These long-term visitors will begin their stay with a mandatory 14-day quarantine and several virus tests in the tourist hotspot of Phuket. The opening-up is a lifeline to Thailand’s devastated tourism and hospitality industry, which is struggling to survive after five months without foreign visitors. They made up about 17% of total foreign visitors and 24% of total foreign spending. In Phuket, foreign visitors accounted for two-thirds of overall tourists but contributed to 90% of its tourism receipts. “We’ll allow a small number of foreign visitors into the country first to test our system,” Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha said on Wednesday.

Source: Hindustan Times August 29, 2020 04:18 UTC