Thailand opens doors for travel by Indian business execs
Indian business people are allowed to travel to Thailand, but Indian tourists will have to wait for further easing of measures.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) in India revealed that the tourism sector could get more than THB100 billion in revenue if the pandemic measures were eased by the end of 2021, as there was a high demand among Indian tourists to travel to the kingdom.
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) has given its approval for Indian business persons who carry a work permit, reside and have family in Thailand to enter the country with 14-day mandatory quarantine since August 25, after travel had been suspended for four months.
Indian tourists will have to wait for further announcements from the CCSA.
The TAT offices in Mumbai and New Delhi revealed that the pandemic situation in India was easing with lower infection rates, while more than 600 million doses of vaccine had been distributed.
Statistics in 2019 indicated a rapid growth in Indian tourists to Thailand due to the short flight duration and the waiver of visa on arrival fee.
Thailand had generated more than THB80 billion income from Indian tourists within the year.
The TAT also said that Indian tourists had high purchasing power, especially the golf, wedding and millennials groups, and currently, there had been regular inquiries about the measures to enter Thailand. The measures for travelling in and out of India are not complicated, while Indian tourists are less sensitive to the pandemic situation, the TAT said.
Both the TAT offices will fully help build confidence in Indian tourists by providing information to publicise the situation in Thailand. A travel agency survey of 300 Indian participants confirmed that more than 94 per cent wish to travel to Thailand, and it should take less than one and a half months to arrange charter flights from major cities, such as New Delhi and Mumbai, to the Phuket sandbox scheme.
The TAT estimated that if the CCSA relaxed the measures by the fourth quarter, between October to December, to open the country for tourists without quarantine and resumed six commercial flights from India’s major cities, Thailand would gain almost a billion baht in revenue.
If suspension of commercial flights were to be extended , the TAT said it would arrange weekly charter flights from New Delhi and Mumbai, which could generate almost THB200 million revenue for the country.
