poll
More than two-thirds of business leaders in Thailand doubt the country will be ready to reopen by the government’s October deadline, according to a Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) poll.
The poll, titled "120 days to prepare for opening the country", surveyed 201 CEOs spanning 45 industrial sectors and 75 provinces, said FTI vice-president Wirat Uanarumit.
The majority (56.7 per cent) said the country should only reopen once Covid-19 was under control and new infections had dropped significantly.
Thailand is currently logging 4,000-5,000 new cases per day along with dozens of deaths.
Only 31.3 per cent of CEOs agreed with the goal of opening the country within 120 days.
Meanwhile, 9.5 per cent agreed foreign tourists should be accepted in the next 3-4 months, while 2.5 per cent wanted the country reopened sooner than the government’s October target.
CEOs were also asked for the three most important factors in preparing Thailand for reopening.
Providing sufficient quality vaccines and accelerating the rollout to cover 70 per cent of the population came top, with 93 per cent. This was followed by a clear plan with situational assessment and consistent communication (74.6 per cent), and tourist screening measures via vaccination passports/certificates, health insurance, medical and Fit To Fly certificates, etc, (72.6 per cent).
Asked about the Thai economy, 81.6 per cent believed it will recover gradually, 14.4 per cent expect a prolonged slowdown from the impact of Covid-19, but only 4 per cent forecast a speedy recovery to pre-Covid-19 levels.