The Association of Thai Travel Agents predicted if the government reopens the country without quarantine for vaccinated travelers by June, there could be 8 million foreign tourists arriving this year.
- ATTA says the tourism industry needs a 3-month roadmap to plan for the country’s reopening.
- If the government continues to insist on 14-day quarantines and doesn’t reopen the country by June, however, those numbers would be slashed in half.
- Even if the country reopens soon, it will take 3 years for Thailand’s tourism industry to recover to 2019.
The Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA) President Vichit Prakobgosol has forecast that 200,000-300,000 tourists would arrive in June, increasing to 500,000 in July, to 1.5 million in October, to 2.5 million in December as vaccinated tourists go aboard for the first time in 2 years.
Vichit said those numbers would be halved, however, if the government continues to insist on 14-day quarantines and doesn’t reopen the country by June.
The tourism industry needs a 3-month roadmap to plan for the country’s reopening, Vichit said, so that packages and tours can be planned. If the government stubbornly sticks to overzealous border controls, the economy will collapse, he predicted.
He claimed only 25 percent of 4 million tourism-sector employees still had jobs.
Even if the country reopens soon, it will take 3 years for Thailand’s tourism industry to recover to 2019 levels, Vichit predicted.
In the interim, the government needs to expand its subsidized domestic-tourism campaign and “Let’s Go Halves” economic-stimulus initiative, he said.
