It’s time to resume Test & Go, cries chamber of commerce
Had the Test & Go scheme not been suspended, the tourism industry could have welcomed 100,000 to 200,000 foreign tourists in January alone, Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCC) chairman Sanan Angubolkul said on Wednesday.
The Test & Go scheme, which allows fully vaccinated travellers to enter Thailand without having to quarantine, was suspended on December 21 in a bid to prevent the highly transmissible Omicron variant from spreading. After December 22 foreign travellers can enter Thailand only under the sandbox scheme or by staying at alternative quarantine hotels.
“Since December 22 there have been about 20,000 foreign tourists entering the country under the sandbox scheme, meaning we have missed around 80,000 to 180,000 visitors due to the Test & Go suspension,” he said.
“Statistics show that each foreign visitor spends 50,000 baht per trip in Thailand on average, so that’s a missing income of 4 billion to 9 billion baht for the tourism industry,” Sanan said.
“The Test & Go scheme had significantly boosted the number of foreign visitors from 15,000 per month on average to 218,788 in December alone. These visitors are vital to keeping tourism businesses solvent despite the Covid-19 crisis,” he pointed out.
“Suspending the Test & Go scheme has not only hurt local business owners, but also driven our potential customers to neighbouring countries that have more lenient Covid-19 preventive measures,” he said.
“The government must resume the Test & Go scheme as soon as possible by adjusting the criteria to suit the situation. For example, an extra requirement of a RT-PCR test could be needed five days before entering Thailand, in addition to the current requirement of three days before arrival,” Sanan recommended.
“The resumption of Test & Go will help tourism entrepreneurs keep their businesses running and subsequently help boost domestic tourism in line with the government’s plan to introduce the 4th phase of ‘Rao Tiew Duay Kan’ [We Travel Together] travel subsidy scheme this year,” the TCC chairman added.