Popular Thailand Destinations Will Welcome Tourists in October

Thailand continues to reopen more regions including some popular tourist destinations. The country will scrap the mandatory two-week hotel quarantine in five more areas as it plans to reopen Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chon Buri, Phetchaburi and Prachuap Khiri Khan to fully vaccinated visitors from October.

Thailand introduced the Phuket Sandbox program two month ago. Fully vaccinated tourists are permitted to travel to Thailand without quarantining provided they stay in Phuket (and Phang-Nga, Surat Thani or Krabi) for at least 14 days before traveling to other parts of the country. The program will now be extended to the other five regions listed above according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Lonely Planet reports.

Tourists will have to stay within designated areas in their destination for seven days after arrival. But they can travel freely within that area and won’t be confined to hotels. Visitors will need to download the MorChana contact tracing app and take regular COVID-19 tests to monitor their health.  To facilitate the extension of the sandbox program, Thailand  officials are seeking ways to make regular COVID-19 testing more affordable for tourists, with the possibility of introducing antigen tests by October.