Thailand has increased the number of destinations that fully vaccinated visitors can travel to within a fortnight of arrival.
Since July 1, Phuket has welcomed more than 24,000 fully-jabbed international visitors as part of the island’s ‘Sandbox’ initiative, which enables vaccinated travellers to fly directly to the destination and stay on the island, but not leaving it, without quarantining.
Now the country’s authorities have reduced the mandatory 14-night stay in Phuket to seven nights and another seven nights can be spent in Krabi, Phang-Nga Bay or Surat Thani.
Travelling from Phuket to any of the three additional destinations is available via approved routes and transport.
Once travellers have completed six or seven nights in their second destination, they must present a negative Covid-19 test result, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said.
Visitors will then receive a release form from their hotel and will be able to continue their journey to destinations outside of the Sandbox programme.
If the second destination stay is shorter than seven nights, travellers must go directly to Phuket International Airport on the day of departure.
Chiravadee Khunsub, TAT director, said 70 people have tested positive for Covid-19 since the initiative was introduced last month.
She said: “The Sandbox concept has proven to be a controlled and safe return to restarting tourism and has generated over 100 million Thai Baht for the local economy.
“There is a long way to go but with our peak winter sun season ahead and the opening of more of Thailand’s popular beaches and islands this month, travellers can look forward to romantic getaways and fun family breaks without quarantine restrictions.”
Thailand is to be added to the UK government’s red list at 4am on Monday August 30. Arrivals into the UK from Thailand will need to isolate for 10 days in a managed quarantine facility and follow the necessary testing requirements.
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