No more Thailand Pass, this controversial registration system to which foreign visitors had to submit for months. Since July 1, Thailand has drawn a line under the health restrictions put in place at the height of the pandemic, reports Bloomberg. A simple vaccination certificate or proof of a negative Covid test is now enough to move freely throughout the territory.
“It is time to try to fully restore our economic growth through tourism. The removal of the Thailand Pass will make life easier for travellers”, explains Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, the Minister of Tourism.
Before the pandemic, a fifth of Thailand’s economy and jobs depended directly on tourism. In 2019, the country welcomed 40 million foreign visitors. The objective announced for 2022-2023 by the Ministry of Tourism is much more modest: to attract 1 million tourists per month from next October.
On the sidelines of a rather chaotic management of the health crisis (the epidemic flared up from April 2021, in particular because of the low vaccination rate), the Thai authorities were able to experiment with “comfortable” quarantine systems intended to lovers of extended stays, in particular with the “sandbox” laid out on the island of Phuket, underlines Bloomberg.
Bangkok ranked best city for digital nomads
Because the country now intends to play the card of “digital nomads”: these visitors wishing to combine long-term work and leisure. Phipat Ratchakitprakarn declares that he is convinced that Thailand has assets to promote to this new, rapidly developing customer segment: its dream landscapes, but also “the speed of the Internet in Bangkok and in the main cities of the country”, the quality of services and a cost of living which remains relatively low. Not to mention the tax benefit: “We do not tax digital nomads whose income is generated overseas”, would like to underline the Minister.
A study by British flexible office specialist The Instant Group has just placed Bangkok at the top of the world’s best cities for digital nomads, just ahead of Lisbon, reports the Bangkok Post. Among the strengths of the city: its 15,000 high-speed wifi terminals, its public transport and its inexpensive accommodation (1,174 baht per night for an Airbnb, or 31.50 euros).
The report by The Instant Group, which distinguishes about thirty metropolises located in Asia, including Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore or Hong Kong, suggests that 80% of digital nomads spend three to nine months in the same place, which corresponds precisely at the heart of the target targeted by the Thai Ministry of Tourism.
“On the fundamentals, I’m sure we’re competitive. The problem is policy implementation,” emphasizes for his part Bhummikitti Ruktaengam. The president of the Phuket Tourism Association is advocating for a drastic simplification of the visa application process. “Digital nomads won’t come if they have to fill out a mountain of paperwork”, he explains, scalded by the multiple certificates required by the Thai administration to win the Thailand Pass over the past two years.