Mercedes Hutton

Destinations Known | Thailand targets Indian tourists – and their big fat destination weddings – to make up for ongoing lack of Chinese travellers

As of October 1, fully vaccinated arrivals from anywhere are welcome in Thailand’s ‘sandbox’ provinces, and the country is looking to attract Indian tourists

Indians have a particularly lucrative element to their overseas spending that even Chinese travellers can’t match – big fat destination weddings

Reading Time:4 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

A group of tourists in Pattaya, Thailand. Thailand no longer requires quarantine for vaccinated tourists. Chief among those they want to attract? Big-spending Indian travellers. Photo: Shutterstock

Mercedes Hutton

Published: 11:00am, 6 Oct 2021Updated: 2:56pm, 6 Oct 2021

Thailand is ready for the world’s tourists – at least those who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19. As of October 1, inoculated arrivals from anywhere have been welcome in Phuket and other provinces taking part in the nation’s “sandbox” scheme.

That development came swiftly on the heels of a report by Reuters on September 27 that “Thailand will waive its mandatory quarantine requirement [also] in Bangkok and nine regions from November 1 to vaccinated arrivals”.

“Authorities will also reduce the quarantine time nationwide for visitors arriving from October 1, the Covid-19 task force said, halving it to seven days for vaccinated arrivals, and cutting it to 10 days for those not inoculated,” the Reuters article continued.

If we didn’t know better, we might think they were desperate.

Fully vaccinated travellers from any country can now book holidays to Phuket, Thailand. Photo: AFP

Since it reopened to a select few in July, 38,000 visitors have come to play in Phuket’s sandbox, bringing with them an estimated 2.3 billion baht (US$67.9 million), according to the Bangkok Post. Not bad for a country with mostly closed borders, but still a far cry from pre-pandemic plenitudes.