Thailand will let vaccinated visitors from 46 countries forgo Covid-19 quarantine from next month, up from <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/travel/covid-19-travel/2021/10/12/thailand-to-reopen-with-quarantine-free-travel-for-some-vaccinated-visitors-in-november/" target="_blank">10 previously announced</a>, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said on Thursday. The South-East Asian country is poised to introduce the new quarantine-free travel arrangements on November 1 as it seeks to revive its vital tourism industry. The 46 countries include Britain, the US, China, Singapore, Germany and Australia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Mr Chan-ocha said the visitors could miss mandatory quarantine as long as they arrived by air, were fully vaccinated and had a document to show they were virus-free. Thailand will <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/travel/news/2021/09/16/thailand-delays-plans-to-reopen-bangkok-to-tourists/" target="_blank">reopen the capital Bangkok</a> and other key tourist destinations, including Hua Hin and Pattaya, where curfews will be lifted at the end of the month, reported the <i>Royal Gazette</i> released late on Thursday. Strict entry requirements and quarantine measures helped to keep Thailand's coronavirus outbreaks under control until recent months. But the curbs led arrival numbers to plummet to a fraction of the nearly 40 million visitors in 2019. Thailand lost about $50 billion in tourism revenue last year, a drop of 82 per cent. It started with a pilot reopening that began on July 1 on its most popular island, Phuket, which has been vaccinating most of its local population. Only 100,000 foreign visitors are expected this year, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand.
